I look out my window as our drove down the never ending road. My headphones were in my ears and the volume on my music was turned all the way up. I crossed my arms over my chest and leant my head against the cold surface, tapping my finger to the beat of the song, bobbing my head and humming a little. I close my eyes and take in a deep breath. Moving always sucks.
.
Something huge but plushy hits the back of my head and my eyes shoot open and I turn around to see what hit me. My face was flushed and i ripped the headphones out of my ears.
"Zack! Stop it!" I shout, clenching my fists together. My older 17 year old brother smiled hard in my face, swinging the pillow he had in his hands.
"Mom said to wake you up." He laughs.
"Whatever, dick." I mumble.
"O! Mom, Zoey said a bad word!" My younger 12 year old brother Zane said, trying to get his game system so he could get out the car.
"Shut up twerp." I snap at him.
"Zoey, do me a favor and get Zaria out the car seat." My mom pokes her head through the open door. She looked tired and weak.
I look down at the 6 year old girl, who was looking up at me with her green eyes. I smile and unbuckle her and grab her hand, pulling her out the car.
"That ride was super long." She says while stretching.
"Right." I say, pushing the button of the side of the seat so it would fold and Zack could get out.
"Okay guys! This is the house!" Dad yells to us, he was on the porch and flinging his hands up in the air I guess so we would be amazed.
"Impressive." Zane says, his fingers jotting all over his game system.
"Dummy, you didn't even look at it!" I snap at him.
"Shutup." He snaps back, not looking up at me.
"Hey, hey! Stop fighting you guys and Zane please stop playing your game for a second and get settled in." She places on hand on her hip and one on her forehead, as she grabbed two huge boxes, stacked on-top of another into the house. "Everyone grab as many as you can."
I go to the trunk of the truck and grab two boxes, one of them I knew was mine because Mom drew my name huge in sharpie on the sides.
.
I fold my new t-shirt I got at the mall two days ago before we moved into my draw and close it. I unpacked. All of it. When you live in the middle of nowhere you have a lot of time on your hands. I look around my room. All that was left was the color I wanted my room. A nice peach color.
I walk out into the hall to see who's room was next door to mine. It was Zaria. I peek my head in and see her tiny body reaching into a huge box double her size. She pulled out a pink teddy bear and sat it on her dresser next to other stuffed animals. I remember that bear I got for her on her birthday last year.
"Is right there good?" I hear her say.
I look at her again. Her back was turned to me and she was pointing to the teddy gear she just placed on her dresser.
"Ok." She mumbles, grabbing the bear and placing it on her bed. "Better?"
She smiles and I hear a light thud and come out of Zaria's room and peer down the hall. Nothing seemed out of place, must have been nothing. When I turn back around into Zaria's room she was standing there, looking up at me.
"God!" I grab my chest, feeling my heart thudding against my chest. I laugh. "You scared me."
She laughs and looks around me but not at me. "Sorry." He voice was so scratchy but soft.
I bend down to her level and place my hand on hers and her eyes focus on me. She seemed so spaced out and not herself.
"Zaria...you okay?" I ask.
"I'm fine."
We stand there for a second. "If there somebody behind me?"
"Yeah, it's just Marilyn."
I look puzzled at her. "Who's Marilyn."
She frowns and pulls her hands away from me. "A visitor."
"Zaria-"
Then something crashes and I jump, and look in my room. "What the fuck." I mumble and run to my room and see a that a picture fell off the wall. I walk over to it and get down on my knees, picking up a piece of glass and observing it.
"How'd the picture fall off the wall, and into the middle of the floor?" I pick up the frame and see that glass was cracked over everyone's face in the picture except Zaria. I hear creaks on the wooden floor and look behind me. Zaria was standing there, dragging the pink bear behind her. She wasn't smiling but she wasn't exactly frowning either.
"Everything ok?" Her crackly but soft voice calls.
"Fine." I say, a chill going down my spine.
.
"So how's everyone's first day in the new house?" Dad, says, studying everyone's face at the dinner table.
"I went outside and saw this boy that lived next door." Zane says.
"So you made a new friend?" Mom says, cutting into the steak on her plate.
He nods, his fork stabbing into the macaroni.
"What about you Zack?" Dad asks.
"I uh...I called Jennifer." He says, running his hand through his black curly hair.
"That's nice." Dad says, looking at me.
"What did you do?"
I roll my eyes, drinking down the Sprite mom put in my cup, and then stabbing the macaroni with my fork.
"Well..." Mom asked, wiping her face with the napkin. I look over at Zaria as she pushed her childish fork into the little piece of steak and putting it in her mouth.
"Mommy, I made a new friend today." Zaria said, her eyes looking up at her. She started humming a tune and kicking her legs.
"O really. Who honey?" She asked, reaching for the glass of wine she had.
"Marilyn."
"Where'd you meet her at?" Dad said.
"When we came into the house. She was standing at my window waving to me." She continues humming her song and kicking her legs.
"I didn't see her." Dad said.
"That's because she doesn't want you to see her." She says, still humming and kicking her legs.
"Zaria, she's imaginary. She's not real." Zane says, rolling his eyes.
I keep my eyes on the steak.
Zaria's humming and kicking suddenly stops and her eyes flick up Zane. It was almost like a mew side of her appeared. She looked like she wanted to hop across the table and bite Zane's head off. "Yes she is."
"No. She's not."
"Stop it, Zane. She's not going to like you talking bad about her." Zaria says, whimpering and then her mood changes to happy and she starts to hum again and kick her legs.
"I'm not hungry." I stand and get really dizzy, rushing off to my room and sitting on my bed, looking over at the now crushed picture of me and my family.