The Company

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The journey to the small house in the suburbs we were going to be calling ‘home’ was long and loud as Amelia sang along to every song that came on at the top of her lungs, whether she knew the lyrics or not. However, I bit my tongue and said nothing, training myself to seem more like a father and a ‘normal’ father wouldn’t scream the profanities rolling around my head at his 12 year old daughter for singing along to the radio.

When we arrived the sun was high in the sky and there wasn’t a single cloud, all in all it seemed like perfect weather. For anyone who wasn’t moving houses. I parked in front of the driveway and looked up at the small, white house I was being forced to live in. There was a moving truck in the driveway, when we pulled up 2 men jumped out and walked towards me.

“Mr Parker?” the bearded one asked, holding up a clip board.

“Yes” I smiled, fully emerced in my cover.

“If you could sign here we’ll start unloading” I took the pen from his hand and scribble D. Parker on the dotted line.

“Thank you” I nodded at the men and they began to unload the boxes and furniture, I unlocked the door and told them where to put the couches, the tables, the beds and all the other nick-knacks The Company had acquired for us. “Amelia.”

“Yes?” she jumped up with a smile.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and chose which room you’d like? Then you can tell the men where you want your things."

“I get to pick first?” her eyes went wide with disbelief.

“Of course” I replied with feigned shock.

“Oh right…” she caught on “thanks dad” she gave me a forced smile, we have to work on that, and then ran up the stairs taking them 2 at a time. Things were moving too slowly for my liking so I went out and helped with the unpacking and the sun was relentless, by now we had attracted the attention of more than a few of the neighbours. Some stared more openly than others but they were all staring, God I hate the suburbs.

Even with my help the unpacking moved slowly and the sun slowed us further, I pulled my shirt off and tucked it into my waistband and felt some relief when a cold breeze washed over my sweaty torso. Once all the boxes were inside the house the sun had gone down and all the neighbours had retreated into their own homes, the rest of that night Amelia and I unpacked the boxes full of ‘our’ plates and things until a knock sounded at the door and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and my ears perked up.

“Wait here” I pulled my shirt on and took a knife out of the wooden block I'd placed on the island in the middle of the kitchen and gripped it tightly behind my back. “Stay away from the windows until I say anything less, understand?” she nodded and I made my way to the front door. I leaned forward, carefully, and looked out of the peek-hole only to see a bunch of preppy people standing there. Ugh, one thing I hate more than the suburbs. People that chose to live in the suburbs. I rolled my shoulders back and stuck the knife into my waistband and covered it with my shirt, with a hand on the door knob I sighed and slapped smile on my face and opened the door.

“Hi!” they said in perfect unison.

“Hello” I smiled widely, doing my best not to cringe or stab myself in the eye “can I help you?”

“Oh! No, no!” The peroxide blonde dressed in kakis and a pink sweater said holding out a plate of brownies “we just came by to welcome you to our lovely neighbourhood and see if there was anything you needed!”

“Oh well, you must come in!”

“Oh no we don’t want to impose-“ they began to protest but I cut them off.