The morning after we moved in I woke up laying on the window seat. The full moon had left the sky to make place for a bright yellow sun. I wiped my eyes, picked up one of the boxes in the corner of the room, put it on my bed and sat down next to it. When I opened it the smell of my old bedroom filled my new one. The cardboard box was filled with my vinyl collection, which was about the only thing in my life that had a meaning. It was the only thing I was proud of.
Before I had the chance to unpack them my mother called from the other room. I dragged myself to the kitchen where my parents had taken place at the table along with two people I had never seen before. Great.
'There she is,' my father said. The two unknown faces smiled at me, waiting to be introduced. The duo consisted of an elderly couple. The lady looked younger than her husband and had a soft expression on her face, which made you feel like you could trust her with anything. Her lips were red and her eyes brown. The man looked more severe. His blue bowtie matched his eyes, which gave the impression that he was tired but eupeptic at the same time.
The couple introduced theirselves as our neighbours from the flat across the hall. Their names were Benjamin and Olivia Mills and they insisted on calling them by their first names. Against my will I sat down at the table between my parents and listened to their small talk.
Olivia mentioned that their two grandsons lived with them since their daughter passed away giving birth to her youngest son. As soon as her husband was informed by the news he left. He didn't even ever held his newborn. He just walked out the hospital and never returned.
I guess everybody had their troubles and for some it was a relief to talk about it to total strangers, others buried them in the deepest and darkest part of their hearts and chose to never mention it, not even to those closest to them. My parents and I were the second kind of people.
Then, as if it meant nothing, Olivia moved on and told me I should meet her grandchildren because they were around my age. My father thought it was a great idea and I had to admit it would be slightly less worse to face my first day at a new school if I knew somebody.
