As Beck pulled into the long driveway of his new mansion, Annabelle gasped in awe. She marveled at her new surroundings. The house was massive. It had two stories and a finished basement. It had a very modern look to it. The roof was flat and had a glass barrier around it. It could be used as a deck and was accessed by a set of stairs on the top level. There was a pool in the backyard and a spacious patio area with lounge chairs. Behind the mansion was a four-stall barn. It looked a little bit out of place, but Amelia had begged her father to let their horses stay on their property, so he had the barn built. Each stall of the barn had two doors. The front door opened up from inside the barn. The back door opened up into a large pasture shared by all the horses.
Annabelle excitedly hopped out of the car, looking around at her new house. She was glad that Amelia had never seen the house in person before because it meant that she didn't have to hide her amazement when she looked around.
"Amelia!" a happy voice called out.
Annabelle spun around and saw a young man, who was slightly older than her father, coming towards her with open arms. She remembered that he was Samuel, Amelia's live-in manny. She smiled and ran into his arms.
"Samuel!" she exclaimed, hugging the man.
"My goodness! It's been so long! Have you gotten taller? Oh, it's so great to have you back!" Samuel said to the girl.
"It's great to see you, Samuel," Annabelle replied.
"I made you your favorite dinner: chili with homemade cornbread," Samuel told Annabelle.
"Awesome!" Annabelle said.
"Did I hear something about cornbread and chili?" Beck asked hopefully as he passed by, carrying Annabelle's luggage.
Samuel told him that it was on the stove. He then asked if Annabelle wanted to eat first or unpack first or if she wanted to eat while she unpacked. Annabelle chose to unpack first, and Samuel took her to her new room.
Amelia's room was spacious. There was a queen-sized wooden bed with a large assortment of stuffed animals on it. Beck had placed his daughter's suitcases near her closet. Annabelle scooped the clothing out of the first suitcase and dumped them in the dirty clothes hamper in the corner of her room. She left the rest of her clothes in their suitcases. She would just pick clothing out of them when she needed them, much like Amelia would.
Finished with "unpacking", Annabelle hopped on Amelia's bed and took out her phone. She was laying on her stomach and was about to text her twin sister when Beck walked into the room. He was holding a bowl of chili in one hand and medium-sized box in the other. The box was wrapped in bright green wrapping paper, and it had a white bow tied around it.
"Hey, kiddo, I got you a little homecoming present," Beck said, holding the box out towards Annabelle.
"Cool! Thanks, Dad!" Annabelle said, taking the box. She untied the bow and carefully unwrapped the bow, which Beck thought was strange because his daughter never opened gifts this neatly. Annabelle knew that Amelia really liked drinking and making tea and that she had wanted her own tea maker for a really long time. She too enjoyed tea, so she didn't have to fake an excited reaction to her father's gift. She opened the box and found an electronic tea infuser as well as four boxes of expensive gourmet tea. She smiled and threw her arms around Beck. "Thanks, Dad! I love it!" she exclaimed.
Beck smiled and told Annabelle that he was glad she liked her gift.
Wide-eyed, Amelia stared out of the car window as Jade parallel parked in front of her enormous brownstone. The brownstone was made from dark reddish-colored bricks. It had bay windows on each floor of the left side, making it stick out more. A steep set of stairs led to the front door. The brownstone had a very vintage look and feel to it.
Amelia helped Jade bring in her bags from camp. She nearly dropped the bags on her mother's foot when she saw the inside of the house. She was in awe, not noticing when Jade told her that she would be finishing up some work in her room.
The interior of the brownstone was just as beautiful as the outside. Each room had crisp white crown molding along the walls. There was a beautiful array of elegant furniture in every room, and all the rooms were adorned with stunning decorations. While elegant, some of the furniture and decorations were a little bit bizarre. Jade wanted her home to express some of her macabre interests. While house's interior also had a vintage look and feel to it, it was darker and spookier than the exterior.
Amelia had plopped her bags down by the front door and abandoned them. She was much more interested in looking around. She looked at her mother's theater awards, which hung on the walls. She stared at the decorations around the house. She was admiring a human skull that Jade had used as a centerpiece for her coffee table when she heard a French voice call out.
