I squinted out the car window as Dan drove my mother and me through Springwood. I saw the reflection of my straight brown hair in the window, and fixed it a little bit, sighing. It was moving day, and I was going to see our house for the first time. I didn't even understand why we had to move anyway. I never really got a sufficient answer, either. The first time I asked, Dan snapped at me and told me I can't hold onto the past forever, and sometimes change is good in life.

"This is your new town and home, Amy," my mother pointed out to me, and I rolled my eyes. I had sort of figured that out a long time ago, ma.

"Yeah, so you better wipe that scowl off your face and get used to it. We're not leaving anytime soon," Dan pointed out. My mother turned around from the passenger seat to look at me and nodded in agreement with her boyfriend yet again.

"Whatever," I mumbled inaudibly. I looked out the window and saw a group of kids smoking by a street corner, some even riding on skateboards. Not any different than our old town, I thought. The way my mom and Dan talked about this place made it seem like such a pleasant, happy village. I had yet to feel an ounce of happiness upon inspection of my new surroundings.

"I hope Drake doesn't get lost," my mother said to Dan and he snorted.

"You can relax, Chris. Drake's a smart boy; he knows how to get to the house," Dan replied as he made a left onto a long road.

Ah, Drake. My favorite person in the world. The one person I look up to. The one person I go to for advice. The one person I truly cared for these days. My best friend. My brother. I saw a group of little girls playing jump rope on a front lawn and grinned. Finally, a bit of innocence! So far I had seen nothing but creepers, potheads, and dirt bags crawling all over the streets.

"A smile on your face! It's about time," my mother joked, and my smile was immediately swept off my face. We took a sharp turn onto another road and continued driving. I sighed as I continued staring out the window. The sun had begun setting earlier, and the sky was a nice orangey color. I loved the sky. I always thought it was so beautiful, so wonderful. Its ability to change colors in accordance with the time of day always captivated me. Just nature itself was beautiful. I never told anybody my love of nature, though. I was always afraid they'd call me a hippie or something. They called me a lot of other names, why stop there? I wasn't the most popular girl from where I came from. I had maybe one or two friends, and I wasn't too fond of them either. We turned onto a road called "Elm Street," and came to a stop in front of a cream colored, two story house. The front lawn was clean cut, and a nice green with not a single sign of any dead spots. There was a large oak tree next to the paved driveway that shadowed it, and some flowers planted by the mailbox. I had to admit, this was nicer than our old home. Dan pulled into the driveway abruptly after I had my first glance, and stopped the car.

"What do you think?" my mother beamed.

"It's pretty nice, isn't it?" Dan grinned.

"I think it's beautiful," I smiled, and we all got out of the car. I stood tall, wearing bright jeans and a light green t-shirt. A soft breeze blew my hair slightly, but it felt good. I turned around to glance at the other houses on my street. Everything seemed to be in good order, except for one house. It was a few houses down on the opposite side of the street. The lawn was full of weeds and dead shrubbery with a red tricycle lying on its side in the mass of brown vegetation. There were a few dead trees looming overhead, and the house's siding had moss growing everywhere. The windows were all boarded up tightly, and it just had such a depressing feel to it.

"What's with that house?" I pointed to the vacant building, and my mother and Dan turned their heads.

"Just a vacant house," Dan said. "Ever seen one before?"

"I meant why is it vacant? I'm not stupid," I snapped and Dan twisted his head in my direction quickly.

"I don't like your tone with me-" He began, his face twisting in anger.

"Daniel, it was just a question," My mother interrupted, sighing. Dan sneered at me.

"The mover said something about some crazy family that went nuts in the house or whatever. Unimportant, it's just a house," Dan explained to me as a black car sped up to the house and stopped. I smiled as Drake climbed out of his car and I embraced him quickly. He was wearing a red sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up, blue jeans, and white sneakers.

"I thought you would never get here!" I whispered into his ear.

"Hey, sis," Drake smiled and we let go of each other. He turned and stared at our house. "So this is it, huh? 1422 Elm Street. Not too shabby."

"Check out that house over there," I pointed at the abandoned home.

"Whose house is that?" Drake asked me, and I merely shrugged.

"Dan says it's vacant. Apparently, some family went crazy inside it."

"Ooh, scary," Drake said sarcastically as my mother stepped over to us.

"Come on, you two, let's check the house out."

We entered into the bright foyer and gawked at the beautiful oak staircase facing us. My mother went left and my brother went right while I went straight up the stairs. I reached the top, and made my way down the dim hallway, my shoes thumping on the hardwood flooring. I stopped in front of a white door, the last one in the hallway on the right. I opened it up, and stepped inside the bare room, feeling warm. This is my room, I thought. I began envisioning where my furniture could go; I could put my bed in the corner by the window, my desk on the opposite wall, my-

"How is it?" A voice said suddenly, and I jumped, whirling around. There was nobody there.

"Hello?" I asked cautiously, and stepped out of my room. I turned my head and screamed as Drake jumped out at me and laughed. I playfully smacked him in the arm. "The hell's wrong with you?" I snapped.

"Is everything all right?" My mother asked as she and Dan appeared.

"Yeah. I picked out a room already," I stated, and pointed to it. Drake turned to look at the other three options for his bedroom but Dan stepped in front of the room next to mine.

"This one is ours," he said, and pulled mother close to him and they kissed each other. I always felt uncomfortable when they kissed in front of me. I just didn't like Dan… I never did. Drake didn't like him to much either, but at least pretended to be nice.

"I want this room," Drake said, opening the door to the room opposite mine.

"I guess it's all settled, then," Dan began making his way back towards the staircase. "Hey, you two, I want you to see the pool out back."

"We got a pool?" Drake's face lit up. I frowned. I absolutely hated water. For starters, I wasn't a very good swimmer. I had also witnessed my cousin almost drowning when I was a little kid; I was too young to save him, but thankfully Drake heard the screaming and came to the rescue in time. I followed behind everyone as we all descended the stairs and made our way to the backyard. On our way we crossed through the living room and kitchen. Everything seemed so modern and spacious. I really liked our new house. Dan opened the backdoor and stepped outside and we followed closely behind. My eyes widened at the sight of our yard. The grass was a healthy, dark green color, and there was a stone path leading from the back patio that split into two directions. One led to our in-ground pool (which was currently covered) while the other path led to a beautiful gazebo and garden.

"In about a month or two we can open the pool up," Dan said. He began walking away. "All right, I'm going to go help the movers." The movers apparently arrived shortly after we entered the house.

"So? What do you think of the house?" My mom asked me.

"I…its beautiful," I said, turning to face my mother. "It's like the house of my dreams."