Unlocking Bailey

new rooms and neighborhood parks (Prologue)

new rooms and neighborhood parks
(Prologue)

My new house smelled weird.

There was absolutely no color in any of the rooms. All the walls were a dull gray. There's no furniture (obviously, we just moved in), and it smelled like a high school girls' locker room that had been sprayed with too many types of perfume, too many times. Trust me, I know the smell. It's not pleasant.

The outside wasn't any better. The paint was faded and chipped in some spots. And it was painted green, but not like the pretty, pine green. It was a lime green. I was going to live in a lime green house.

Basically, my new home was the equivalent of a high school.

And we all know that high school was the equivalent of Hell. So this ought to be fun.

Unpacking our boxes made this house a little better. At least it'll be filled with our junk. More like the home I know.

"Well. New homes, new lives! How do you like your new room, Bailey?" Mom's voice was bright. I'm not sure if it's a I-love-our-new-home bright, or whose-stupid-idea-was-it-to-come-here-but-let's-act-happy bright. She pulled open the lid to a large cardboard box, surveying the contents.

I shrugged. My new room kinda sucked. The walls were plain and a tan color, and it smelled worse than the rest of the house. "It's better than my old one," I said, my tone flat.

Mom tried to be cheerful again. "Good! You'll be able to do so much with that room."

Oh, most definitely. Like repaint it, or move into a new one.

"Have you seen the rest of the neighborhood?" she asked, changing the subject. She pulled out a stack of dishes all wrapped in towels.

I opened the box beside her, only to see it full of all my younger brother's junk. I slid the box away from me with my foot. "Well, I saw it when we drove here."

"No, honey, like go on a walk or something. There's some pretty cool bike paths behind the house, and down the street there's a neighborhood park," she said. She unwrapped the dishes, placing them on a nearby table.

'Cause I'm supposed to be able to go on a walk and unpack my stuff in the 20 minutes we've been here. "Okay. I'll go exploring when we finish this."

She nodded once and put on another bright (but presumably fake) smile. "Goody. Here," she handed me a few boxes. My knees nearly buckled underneath the weight. "Go take these up to your room and unpack them, I'm pretty sure they're your stuff."

"Watch them not be," I mumbled. I'm not too thrilled about this "new house" thing.

I trudged up the stairs to my new bedroom, struggling to balance the four boxes Mom had handed me.

I reached my room and my nose cringed. How long will this smell stay here?

I placed the four boxes on the floor and open them.

Turned out I was right. Two of them consisted of books for our home library, one was full of dishes, and the other had more of my brother's crap.

Thanks, Mom.

I heaved out a heavy sigh. "Mom, none of these boxes were my stuff!" I yelled down at her.