Chapter 2

It was an eight hour drive to our new house and by the time we reached the place, the sun had begun to make its way down the horizon and the sky was painted with hues of oranges, and pinks. I'd always loved seeing the sun set. The sight of it brought about a sense of tranquillity and pure bliss. No matter how many times I saw it, it always managed to leave me in awe. I was soon brought out of my train of thoughts when I bumped into someone and almost lost balance but somehow managed to steady myself, which was truly surprising considering my balance was almost always off, before landing on the paved walkway. "Sorry-" "Are you ok-" We uttered simultanously and laughed afterwards. "You're new here." I looked up to the owner of the voice to find a guy. He looked to be in his late teens or early twenties. His chestnut brown hair looked like it had been windswept but that somehow made him look attractive. "What gave that away?" I asked with a smile playing on my lips "the fact that you've never seen me here before or the all too obvious moving truck that's parked outside the house?" He chulked at that,"Great sense of humour I see." he said with a smile still gracing his face. He had quite a nice smile. "I'm Abel by the way," he said as he offered a hand in greeting. "Lyra," I replied, placing my hand in his. "So..." he started off, placing his hands in the pockets of his jeans,"What brought you here?" he asked. "My mum's car," I said to which he gave me an unimpressed look. "I dont know. Just looking for something different I guess." I did't know why I was explaining myself to a total stranger. Perhaps I was too knackered from the move to think properly. "Well then I should inform you that you have chosen the right place for that." He spoke up." It's a small town but everyone here is quite friendly." "Thank you." I smiled at him. "Sure thing. So...I'll see you around then?" he questioned. "Of course since it's a small town. See you around," I replied and he walked away after that and I chose that time to take in the full sight of house. It was about the same size as our former house. "Honey, can you please come help me out with unpacking?" mum called from inside the house. "Who was that?" was the first thing she asked when I entered the house. "Abel. He was just welcoming me to town." "Oh that's nice of him." "Yeah." I replied and just as I was turning my head, I noticed something was sparkling outside the sliding doors that led to the back yard. It was only after I had seen the pool that I noticed that the sparkling was caused by the lights reflecting on the surface of the water in the pool. I walked around it carefully trying to take note of how deep it went but then realised I couldn't fully do that unless entering the pool. "Mum," I called out after I was back in the living. "Yes dear." "Did you know that there's a pool in the backyard?" "Yes. I figured it would be great since the place is hot most of the year." I then realised how silly my question was. Of course she knew. "You still haven't told me why we moved earlier. What was the rush?" I wanted to hear from her mouth. To hear her confirm my suspicions. "Look Lyra, we are here now. This place is definetely better than the last one. Don't you think so?" Right. She wouldn't outright say what it is that made us move. No matter how many times I tried to ask her. She just wouldn't budge. "I think it's a little too early to tell for sure." "I did look up the place and I learned that the people around here are really nice." "If you say so." Hours later, most of the work had been taken care of when we decided to call it quits for the day. We sat at the kitchen counter and had some of the takeaway food that we got from a restuarant on our way here. "I would have gone to say hi to the neighbours but I'm too exhausted to do that so maybe we can do that tomorrow? Wouldn"t want to come off as rude" "Sure," I agreed. After talking with mum for a couple more minutes, I bade her goodnight and made my way to my new room. The walls in my room were painted a pastel lavender and it had an adjoined bathroom with colour identical to the one in bedroom. I had yet to unpack my clothes and the room was mostly filled with boxes of all sizes. I sighed and took my toiletries from the suitcase and went to take the much needed shower. I don't know how long I had been in the shower but when I got out, the bathroom was filled with steam and the tips of my fingers resembled prunes. After dressing up in my flannel pyjama, I crawled in freshly spread out sheets. Although I had slept most of the ride here, it wasn't long before I drifted off to sleep. ********** I woke up to the sound of clattering coming from down the hall probably somewhere between the kitchen and the living room. I tried going back to sleep but to no avail. Groaning loudly, I got out of my very comfortable bed and made my way to the kitchen and found mum trying to place cups and plates in the cabinet. "Morning." I cloaked to mum who was hunched over one of the boxes. "Morning sweety." she responded then looked up at me once she had some plates in hand. "How was your night?" "Good. What are you baking?" I questioned, taking note of how the kitchen smelt like a bakery. "Just some cupcakes. Remember that we are going to introduce ourselves to some of the neighbours." "I didn't forget. I'm just going to have my breakfast then I'll go take a shower." "You better hurry up because the cupcakes are almost ready and I want you to help me out with the icing. After showering and changing into some comfy clothes, I helped mum ice the cupcakes and put them in seperate tupperwares. Soon, we were out the door and making our way to the first house which was adjacent to ours. Mum knocked whilst I stood aside with the tapperware in hand. A minute or so went by and out came a woman who looked like she was somewhere in her sixties. "Hello there," she greeted with a broad smile on her face. "Hey," my mum replied with an even brighter smile, "My name's Clarissa and this is my daughter, Lyra," she motioned with her hand and I gave the woman a tight lipped smile and waved my hand in greeting. "Oh. You must be our new neighbours, my name is Pauline. Please come in," she opened the door wider and motioned with her hand as a welcoming gesture. The door opened up to an open plan kitchen/living area. The ceiling which had open beams were painted white while the ceiling itself was painted a redwood type of colour bringing about a beautiful contrast. A fan hang from the center of the living area. The sofa were a light grey and on top of the love seat was a turquoise throw over strewn across it. A white rug carpeted the hard wood floor in the centre of the living area. The place was all in all, gave off cosy vine. "Please, make yourselves at home," She said and I sat down next to mum on the love seat. "Sorry I almost forgot, we brought this for you," Mum handed over the tapperware that was in my hands. "Oh my. You really shouldn't have," Pauline said but took it after mum assured her that it was no bother. Pauline brought in some cookies and a jar filled with lemonade and placed the tray on the table. "Please help yourselves," she said and soon afterwards, her and mum were deep in conversation about what exactly, I had no idea. I was staring outside the floor to ceiling windows that looked over what appeared to be the backyard and I saw that there was a pool. Upon closer inspection, I realised that there was a slightly obscured figure in the pool. "That's my grandson. He's about the same age as you," Pauline said after she noticed what or more like who I was staring at. I looked at her and was mortified at being caught staring, "You can go ahead and say hi," she added. "It's ok really. I'm sure he doesn't want to disturbed." I assured her. "Dont be silly, he won't mind." "Yes honey. Don't be rude," mum decided to pitch in at the worst time possible. I nodded my head although a bit stiffly and made my way through the sliding doors. I already regretted being here. I awkwardly waited a meter or two from the pool for Pauline's grandson to come out of the water and stared at the pool area. It was adorned with vibrantly coloured flowers here and th- "Who are you and what are you doing here?" came a gruff voice from behind.