Chapter One
New House, New Adventures
"Sam? Sam… SAMUEL!" bellowed a voice.
Sam woke up with a jolt.
"Yes mother?" he said sleepily.
"We're here sleepy-head," she said.
Eighteen year old Samuel Archibald Mordecai Forge sat up and rubbed his eyes. Once his eyes adjusted, he looked at the house next to him. It was an old mansion from pre-Civil War era. It was mainly white, but there was evidence of another color. As Sam scrutinized the house, a slate from the roof fell and broke against the cobblestone pathway.
"You sure know how to pick them mom," Sam groaned.
"Oh, don't be like that, this will be fun," her green eyes lit up.
Sam's own steel grey eyes reflected nothing but boredom. He put in his headphones and started to unpack their white Nissan pathfinder. He put on his backpack and grabbed his duffle bag. He put them on the front porch and went back to the truck. Margret, Sam's mother, fumbled with the large ring of keys and opened the door. Sam ferried the luggage into the house from the car. He closed and locked the truck and went inside. He looked at the interior and noted the smells: moldy, mildew, and rotten wood.
"Hey mom, where's my room?" he called into the abyss.
"Upstairs, third door on the right," she called from somewhere in the house.
Sam picked up his bags and proceeded to his room. Once there, he dropped his luggage and studied his room. It was very large, but still felt like a prison. The walls had peeling sky blue wallpaper and some paint of an undistinguishable color was chipping. There were three windows on the side facing the front lawn. A walk-in closet was on the other side. The room itself wasn't very furnished: it had a desk, full-length mirror, a bed frame and a dresser. Sam opened the closet and was attacked by a thick wall of dust. Coughing, he opened two of the windows and waited for the dust to fly out. As the dust went away, Sam looked at the setting sun. He looked back at his room and saw a picture on the far wall. Looking at it closer, Sam saw a girl and a boy on the beach. The picture looked fairly recent, probably a year old. Sam took off the picture and looked at the back. It said,
Calypso and Joshua
Week 3
Sam looked back at the picture. The girl looked young and pretty, about in her late teens. She was wearing a yellow sundress with orange flowers. The guy was wearing a black t-shirt and some plain blue jeans. They looked happy enough. Sam folded and put the picture in his back pocket. Then his mother called from the depths of downstairs.
"Samuel, come downstairs and help me clean," she said.
"Coming mom," Sam answered.
Sam looked back at his room.
Could be worse… he thought.