Chapter 4: Rosalie

My favorite thing about moving is the first night in our new house. Ever since Barrett and I were kids we would sleep in my mom’s bed with her on the first night and watch movies, we have pizza for dinner and just relax. Most people would probably be cleaning or start unpacking, they would also probably think that a 16- and 14-year-old were way too old to sleep with there mom, but we did it anyway.

When we got to the house Bett and I looked at the house with mom. The house was a medium grey color with white trim around the windows; it has a wrap around porch with white posts. We start going inside to looked around together.

When you walk up the stairs to the roofed porch there is a big bay window that looks into the living room to the right of the door. When we step into the house there is a large living room area with wood floors and on the far wall there are stairs going up.

Mom starts walking around and goes through the large archway that is Next to the stair in the opposite corner of the front door, when we follow her we see a nice little farmhouse kitchen to the left with a large bar type counter that runs off the wall attached to the archway, it’s a good thing we have stools. To the right is a dining area with another big bay window that looks at the trees. At the end of the counter is doorway that leads to a little laundry mud room on the right to the left is a small bathroom with a toilet sink and a small shower, and straight in front of that doorway is the back door that shows there’s a garage and a huge tree in the big backyard.

I’m honestly happy my parents got a house on the outside of town this time. We still have a few neighbors, but we can’t even see them unless we are walking down the road a while, The closest house I saw was across the road and not even a quarter mile down. It’ll help when we have to move again there won’t be people wanting to come over all the time and be good friends with us because we live two houses away from them or in the same apartment building.

We turn around and start to go upstairs and right at the top of the stairway is the master bedroom, my mom’s bed was already moved in here just not put together. There is a door to the left that goes to a full bathroom, it has another door right next to the bathroom door that leads to huge walk-in closet with hanging rods going from front to back and the back wall is covered top to bottom in shelves. This bedroom is perfect for mom; she has more clothes than I would know what to do with. The walls are a light tan color and the floor in a soft white carpet.

We go back in the hallway and on the opposite wall of mom’s room and down a couple feet is a bedroom door. When we walk in, we see a regular size room with a greenish gray colored walls and cream-colored carpets. There are two windows on the opposite wall from the door. On the right wall there was two doors one went to a walk-in closet that was only half the size of moms but still big. The other door led to a bathroom that had ceramic wood floor, it had a white marble countertop, and the ceiling high rain shower was all black tiles.

We go to the end of the hallway where there is another bedroom, when we walk in, I instantly know this is going to be my room. The walls are a light blue gray with black carpet, just like the other room it has two windows on the opposite wall that overlook the back yard. to the right are two doors one being a closet the same size as the other rooms and then the bathroom that looks the same as the other bedrooms bathroom, but the shower has dark grey tiles instead of black and the floor is black ceramic inside of grey.

“I call the other room” Bett says while I’m still admiring the last room, we ended up in.

“Ro are you okay with that, any objections?” my mom asks taking me out of my trance.

“Oh no, I will gladly take this room” I looked at my mom who had as smile on her face that she normally got when she was right in an argument with my dad. Did she maybe tell my dad I would pick this room, and he disagreed, I giggled in my head thinking about my parents arguing over something so silly like they normally do.

My entire life I have never heard my parents ever actually fight, they have had their play fights about food or what movie to watch that usually lead to them chasing each other around laughing like maniacs.

Thinking about it really makes me miss my dad, so I race downstairs and find my important box that was in Betts truck box. I carry it up to my new room and open It right away. After taking a few things out and putting them on the floor I find what I’m looking for wrapped in an old shirt my dad got me when he was going away for a long time, it was a blue t-shirt with the words ‘Daddy’s Little Home Soldier’ on it. I put the shirt down and look at the item I had wrapped in the shirt.

It was a glass rose; it didn’t have any color it was completely clear but down the steam in gold letters down the stem of the rose said, ‘I’ll always come home Rose’. My father got it for me on my seventh birthday. At the time I was having reoccurring nightmares that he was going on a deployment and then never comes home, my dad stayed with me every night after I would wake up screaming and tell me he would always come home. Ever since he gave me this he has always and only called me Rose, everyone else calls me Ro, but he won’t.

I put the rose in one of the windowsills and watch the light reflect into my new room leaving a watery light look all over the walls. Windows are my favorite place to put the rose because of the reason.

After a little while I go downstairs to help my mom and brother start unpacking the trucks and bring everything in the house which always sucks.

When we get downstairs and go outside, we see my mom getting off the phone and looking around.

“Why don’t you to go driving around and check out the town, and in about an hour pick up the pizza I ordered at this address” Mom says handing us money and a piece of paper with an address on it

“Why don’t we help bring everything in and we can see the later tomorrow or something” I say not understanding why she’s sending us when everything is still in the yard.

“Please go I need some time to just absorb the place by myself, think without driving and all that I will be fine, go” she says pushing us to the truck

“Okay, we love you, we will be back soon.” I say confused as we climb in the car and pull out of the semi long driveway and start heading into town.

As we are driving, we pass our closest neighbors house, it looks empty or like no one lives there but I can see the TV on in the living room. Hopefully it’s just a little old couple that lives there so we won’t have to meet any neighbors who are going to beg us to stay when we must move again.