"Oh, come on, I liked that one!"

"Next!"

That was the constant, ongoing conversation that filtered throughout the car, all the way from Phoenix to where we were entering now, Santa Carla, California. The boys would pick a station, my mother would keep it there until a song they didn't know or like came on, then they'd tell her to switch it. It wasn't even noon and I was already wanting to cut my face off.

I sighed, "can't you bone-heads pick a station and be happy?" I groaned and Michael rolled his eyes from beside me, while Sam stuck his tongue out at me like he was five. "How much longer until we get there, mom?" I asked, pulling myself to sit up and lean my chin on the front seat. "Not much longer, dear, we should be there in about five minutes." She told me.

I groaned as Nanook leaped into the backseat, landing right on my lap like he was a baby again. "Ow - Nanook, come on! Sam, your dog is too heavy!" I huffed, trying to get the heavy dog off of me. Michael snorted, opening his mouth to say something smart when Sam exclaimed, "mom, I'm hungry!" I rolled my eyes, pushing Nanook into the space between Michael and I, sighing as the feeling came back into my legs.

We passed a sign, saying, 'Welcome to Santa Carla.' I shook my head, running my hands through my long blonde curls. However what was on the back of the sign had definitely caught my attention. In big, bold letters were the words 'Murder Capital of the World' outlined by black. I furrowed my brows, wondering just what kind of town we had moved to.

We stopped at a small snack shack just before the boardwalk, something that would be a huge tourist attraction had this town been more noticeable on a map. There were rides and cotton candy and games, the lot. There were people all around us either in barely anything or too much at all. Some were walking in swimsuits, heading to or from the beach, others were cloaked head to toe in dark clothing - almost as if they wanted to get heat stroke.

We all filed out of the car, my mother handing me some money while she paid for our food. "Go and tell those kids to get something to eat, would you?" She told me and I glanced over to see some kids dumpster diving for food.

I nodded, walking over and pushing my sunglasses up from my face. "Excuse me?" I got their attention, and the girl looked up from a half-rotten sandwich mid-bite. "Here," I handed her the money, "you two should go get something to eat." I said and the boy smiled at me, "bless you, ma'am. Thank you!" He replied, nearly skipping over to the shack with his sister, I presumed.

I walked back over to my mom, who handed me a cup of water, "thank you." I said, downing it in one big drink. It definitely was hotter than Phoenix, but it also was dryer, which I knew I was just going to love.Note my sarcasm.

"Sophie!" Michael called, and I snapped my head over to where he stood with his bike. He waved me over and I complied, "mom said you're riding with me." He told me and I scoffed. "On that death-trap of a bike? Hell no! I'd rather take my chances with Nanook!" I retorted and he rolled his eyes, kickstarting his bike, "I can't drive reckless. I'm driving behind mom, now get on." He told me, and I groaned, crumpling up my paper cup and tossing it in the nearest trash bin.

"You better not kill us." I warned him, wrapping my arms around his torso. "No promises," he stated with a shrug before taking off flying behind our mom's car. I squealed, holding on for dear life. I don't know how long it took us, though I was pretty sure my arms were gonna fall off if I squeezed Michael any tighter.

"God, you're such a girl, Soph." Michael mumbled as we got off and I narrowed my eyes, "you know that's kind of funny since, you know, I am in fact a girl. Who would have thought?!" I snarked back, dusting my legs off from all the dust and dirt. Our grandfather's house was... definitely different than I'd expected. I had imagined a small, two bedroom cabin with trees growing everywhere, cobwebs in evey corner, and a whole bunch of taxidermy.

I mean, I wasn't wrong. It was bigger.

We approached the front door, though something stopped us short. It was our grandfather, lying flat on the ground on his back. "Is he ok?" Michael asked, "is he dead?" Sam interjected. I knocked him on the shoulder, "of course he isn't dead!" I scolded and my mom went to his side. "Dad? Dad, wake up." She patted his chest and sighed, she looked up to say something to us, when our grandfather suddenly jumped up and I flinched, nearly screaming at being so startled.

"Playin' dead. And goin' by some of your words," he looked at Sam, "it worked." He laughed, standing up with the help of my mom. We went through the tour, went over the rules of the house, and after about thirty minutes of hearing Sam complain about the lack of a television set, we were sent to our rooms to unpack. Mine wasn't too big, but it was bigger than my other one back in Phoenix.

The wood was a gorgeous mahogany shade, a deep, warm brown that went well with the grey carpeted floors. My bed, dressers, and desk were already in here, so all that was left was to unpack all my stuff and get it where it needed to be. Maybe an hour or so in, Sam came into my room. "Hey, Soph, mom, Michael and I are heading to the boardwalk around seven, are you gonna come?" He asked.

I pondered over it, and soon realized I had nothing better to do. "Yeah, sure."

Thank you so much for reading, hope you enjoyed! -Kari