3 Ways

Three Back Home

"Agh!" Victoria let out a shout as she paused halfway up the stairs and kicked her knee up to try and catch the slipping folder from the top of the large box she was carrying. Without due fail it slid off her knee and onto the cement with a loud thud. A binder was soon to follow. "Ugh...great," Victoria mumbled as she walked up the rest of the way to the front door.

If it hadn't been for the fact that her dying grandmother had actually asked for her move back to this particular house she hated, she wouldn't be there. It wasn't the house she disliked; it was the memories she'd left there. Victoria had grown up not under her father, but under Park Chorong's. Her father made stead-fast rules that he seemed to nail into all their brains. Victoria felt irritated just thinking back to it. She was just thankful she would never have to live that era ever again.

"Ugh...damn it!" Victoria swore underneath her breath while searching for the key on her and finally discovered it in the back of her pocket.

Dropping the heavy load of a box down she kicked it aside and readjusted her purse over her shoulder. Victoria finally managed to unlock the door with a loud click and felt all stress fly off her shoulder. The door opened with a quiet creak and Victoria felt her loose hair fly over her face as a pulse of wind came whirling at her.

"Oh! What the heck..." she stammered pushing her hair away and turned back to look behind her.

No one had come up the flight of stairs and certainly she was sure that no one had been in. It was strange, but Victoria shrugged the thought off and picked her box up before heading in. After dropping the box off into the dining room she headed back out for the rest of her luggage.

Moving her belongings alone was more tiring than she'd expected, but she wasn't one to complain when working alone. Ever since she graduated high school she had made the decision to depend on only herself. Her mother had been dead since she was 12 and Victoria just never really thought about her anymore since the burial. During the heated summers of her teenage years she would go stay with her father's. The air by the ocean seemed calmer than the polluted city air and Victoria liked the cool breeze that drafted in from the waves. When summer ended she'd return home for the school semester.

Now she was 26, old enough, and smart enough. She'd graduate at the end of the semester and life would be hers to build. Flying off into her career as a businesswoman had been what she'd sought to do, but plans had turned on her when her grandma, her mother's mom, suddenly passed away. As far as she knew, none of her fathers had surviving mothers.

When she'd gathered all her belongings into the home, Victoria finally took the chance to look around. It was the small short hallway that greeted them as soon as they walked in. A doorway to a small sitting room had been carved into the wall to the right upon entrance and further down the hallway sat her grandma's favorite dining table made from expensive hickory wood - the strongest, most durable wood you'd find out there that not even a giant can squash, as quoted by her grandma - surrounded by six chairs.

Victoria slowly walked into the room and ran her hand over the smooth tabletop that never seemed to wear down. If she wasn't mistaken, it was in exactly the same condition as it'd been when she still lived there. How that was possible, she wasn't sure. She quickly looked up toward the window covered with a yellow curtain. The strong sunlight was trying to set its rays into the house, but Victoria thought she was hearing bells chiming from behind it.

A small frown crossed her face before she stepped toward it and cautiously reached a hand out. As soon as she had the curtain in her grasp she quickly pulled it aside and saw nothing but dusty rays shooting down.

"Hello! Anybody home!?" a voice shouted after the door slammed shut. "Oh my god, what was that! You have the window open or something?"

Victoria stepped away from the curtain and spotted one of her short haired sisters walking in with bags strapped over her torso. Obviously someone had been too lazy to pack their belongings in organized order and resorted to stuffing whatever she could into whatever she had. She skimmed her eyes over the Nike and Adidas branded sport bags and raised an eyebrow judgmentally. Victoria wondered what this girl had been doing with her life the past 6 years.