Snowfall

Chapter 2

"Here we are. Home sweet home." John says, pulling into the drive way.

We get out of the car and John heads to the trunk to take my bags.

"John can get your bags, come on. The kids are so excited to meet you!" Emily ushers me into the house. The front door's red and as we cross the threshold I'm greeted with shouts of excitement.

"Welcome home, Rose!!!!" I'm tackled by a blonde little girl in jeans and a green top so long it looks like a dress.

"This is Sophie, she's our youngest. And as you can tell she's very happy you're here!" Emily giggles, picking the little girl up.

"It's nice to meet you Sophie." I say giving her a smile.

"Hi, I'm Jamie. I'm nine and a half!" A brown haired boy, Jamie, beams. He's wearing jeans, and a blue t-shirt.

"Hi!" I giggle as he hops down the stairs and trips on colorful streamers. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, it takes more than that to hurt me!" He replies jumping up energetically.

"Wow, this looks awesome! Did you two do this all by yourselves?" I ask. There are colorful streamers strung all the way down the stair railing and rainbow confetti all over the floor.

The main focus is the giant sign hung over the railing with the words 'WELCOME TO BURGESS' written in a mixture of paint, crayons and markers. There's brightly coloured glitter and paints all over it with a few cute animal stickers scattered around the words. I can see that Sophie did everything she could to help out.

"Aw, that's so sweet of you guys. It's beautiful!" Emily says, hugging Sophie and giving Jamie a kiss on the head. "John, come see what the kids made to welcome Rose!"

"Oh wow! Look at all those colours! Good job buddy!" John exclaims giving Jamie a high five. "Hey, while your mom and I clean up down here, why don't you and Sophes show Rose up to her room?"

"Sure! It's right up here!" Jamie gestures upstairs before running up. Sophie jumps out of her mom's arms and runs after him.

"Be careful! Not too fast!" Emily yells upstairs laughing "Go on up, I'm sure you're exhausted from your trip. We'll clean up down here."

"Ok.." I say, awkwardly making my way up the stairs after the two kids. While I walk up the stairs I realize that I should have offered to help clean up. "Well, what a great first impression, Rose.." I mumble to myself.

As I reach the top of the stairs, I'm not sure which way to go. There's a corridor leading in both directions with four doors. As I start towards the door closest to me, Jamie suddenly calls out.

"Oh, no. Not that one." He appears out of nowhere and steers me right.

"That's my parents room, this is Sophie's room," he lowers his voice to a whisper "she needs more attention from my parents since she's little."

I nod in understanding, a small smile playing on my lips.

"This is my room, and this" he gestures to the room on the opposite side of the corridor to his parents' room "is your room."

The walls are powder blue with small snowflakes painted on them. There's a very comfortable looking double bed in the middle of the room covered in a white comforter with a snowflake pattern sewn into the fabric using silver ribbon and matching pillows.

The curtains are white with a thick fabric behind them to keep the sunlight out, and there's a small bay window next to the bed, opposite the door. It has deep blue cushions and a wooden base painted white.

On the wall facing the bed are white floating shelves above an oak desk also painted white with an extra shelf for files, drawers, and anything extra I may need.
The light wooden floor is covered with a fluffy, ice blue rug placed under the bed.

Finally, next to the bed is a white bedside table with a lamp. The lampshade has little circle cut outs around the shade.

I'm speechless. This is the room I've always dreamed of. From the blue and white colour scheme, all the way down to all the snowflake detailing and the bay window! I'm speechless as I gaze around the beautifully decorated room, mouth propped open like a fish out of water.

"Do you like it?" Jamie asks "The papers the university sent us said you liked snow and that your favorite colours were blue and white, so I helped decorate."

"It's.." I couldn't find any words "it's amazing! Thank you! You did a wonderful job! I love it!" I break out into an instant smile.

"Snow! Snow! Snow!" Sophie yells, jumping in circles around the room. She gasps suddenly "Jack!" She yells before searching around the room and through the windows.

"Who's Jack?" I ask, still smiling.

"Oh, she means Jack Frost. Sophe, you know Jack only comes in winter. He has important guardian stuff to do." Jamie said trying to catch Sophie.

"Jack Frost?" I ask, feeling a sudden pitfall in my stomach.

"Bunny, hop hop!!" Sophie starts yelling as she takes my hand and hops around the room.

The thought leaves and I start running around playing with her and Jamie. Hopping around and listening to Jamie's stories about his friends at school.

As it gets darker outside we switch on the bedside lamp and the room fills with the light. Small lights dance around the room like snowfall. I pause, stunned at how amazing it all looks. They really do know how to decorate!

"So, do you like your room?" John asks as he and Emily stand by the door.

"Jamie made it his personal mission to make sure it looked perfect, and Sophie helped pick out a bunch of the stuff." Emily adds.

"Yes, it's amazing! Thank you so much! You really didn't have to go through all this trouble." I beam.

"Well, we wanted to make you feel more at home. It's not easy to fly half way across the world alone to a place you've never been before." Emily says with a smile.

"Not to mention being without your parents for the first time and not knowing anyone." John adds.

I give them a smile "Thank you, I really do love it."

"It was no problem. Now, let's get these two little munchkins ready for bed!" Emily exclaims as her and John playfully chase Sophie and Jamie around the room, through the corridor and into Jamie's bedroom.

I hadn't noticed, but somehow in the middle of all the playing around, my bags were brought into the room.

"We'll give you some time to unpack." Emily winks before closing the door.

This is definitely going to be an interesting couple of years. I think with a smile. They seem nice, and this room is the stuff of dreams!

After unpacking I say goodnight to John and Emily, Sophie's asleep but I whisper a quiet goodnight to Jamie who pretends to sleep while actually reading a book under his covers with a flashlight. 'Been there' I think laughing.

I change into my pajamas, a shirt and pajama shorts, and get into bed. It's so soft! I feel like I'm laying in a cloud.

I slowly drift off to sleep, but I still have an anxious feeling in my stomach. It's weird sleeping in someone's house when you've barely known them five hours..

The plane rides must have really tired me out, because suddenly I'm out like a light.