The Hut of Safinel
'Nel!' mom yelled from across the garden. Her voice zapped right up the stairs and into Nel's room.
'What? Gosh!' Nel yelled back, just as he tried to pitch his voice harder and higher, but it cracked sending a sharp voice back down the stairs, through the door, and across the garden back to his mom.
'Nel, we're leaving and I'm seriously not in the mood to start a fight with you right now,' mom says as she plops the last luggage into the car booth. She let out a deep sigh as she presses the palm of her hands into her upper hip, hoping it would ease the pain pushing in like a muscle cramp.
The car was a silver family van that reflected the sunlight's rays straight at Nel's window. Even though the paint had scratched, and the seats were torn and grey, Nel loved the car. It contained too many memories of his childhood and life growing up, maybe even because he had his first day trip with his dad in the same car several years before he passed away.
The car door slammed leaving shudders running along the rims of the windows. Nel stared out of the room window, totally ignoring the car and the packed luggages in it. It was more sunny than usual, while the winds hardly blew.
He looked at himself in the oval mirror, just a meter away from his reflection. Nel had a tall figure, he was neither skinny nor fat, brown eyes, and dark brown hair with a fringe that stopped at his eyebrows.
'Well, I guess this is it for me and this lovely house,' Nel thought as he moved his eyes all over the room. He took his backpack swung it across his right shoulder and stood near the door. Slowly, he pulled open the door and stood there for a few seconds just taking his last glimpse at the room.
'Bye old friend,' he says to his room and closes the door for the last time.
The sun shone brightly at the car porch, heating up all the objects it could reach. Nel walks, head down towards the silver van.
'Come on slow poke!' mom yelled happily to him. Without a word or a smile, he opened the front of the car seat, pushed his backpack in, climbed onto the seat, and slammed the door with a bang.
Mom's smile slowly turned into a frown. 'Nel, mom says gently. 'This could be a great opportunity to start all over again, to get to know new friends and experience new things,' mom says as she stares firmly at Nel, even if his eyes were looking the opposite direction. It seems that when parents want to escape from something they always say the cliché line,' A great opportunity.'
'You know, there's a large field and forestry near our house, you can explore the whole area,' mom says proudly as if their location change was a good idea.
Nel's mom was recently fired from the children's clinic a couple of miles away from where they lived, just after hearing that the doctor's clinic at the new location, Timberland, was hiring nurses, mom could not resist the opportunity.
'Mom!' Nel yells. 'I don't see why we can't live here, just because of you being fired doesn't mean you have to drag me to the countryside.' Nel turned away, looking at the window. Without a word, mom turned the engine on, and started driving down the gravel path.
Quiet.
Just the sound of the air conditioning, and the sound of rocks hitting against the insides of the car.
'Thump,' the sound of Nel's massive luggage hits the wooden floor of his new room.
Nel stood still, right in the middle of the room observing his new surroundings. The room was slightly larger than his old room, the walls were white, a single bed lay under a window. Pretty bare, but good enough.
The house number is 7, across it is a thick forest, nothing more can be seen beyond it. Nel's room faced the back, facing the hills and fields that run endlessly towards the sun.
'Well, at least I'm facing a good view,' Nel sighs as he walked out to the hallway, passed his mom's room and down the stairs. The hall was bright and white, straight ahead of it was the dining room and kitchen. Boxes were piled one on top of another, some spread across the hall like a herd of cows. Particles of dust clog the air, even more visible under the sun's rays. It was just Nel and boxes in the hall.