I stood in the middle of my room for the final time after my parents murder, two weeks later. I felt oddly peaceful as my thoughts raged war against one another. How could you agree with Matt to sell this house? How could you live with yourself to sever the last link you have to keep the memory of your parents alive? They loved you, and you throw away the fruit of their hard work for nothing? I sighed, not knowing how any of this came to be as I forced the voices in my head to fade away into nothingness.
I looked around the barren room around me. Me and Matt had hired a moving company, and the majority of our possessions had already been loaded onto the truck backed into our stoned driveway. A single cardboard box sat by my feet, waiting to be picked up and brought to join the rest. I ignored this fact, and my eyes scanned instead from one wall to the next, the colors alternating between lime green and sky blue. I used to love this room, this house. But after the accident.. I couldn't bare to stay. It was too much to deal with if I continued to live under the same roof where my parents took their last broken breaths.
I bent down to retrieve the final box, and walked out of the home that had simply become a shell of a house for the last time, closing the door behind me.
**********************************************
Seconds turned into minutes, and eventually into hours. We sat beside each other in silence, the moving truck following behind Matt's car. We didn't turn the radio on. We didn't open the windows. The only sound that prevented the shrill ringing of silence was the noise of tires crunching on the dirt road below us as we made our way to our new house.
I sighed, hating the absence of conversation, and turned my attention towards the window instead. Surrounding us on both sides were miles upon miles of trees. Me and Matt had made the decision to relocate to an area not necessarily far from civilization, but simply closer to peace and quiet. Neither of us voiced the question jumping around on our nervous minds that made us desire safety and solitude. Why had our lives been spared? Was this some sick, twisted joke? Would whoever murdered my parents come to finish us off later?
A wave of pain washed over my senses as reality overcame shock. They really were gone. They weren't coming back. They would never be able to see me get married. They would never be able to hold their grand kids in their arms one day. They were gone....Oh, how I wished the symptoms of shock didn't wear off so quickly. I enjoyed the partial serenity it granted during a time of desperation such as this where the pain of recent events sliced open my core and left it bleeding and wounded.
I turned towards my brother, the knuckles of his hands white as he clenched the wheel of his car tightly.
"How much further?" I asked quietly.
"Another ten minutes or so." He replied just as softly.
I nodded, then an idea occurred to me a few minutes later.
"Matt, is this the driveway?"
His expression turned from blank to puzzled.
"I'm not sure.. I suppose so, Brynlee. We are surrounded by a forest, and I doubt anyone else would want to live in an area quite like this.."
Just as the words left his mouth, I noticed a hidden entrance to the right of the road, and wondered if maybe my brother's doubt had reason to be false.
************************************************
We continued forwards until a Tudor style house came into view. Me and Matt had picked this place for it's location, as well as it's beauty and charm. As we stepped out of our car and stood before it in person for the first time, the atmosphere around us felt clean, welcoming, and slightly cottage-like. It was relaxing to smell the scent of pine trees and maples, and to hear the singing of birds nesting nearby.
