Lost Christmas

Chapter 4 - New Beginnings

"Alex, help me out with this! It's a tad too heavy."

That was my mom. Six months into her pregnancy with her sixth child. I know, I know, I have a lot of siblings. I'm the oldest at 17. Next is Lisa, 15, then Josh, 13, Nash, 5, and lastly, the soon to be older sister, Rian, 3.

"Mom, you should just rest inside. Don't strain yourself." I said taking the box from here and carrying it inside. You see, we just moved here to Old Brooke from Australia. My dad got stationed here hence the move. We moved a couple of times before this too. Austria, London, Paris, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and most recently Australia. My dad said Old Brooke might just be last place. I hope so too. I don't like moving here and there. It's hard. Making new friends, getting used to a new place, transferring schools, etc. I'll be starting in Old Brooke High in January. Lisa and Josh in Old Brooke Middle School, and Nash in the elementary school. Rian, well, Rian would end up in the daycare/kindergarten we find.

Our new house was pretty big. 8 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms in total. We all have our own rooms. Even the unborn baby has one too! My room is next to my younger brother Nash's. He gets scared sometimes so he crashes into my room from time to time, not that I mind anyway. Beside Nash's room is Lisa's. She's the quiet one in our family. She loves to study and is gorgeous. (or that could be biased because I'm her older brother.) Next to hers is Rian's. Her room is way too pink for my liking. I look so awkward in her room whenever it's my turn to read her a story for the night. I always opt to read in my room and just carry her back when she falls asleep but I can't just resist her adorable pout and puppy dog eyes. And lastly, we have Josh's room. His is at the very end of the long hall. Josh is a sporty kid. He loves soccer the most. He'll be gone next week to a camp.

We had our furniture moved here a week ago so all we needed to do was bring our suitcases. Mom and Dad hired some people to clean up the house and unpack the furniture so we didn't have to do much. Mom was ordering my dad around as the way the movers arranged the furniture were not to her liking. I chuckled lightly at my dad's scared expression and headed up to Nash's bedroom to see if he needed any help.

"Knock Knock. Hey kiddo. Need any help?" I asked him, leaning against his door frame.

"Nope." He said popping the -p-.

"You sure? How about food? You hungry?"

"Nope. Not hungry."

"Ok then. Happy playing!" I said to him. Not that he heard me. He was too engrossed in his train set that he got as a bribe from my mom to stop asking "Are we there yet?" on the plane. I then knocked on Lisa's door and asked her the same thing. I got no answer so I opened the door to find her on her bed fast asleep with a dictionary beside her. Chuckling, I went to get the dictionary from her bed, placing it on her bedside table and left quietly. Rian was downstairs with my parents climbing on the furniture my dad pushes. As I was approaching Josh's room, I heard a loud crash followed by a guilty "Mom's gonna kill me!!!". I rushed to his room and saw my mom's favorite vase, or what was left of it anyway, on the floor. Glass was everywhere.

"Josh!' I groaned, covering my face.

"Oooops. I didn't mean it Alex. I'm serious. I was just kicking the ball and the vase just happened to be in the way. What's it doing in my room anyway? You won't tell mom will you?" He said in a worried tone.

"Of course I won't. You will. Now let's get this place cleaned up before someone gets hurt. After vacuuming his room and the hall, we both went downstairs and found my dad and Rian curled up the couch, fast asleep. My mother made a "sshh" gesture to us and told us to follow her into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, my mom had lasagna with extra cheese in the oven baking. Yum...

"Ok. Now, I know we keep moving and everything but your father said he has a good feeling about this place. We might stay here permanently. Isn't that great? I know I shouldn't complain that we get to go to different countries and everything but it gets tiring after a while. I want to settle down and just finally be able to call one place home you know?"

I did know the feeling. My mom has been like this for a while now. Sometimes getting a tad too emotional. But they say it's normal. I looked at my brother Josh and his face clearly said "I'd rather be somewhere than here with mom who's becoming emotional!". I stifled my laughter. I guess mom saw Josh's face as she quickly stood up and said, "Boys, me and your father are going to Washington tomorrow. I'll be bringing Nash and Rian of course but I was wondering if you could take care of Lisa and Josh for me Alex. We won't be gone long maybe 3-5 days, a week at most. Your dad just needs to do some business there, that's all."

"But mom, I'm not even 18 yet. Isn't that illegal or something?"

"Oh hush up. I hired a nanny to stay at night so technically, it isn't. You just need to take care of Lisa and Josh during the day. Plus school hasn't even started yet so no need to worry. You could cook or order take out. But I prefer you cooking so it's healthier."

"Ok. You guys are leaving early tomorrow morning then?"

"Yup." She said with a big grin then opened a pack of chocolate chip cookies and started dipping them in the glass of milk she had brought out.

I checked the watch in the hall and saw that it was only 9 am. I wrapped up and headed out after telling my mom I'll be walking around town.

Old Brooke wasn't a very big place but it was beautiful. We had one neighbor on this street and boy was their house huge. Ok it wasn't a house. It was a mansion. There was a long driveway with some expensive looking cars. Their mailbox said "Anderson". Cool. I wondered if I'll ever meet them.

I started walking until I got to the heart of the town. Wow. Everyone was so nice here. Random people who passed by me gave me a warm smile and said hello. I think I might like it here.

I bought myself a cappuccino and headed for the park. And no I did not find it on my own. I followed the signs leading to the park. This place is very new-people friendly.

I went around the park and I saw a little space near the lake. It was hidden behind a bush. I got there and sat on a rock. Perfect. I can see everything without no one seeing me. Just perfect.

After about half an hour or so, I heard someone near me. I looked at where the sound came from and there stood, a beautiful girl. She had warm brown eyes and shiny black hair. When she registered my presence, she seemed surprised to see me. I am too. After all, this place was pretty hidden and she got here so quietly unlike me who probably scared away all the animals near me, cracking twigs and hitting branches. It looks like she "owns" this place. She looked like she was ready to leave when I gave her a warm, genuine smile and said while stuttering,

"Hey there! Um, hi! I, uh, um, was just sitting here." What the heck? Nice one Alex. Smooth. Real smooth.

The girl didn't say anything. She just stood there staring at me.