The Diary

The Next Morning

The fridge downstairs must have been the one installed when the house was originally built. It was practically ancient and grimy; a single lightbulb flickering weakly over the leftover Chinese food we'd eaten the night before and a few random things my mom must have bought in an effort to stock it. I didn't really want to touch anything that had been sitting on those shelves, the stains must have been almost fifty years old at least. I figured the sealed box of cereal and unopened gallon of milk were my best bet at uncontaminated food. I know it sounds ridiculous but in a place that old and empty I wouldn't be surprised to hear there were rats running around.

I sat there basically in silence, my spoon clinking against the ceramic cereal bowl felt deafening in the empty dining room. I heard my mom's bare feet padding down the stairs. I inhaled sharply, I didn't know if I was ready to face her yet after everything that happened.
"Good morning sunshine." She spoke softly, patting me on the head as she walked into the kitchen.
"Morning." I mumbled between mouthfuls of cereal.
"Sleep well?" She called out from the other room.
"More or less." I walked over to stand in the kitchen doorway.
Her head was in the fridge, all the cupboards had been opened in her wake.
"Ugh, guess I'll have to add grocery shopping to my to do list. Fried rice for breakfast sound good?" She chuckled.
"I ate. Cereal." I nodded my head towards the dining room.
"Oh yeah, yeah of course." She muttered absentmindedly, taking a takeout container out of the fridge.

"Hey mum."
"What's up sweetie?"
I looked down at my feet, playing awkwardly with my hands "I'm sorry."
She didn't look up. "I know."
I decided to leave it at that.
"So um...what's the situation with the wifi in this place?" I asked
She turned away from trying to look for somewhere to plug in a microwave and stuck a fork in the container to eat it cold.
"Going through withdrawal so soon?" She smirked.
I rolled my eyes, "Just wondering if any part of this house is from the 21st century."
"Wifi might not be happening for a while," she put on that mom smile to keep me from freaking out. "But I did manage to get someone to come and get internet hooked up. We'll just have to use a family computer for a little while."
I gave her a look and she shot one back telling me not to challenge her on that.

"Ok, fine. I was just hoping to look some stuff up."
"What kind of stuff?" rice hung off her lip.
"Please don't talk with your mouth full." I muttered.
She swallowed, "What kind of stuff?"
"Secret stuff."
"Secret stuff doesn't get you computer access very quickly now does it?" She smirked
"Fine, I was just wondering what I could find online about the history in this place. Like the orphanage and stuff." I looked at the floor again. She didn't really answer.
"I bet they have computers at the library, I can drive you over later."
"Really?" She was taking this better than I had anticipated.
"Yeah libraries, they're this place us old people used to have to go to when we needed information." She threw her fork in the sink and winked at me.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. I know what a library is thank you very much." I turned on my heels to leave the room but stopped. "Thanks mom."
"Mmhm" she nodded, having gone back to searching for functioning outlets.

Considering my closet was still half destroyed I guess I'd be living out of boxes for longer than expected. By noon I had managed to get almost all of my things unpacked. I felt better having a somewhat furnished room. The emptiness of the house had been starting to get to me. I'd never had a room that was this big before. All of the stuff I owned still left the room feeling half empty. Another thing that was different about having a big house was how quickly it got cold. I walked across the space to close the window. Weird, I could have sworn I had gotten up to shut it this morning too...
"Austen, you ready to go?" my mom called up from downstairs.
"Yeah, I'm coming." I grabbed my purse but stopped in the doorway.
"Well I'm in the car."
"Ok." I mumbled.
I looked down at the one thing in my room that was still out of place. The green diary was lying face down on the floor. It had almost felt wrong to move it when I had been cleaning. I stooped down and picked the book up, a car horn broke my thoughts.
"I'm coming!" I called out again.
I threw the diary into my bag and hurried down the stairs.