"Ma chérie!" the voice said.
Amelia whipped around and saw a young woman with sandy blonde hair coming towards her.
"Ma petite chérie!" the woman said, hugging Amelia tightly.
"Cecilia!" Amelia exclaimed, remembering what Annabelle had told her about having a French au pair.
"You've grown since I saw you last! How are you?" Cecilia said in her thick French accent.
"I'm great. How are you?" Amelia replied.
"I am also great! Now, what would you like to do? Eat? Unpack? Neither?" Cecelia said.
"I think I'd like to look around...it's been so long since I've been home. I've missed this house," Amelia said, covering for the fact that she just really wanted to explore her new surroundings.
Cecilia accepted the girl's answer and asked Amelia if she would like her to unpack for her. Amelia told Cecilia that she could unpack for her, and she thanked her for her help. Cecilia nodded, grabbed Amelia's bags, and headed upstairs. Amelia was relieved because she wouldn't have to fold and put away her clothes, like Annabelle would. She would normally just dump them in her closet or keep her suitcase open in a corner of her room and take clothing from it as she needed.
Amelia continued looking around the house. She was in love with everything. She loved the creepy human skull on the coffee table. She loved Jade's framed collection of dead butterflies. She loved Jade's articulated cat skeleton. Each thug she saw seemed to be better than the last. She didn't think that the brownstone could be any cooler until she stumbled upon a door that was tucked away in a corner. It had a sign on it that said "DO NOT ENTER", so she assumed that it was a just coat closet or a bathroom that was under construction since Annabelle told her that Jade was planning to do some work on the house. Ignoring the sign, Amelia checked out the room. Her jaw hit the floor when she opened the door.
"OH MY GOD!" Amelia exclaimed loudly, gasping.
Jade heard her daughter shout and scrambled downstairs. She found Amelia standing in front of the open door with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.
"What's wrong!? What happened!?" Jade questioned.
Her mother's voice snapped Amelia out of her state of astonishment.
"What? Oh, uh, nothing. This room is amazing!" Amelia told Jade as she stepped through the doorway.
One wall of the room was adorned with the sigils of each of the Noble Houses in Westeros. An assortment of swords hung on the back wall. There was a large flat screen television above a fireplace. The mantle of the fireplace was decorated with replicas of Daenerys' dragon eggs. Along with the dragon eggs, Amelia saw an oblong velvet-covered box on the mantle. In the far left corner, there was a $30,000 life-sized replica of the Iron Throne. There was also a plushy black couch in front of the television. Banners for House Bolton, House Lannister, House Targaryen, and House Stark hung on each of the four walls. The room was any Game of Thrones fan's dream place.
"Aww! This was supposed to be a surprise!" Jade whined.
Amelia was too engrossed in the room to pay attention to what her mother was saying.
"This room is amazing! Did you do all this?" she said breathlessly.
Jade smiled.
"I'm glad you like it! I had to do something while you were away...I figured that we could start having our traditional new episode viewings in here from now on..." she told her daughter. She walked over to the fireplace and picked up the velvet box. "Hey, Annabelle, come here. I have something for you," she said to her daughter.
Amelia scampered away from the Iron Throne, which she had been admiring. She met her mom at the fireplace. Jade knelt down in front of her daughter. She held the long box out towards Amelia.
"Now, this is not a toy. You are not allowed to play around with it. You need to be extremely careful with it," Jade told her daughter. She looked at Amelia very sternly. "Do you promise not to mess around with what I'm about to give you?" she asked seriously.
Amelia nodded eagerly.
"Alright..." Jade said. She carefully removed the box's lid, letting Amelia see what was inside. Amelia's face lit up, and she gasped.
"Oh my god! OH. MY. GOD." Amelia screeched happily.
Inside the box was an authentic life-sized replica of Arya Stark's sword, Needle. It had its own serial code and a certificate of authenticity. It also had its own display plaque with the House Stark sigils on it.
"I know your favorite character is Daenerys, but the sword seemed like a better 'welcome back' gift..." Jade said.
"I love it!" Amelia told her mother, hugging her tightly.
Alas, school has started again, so this story is on semi-hiatus. I will update when I can. Thanks for reading and please review! :)
