A white moving van pulled up the driveway of the empty house on Main Street. The loose gravel crunched loudly as they shifted beneath the tires. The engine roared and quieted down as the driver slowly came to a stop.
The passenger door opened and a little girl with shoulder length blonde hair stepped out. Her hair was tied back in a purple ribbon that matched her dress. She stared out at the empty house with her big purple eyes. A wave of fear came over her and she hugged her brown teddy bear.
The pale blue house was two stories high and had many windows. All of them were dark and most were filled with cobwebs. The grass in front of the house was turning to a light shade of brown. A white picket fence separated the dying lawn from the fresh green lawns of their neighbors. A stone path led from the opening in the fence and over to the front door. Along the sides was what flowerbeds filled with wilted flowers.
An auburn haired woman came up behind the small child and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"So, Mai, how do you like your new house?" The woman asked.
The girl looked over the house again and shook her head. "I don't like it." She said plainly.
"Well, grab your bag so we can go inside. Maybe you will like it better once you look around."
Her bright red lips curled into a comforting smile showing off her perfect white teeth.
Mai followed the woman to the back of the van. The door made a sound like thunders as it was pulled up to reveal bags and furniture. Mai grabbed a pink bag with a white cat on the front. She pulled out the handle and dragged it across the gravel to the gate in the fence.
She stood on her tiptoes to be able to reach over the fence and unlock the latch. The hinges squeaked as it swung open.
"Looks like we need to oil that." Said Mai's mother as she walked up behind her. She smiled another one of her perfect smiles. "Go on, Mai." She encouraged her.
Mai gulped and started to walk down the stone path.
The brown door stood high above her. She slowly reached up to grab the doorknob. It turned easily and she pushed it open.
The hardwood floors had a thin layer of dust resting over it. To the left was a staircase and to the right was a doorway. In front of her, Mai could see the kitchen from down the long hallway. The walls were painted an off-white color, the same in every room.
Mai stepped forward down the long empty hallway. She stopped halfway don the hall and looked to her right. It was a large room with some furniture inside. The furniture was covered in white sheets, giving the room an eerie feel. One wall was entirely covered by a bookshelf. The previous owners left behind a few books and they looked rather old. Mai walked inside the room and pulled a book off the shelf. She whipped away the dust on the cover and looked at the cover. She couldn't tell what the title was because she hadn't learned how to read yet. But, Mai still enjoyed looking at the bright red cover and the curvy gold letters.
"Mai? How 'bout you go upstairs and pick out a bedroom?" Said her mother peeking into the room. She was carrying a large cardboard box.
Mai nodded and put the book back on the shelf. She grabbed the outstretched handle of her bag and pulled it back into the hall. The bag made a loud sound as she dragged it up the stairs, hitting each individual step. The sound stopped and you could hear the soft sound of the wheels rolling against the floor. She stopped to look into each room in the upstairs. When she reached the third room on the left, she walked inside.
It was large, and had a window with a nice view of the water. She set her bag down in the center of the room, and looked around. She smiled at the room that she had chosen.
She walked back down the stairs and her mother called "Mai, did you pick a room?" Mai nodded and smiled at her. "Well then, come look at the yard. I think you'll like it.
Mai ran over to the sliding glass door and looked outside. The yard looked like it was huge because their yards and the surrounding yards didn't have any fences. Trees popped up randomly from the green grass speckled with yellow dandelions. A flowerbed sat underneath the largest tree in the yard with wilted roses in it.
Mai smiled excitedly and looked up at her mother. "Can I go outside?"
"Yes, you may." Mai ran outside and her mother called after her, "But, don't ruin your new dress!"
She ignored her mother and kept on running around. She loved the new yard. It was so big. She stopped and hugged her teddy bear when she heard a twig snap in the tree she was closest to. She looked up into the tree but didn't see anything.
"Hello?" She called up weakly. "Hello?" she said again with a little more confidence.
