Drifting Back

Chapter 2

I didn't sleep well on the plane. As soon as we landed and found our car, I rolled down the window and took a long nap in the passenger's seat. I didn't dream. After some time had passed, I heard my mother call my name. 

"Samantha... window" she said.

What?

I was barely awake. We hadn't even reached our street when we heard it. The screaming. I flinched and almost dropped my phone onto the car floor.

"Oh, that must be the neighbors! Sweetie, you probably wouldn't have been as startled if you had rolled up the window when I'd asked you to," she said matter-of-factly.

Lovely.

We turned onto the street. It looked like any other street I've lived on before. Every house large, every lawn green. That is, except for one. I gazed up at a large, gothic, house. Its brown paint was chipping, the windows were opaque, and the door looked like it hadn't been used in a century. I'd always wanted to live in a gothic house, but this was atrocious.

"So... That's it?" I said, as I exited the car.

"What do you mean, 'So that's it?'" She asked, just barely raising her voice. She followed closely behind me.

"I just assumed that the place would be more contemporary. You know, like all the other houses." I bluntly stated.

"Well, I didn't want to just buy another house. I want this time to be different. I was thinking that maybe we could stay here. Not for too long of course, but maybe a year or two longer than usual. What do you think?"

Oh, so now I get an opinion?

"Mother, if you were thinking of 'settling down', why wouldn't you choose a house that's actually habitable?" I asked.

"I understand that this isn't what we're both accustomed to honey, but I like to think of it as my biggest project yet! I'm going to completely renovate the place. Of course to do that, we can't be living in it just yet..." she walked towards my side of the car, and opened the door.

"So we're going to be staying in a hotel for a little while. You can order as much room service as you want, kiddo," she tilted her head, hoping I'd let her off easy with that last part.

There was literally no reason for her to bring us here if we couldn't use the house. "Who she is" is the only explanation. Why in the hell would she waste my time showing me an unfinished product?

I defeatedly climbed into the car. After a half-hour we arrived at the hotel. When we reached our room, I flopped on to the bed, kicked off my shoes, and fell asleep.