Chapter 3

Melissa's POV

05-08-2007

"I'm through packing mum. When are we leaving?" I shout through my door waiting for my mum's response. I looked around my now empty room, I wasn’t sure what emotions I was feeling but it was overwhelming to see the room that was always decorated now packed away.

"By 8:30 a.m.! Make sure Barbie is also ready. I’m not going to turn around because someone left something here." My mum shouted back out from the kitchen. She was currently working on telling the movers where to what box in the van.

"Okay mum!" I shout back, picking up the last box that was in my now very hollow room. I look one last time before closing the door behind me.

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California

"Oh my god! Is that our new house?" I asked, my eyes glued to one of the most beautiful houses I have ever seen in my life. The house was bigger than our last one with the outside being a soft grey and the windows littering the front. It felt like a mansion being three stories tall, but I knew it was probably smaller than an actual mansion. The yard was trimmed and colorful flowers followed the front of the house. I bounced in my seat as I desperately want to get out of this car and into that house. I needed to explore it, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"No darling, that's not ours. That's for our new neighbors. Here this is ours." My mum said, shattering my self constructed illusion as she pointed out of the car window what was our house.

I turned only to see a small duplex. It was painted white with touches of grey, which were much darker than the previous house. The roof looked like it was sinking in, the front door looked old and the paint looked to be a very off white color. I imagine it was from all the dirt that had never been cleaned off of it. The house had a very abandoned look to it, I guess that's why my mum described it as rustic.

"Shit!" I blurted.

I opened the door stepping out of the car. The house wasn't, exactly, what I wanted but it was bigger than our previous one. At least we had that much. I just hoped the neighborhood was just as good as my mum described it to be.

My mum and sister follow my actions, stepping out of the car and following closely behind me. We headed for the door but we were stopped by a slim petite lady. She was wearing a white dress that was knee length. Her red hair band, which held back her curly brown hair, matched the flats she was wearing. She looked beautiful and youthful.

The mystery woman stopped in front of us with a smile. I stepped behind my mum, not used to the sudden friendliness of the stranger.

"Hi there. My name is Stacey. You must be the new neighbors." Stacey beamed at us as she looked us once over.

"Yes, we just arrived. It’s so nice to meet you Stacey, I'm Martha." Mum replied politely.

"Nice to meet you. I'm the housekeeper at Thompson's. They are your neighbors over here." She said while pointing to the mansion I had been eyeing previously.

“You’ve been the talk of the town since we saw that someone took the house here.” She spoke kindly to us.

"Really? I’m glad that everyone seems excited by our move.” My mum returned Stacey’s smile. “Once you’ve settled, they’ll come by to say hello.” Stacey says. My mum nods and we watch as she walks back to what is now known as the Thompsons’ house.

"She seemed like a nice lady." My mum commented, as she waved at Stacey who entered the home next to us, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I just hope it continues this way." I said in a much lower tone.

"What did you say?" My mum turned her head to me as I still stood behind her.

“Mhm, oh nothing she just seems nice" I lied. Mum wouldn't understand even if I told her. From all the movies I watched the neighbor always turned out to be the killers. But Stacey seemed nice enough, she wasn’t going to suddenly turn into a killer. I looked back at the house as my mum moved away from me.

"Mum! Mum! I need to pee." Barbie whined.

"Alright, right this way young lady." Mum gestured to the home. Barbie and mum briskly walked into the home.

My suspicious thinking made me forget about Barbie who stood next to mum during the conversation. I shook my head, hoping the movies were just movies and followed them inside of the house.

I expected the inside to be as run down as the outward appearance of the home, but as I walked through the entryway I was pleasantly surprised. The walls were painted a soft pink, giving a warmth as the windows allowed for the sun to shine through reflecting on the walls. Our belongings had arrived before us, boxes littered the place going in the rooms they were marked for. The furniture that was new waited for us to move them into the correct place. This made the place feel like ours, I couldn’t wait to unpack and make the place cozier than it already was.

Since mum had to quickly find us a place and decided to buy this place as soon as she found it, I was doubtful it would be as wonderful as this place was. The outside needed some work, but the inside made up for it.

"Lissa! Lissa! What are you thinking about?" Mum said emerging from somewhere in the house, interrupting my curious gaze around our new home.

"I was just admiring the house." I looked over to her giving her an approving look.

"Isn't it nice? I knew it was the one once the agent showed me pictures of the inside." My mum gloated, please with herself.

