A Lost Soul...

Chapter Fifteen: An Unexpected Find.

Three weeks after the decision that we would be moving, My life was no longer the same.

Madi and Peyton moved into our 3 bedroom box at 16 Bobbie Drive. My bedroom was now 1/4 the size it used to be because now stacks of boxes watched over me as I slept in a room with 5 year old. We got rid of my bed and put it in a musty old storage room until we sorted out a new house. I took my Mum's creaky old double bed for me and Madi to sleep in each everlasting night. She sometimes woke up in beads of tears and sweat as she relived the moment of seeing her lifeless sister. My Mother and Mrs Garcia took Madi's steel bunk beds and set them up in the corner of their room around all the dusty pots and mounds of clothes. Sofia's blue cot sat under the window hiding from the boxes. 

Our house began to get smaller and smaller due to the amount of Nikita's belongings I was bringing back into the house. Madi and Peyton had grabbed all their belongings and we had shipped all of Riley's stuff to him and Miss Davies at 9 Marlborough Drive. They took as much as Nikita's stuff that they wanted and I grabbed as much as I could before our house became over-run by hers and our possessions. Mum said that we couldn't afford another storage locker at the moment because we needed to save our money for the house and that we could use all the cash we could find. That's when we decided we could have a garage sale. We sold old pots, Baby clothes and even spoons. We made a profit of $270 and successfully gained a few metres of floor space.

I continued to struggle through each day of school, but I seemed to find the happiness in each day because I would hide away at Nikita's old house. Checking behind each of my shoulders I would push away the coarse doormat and reach for the gold key that sparkled under the sun's rays. Pushing open the door each day the air freshner would scamper out the door and I would walk into emptiness. No frilly cushions and no daisies in a vase on the collosal dining table. Nothing. Even though no-one was near I would still tiptoe up the stairs and I would still quietly push the door open just incase Nikita was asleep. 

Nikita's soft toned walls had no more photos or quotes on her walls instead a dismantled bed lay broken in the centre of the room and boxes marked with thick black lettering were pushed up against the walls. Her thin satin curtains and white lanterns poked their noses out of the box that sat under the window sitting on top of her boxes lay Nikita's scribbled school books and most of her clothes that did not fit me. Chunky letters on the brown box said 'TO SELL'. I quickly grab the rows of white lanterns and shove them to the bottom of my Jansport along with Nikita's laptop filled with photos and a few other personal belongings. Walking into her wardrobe that day something flopped off the topshelf. Nikita's diary. I stuff it into my bag.

Bleep. Bleep. An alert flashes up on my phone "Vee, Where are you? I am getting worried. School finished 1 hour and a half ago." Pulling the door to Nikita's room shut behind I run down the stairs and lock the door behind me. Throwing the key under the mat I begin to rush home. The clattering of my school books and the lanterns makes me cringe. I finally get to the front door and I see my Mum and Peyton sitting next to the fire with creased faces.

"Hey! Sorry I was so late, I was just -" I was cut off by Mum.

"Hi Darling. The reason why I text is because we are going to look at the new house Peyton and I would like to buy. It's in Lake Road." We piled into the small Suziki swift. Stressed, excited and nervous emotions bounced around the compact car like Sofia bounces around her car seat when she is having a tantrum. 

Walking out to the vast rock house that sat over the lake that day I finally felt like I was at home. The windows of the house were wide and inviting. The white door swung open as Madi ran through the door and scampered up the stairs to her room she had been promised. Mum talked to the lady that was selling the house while I walked around the spacious rooms. There was a large stone kitchen and a  snug lounge. The bedrooms were my favourite part of the house. I had been promised the room that looked out onto the lake with the ensuite. I had enough space to fit a desk, a couch even another bed. I knew right then that I would have a bedroom similar to Nikita's so that she is always with me. I wanted to have the room that we would have shared if she was still here...