The rest of the move went on progressively well. After having to help with the issue that was the couch that somehow managed to get wedged in the doorframe as Elain practically used her whole-body weight, without using her injured arm and shoulder, by jumping on it to get it unstuck. The remainder of things are to be unpacked in the majority of boxes now scattered about the house.
They were either placed in the corresponding bedrooms, living room/kitchen or the basement. All the while trying their best to organize what would go where.
Elain sat on the edge of her bed, landing with just a slight bit of movement before settling in the softness of her sheets and then lying down. Something she had to be self-conscious of now more than ever when doing things that would be seen as mundane or simple. It was the first thing she did when unpacking her things, taking out her bedding, airing it out and giving it a light spray of lavender air freshener before making her bed. It was what mattered first and foremost. For the rest of her belongings, she could take her time. It made her wonder just what might happen in the future while living in a new country, a new place. She could only hope that it would be for the better.
Her mind began to drift; the smell of the lavender from the fabric softener made her sleepy as she closed her eyes.
However, the next thing she knew was hearing the sound of her sister calling to her in a loud voice that jolted her awake. “Ellie!! Wake up! We have food!”
“Kaya, don’t be rude,” her mother said in a stern voice before coming up the stairs and poking her head into the room. “You hungry?”
“I’m not up for fast food again so soon.”
Zuri smiled. “Well, then you’re in luck.” When Elain gave a confused frown, her mother said. “Come downstairs, and you’ll see.”
Hoping out of bed, Elain headed downstairs, where the smell of something amazing filled her nose. Entering the kitchen, she saw what looked to be a large pie of some sort sitting in the middle of the island while her brother and parents pulled out plates and utensils to use. “Okay, who’d you guys rob?” she said, which caused her father to laugh as their mother lightly slapped his arm with a smile of her own. “No, seriously, where’d you get this? There’s no way this was frozen. It looks too perfect for that.”
“A neighbour of ours saw us and brought this over. He lives right across the street. He said it was a welcome gift to the neighbourhood.” Said Jair. “Your mother had a chat with him while your brother and I tested out the power.”
Elain thought about the little girl she had seen earlier that day. “What was he like?”
“He was nice,” Zuri said before Nate added.
“Oh, come on, Mom, we know what you’re really thinking. You talked to that guy for like, forty minutes.”
She arched a brow at her son before answering. “He is nice and not bad at all in the looks department, either.”
“More handsome than me?” Her husband placed a hand along his chest as though he had been stabbed. “You wound me, my love!”
Their mother snorted in response. “There isn’t anyone on this earth I love more than you Jair, our kids make a close second.”
“You’re not funny, Mom,” Elain said rather dryly.
She moved around the island to kiss Elain on the cheek. “You know I’m joking; I love all of you equally.” And she meant it too. Elain knew her mother would do anything to protect her kids, even go full Mama-Bear on those who hurt her children. Elain knew this very well, for what took place just a few months ago, but decided not to bring that up.
“What’s our new neighbour’s name?” Nathan asked.
“Alastor Hilmarsson.”
Nathan frowned, the gears turning in his head. “Is that German?”
“I asked that as well, but he said his last name originates from Iceland.”
“So, he’s Icelandic, historically speaking.” Their father says. “Think he speaks the language at all?”
Their mother shrugged. “We didn’t get into that.”
“Mom, can we eat now?” Kaya whined. “I’m hungry!”
“Okay, Kaya.” She turned her attention to what plates they had pulled out. “I’m just glad I decided to wash these after checking the water.”
After the pie was served, the family took a bite as Elain let out a breath while Nathan cursed. “Holy shit, this good!”
“Nate, swear jar,” Zuri said.
He looked at his mother, shocked. “But it’s buried in the car.”
She gave him an arched stare. “Don’t care, you take a dollar out and place it on the counter. You know that kind of language isn’t tolerated in this house.”
“Not even this new house that isn’t technically our house yet?”
“Nope.”
Their father placed a hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve already added to it, at least five bucks’ worth.”
“Still kind of sucks…” he muttered while stuffing his face with steak and mushroom pie. “This is good, though.”
After they finished eating, the family went back to picking out individual items from boxes; one of the following things they did was gather more of their dishes boxes and put as much as they could into the dishwasher.
