"Why do we have to keep moving?" I whined to my crazy mother. Once again I'm the new girl at some school where everyone already has their friends and everyone know each other. We used to live somewhere in Brawl City now we're moving to a town far away called SmashVille. It's bad enough having to move all over the world with your mom but having an older brother come along with you needing to use the rest stop every 45 minutes? No way! Plus, I barely had enough time to pack since my mom said we had only twenty minutes to get in the car.
" Don't worry, Zel. I'm sure you're going to make a bunch of new friends in your school." Mom said reassuringly. I doubt it. Who's gonna be friends with a girl who's mom is the town's drunk?
" Yeah, Zel, the nerds always have room for friends." My brother Link teased. I gave him a hard shove for that. Sometimes he gets on my nerves so much I feel like throwing him out of the car!
" Hey, no fighting in the car." My mother scolded. Whatever. I looked out the car window. Trees. Trees. Trees. And a lake. Nothing out here, but nature. My brother loves nature, he knows every single bug and animal that roams the forest. It's amusing hearing him go on about the different kind of things that climbs up trees and hides under rocks. He had his ear buds in his pointy ears that was connected to his iPod. He was humming along to a song from Eminem. I forgot my iPod back at our old house. Damn…
" Here we are!" My mom said blissfully as she swerved to a parking lot next to a huge house. Can't believe we actually survived a car ride with mom. But the house. It's more like a creep's paradise than a house! The place was dark and the roof was covered with dust and cobwebs. The trees around the house were black and twisted. The steps that lead to the front entrance were broken and bent. The dead grass looked like no one even bothered to mow it in years! My brother just stared at the house in awe, jaw wide open. He ran his fingers through his blond hair. That's what he always does when he can't believe something is happening.
" Okay, I admit it does look a little bent out of shape but I'm sure with some old fashion labor we can fix it!" My mom said confidentially. She's acting like this is no big deal. At first I was destined to be a freak…now I'm a freak with a haunted house. Can life get any worse? Link's mouth was still wide opened. I closed it for him.
" Don't want to have a fly get in there." I said as I jumped out of the red car. I always envied Link because he could make friends so easily. He had a bunch of friends at our old school. I need time to actually get to know the person. When do you know if someone's your friend? After you start hanging out with them more than three times? Link opened the trunk I handed me my purple luggage bag and my red leather purse filled with all my dearest things.
"Do you need help?" Link asked gently. He took out mom's three luggage, like it was no big deal, not noticing I was kind of struggling with my one luggage.
" No. It's fine. I got it." I told him not wanting him to help me like I was weak or something. If you put Link and I together you would never guess that we are actually siblings. He has blond hair, I have brown. He's outgoing, active, and (of course)is really popular. He has those looks that girls love, I have nothing but a really bad blister that bubbled up on my right foot on the car ride here. My mom says my hair reminds her of the drink she loves to drink. Great, that's just what I need. Hair color that looks like a drug. I dragged my luggage up the steps and pushed the old, weary door. It didn't budge. Great, I can't even get into my own house? Who ever heard of the door not opening on moving day?
"You gotta twist the knob, Zel!" Link yelled from the car. I turned the knob and the door opened with a creek. I am so stupid. Thick, musty air flew out of the doorway and hit my unexpected face. Yuck. I entered the old house. The place looked like a spook's palace! The floors, you could barely tell since there was an inch thick of dust covering it, was made of dark red marble. The walls were colored with royal blue paint and it was covered with pictures of past lives, families and friends. There was a brown grandfather clock next to the enormous spiral stairs. Wow. Those stairs go so high up I can't even see the top! I dragged the luggages up the many dirty stairs. Every time I went up a step the purple luggage would bang against my leg. Bang! I wonder how long we'll be staying here before we have to move again. Bang! Will I even make any friends or am going to be the social reject sitting by herself at the cafeteria? Bang! Link will surely make friends there's never a time when someone isn't talking to him. Bang! Bang! Bang! How many steps are there? Ugh. When I finally reached the top I was greeted with a long, lonely dark hallway. Suddenly, I heard a long horrific scream coming downstairs. Link! I scrambled down the stairs. When I stopped at the bottom of the stairs, panting, I gave out a terrified shriek at the top of my lungs. Right there, lying motionless on the middle of the floor was Link.