It was a bright and sunny day in the suburbs. The sun was shining through the clouds, the birds were chirping in the trees. Imagine the peace and serenity, the calmness of it all. Now imagine the taxi pulling up in front of the one house with toys scattered across the green grass.
If you take away all the toys and ignore the fact that I'm babysitting those kids with my dad, maybe it'll be alright. Not his most exciting mission yet. If they're all younger than me, I swear I'm gonna kill him. I'll have no one to talk to. I might end up talking to myself and going insane.
I grabbed my suitcase, thanked the driver and walked to the front door. Then the sprinklers went off, the exact moment my dad walked through. He did a few twists and turns, getting himself soaked until he got to the door. I face palmed, chocking on my laughs. I probably sounded like a retarded seal.
Dad knocks on the door and a moment later a girl around the age of ten opens the door as if she'd been waiting by it the whole time. She screams, slamming the door in our faces.
"Way to go Dad!" I know he hadn't done anything, but it was obviously him since he looked so big and scary.
"I didn't say anything!"
A blonde woman in her mid-thirties opened the door. She was holding a child on her hip, she must be Julie. That's about all the names I know.
"You must be Lieutenant Wolfe, Admiral Blair said you'd be coming," She pulled him into a one armed hug, then turned to me. "Who are you?"
"Lacey."
"Well nice to meet you. Come on in, meet the rest of the gang," She ushered us inside the house, closing the door behind us. "Kids! Get your butts down here and say hello!"
The girl that slammed the door in our faces earlier slowly stood up from her spot on the stairs.
"Don't worry he won't hurt you. He scares me too, sometimes," I smile at her, to which she grins back.
Two teenagers come down the stairs and I silently thank God that I might have someone to talk to.
"Okay, so you've already met Lulu," She said gesturing to Lulu. "This is Zoe," She said pointing to a girl with blonde hair, like her own, in a ponytail. Why can't I have hair that color? Brown is boring. "Seth," She said, moving her finger to a boy further up on the stairs, his hair was covered by a beanie, and looked as if he wanted to be anywhere else. "And Peter," She finished, setting the boy in her arms on the floor. "Kids, this is Lieutenant Wolfe and Lacey. They will be staying with you while I'm away."
"Hi!" Lulu and Zoe say simultaneously, Lulu a little more enthusiastic. Seth just stared at the ground, bored.
"Hi!" Dad waved at them, awkwardly, not exactly sure what to say.
"Hi! Nice to meet you!" I smile brightly, Seth looks up and smiles at me. He then catches what he's doing and starts scowling again.
An woman carrying a baby with greying hair walks into the room, did she just forget she has another child?
"Oh, and this is Helga and Tyler," She says tapping Tyler's arm gently.
"Ma'am, baby," I suppress a snigger at my dad's formality.
"That's a pretty dress," Julie comments, and for a moment I question her sanity.
"Thank you, I have a date with the Butcher tonight, and I want to look nice," Her voice was rough and as soon as that sentence had come out of her mouth, Tyler threw up all over her and her 'pretty' dress.
"Evil little puke machine!" She muttered in another language. I'm not sure which one, I know a few and I sometimes forget which is which. I started to laugh and everyone looked at me as if I was crazy, Dad just shook his head.
"Never mind," I waved them off.
"Alright, Seth show Lacey to her room. Shane, come with me. The rest of you can go do what you want, within reason, obviously."
"Follow me," Seth said, taking my suitcase. Dad seemed a bit hesitant to let me go, but left it.
"You know you don't have to carry that," I told him as we reached the top of the stairs. He just shrugged. It was silent for a few moments before Seth spoke.
"What were you laughing at down stairs?" He asked as he started walking again.
"Oh, Helga said something."
"What'd she say?"
"She called Tyler an 'evil little puke machine'," I stated. He started laughing, me along with him.
"Knock it off!" Zoe yelled up the stairs. Seth rolled his eyes and opened a door.
The room was white, quite boring color if you ask me. There was a single bed in the corner of the room with blue bedding, a white bedside table with a lamp on it, a white wardrobe, a vanity desk, stool and mirror. It was cute, actually, despite the plainness of the white.
"Here we are!" He says placing the bag on the floor and jumping on the bed.
"What are you doing?" I raise my eyebrows at him.
"What does it look like?" He says his head hanging off the edge of the bed.
"Whatever, but you better move, that is unless you want a suitcase on top of you," I pick up the suitcase and he rolls off the bed.
"Ow!" He groans in pain.
"Your fault," I mutter.
"How? You threatened to put a suitcase on top of me!" He yelled playfully, getting up from the floor.
"You rolled off the bed!"
"Shut it!" Zoe yelled cutting off our banter.