Aphrodite //some parts undergoing rewriting

c h a p t e r o n e

The trees looked like giant, green blurs as we passed them. The flowers looked as well like tiny blurs, but they weren't just green; their was an array of colours. From blue, to red, to then even a deep purple. They were truly magnificent. The grey stones and pebbles that lay on the ground created one giant row of grey. It reminded me of the sky on a gloomy day.

On a gloomy day just like today.

Thinking about these things, it really all was just a giant painting and we were living in it.

A long time ago, a painter decided to paint these things; the sky, the trees, flowers, stones and pebbles. It was all black and white, but he decided to give it colour. Hence why trees are green, flowers are many colours, and stones are grey. He stepped back, looked at his painting and decided that it wasn't complete. He added animals such as fish and birds; giraffes even. But once he was finished painting, creating the animals, it still wasn't finished. He added people; us.

If you think about it that way, we really are living in a big painting created a long time ago.

And what an amazing painting it was.

***

I stared out the window, anticipating the dreadful time that we would reach our new house, our supposed new "home". But it'll never be home to me. Home is back in London, where my friends are. Oh, how I miss my friends already. It's only been 10 hours since we left, and yet there is that feeling, that emotion, that you get when you go away for a period of time from something you love, that empty place inside of you that feels as if it's eating away at you, but you can't do anything to get rid of it because what's done is done and you can't change it, no matter how hard you try. And the harder you try, the larger the empty place inside of you grows, causing the feeling to intensify and at this point, there really is nothing you can do. All you can do is sit, and wait, wait until the feeling goes away. But I don't think the feeling will ever go away.

I heard a low growling noise come from something beside me, and as I start to turn my head, my brother starts to speak, "Mom," He begins to whine. "Are we almost there yet? My stomach is telling me that I'm hungry. I need to eat."

"You always need to eat." I mumbled under my breath as I looked back towards the window. 

"Heard that." My brother, Joey says.

"Heard that." I mocked as I looked over to my brother.

"Would you two quit?" My mom said, I could tell that she was slightly annoyed from all the bickering we've done during this car ride. But I could also tell what she really wanted to say was, "Could you two shut up? You're being quite annoying." The way she said it was just the kid friendly version.

I heard Joey groan and I just sighed, looking back out the window. I saw a big, light blue panelled house up a long driveway, with a large wooden barn behind it.

"We're here!" My mom squealed, as we turned onto the long, gravel lane way.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting it to look this nice. There was pastures on either side of the lane way. The one on the right, my side, had three horses in it, grazing. They looked very peaceful and content, and for a moment, I was jealous of them.

Joey started jumping up and down in his seat, clearly excited to explore this new place. I, on the other hand, was not so excited and would rather be in my room back home, talking to my friends on the phone.

My mom pulled up to the house, and I watched as a person came out the front door, practically tripping over the steps coming down them and run up to the car. I instantly recognized the person as my Aunt Phee.

My mom was the first one to get out of the car to great her older sister, Ophelia. My brother was the second one and he was greeted with the cliché pinching of the cheeks, and saying "Oh look at how much you've grown over the years!"

I was the last one to get out, and when I stood up straight, I heard a gasp. "Ellie? You look so grown up! How are you?" My Aunt Ophelia says as she wraps her arms around me.

"I'm okay." I respond, not wanting her to think that I didn't want to be here. I stood there awkwardly for what felt like forever, my arms by my side as she embraced me.

"Well come in, come in." Ophelia says as she starts walking towards the front door of the house. "The place is a little messy, as your brother in-law, or uncle to you kids, and I are just finishing getting the last of the boxes out of the house for you guys to move in."

The house truly looks amazing on the inside. Very spacey.

To the left when you walk in the door is the living room, or den. Either one works. There is a door in the living room that leads to the office, where all the paperwork is handled, such as the bills, for running the farm. Across from the living room is the stairs that lead upstairs. When you walk straight in from the front door, is where the kitchen and table are placed.

Upstairs, there is four bedrooms and the main bathroom. The master bedroom is located at the very end of the hallway on the right and across from it is the bathroom. Beside the bathroom, is the spare, or guest room. Across from the guest room is my new room. Then on an angle from me, beside the guest room, is Joey's new room.

Back to my room though. My room is surprisingly very spacious. In the far back right corner, is tucked a double bed. Beside it is a small, but cute nightstand and above it is a window. I can see the barn from here, and out past it is a field, which I can see has more horses in it. But then farther on to the left, past a row of trees, I can see a small house, a small barn, and a field. I can see that there's another horse in the field and I wonder if this little property is connected to our place.

I go back downstairs and find my aunt and mother sitting at the kitchen table, talking. I sit down at the table with them and listen to what they were talking about for a few moments before I speak.

"Hey, Aunt Ophelia, I saw that there was another house beside us. Is that ours as well? Do we own that too?"

My aunt looked sceptical, or maybe puzzled, before she began to answer my questions. "No, Ellie, we do not own that piece of land. That would be your neighbours."

I thought she would've said more to that, but she didn't, so I began to question more. "The neighbours have horses too?"

"Only one horse." She said quietly, almost mumbling it.

I was very confused because she seemed like she didn't even want to talk about this. "Maybe we should bring something to them, to say hello."

"No. That wouldn't be a good idea. Listen, Ellie, I don't want you to go over onto that property. Do you understand? The neighbours are.. Dangerous, you could say. You stay on this side of the fence."

Aunt Phee seemed to get very defensive over the neighbours, I wonder what could be so dangerous about them. They couldn't be that bad, could they?

"Oh, and whatever you do Ellie, do not touch the horse."

EDITED.