Disclaimer: I do NOT own Hollow Kingdom Clare B. Dunkle does.
Synopsis: A young girl moves to England with her family, to a village in a place called Hallow Hill.
Chapter-1 The Move
The car pulls in front of the house, I am sitting in the back surrounded by luggage, with Pinch my miniature pinscher in my lap. He looks out the window and barks.
"Yes" I whisper to him "it doesn't look like much"
"You and that dumb dog better shut the heck up!" my mom screams at me. After she does that my brother Mark takes it upon himself to punish me by trowing a book at me. I don't say anything, it's useless to try and get my dad and especially my mom, to stop Mark from tormenting me. Pinch gives me a little kiss.
We get out of the car and Karen, as she likes me to call her, makes an announcement.
"Ok" she says "Mark and Luke you choose your rooms, Nicole you choose last" here she scowled at me. Thing is I know there are only three bedrooms one bathroom, plus a living room, a kitchen, and an attic. I look up at the old fashioned house and sigh.
"Help your father with the luggage" she orders me.
After two boxes and an old shoe box my dad wanders into the house and leaves me with all the work. Pinch helps by picking up a brush that fell out of the box I am carrying.
"Be careful with that" my mother screeches at me "if you break anything you will sleep out side!"
An hour later I am allowed to "choose" my room, it's either the attic, the sofa, or the kitchen floor. "I don't want to be Cinderella" I think to my self, so I choose the attic which is not that bad. I look up at the slanted sealing and around at the faded wall paper, "It must have been someone else's room before" The room is empty except for some cob webs. I start cleaning fast before my mom calls me to do something for her, and I wind up with my meager belongings in the dusty room. I sneak down stairs to get a broom, and to my surprise actually am able to get back up stairs without someone screaming my name
I soon have the room looking acceptable. I finally talk my dad into helping me drag my bed frame up the stairs piece by piece. But I am left on my own to put it back together again. I open a box to find sheets. Pillows and covers from my old room. I make my bed, then head back down to push my dresser up the stairs on my own. It's hard work, but the dresser is my only piece of furniture that holds clothes. Pinch jumps off the bed after I push the small dresser up against the wall, I open my box of clothes and Pinch starts to help after I pull out the drawers. He grabs a sock and puts it in the bottom drawer.
"Thats a good boy Pinch" I say petting my little dog.
"Stop playing with your dog and get to work!" my mom calls from down the stairs that lead to my room, I look down the stairs to see her standing in the hall at the bottom. The house has two main floors the first has the kitchen, living room, and the bathroom. The second floor has three bedrooms, then the floor above that is the attic.
I finish in my room, I unpack Pinches food and dishes, I place them in a safe place. After I fill up his food and water I head down stairs to fix supper for the others. Peanut butter and jelly, the best one can do after moving from one country to another. I am always made to eat in my room, my mom can't stand the sight of me, I have been told by others that I am very pretty, my mother just laughs.
I lay across my bed reading a old book, about the history of Hallow Hill and hurry to finish my sandwich. I hop up and brush my teeth before my family makes the evening rush to the bathroom. I pull a soft white nightgown on and climb in bed, with Pinch jumping in after me. He snuggles under the covers with me as I fall to sleep.
A/N: This character Nicole is based on my best friend. Her family is really like this, I wrote this story for her. She got me onto the Hollow Kingdom books after she stayed with me in L.A for a month.