Of Love and Lanterns || 5SOS

- 2 - N o r a - A Short Conversation

- 2 - N o r a - 

It was late Saturday night when we got there. It was already dark, and most houses had their lights off in the children's rooms. The Irwin's, however, still had the downstairs lights on. Maybe they were having dinner late? I shook my head and didn't think about it. I looked at the house we were moving back into. I hadn't seen it since I was six. I'm sixteen now. Ten years was a long time, but the house hadn't changed much. Not on the outside anyway.

I realized I'd been standing on the front step for a while and my dad had already gone inside with the groceries. I slowly followed him and looked around. Not too much of a difference. We had rented out the house while we lived in Norway and my room had been off limits to everyone. I hurried up the stairs with my luggage and opened the door to my room. Absolutely nothing had changed, from the light pink walls to the princess bed. I chuckled at that. I had never liked the color pink, or the princess bed, but no one had ever gotten around to doing anything about it. That would be changing as soon as my mom arrived with the rest of our things next week. The bed would be going, as well as the paint, on Monday. Apparently a lot would be happening while I was at school, and everything would be done by Friday. Everything had to be ready for when mom got here, because it would be hell otherwise.

I put my things down on the old Hello Kitty rug in the middle of the hardwood floor, and walked over to my window. I looked right into, what I presumed was Ashton's room, which had changed so much, assuming the Irwin's still lived there. Pushing the thoughts of him away, I looked at my lantern. It hadn't been moved. When I found out we were moving, I had run up here and unplugged it, then pushed the cord out the window. I don't know why, and thinking about it now, it was probably a dumb idea. the weather and temperature had probably ruined the cord completely. I thought about leaving it there, or just taking it down. Suddenly I wondered if Ash still had his up? I look at where his was and was shocked. Not only did he still have a lantern there, it was a new one. Same style, with the cord pulling into the window, and everything. That made my decision. I pulled my cord through the window, plugged it in and turned it on. As I suspected, it didn't work. I unplugged it again and looked out my window at the lamp. One of the screws had fallen out, and the other three were all nearly joining the first. I didn't even need a screwdriver. I reached out and held the lantern with one hand, and pulled the screws out with the other. The lamp came off the wall, and I pulled it inside. It was rusted to the point of being unrecognizable and looked like it would fall apart in my hands. I stood up and looked for my dad with it in my hands.

"DAD?"

"IN THE KITCHEN NORA!"

"Huh. I looked there first." I mumbled to myself. I went to the kitchen.

"When'd you come in here? This is the first place I looked." I asked him.

"I was out back and just came in a minute ago to start dinner."

"Oh. Anyway, can we get a new one tomorrow? This one doesn't work anymore." I held up the lantern in my hands to show him what I was talking about.

"Really Nora? Are you sure it isn't time to just move on?"

I sighed at his words. I expected them of course, and I knew where he was coming from, but Ash had kept his working. I wasn't about to tell my dad that though. "Maybe. But it just wouldn't feel right not having one there, ya know? Please?" That wasn't a lie . . . just not the whole truth. I looked at him pleadingly and he gave in.

"Fine. I'll take you to get a new one, and some screws, but you'll have to install it yourself. Kapish?"

"Kapish. Thank you!" I hugged him and ran back to my room.