Chapter I: A New Life
Early morning light cast the landscape in an eerie blue as Victoria arrived in the sleeping little town of Suburbia. She braked at the stop sign, thinking that she probably didn't need to seeing as how there was no sign of life this early in the morning. She took the opportunity to look down briefly at the map. Almost there she thought. She looked up from her map at the surrounding houses, taking in her new town. The uniform houses and yards had no distinguishing features at all. It was like a community of robots lived there and all shared the same mind. The thought gave her a chill and filled her with dread. They sure named this place right, it's just a little bit too perfect. Good lord what was I thinking...I'm never going to survive in a town like this.
The sound of an early morning jogger shook her out of her thoughts. She had paused at the intersection for far too long. Sighing, she took her foot off the brake and started making her way through the village. She paid close attention to the street signs and kept glancing at her map to make sure she was going the right way. The houses started to thin out as she reached the outskirts of the village. One final glance at her map confirmed that she was at her street as she turned and made her way up the crumbling pavement. Eventually she found it, and pulled the moving truck onto the gravel driveway. She parked and got out to look at the little A-frame house tucked into the trees. It was now illuminated with the yellowish-orange of the sunrise. She smiled, maybe this place isn't so bad after all.
She stretched with a growl while tilting her head back and forth to crack her neck, and breathed deep. She had drove all through the night trying to leave undetected and hoping to avoid the awful traffic in the city. She would have to try to unpack what she could manage without having slept at all. It seemed impossible but she had to do it. Thankfully the fresh air gave her a much needed second wind.
She leaned over the drivers seat and grabbed a small cat carrier. Lifting it up and pointing its door in the direction of their new house she said, "Well, Poe, we're here. What do you think?" She peeked in it to see the cat's wide eyes and twitching nose as he inhaled all of the new scents. The real estate agent, Anne, had described the house as 'a secluded forgotten little house on the outskirts of town'. It was built just ten years ago by a retired couple from the city, but they had only lived in it for a few months. It had sat there empty ever since.
She spun in a slow circle to take in her new surroundings. The house was positioned at the base of a prominent hill. Below her was a vista of the little cookie cutter town, and on either side were forests. The hill stretched up behind her house and at the top stood an old castle-like mansion. She looked at it and breathed, "Wow". Unbelievable, it usually takes me days of driving around new towns to find something interesting to photograph, and here this is practically in my backyard. This is so awesome, and the price...what a steal! Maybe my luck is starting to change.
She fumbled through her pockets with her free hand searching for the key while wading through the overgrown grass towards the door. The door easily unlocked and she pushed it open and stepped inside with optimism. She set down the carrier and opened its door. A sleek black cat with big ears and green eyes cautiously stepped out. "Welcome to our new house, Poe", she said with a grin. "I doubt we will fit in very well with the locals, but what else is new. I honestly don't think there is a place on earth that I would fit in. Besides, who needs friends? And look at this house! It's actually our own...I think we could be happy here." Poe rubbed against her leg, purring, as she squatted down and scratched behind his ears.
Standing up she looked around her house. You could see pretty much the whole thing from the front door. The ground floor was an open style design, with the living room and kitchen all in the same room. There was a little fire place and another door leading to the backyard. A staircase immediately to her left lead up to a loft big enough to be a large bedroom. Even though the place was covered with thick dust and cobwebs, she thought that it actually was quite charming
She reached over to the light switch and flipped it on to make sure her service calls had gone through. Then she opened the first door on her right which was a closet, it was a 50/50 chance. Opening the other door she stepped inside to see if she had water and to check the plumbing. Satisfied that everything was in working order, she opened all the windows to get some fresh air into the house. As she walked up the stairs to the loft she was delighted to see it had a covered balcony overlooking the hilltop.
"And now for the fun part," she said sarcastically while propping open the door. She walked to the truck, opened the back, and grabbed the box on top labeled 'music'. She went inside, unpacked her stereo and plugged it in. Next she fished her MP3 player out of her pocket and attached it to the stereo. She enjoyed music from pretty much every genre and just decided to play everything on random. She turned it up loud then turned to leave for round two. She passed Poe as she walked to the door and laughed. He was covered with dust and had cobwebs hanging from his ears and whiskers. "I'm just about to fix that" she told him. The next box she brought in was labeled 'cleaning supplies'. Many hours and sneezes later the house looked livable; even though there were half-unpacked boxes everywhere.
She decided to take a well deserved break, and made herself a sandwich from the goods she brought in her cooler. She carried her meal up the stairs and outside. She had already set up some chairs and a small table. As she ate her meal she looked around envisioning how she wanted to decorate the balcony. She glanced up the hill at the old mansion and thought she saw a person standing in a window. With a flash of white it was gone. That's strange, I was sure Anne said that place was an ' old abandoned house'. I'm so tired I must be seeing things...maybe it was just an owl.
After she finished eating she worked on decorating the balcony for a while until she realized she was just too exhausted to do anymore. She yawned, glancing down at her watch. Even though it was only seven o'clock in the evening she decided that she needed to sleep. She went back inside, changed into her pajamas, and made a make-shift bed out of blankets piled up on the floor where her bed would be.
Her boss, Vincent, had promised her that he would arrive in a couple of days to help her move the 'big stuff' in. He was going to stay in the town for a few days to get the new cafe ready. She was fine with that. It would give her time to get everything painted the way she wanted without all the furniture in the way.
She rubbed her tired eyes and crawled into her sleeping bag. Poe instantly joined her, pushing his way under the covers and cuddling up near her shoulder. He had been following her around all day like an overseer while she worked. She put her arm around him and kissed the top of his head, he purred in response. "Just you and me Poe. You're all I need. No more jerks to screw up our lives. No more looking over my shoulder all the time. We will be just fine on our own," she said. The cat said...nothing.