Chapter 3:
CAW CAW! CAW CAW! It was only seven thirty and already the crows were going nuts. But why? I groaned and rolled over onto my side, to see a black haired girl with brown eyes staring into my face.
"Ahh!" I cried, flailing. She smiled and giggled. "Who are you?"
"Hahahahaha! I'm your cousin, silly!" she giggled. "I'm Jenna, and you're Michael right?"
I nodded, my eyes wide. She giggled again and got up. "Were you here last night?"
"Yeah, up in the attic. I was cleaning it for you, but I fell asleep up there. Sorry. It's all good now though. If you want I can show it to you and introduce you to mum, dad and Fayette! Oh, they're so excited to finally meet you! Uncle Tristan has told them so much about you and May! Its really quite sweet actually. Well, c'mon then! Hurry up!" Jenna pulled my sweater sleeve.
Reluctantly I got up, and she pulled me to the kitchen where another four people were seated. "Good morning! I've gotten Michael up!"
"Jenna! That's quite rude of you. He's only gotten here a few hours ago..." the elderly woman who I assumed was my grandmother said. "Anyhow... good morning, m'dear. How did you sleep? I hope you were comfortable."
"Oh, I was very comfortable, ma'am." I said reassuringly, raising my hands. She could tell that I was confused about who she was and she explained that she was, in fact, my grandmother as I've assumed. "Then you're my aunt, uncle and cousin?" I asked.
The man stood up. "I'm Damion, your uncle, yes. This is your aunt, Helena, and your cousin Faye. Its very nice to meet you, Michael! I've looked forward to it."
I smiled as Jenna explained that she was showing me around. We said our 'see ya laters' and Jenna started to pull me again. She was really hyper, I had no clue why but she was.
"This is the attic!" she spread her arms out wide introducing the room to me. It was clean, and it had about three windows next to each other, each with a set of golden curtains. In the far right corner there was a mahogany dresser and next to it was a trunk made of oak. On the other side there was a queen sized bed on an iron frame, next to it was a small bedside table. On the bed, there was a package wrapped in a bubble designed wrapping paper with a silver bow on the top. "That's your birthday present. Its in May, right?"
"I... yeah." I said blushing. I didn't think they knew when my birthday was. "How'd you know?"
"Pfft. Please, you're my cousin. We've been getting updates on you guys for as long as I remember. If you'll look on your table, there's a picture of you and May when you guys were really young." Jenna said. "You were about five in this picture, I think."
I walked to the bedside table and picked up the picture of me and May playing in the mud in the woods. I smiled and muttered that I was seven in the picture. Setting the picture down, I turned to look at Jenna. She was hiding something behind her back.
"What do you have, Jenna?" I asked, staring at her.
"Another present." she replied, as if it were obvious. "You didn't think that I wouldn't give you one did you? Just think of it as an early secret Santa present from me."
I stared at her, somewhat in shock. I mean, I was used to getting presents (especially from Ty lately to keep my mouth shut about my mom) but I wasn't used to getting them because people care about me. I felt my mouth slowly form to smile as she handed me the small red and green box.
"Go on, open it."
Slowly, I obeyed, grabbing the green ribbon and pulling it. I then removed the wrapping paper, to discover a small black box. She smiled as I opened it. Inside was a keychain with a picture of her and Faye holding up a sign saying WE LOVE YOU, MICHAEL! in front of the Big Ben.
"Thank you." I hugged her. "Thank you, so much."
