The Move-in
Elaine O'Brian
I peered my eyes through the window glass. We drove past a signpost that spelt
Millhaven
in bright green.
Aunt Mary had shoved in one of those her old mix tapes that had Duran Duran blotted in black nail polish. My dad used to live here years ago. Now, I knew why he moved.
The awful old music was making my eardrums cringe inside my head.
"Do you like the song?" Aunt Mary asked in her loud voice. I groaned a little before mustering a wry, fake and painful smile. She grinned, taking pleasure that I took pleasure in the song.
But the song wasn't on my mind.
My dad had been missing for the past six years of my life and I'm sixteen. In other words, I had been looking for every possible clue as to why he just...vanished.
He was missing and I had to know where he was and why.
Aunt Mary took a bend into the driveway of what looked like an old, rickety house. The paint needed a hauling and the roof was chipped. The balcony seemed quite fine but the rest of the house was an epic fail.
"This is our new house?" I asked, glaring at Aunt Mary in total confusion.
"What? It's still in good condition." She bloated back.
"Define good condition." I said, clutching my suitcase in my hand.
"Your dad lived here. And if he can, so can we."
Actually, Me was going to find a way to board the next bus to Brooklyn as fast as I could but with Aunt Mary holding my allowance and my passport, I figured I wouldn't get very far.
I dragged the case behind me and scooted in. The foyer had blankets of thick dust coating the walls.
"Wow. The cleaning came before spring." Aunt Mary said with two wheezing coughs.
"What?"
Aunt Mary gave me that Don't-even-think-about-running look. And when you get the look, you can't turn back.
°°°
After over two hours of scrubbing the walls and poaching cobwebs out of their corners, I finally settled into my old room.
It wasn't as small as I remembered but it was going to have to do.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket as I fell onto the bed. I slid it out and squintedy eyes to see the text because of all the dust clinging to my eyelids.
It was Shelby, my best friend. Well, Former best friend. We used to do everything together. We even knew each other's deepest, darkest secrets. You know how girls are.
'Have you guys gotten there yet?'
'Oh, yeah. The house was worse than your mom's old greenhouse. Dog poop everywhere.'
'Ha. Told ya.'
'Shel, I gotta rest. Talk to you later.'
'Kay. Later.'
I tossed my phone onto the lamp table and squeezed my head into the pillows.
I turned my head to my phone and saw a piece of paper resting under my phone.
I pulled it and read the words scribbled with black ink.
'Some words may hide others. William Shakespeare.' I read aloud.
What did this mean?
I shrugged, tossed it back on the table and drifted off to sleep.
I still wondered what it meant.
