Pressure // N.H.

{1} New Town

Welcome to Pine Grove.

Population 279

That can be changed to 283.

My eyes scanned the sign as my father slowly drove by it, entering the town he was born and raised happily in. The town he went to school in and met my mother. The town where my older sister was born.

The town I had zero connection with.

"You guys are going to have so many memories here"

My eyes flashed to my father's, looking cheerfully into the rear view mirror at mine.

"Especially you Charlotte. You're going to have a lot of fun"

My sister, brother and I all sighed in sync as my father tried to spread his positive attitude throughout the car.

He was happy about just shaking up the life I had known, living in New York City, being accustomed to a fast paced life, with new faces to see every day to a town. I'm not even sure this place was on the official map of Pennsylvania.

"I feel like we might not have fun" Jules spoke up. My brother was not one to disagree unless he felt serious about it.

"Why are my children so negative?" My dad expressed his concern with a nervous laugh and I laid my head back on the seat as the sun warmed my face.

"Because you took us from our home. We don't know this place" Jules spoke up one more time before he exhaled his breath violently.

My father drove the rest of the way, back to our old home, well his old home, I never seen this place.

The house was larger than life itself. Faint red bricks held up my new home, rising about three stories off of the ground. The beige square windows were symmetrical to each side of the house.

There was one tree in the yard that covered the view of one of the rooms on the third floor and I wish it wasn't my room.

The walkway was also bricked, containing large very healthy green shrubs on each side and the driveway sat right on the side perfectly being undetected by that tree.

"Okay kids, help me upstairs with these boxes"

Those boxes were just our clothes and other little things. My father ordered new furniture for the entire house mainly, except for a few items because the last time he lived here, my sister was six, she's nineteen now.

But we all shuffled inside, everyone stopping to look at the sole picture that hung on the freshly painted off white walls.

"I thought they would've move it" My father laughed nervously as he put his two boxes down and walked to the sliver framed square picture resting above the wooden fireplace.

The three of us watched him analyze the picture of him and my mother and Rebecca, my sister, all happily posing for a professional photo.

"Wherever your mother is, I hope she knows to come here" My father said wiping the dust that caked up on the photo before he dropped it one of his boxes.

We walked up the oak wooden stairs that were covered by a burgundy carpet before he pointed to our rooms.

I got the one with the tree in front of the window as expected.

Great great.

My room back in New York, was a vibrant rosy pink but this one here was a dark unnatural and non soothing dark, rich shade of purple.

I put my things down, examining the circular light that set calmly on the ceiling before I started unpacking.

All of my books, stacks of them, were pulled out first before I pulled out some other necessities. My clothes I left downstairs.