The mafia's bride (On Hold)

Chapter one: The new girl in town

"That should be the last one right?" My mom asks as the movers are loading up their trunks and bringing in the last piece of furniture. I stand next to my little sister Ellie on the sidewalk leading to the house and smile. The place doesn't look half bad actually. In a way it kind of reminds me of a 200 year old mansion. The yard was already firmly cut when my dad fell in love with the house. The plants growing below the left window blossomed over time since we found the house online.

I circle around Ellie and take a better look at the house. The windows are sparkly clean and I can see my reflection through them. The upper scale of the house gave it a bit of character too. Vines reach half-way towards the second floor window, yet somehow made this grassy ladder with a few roses growing from the outside of the vines. To the side of the house was a cherry blossom tree, branches nearly touching the window as well. But the whole thing was made from solid rock. I tap the bricked decor of the house and move towards our 3-step front porch with a transparent door. On the actually door itself are imprinted decorations of two roses intersecting each other through the middle.

"I can't believe you're in love with this stupid house, Pryor," my sister says in a snotty way  and pushes me out of the way. I sigh deeply and continue to stare at the house. Ellie didn't want to leave home. Actually she used to be more obedient and a little more considerate of her older sister. But then she turned into a living nightmare. The brat takes one tiny look at the new house and the whole world turns upside down.

 She dropped the bomb on my dad about going home. Our real home. But seriously choosing to move isn't going to haunt us for the rest of our lives right? Sure the movers were behind schedule with our things, and it isn't the most perfect day to be standing outside the house waiting for their trunk to make a turn into our new neighborhood but still, I swear to god, she's adopted.

But I know there's more to this than meets the eye. Whether Ellie believes me or not, the move could actually be a positive thing. Something good can come out of this, I just know it. What exactly, I don't really want to find out. It's supposed to be more of a surprise if I've been watching my shows correctly. Inside, the house smells new like we just walked into a fancy ass hotel or something.

The hallway opens up to the small dinning room to my left. Our white chairs and cherry wood table had already been placed in their correct spot and the windows behind the chair facing in front were opened letting in the cold air. I dig down for my phone in my back pocket and snap a few pictures to send to my old friends back in California. Charlotte doesn't seem like a bad place. Considering it's the largest city in North Carolina I hope there isn't going to be any downsides to living here. Except leaving my old friends and this cute boy who would have become my boyfriend. Hopefully my new friends don't think little of me because of my outfits. Unlike Ellie, I'm not all about standing out in a crowd. I like to play it safe and not attract so much attention to myself. What ever planet my sister comes from, it ain't from earth that's for sure.

Suddenly small but steady footsteps begin to shudder around me. A dark shadow appears from behind  and I feel a knot twisting inside my chest. I would have screamed too if the shadow doesn't look like it's carrying some heavy boxes. I scowl and turn to see my dad navigating through the halls, not even looking where he's going.  I'm guessing he got dropped on his head when he was a baby.

"Um dad do you want some help with those?" I offer, trying to hold back my laughter behind my pity for him. He turns his head and his square shaped glasses begin sliding down from his face. "No thanks, sweetie I got it. How bout helping your mom in the backyard. That woman's got plans for styling this house already."

I give him a thumb's up and move towards the front door and around back. The more I walk, the darker it seems to be. The colorful shade of blue from the sky falls back under darken gray clouds along with a powerful odor. Probably from the plantation a few blocks behind the trees in the yard. Mom says that the odor is going to tough to ignore especially if she wants gardeners to start working on the yard as soon as possible. I'm not as concerned as I am for the dark. Everyone knows that by now.  I was scared of the dark just like most kids when they were little, why should I stand out?

There are millions of trees behind us with a fence that lines all the way down our part of the yard. Mom is studying the texture of the crooked fence but at the same time she looks back at the opened space we have available. "What do you think, sweetheart?" She asks me when I walk up beside her. I slide in another gulp and gaze into the dark clouds above us. "Dark and creepy," I mutter as she rolls her eyes at me.  She bends down to her knees and touches the grass. Don't ask why but she does it to tell how good the soil's been since we found the house. "Hmm wow, the soil's really coming together. I'm guessing it's been raining a lot here. Pryor don't forget to bring your umbrella with you to the bus stop, okay?"

I do the same without thinking the downside of mom's strategy. "Mom I think we should take those trees down. They.....kinda of give me the creeps." Mom lowers her eyes at me. "Pryor don't tell me you're still watching those ghost and horror shows. I told you those programs can mess with your mind, baby." I nod my head in agreement (on her account) and look at the small pond over the fence. No doubt it is polluted and it smells like filth but some ponds are like that. "By the way did you print out the paper work for your school tomorrow. If not then you better pray your father has the computer up and running in the study." With her back arched straight and her eyes beaming at me and the surrounding space, that alerts me to leave, now. Not that mom's scary or anything, it's just that I feel like a demon has possessed her soul or something like that.

Back inside, Dad gets a bunch of work done. Boxes are already crowding the front door yeah, but the furniture for the living room are already in place, nice and neatly. The bathroom and the bedrooms upstairs are organized as well. "Dad is the study ready?" I holler from below the steps. Ellie moves into the dimmed hallway with her phone in hand and her pink hair cutting through the middle of her face. "Dad's in the basement and by the way, the computer's not working. You have a laptop don't you?" She asked stating the obvious. Some day I'm going to strangle that little brat if it's the last thing I ever do!