"Yeah" I replied smiling.

"Where are the items from the car?" I was still shocked from the interior. I didn’t quite understand what my mum asked.

"Lissa!" My mum gave me a questioning look.

"They should still be in the car." I replied back. I thought it was quite obvious.

"What! How could you leave it outside alone. What if it gets stolen?" My mom asked.

"It should be fine. It’s not like we’re in Florida anymore." I shrug, there were several boxes and I didn’t understand why I had to go get them.

"You should still be on the careful side. We’re new, people could think it’s just junk some left.” She was right, maybe some of the neighbors didn’t know we arrived and thought it was just for the taking.

"But didn’t you say this neighborhood was safe? I mean the care should be locked.” I looked back at her.

"I know but never judge a book by its cover. Okay? I left it unlocked so you could start unloading the last of our things." She turned back to find whatever room she needed to be in.

I don't know how that even relates so instead of replying, I just gave her a slight nod which wasn't satisfying. She looked back at me with a glare.

"Yes mum. I understand." I explained.

"Good! Now go out there and wait for me" Then I turned around to leave the house.

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"I'm cold!" Barbie said for the third time.

"How can you be cold? I turn on the heater because you were complaining. Now it feels like a sauna!" I roll my eyes as I look at my sister who was being ridiculous.

"But I'm still cold!" Barbie argued back.

"Jesus Christ! Barbie this is summer. How are you cold?" I shouted.

"I don't know." She shrugged as she hugged herself.

“Then you must be sick." I get up from my spot on the couch to feel my sister’s head. “You have a fever, go to bed.”

"No! I need to finish the movie first." She moved her head to look at the screen. We had almost finished unpacking when we decided to take a break. Barbie wanted to start a movie she had been dying to watch.

"But you have a fever. You need to rest." I push back as I move to stand in the way of her watching the movie.

"But I want to finish the movie. Mum is letting us stay up till midnight! She never let us do that. Let me finish.” Barbie pleaded trying to give me her famous puppy dog eyes.

"You were complaining that it was cold. Now we know why and if I let you stay up mum will kill me." I stand my ground.

"Fine.” Barbie huffed as she knew she lost the argument. I walked her upstairs to her room and made sure she was in bed before rushing downstairs.

With Barbie now in bed I was allowed to watch whatever movies I watched, even rated R movies. Mum had gone to bed at ten, leaving Barbie and I to our own devices. I gleefully sat on the couch wondering what movie I should watch. I could stay up as late as I wanted since I was 17 and mum didn’t care too much about what I did.

I found the remote and turned through the channels, finally settling on one of the more adult channels. It was a more mature movie with some more sexual scenes. I hugged a pillow to my chest as I was absorbed into the movie. Slowly as the movie went on, I drifted off to sleep.

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"Lissa! Lissa! What are you doing?" A familiar voice said. I lazily rolled my head and opened my eyes to see my mum staring down at me.

I pretended to be confused as to where I was. “Mum what are you doing here?”

"Lissa? What were you watching? Didn’t we agree midnight you’d go to sleep?” Mum continued to question me even though I had just awoken. I was surprised to see my mum so invested into my activities.

"Mum? Why are you in my room?" I asked, continuing my innocent act.

"You’re on the couch. What were you watching last night?" Mum pushed, not moving from her spot.

"After Barbie went to bed I left it on the same channel. I think it was something about a fairytale.” I rubbed my eyes as I sat up.

"Really? Then why did I see it on one of the adult channels? Melissa you know full well you are not supposed to watch those channels." She growled.

"I didn't turn it on to one of the adult channels. Maybe when I fell asleep I accidentally pressed a button on the remote that changed the channel." I lied.

"I think we both know that’s not true. Doesn’t matter if you want to tell the truth, you’re grounded for 2 days.” She crossed her arms as she watched my mouth drop.

Who still grounds their 17 year old daughter? I thought we were done with the petty punishments.

"So, go get ready, you need to go make friends. We’ve finished unpacking and you need to go meet people." She said before turning and going back to her room.

I sighed without saying a word and headed to my room. When I entered my room I made sure to slam the door for my mum to hear.

"Don't make it a week!" I heard through the door.

I rolled my eyes, really a week, was she going to threaten me like that? I looked over to my side table and saw it was 3 in the morning.

Did she have to wake me up for that? I thought about pulling my covers back before settling into my new bed going back to sleep.