***
We spent the rest of the week packing. I had already packed my room. Within two days I was ready to leave, so I decided to help Kasey-Ray, seeing as she spent most of her time complaining, and doing very little packing. The furniture remover's were coming on Friday and we were going to spend Friday night sleeping on the living room floor in sleeping bags.
The house looked so bare with all the furniture gone. I’d spent my whole life living in this house, but I didn’t feel an ounce of disappointment. I doubted I would miss this place or the town.
Saturday morning, I woke to the sound of Kasey-Ray giggling and my parents trying to shush her. I looked up to see what was going on. Kasey-Ray was standing with her hands behind her back, trying to control her excitement.
What’s going on? I wondered, as the excitement took over and she ran towards me.
“Happy Birthday!” she squealed, thrusting something small and square covered in purple wrapping paper. “Open mine first.” She was almost bouncing, as she sat on the floor where I was still lying in an old green sleeping bag.
“Thanks,” I blushed. I’d actually forgotten it was my fifteenth birthday. I sat up, shaking the present to my ear.
“It sounds like it’s broken,” I teased. Kasey-Ray rolled her eyes.
Slowly and carefully, I unwrapped the present, whilst watching my sister out of the corner of my eye; she was trying to control her excitement. It was taking all of her will not to pull it from my hands and unwrap it herself. I took off the wrapping to reveal a small black velvet box.
“Open it, open it, open it!” Kasey-Ray squealed again, almost deafening me. Slowly, I opened the box to reveal the word sister, which was attached to a gold chain.
“Do you like it?” She asked without waiting for a reply. “I saved up my pocket money for that.” Saving and Kasey-Ray were not usually words I would put in the same sentence.
“I really do.” And I meant it. I took it from its box and handed it to Kasey-Ray, I turned around pulling my hair up, so she could put it on me. Smiling, I looked down, running my fingers over the lettering. Then I turned around to hug her tightly. “Thank you. I love it.”
My Mum and Dad appeared, carrying two presents, covered in the same wrapping paper.
“Happy Birthday Sweetie!” They said in unison, as I pulled myself free of my sleeping bag.
“You get these two now.” My Mum smiled.
“Then your other present when we get to our new home.” My Dad beamed, as my Mum handed me the first present. You could tell it was clothing right away.
I opened this one a little quicker than I’d opened Kasey-Ray's, I nearly squealed when I saw the jumper I’d hinted at several weeks earlier. It was a long, sleeveless jumper, in a deep burgundy colour and I loved it. I quickly hugged my parents and was about to run off to try it on, when my Dad handed me my other present.
“The man in the shop said it’s top of the range.” He told me as I quickly tore off the wrapping, handing all the torn off paper to my Mum. I gasped when I saw what was under the wrapping.
“Wow, thanks!” I gasped, as I pulled an MP3 player from its box.
“We’ve already put some songs on it for you. I’m sure you can do the rest when we get to the new house.”
My parents put an arm around each other and stood smiling at my delighted expression.
“There’s a bacon sandwich on the side in the kitchen for when you’re dressed." My Mum called after me, “We’re just going to put the rest of our things in the car."
I quickly ate my sandwich, following it down with a glass of water. Rinsing my plate and glass, I placed them into the bag my Mum had left on the kitchen worktop. I picked up my rucksack, which contained my pyjamas and the top I’d worn yesterday. I was going to wear the same top today, that was, until I’d got my new jumper. I had also packed some sweets for the journey, along with my mobile phone and my new MP3 player.
My Mum had packed a couple of bags, full of sandwiches, fruit, crisps, and drinks, for the journey. I was the first to jump into my parents blue Volvo S60 and waited for the rest of my family to say their good-byes to the house.
When they finally appeared, it looked like my Mum and sister had been crying. I laid my head against the window, pressing my left cheek against the cool glass. Kasey-Ray jumped into the back seat, dumping her rucksack on top of mine as she wiped away her tears. Normally I would have complained, but just this once I decided to leave it. Finally, my Dad pulled out of the drive and we headed off towards the start of our new lives.
It took about 4 hours to reach Galladale. We stopped once on the way for a bathroom break at one of the service stations. Both Kasey-Ray and I bought one of those little disposable tooth brushes from the vending machines. We spent about fifteen minutes pulling funny faces and taking pictures on our mobile phones, ignoring the strange stares from passers-by. Fifteen minutes was a bit much if you asked me, as the novelty wore off not long after I’d placed mine in my mouth, but Kasey-Ray did look hilarious.
Once we’d gotten back into the car, my Dad turned the volume up on the radio and we sang along to it. I wasn’t sure if he'd turned it up to drown out our strangled cat noises, or so we could hear it better. When Mum pointed to the sign welcoming us to Galladale, we all cheered and craned our necks to get a good look out of the windows. There wasn’t much to see, apart from fields, trees, more fields, straggling sheep, a handful of cows, and even more fields.
My Dad pointed towards some trees, explaining that his parent’s cottage was just down there. Both pairs of my grandparents had been deceased for at least five years now. I have vague memories of baking with one of my grandmother’s and some other fragmented memories. The cottage had been in the family for centuries, passed down from generation to generation. It was left to my Dad when his parents died, but he had only been back to it a handful of times.
My Dad’s parents had moved into the cottage a year after my Mum’s parents had died in a car accident. It had been too painful for them living in the same house, which had been next door to my Mum’s parents, especially when new neighbours had moved in. My parents had already moved away before my Mum’s parents had died. She has always regretted not seeing them as much as she would have liked to.
My Dad’s Nan was still alive then, and living in the cottage. She had offered them an escape from their old house and they had gone to live with her in the cottage. Apparently, she was suffering from bone cancer and didn’t have long left to live; having my grandparents move in with her was a great comfort in her last days.
After a few moments we approached the High Street. There were a few shops, along with a bank, library, post office, and a gym. Just after we’d passed the gym, we took a left turn into a small housing scheme. There were five housing schemes dotted around Galladale with a handful of farms, one primary school, a high school, and a community college.
We soon spotted our new house, the surprise given away by the removal van waiting outside. My Dad pulled into the drive and went to greet the removal men, whilst my Mum went to open the front door, Kasey-Ray hot on her heels, ready to lay claim to a bedroom.
I stepped through the front door into a long hallway; the stairs were situated in the middle, with a back door at the end. To the left was the living room, with freshly laid brown carpet, to the right a large kitchen/dining room. I walked to the kitchen window, to look at the back garden. It wasn’t as big as the one at our old house, but it was big enough and backed onto a large farmer’s field.
From upstairs I heard Kasey-Ray shouting, she’d found her room. What I hadn’t realised was, my Dad had already been down to paint and carpet the rooms, he had given me the second largest bedroom, this being my final birthday present, knowing that if they hadn’t Kasey-Ray would have claimed it for herself. Kasey-Ray's bedroom was painted baby pink and had a bubble-gum pink carpet, whereas mine had a purple carpet and pale lemon walls. Both my room and my parents were s
ituated at the front of the house; Kasey-Ray's was at the back, along with the bathroom.
I slowly made my way into my room, I instantaneously loved it. One large bay window had a window seat that overlooked the front of the house and the driveway. There was a smaller window to the side. Placing my rucksack on the window seat, I looked out of the front window and saw my Dad helping the removal men who were starting to unload the furniture, whilst my Mum was unpacking the car. Kasey-Ray was already on her mobile phone, talking to her best friend, I knew she would be on it for at least an hour, so I decided I would go back downstairs to help my Mum unpack.