Sunshine and Frost

3. The New Girl

I tighten my core as I lift another box out of the moving van and into our new house. It's much bigger than our last one, which surprises me because it's just the two of us.

I adjust my grip on the box containing the novels I've collected over the years before entering the front door. Once inside I kick the door closed and head upstairs.

Books have always been my escape when life with my family got too much for me. It acted like a portal to another world, worlds without family issues and crappy parents. Reading is the one thing that my mother doesn't mind I do, although she would like it better if I didn't read so many fiction books. If she had her way I would only be reading textbooks about anatomy or biology. Something that would get me ready for the future that she has decided for me, to become a doctor like her.

What she doesn't know is that I hate the idea of being a doctor. Also the only reason I'm "good" at science is because I know she would kill me if I wasn't. There's nothing else that mother would support me in, which is why I'll never tell her.

I use my foot to nudge the ajar door open, looking around the room mother said I could have. There is a light brown wooden desk the the right of my door, with a wooden chest of drawers in the corner of the room next to it. A bookshelf against the right wall, a small nightstand by the back wall, the back wall is mostly a large window with my queen sized bed against it. The dresser is to the left of my bed with a mirror hanging on the door of my closet.

It's about the same size of my last room, but it feels more open for some reason. I navigate through the several other boxes that are scattered among my carpeted floor to my bookshelf. I set the box down deciding that I will unpack my books first.

I begin to take all of my books out of the box and looking them over to see if they got any damage from the trip. I stop when I pull out an old book on fairy tales andsmile at the memory that pops into my head as I look at it.

My Grandmother had given this to me for my sixth birthday. She said that it was my Dad's favorite when he was my age and that I should have it. Mom tried to tell Nonna that I didn't need it because I didn't believe in any of those stories. When she tried to take it by force she couldn't pry it out of my arms, leaving her no choice but to let me keep it. I stayed up all night with Dad reading it, he focused on his favorites reading them with such enthusiasm. About the Sandman who brought you good dreams. The Easter Bunny who painted all the eggs found on Easter egg hunts. The Tooth Fairy who traded teeth for quarters collected by her many helpers. Santa Clause the jolly old man who brought presents for the children Christmas morning, and so many more.

Nonna passed away a few years after that due to complications in her old age, but we would visit her everyday. Dad didn't have any siblings, and my Grandfather had died before I was born, so we would take care of her. Every time we would visit I would bring the book I was reading to share with her. And every time she would call me her "little ray of sunshine" until she would just call me "Sunni." After she passed I started to go by that name because it made me feel like she wasn't really gone.

I smile as I skim through the pages of the old book, looking over the familiar stories. Mom always tried to get me to sell it at a garage sale or donate it to a book drive for school. She would make offer after offer but I refused to let her convince me to give it up. This book is the reason I love reading so much, it showed me what literature could do.

Once I'm done I go to unpack the other boxes in my room. By lunch time I have everything put in its proper place. I feel my stomach growl as I sit down on my bed, "I guess I'll see what mother wants to do for lunch." I say out loud.

I make my way downstairs, searching for mother in the kitchen. When I see that she's not there I look around the rest of the two story house. Once I've explored all of the possible place mother could be I sit down on the stairs sighing in confusion. "Where could she be?" I then notice a folded paper on the counter.