The Three Kings

Chapter 13

"He was unexpected.
I truly did not expect him
Or his effect on me,
My heart,
My mind,
My feelings.
He was the calming sound
Of the light, putter-patter of drizzle
On an April Sunday morning
In my brutal destructive hurricane"

________
Hanna
________

It was empty.

The only things left to occupy the empty room was the bed, the mattress, and the bookshelves. But, they too, were empty. All the books were gone and packed into boxes. And only a few of the boxes remained, no one had come to gather them yet.

It was back to being the bare room that it once was. Six years ago I arrived and filled it with things. Some were random little trinkets, some were books--I packed lots of books into this room--others were photos and pictures and stuff from my new friends and newfound family. It became my room.

Now there was nothing.

Now it was empty.

There wasn't a thing here to signified that I had lived in it, slept on it, grew up in it. There was nothing to show that this had been my room for the past six years, except a few lone boxes that were filled with my stuff.

I walked around, reminiscing on the moments that happened here. Moments with Julia. Moments with Sam. Moments with Jordan. Moments with Alpha John and Luna Caroline. Moments that changed my life. Moments that made me sad, moments that made me angry, and moments that made me happy.

This was the first place that felt like home after them---after him. How could anywhere else feel like home? This was where my family, how could I leave my family?

Again, I started contemplating whether I was making the right decision. I would be moving to a new, unknown, and unfamiliar place, with people I hardly knew and trying to start a life with them. Would they ever feel like family? Would they even be home? Would I ever come to care--or even love them? Or was I destined to spend the rest of my life in a loveless relationship with beings that were supposed to be my soulmates?

Was I making a mistake? Would I come to regret this?

I tried to shake those nasty thoughts from my head. My decision was made. There is no turning back now. Everything was already packed in boxes and loaded into the back of a truck. My life was no longer here. This room was no longer mine. This house was no longer my home.

But I still couldn't shake the thought that I was going to regret this.

A knock came at my door, drawing me away from any more thoughts. King Alexander stood in the doorway, looking about the room before turning his attention to me.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked, his eyes move from me, and locked on to the few remaining boxes. "Has no one come up to collect those?"

I shook my head.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'll send someone up to grab them. Goddess, the amount of incompetence...." he trailed off, clearly vexed. "Are you ready to leave, Hanna?"

"Yeah, but I can I have a minute?"

"Of course. I'll be downstairs waiting."

I watched him go and I was back to being alone in a room that no longer seemed like it was my own. And it wasn't, not anymore at least. It was a bare and hollow room, that at one point--for six years--had been mine.

Taking a couple of deep breathes, I worked to prepare myself for what was about to come. Preparing myself for the new life I would be leading, the new home, and the different people. I needed this time to prepare myself for the change that was inevitably coming. And whether it was a change for the better or worse, I didn't know, but I hoped it was for the better.