No one replied, but another twig snapped and the leaves rustled.
"Hello?" she said, a little louder than a whisper.
Still, no one answered. The leaves rustled some more. A small gray squirrel climbed onto a branch with barely any leaves on it, causing Mai to jump back. It nibbled happily on a nut and didn't seem to notice the girl staring at it. Mai sighed, relieved that it was just a squirrel and began to turn and walk away. She came to a halt when there was a loud snap and a hard thud on the ground behind her.
Mai turned around quickly afraid of what she might find. A small boy rubbed his head in pain. Twigs fell from his blonde mess of hair and fell onto his shoulders. His face looked dirty like it hadn't been washed in weeks. There was a tear in the left knee of his jeans and he wore a blue jacket over a white shirt covered in stains. He moaned as he sat up a bit straighter.
"A-are you alright?" Mai said nervously taking a step closer to the boy.
"Yeah. Happens all the time." He said standing up. Mai tried to suppress a giggle. "What are you laughing at?" he asked in what Mai thought to be his 'tough' voice.
"Nothing. I just thought you were a monster." She said giggling once more.
The boy pointed to himself. "Me? A monster?" he said as if it were a crazy idea.
"Yes. You really scared me for a second there."
"You scared me- though I didn't think you were a monster. I just have never seen you around here before." He paused for a second. "What are you doing in my yard?"
"What do you mean 'your yard'? This is my families yard. We just moved in here." Mai said confused.
"Oh! You must be our new neighbors then. Your yard is over there." He said pointing in the opposite direction.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, I guess we're neighbors now. My names Mai Valentine." She said holding out her hand.
"Joey Wheeler." The boy said shaking Mai's hand.
From that moment on, the two were inseparable. They went to the same school and had the same classes. They both protected each other and were the best of friends. Until, almost two years later…
"Mai!" Called Joey running towards her. "Mai!"
Mai stopped swinging on her new swing set in he backyard to listen to what Joey had to say. By the look on his face, he had important news. "What is it, Joey?" She asked smiling at him.
He was panting slightly from running so fast. "Mai! My family is moving tomorrow!" He said almost in tears.
"That's horrible! That means that we will never see each other again!" She said, tears already welling up in her eyes.
"Don't cry, Mai. There's a chance that we'll see each other again someday." He said trying to cheer her up.
"Well, what can we do?" Mai said whipping away her tears.
"I don't know."
Mai held out her pinky finger. "Promise me that we will be best friends forever no matter what happens."
Joey smiled and they locked fingers. "It's a promise."
Moving day
Mai watched sadly as she watched Joey's family pack up the moving van. "I'm going to miss you."
"Ill miss you to. But, I will call you every day."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Mai gave Joey a big hug and her eyes filled with tears once more. Joey blushed slightly and hugged her back. "Don't cry, Mai. Seeing you sad makes me sad. Stay happy just for me, Ok?" He said pulling back at arm length to look into her purple eyes.
"I will." She said smiling at him.
Joey's father told him to hurry up. "I have to go." He said sadly. He kissed Mai lightly on her cheek. "That will be a sign of our friendship." He said before running off. "Don't loose it!" He called over his shoulder. He climbed into the front seat of the truck and waved out the window after he buckled his seatbelt.
Mai put a hand where Joey had kissed her. She blushed but smiled a waved back at him.
The truck pulled out of the driveway, and Mai couldn't help but cry a little more. She watched it move down the road. Before she knew what she was doing, she ran after the vehicle. It easily outran her but she kept running.
She tripped and scraped her knee on the pavement. She held her knee close to her and reached her hand out as if she could capture them in her fist. Mai thought she could see a glimpse of Joey looking out the window at her for just a moment before he pulled his head back in. So, Mai sat in the middle of the street hugging her knee with her arm outstretched. The tears now fell freely down her face.
"Wait!" She called out after them. "Wait." She repeated weakly.