SCREECH. A dark blue mini van came to sudden halt in front of a small house in Gravity Falls, Oregon. Out of the left passenger door stumbled a teenage girl. She held her blonde hair back and, just missing the car, vomited on to the asphalt.
"Damn motion sickness." She muttered under her breath.
"You ok Caitlin?" her sister asked, leaning out the car.
"Yeah," Caitlin replied. "Much better."
Caitlin and her three sisters, Hannah and the twins Megan and Jessica, where being dropped of at there great aunt Sue's house for the summer. Hannah and their dad had popped open the trunk, and were starting to pull luggage out, placing it on the ground. Megan and Jessica were hugging their mom, crying.
"Why can't you stay with us?" Megan asked in between sobs.
"You know why," their mother replied. "Your father and I can't miss that much work. We'll come pick you up at the end of the summer."
Caitlin though, was looking forward to a summer away from home. It seemed like ever since the twins were born their family hadn't gone on any vacations. Her parents had enough trouble supporting the family. She was hoping to meet some kids her age. It would be better than staying home and baby-sitting her younger sisters all summer.
The sisters grabbed their bags and started to walk up the driveway to their great aunt's house. Jessica ran ahead to ring the doorbell and they all waited a minute before the door was opened. The woman standing at the door had gray hair up in a bun, was wearing a pink dress, and had a lazy left eye. None of the girls had met their great aunt before.
"Hi Auntie Sue!" the twins cried in unison.
Their aunt smiled and invited them in. The entire family entered, except Caitlin, who stood in the doorway looking into the house. It smelt of fresh baked cookies and dust, but the interior was covered in cat hair. Caitlin stepped in and sneezed, staring at the three cats lying on the couch. She walked up to her mom.
"She has cats." Caitlin hissed, before sneezing again.
"You'll be fine." Her mom replied.
Caitlin sighed and her mom gave her a don't complain look. She folded her arms only to sneeze again.
"So," her aunt said. "I'll show you four to the guest room so you can unpack."
The sisters followed their aunt down the hallway to the spare room, Caitlin running her hand along the blank walls. Their aunt Sue tapped on a door as they walked past it.
"This is the bathroom." She said. She walked up to another and opened it. "And this will be your room. Sorry you all have to share. I only have the one extra bedroom."
The room the amazingly small. There was a full and a twin bed, along with a blow up mattress at the foot of the full. Caitlin was relieved to have brought her sleeping bag with her, knowing she would end up on the blow up. And as she expected, the twins rushed to the full and Hannah to the twin. She sighed as she dropped her duffel bag and sleeping bag on the mattress walking over to the twins, grabbing two pillows from their bed.
Caitlin walked back out into the front room, listening to her parents talk with her great aunt.
"Are you sure you'll be ok Susan?" Caitlin heard her mom ask.
"Of course Laura. I'm fine." Sue replied. "You two should be leaving though, it's a long drive home."
"Ok. Girls were leaving. Come say goodbye." Her mom yelled.
Her sisters ran past her almost knocking her over. Caitlin fell into the wall watching her sisters hug her parents goodbye.
"We'll see you at the end of the summer." Their dad said.
A few minutes of hugs and goodbyes later her parents were in the in the car, waving to their daughters as they drove away.
The four siblings walked back to their room to finish unpacking while their aunt started making diner. The girls took their close out of their suitcases and placed them in the drawers under the beds. Once they were done unpacking, they put their empty bags in the closet. Caitlin finally took off the red backpack she had been carrying since they got there. She unrolled her sleeping bag and lied down on the mattress to take a nap before dinner.
When she woke up, Caitlin was over whelmed by the smell of homemade lasagna. She walked into the front room where her sisters were playing a board game as their aunt took the lasagna out of the oven. She walked into the kitchen over to her aunt.
"That is vegetarian, right?" Caitlin asked.
"Yes," her aunt replied. "Your parents told me."
That night at dinner their great aunt asked them about school and friends, Caitlin's sister happy to make conversation. Caitlin herself preferred to stay quiet only answering questions when directly asked.
"While I'm at work tomorrow, you four should go visit the Mystery Shack. Mr. Pines has a great nephew and a great niece visiting who are about your age Caitlin." Aunt Sue said.
"Cool" Caitlin said. This should be a fun summer.