Journal | L.S

Chapter One

It was bright and sunny. Which was sad, because then the birds are singing and they can be loud. Too loud. Cloudy days keep his mind at ease; he could think straight and the warm temperature from the sunlight couldn't bother him. 

"Harry, darling, can you grab the last box and bring it downstairs to your father please? He's waiting by the car." Anne poked her head inside his bedroom for a second, looking at the boy who was staring at the discoloured wall where a poster of his used to hang. The boy gave a silent nod, watching his mother disappear down the hallway to probably gather the rest of his clothes from the laundry room. 

"We're all set, we should get going before rush hour hits." Robin told the boy as he placed the last box in the back of the car. 

"Oh, it's a sad day." Anne frowned once the family was set in the car, already driving down the street, away from Harry's childhood home. The boy didn't know anything else, but his therapist suggested change which Anne took well at first, but she didn't know it would happen so soon. 

"He's twenty-three, it was bound to happen someday." Robin chuckled, keeping his eyes on the road. 

"It's not a sad day." Harry stated. "I'm moving twenty miles away. That's a forty-minute car ride. Forty thousand, two hundred and thirty-two steps. Plus, Shakespeare is coming with me." He looks down at the pet turtle that was set on his lap, a turtle his primary school gave him when finished year seven. He had been the one that named that turtle when his year three class received him. 

"You're right, darling. It's a happy day." The woman smiled, looking at her son in the back seat. "A wonderful part of your life is starting today, it is very exciting." 

"Your buttons are done wrong. You missed the bottom one." 

"Oh, you're right." Anne laughed, fixing her shirt so it wouldn't bother the boy. It's didn't necessarily bother him, he just wanted to let her know and wouldn't stop reminding her until she fixed it.

It was a nice apartment. Decent neighbourhood, close to Harry's work. The parents were pitching in with rent; they didn't want the boy to spend his whole months' salary on it but wanted him to live in a safe environment and he of course had to eat something too. 

The apartment complex itself housed mostly young adults, university students, and a few single parents. It was close to the library Harry worked at, just one thousand seven hundred and twelve steps, he had measured that himself. The street had a M&S at the corner, so it was easy for the boy to buy food and it also had an art gallery, one of Harry's biggest interests. 

"The blue key is the main door downstairs, yeah? And the silver one is the key to your apartment." The landlord handed the keys to the boy as he was showing them around before leaving the family to get settled. Harry had studied the apartment when he first saw it a couple of months back, so he didn't need another tour though the man insisted. It was a nice layout, ten steps from the kitchen to the connected living room. Thirteen steps from there to the bedroom, although Harry decided he would either take bigger steps or smaller because he didn't like that number. Just seven steps from the bedroom to the bathroom. It was good. 

"Harry, why don't you walk down to the store and get us some snacks while we unpack? You could get to know the street a little better." 

"I know the street. It has twenty houses and two apartment complexes. The bus stops on the middle of it, in front of the large tree. There are two pubs, one at either end, though one is currently closed." He thought about the two times they had driven down the street, remembering the details, such as the garden that hadn't been mowed, and the one house that had a red front door and had a crooked lamp post in front of it.