Loud

Chapter 4

Apparently, I had been zoned out pretty much the entire drive to Shrewsbury. Gwenny had been staring at me with her big green eyes, and I had gotten lost. 

"We're here. Welcome to Shrewsbury," Lucinda told me, swerving around a country road corner. The sight I saw was beautiful.

There were woods all around, and the houses looked dainty and old. Some were log cabins, but the entire community seemed to blend into each other. There was a nice park down a road, and the center of town was small. There was a general store, a place to eat breakfast, an ice cream parlor that looked like it came right out of the 60's, a tiny supermarket, and a large brick library. It was the perfect old town.  Or so I thought it was.

Lucinda turned another corner and drove down the street. I almost died of excitment when she pulled into a driveway of a beautiful house that looked three stories tall. But what I really noticed was the forest behind their house. 

" Go on inside and unpack your bags. Then, you can do whatever you like." Lucinda slid the car door open and took out Gwenny.

Josie and I hopped out of the car and sprinted inside. All the rooms were huge. The kitchen, living room, tv room, dining room...second living room...game room. Wow. And this was only the first floor!

"Your rooms are on the third floor." Lucinda pointed up the stairs that Josie and I had already ran up. The second floor was just as big. We navigated our way through the maze-like floor until we found the huge spiral staicase leading to the attic. 

The attic was smaller than the other floors, only having three rooms to explore. One was a makeshift living room. It was carpeted and had three beanbags in it. The bookshelves were overflowing with books, and the flatscreen tv took up most of one wall. Josie had already disappeared into a room that I guessed was a bedroom. I walked into the other. 

It was a desk bed, one with the top bunk and no bottom bunk, the space where the bottom bunk would be was a desk. I had three more bookshelves and another, smaller tv. I had a couch in the other corner of my room as well. A white door was planted next to it. I cautiously opened the door. Mind. Officialy. Blown. How much bigger could a walk in closet get? There was so much room. And so many clothes.  Talk about a generous family, they had given me an entire store to choose my clothes from! 

 

Three hours later. After finishing exploring the entire mansion and meeting the family, I decided to go explore the town. First stop, the woods. I pulled on some black hiking boots and walked outside. The autumn leaves crunched underneath my feet as I walked.

There was a slight breeze, spooky almost. Whistling. Whispering. I couldn't wait to finally get back into nature's flow. As soon as I got far enough into the forest, I flexed my fingers and raised my arm. My hands moved in a way no one really knows anymore, and leaves fell from the trees. Vines curled up and down trees, roots sprouted from the ground. Flowers bloomed on dead plants. 

Then I saw the haunting thing I would never forgive for ruining my perfect life. But it wouldn't ruin me yet. Not until I knew too much.