The Mystery at Cherry Creek

Chapter 1. Arrival

I always loved whenever we moved to places where there were mountains. I loved the way it feels to go outside and smell the mountain air right after an afternoon shower. That being said it does get old when it's the fifth time in the last seven years that you have moved to please your fathers "growing adventurous appetite". First it was an corporate office job in Texas which he quickly grew out of as he said it was mind-numbingly boring. This I believed sparked what would become the rest of me and my siblings lives, us moving to different states along the west coast where he would start a new business endeavor like a coffee shop or a pizza parlor in places like San Francisco or Seattle. Once business was going good and coincidentally my dad grew tired of the routine, it was time to close up shop, pack the boxes, and head to the next city for him to reinvent himself again. As we pull up to our final destination "Cherry Creek" Colorado it's now That he tells us that he has decided to renovate an old motel.

Slightly off the side of the small downtown strip of this quaint mountain town lies an abandoned slightly overgrown motel that my dad somehow thought was an amazing business opportunity. As my dads trusted and storm weathered 1999 hatchback slowly pulls into the loop of the motel he finally speaks up, " Alright kiddos now I know this isn't entirely what you guys expected but-" he started until my older sister Selene abruptly cut him off,

" yeah no dad this is exactly what I'm sure we all expected, another money hole for you to throw all of your savings at for the next couple of months" she huffed out before resuming the work that she was doing of picking at the split ends of her blonde hair and staring out the window. This comment was not a shocker to anyone as for the entirety of the car ride she had made it very clear that it was not in her summer plan to clean up an old motel instead of spending the end of her summer break from college with her sorority sisters. Since she had just turned 21 her original summer plans were to go bar hopping at all of the bars and clubs near her university but now it was to be spent trying to be like fixer upper but the Walmart version.

My dad pretending to be oblivious to the increasing tension in the car turned to me, my younger sister Arden and younger brother Victor, "Well at least I still have my youngest on my side right?". Victor, my 10 year old brother, continued to play with the frayed cloth of the outdated seats while Arden, my 14 year old sister, pretended that whatever was in her book at that moment in time was the most interesting thing in the world. Quickly glancing at them and then back at my dad, "no of course dad we will always support you, if you think that dropping everything in San Fransisco to rebuild a motel in Colorado is your life passion then I say let's do it" I say ending with me nudging victor with my elbow to try to gain his attention. "Uuuuh yeah whatever she said", Victor quickly stated as he looked at me with a sour face and rubbed his side where I had nudged him before resuming what he was doing before.

"Thanks Claire I always know to count on you", my dad said with a knowing smile. As I looked to Selene in the front seat, the glare she gave me could definitely kill someone or you know just gravely injure them. I made sure that I was the first to hop out of the car after that. Shutting the slightly dented door of the hatchback, the gravel began to crunch under my feet as I moved to open the trunk and start unpacking the tiny amount of boxes we could fit in our car . I could hear the rest of my family slowly getting out of the car as I reached for the first box. "God dad you need to get a new car that can actually fit all of us because I'm tired of riding for hours with Susie on my lap" Selene complained as she handed the last edition to the Lodge family my 2 year old sister to my dad.

Looking at my somewhat large family one might wonder how exactly we all came to be, especially with no mother anywhere in the picture. Similar to my dads business adventures, his love life has been one hell of a roller coaster. Right out of college he married his college sweetheart who was Selene's mother, that marriage quickly crumbled as she realized she would rather be a nun then a wife. A couple of years after their divorce he met my mother and before they married they had me. a couple of weeks after their honeymoon however, he came home to find her sleeping with his boss from his job at the time. As if my father again did not learn his lesson, several years later he met another woman online from France who already had Arden from a previous relationship. They eloped and he decided to adopt Arden and shortly there after they had my brother victor, as it turns out she used my father for a green card into the US and once that finalized she was gone with the wind. Raising all four of us was definitely a challenge and I have never viewed anyone in the world to be a stronger person than my dad. Of course the bullying during all of our schooling was a downside, all of us were referred to as the "modge-podge Lodges" due to the complicatedness that is our life.