Bricks and Mortar

Cold, dark, hungry that’s all I can feel. I’m home, safe, wrapped in my childhood blanket, safe. So why, why do I suddenly feel cold, dark and hungry? Like any typical story, my name is rose, I’m 17 years old and I live with my mom. My dad died when I was 10 and sure it sucks but I’ve learned to live without him. Last week me and mom packed up our stuff and moved across the country to some small, invisible village right next to the coast. When we left in our old beat up car I was hopeful, that didn’t last long, as we drove and drove and drove my hope faded like the signs of civilisation around me until I saw possibly the most depressing thing I have ever seen (that’s coming from a kid who went to her own dad funeral at 10 years old) ‘Welcome to Summer Falls’ someone had obviously spray painted a D over the S but the quaint charm still remains. ‘Oooh are you excited? We’ve finally arrived!’ My mum berms at me from the front seat, her blushed cheeks raising the rims of her large heavy set plastic glasses. My god I love this woman, even in the face of adversity she still manages to paint a smile on her face to try and ignite excitement from me. ‘I can’t wait to see the new place!’ I beam back at her, I really Hope she doesn’t see how forced it is. She squeals with excitement and I giggle as we Continue to drive through our new town, Summer falls. The town is straight out of an old cowboy movie, large, old, wooden buildings fill the streets, the roads are covered in a thin layer of sand and horses still stand over troughs of water along the roadside, it’s like someone took a scene from a John Wayne movie and stick a road through the middle of it, everyone seems older, at least 50 and over but mom says they have a school so surely there must be someone else my age here? My thoughts about school and making new friends are abruptly stopped when we roll from the Sandy road to a cobbled side street leading to a small wooden cabin at the end of it, the place looks deserted, dark, dingy and just as I suspected, it’s my new home. Brilliant.