Savannah had never moved in her life, she’d lived in the same house since she was born. She was now 16 years old, and sitting crossed-legged on her bedroom floor taping up labelled boxes. She wiped her blonde out of her face, and rubbed her eyes. She stood up and walked across the hardwood floor to the other end of her room. She sat on the window seat and stared out at nothing in particular. Tears began to well up in her eyes, but she wiped them away before they could stain her cheeks. Savannah stood, and sulked over to the piled boxes on the floor. She grabbed two from the top and picked her phone up off the floor.
It was only 10am, and already the sun was burning hot. Savannah squinted her eyes and walked down the front steps, down the front yard, and to the moving truck that was parked in front of the house. She threw the boxes in the back of the truck, and went back into the house for the last few. She looked around her room one more time. She’d never notice how huge it looked when it was empty. As if it were causing her physical pain to think about moving, Savannah scrunched up her nose, and whimpered. She turned quickly on her heels, and left the room. She walked back outside, the summer breeze lifted her long hair off her back, and it began to whip her now tear stained face. Savannah threw the last boxes in the back of the moving truck, and got into the back of her parents car.
“Let’s just get this over with.” That was the last thing Savannah said out loud before the car began to move.
Eyes closed tight, and headphones in, Savannah blocked out everything for most of the drive. When she wasn’t sleeping, she had her music turned up as loud as it would go, trying to drown out the truth of the matter.
At some point, Savannah had fallen asleep. She blinked her eyes drowsily, trying to clear her blurred vision. The car was stopped at a gas station. It looked like they were in the middle of nowhere. The roads weren’t even paved anymore; it was just dirt and gravel.
“Mom, where are we?” Savannah took her headphones out of her ears and rubbed her eyes.
“We’re almost there, only about 30 more minutes.” Her mom handed a bottle of water back to her.
Savannah took a few sips out of the bottle as she stared out the window. There was nothing except for grass, trees, and mountains in the distance. She checked her cell phone. No service. And they expected her to live out here? Ha!
The car veered left, onto another dirt road. Savannah watched out the window. Trees, bushes, and flowers lined the edge of the road. That was it. There was nothing more, and nothing less. At least, that’s what she thought. They passed a wide, black sign that was dug deep into the ground. Savannah hadn’t quite made out what it had said, but she was almost positive that it had said ‘Rockfalls Mansion’.
Mansion? What?... Savannah’s thoughts were interrupted. The car finally stopped, and both her mother and father were already out and looking around. Savannah followed reluctantly. Her eyes wandered around the large driveway. Finally, they settled on a portion of the house. It looked old, almost ancient. The white paint was peeling, and the old brown stairs that led to the heavy door looked rickety, like they were falling apart. A crow took off from the roof of the house, making loud noises and flapping it’s wings furiously. Savannah jumped, and her eyes scanned the rest of the house.
The movers were already unpacking the truck, and her parents were showing them where to put the furniture inside. There wasn’t much to do, since the house was fully furnished already. Although, Savannah took advantage of the moment and looked around. There was nothing interesting about the front of the house. She’d seen pictures online. It looked old, but that was all. She put her headphones back in, turned up her music, and headed around back following a stone path. The wind picked up, and blew her hair all over the place. Savannah secured it back on the top of her head with an elastic. She was behind the mansion now, standing in a garden full of withered flowers, and an old ball that looked like it used to be a child’s toy. She looked around her. To the right there was a small, old, black shed, a few gardening tools were on hooks on the right side, an old bike which was falling apart leaned against the other. The grass that surrounded it was long and needed to be cut. To the left was a large tree, with an old tire swing attached, a sandbox that was still full, a rusty old swing set that creaked when the wind blew, a box full of what looked like more children’s toys, and a patch of dirt on the ground that replaced where the grass had been before. Savannah continued to follow the stone path that led directly to the shed. Her music began to cut in and out, and then turned to nothing but static. Savannah began hitting her iPod frantically, trying to get her music to work again. Frustrated, she took her headphones out, balled them up, shoved them into her pocket and continued down the path. She stopped at the door, and stared at the large silver lock. It was one of those old fashion padlocks that can only be opened with one key. An old one, like those ones that you see in old horror movies. She shook the lock, trying to see it would break open, it wouldn’t. She walked around the other edge of the shed to peer through the window, which to her surprise, was boarded up. Loud noises came from inside the shed, and she stared curiously.