Elain returned to her room, and this time, giving her bedroom a complete look over. One wall on the right was slightly slanted and had a window where the bed had been put; next to her bed and bedside table was where she kept her desk, chair and laptop. To the far left was the closet, and beside it was a dresser surrounded by boxes that would eventually be filled with her clothes. Along with her other belongings, like books, a few plushies and her guitar. There was another window that gave her a view of the front yard, where she could see the house across the street. She noticed that a car was pulling out of the driveway but gave it little notice as she closed the curtains to her windows and went to get dressed for bed. She was tired after a long day but couldn’t help but think of that little girl one last time before falling into a deep sleep.
* * *
The next few days kept Elain busy, helping her parents unpack, heading to what would be her little sister’s new school, banking information, finding a doctor and making an appointment to check on her healing injuries, and then heading to what would be her new high school.
The building itself was of red brick; it looked like something she had seen in TV shows.
Even when she got the short chance to wander around for a bit, getting to see a connecting library and the cafeteria, it was relatively spacious. And even the grounds had a wooded area that looked to have been landscaped, probably by other students, but it was all well-maintained. However, that was also because there were no students or faculty currently inside. Give it a couple of weeks, and it’d be packed to the brim. Probably.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
And after all that chaos, while Elain was unpacking her things from several more boxes, her Mom knocked on her bedroom door.
“Elain, I’m sorry, I know you’re still unpacking,”
“Uh-oh. Should I be worried?” Her mother laughed at that.
“No, it’s nothing bad. Could you go and return the pie plate that belongs to our neighbour from across the street?”
“Sure,” she said as she went to stand. “I’ll do it now. It gives me the chance to stretch my legs and give my back a break for a bit. Do you think he’s home?”
“Hopefully, if not, we can try again a bit later.” She says as Elain heads for the stairs which her mother adds. “When you get back, we’ll be ordering dinner. Thinking of shawarma this time around.”
“I’d rather have that pie again,” Elain admits.
“I know, and if we had more time to cook like before, we would.” Her mother said with disappointment. With how busy they both were from working, medical school, and raising three kids, things like a fresh homecooked meal were few and far between them.
“It’s okay. I’ll be back in a bit, Mom.” And then headed out from the front door and headed over to the house across the street. And the house across the street couldn’t be more different than the one that she and her family now called home.
While her new home was a more “modern” built in the 1990s and was two stories tall, this house across from them looked to be a turn-of-the-century kind of home. It even had a plaque with the date of when it was built by what looked to be the wrap-around porch and an attached garage that was clearly an add-on several years later but still had the matching red brick and dark wood varnished. This place was given much care. It was neat to see; Elain always did like historic homes like this. It had two stories and a window that looked to be for the attic.
“Okay, don’t be nervous…” she says to herself before heading up the steps of the porch and to the front door. Readying herself to knock only to hesitate, it was something she couldn’t help, this feeling of nervousness. I just told myself not to be nervous; come on! She let out a breath, knocked and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Still nothing five minutes later.
Maybe no one’s home. She thought before seeing the doorbell and trying it. She decided to go for it simply because she wasn’t even sure if anyone heard. After a moment, she could hear the sounds of someone coming from the depths of the house.
And when the door opened, Elain instantly froze in place from sheer surprise.
It was a man who answered the door, a very attractive man.
Possibly in his mid to late thirties with almost androgynous facial features.
His grey eyes were framed by a thin pair of glasses; as his chestnut brown hair was combed off to the left side as he smiled faintly when opening the door.
Holy shit. Was the first thing to pop into Elain’s brain.
Elain clenched her teeth to stop her mouth from gaping open when meeting this man. He looked exactly like Amalie, except this was an adult man and not a little girl. He had a lean, slender build, with a somewhat average height of five foot eight.
He was dressed in dark-tanned slacks, a white long-sleeved dress shirt and a light blue sweater vest over top. Elain was surprised that he wasn’t sweating buckets, given that it was the middle of the summer. Yet, he didn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest.
This explained where the little girl’s good looks came from. The fact that Amalie’s Dad had such beauty didn’t seem remotely fair. She had never seen a man with such effeminate charming looks, at least not outside anime or of people’s cosplay. And even then, those online were so ambiguously gendered it was hard to tell if they were male or female just by the face alone. This man could very well have been the same.
“May I help you?” he asked, his voice holding such an interesting tone. It was soft yet had a singsong kind of way in his speech. It made him sound elegant. “Miss?”
This snapped her out of her thoughts. “Yes, sorry. Um, my name is Elain Ortiz. My family and I moved in across the street from you. A few days ago, you brought us a pie. I just came by to return your pie plate.” She said as she held out said plate to him.
His smile seemed to grow. “Why, thank you, young lady.” He says as he takes it from her. Then after looking at it, he asked. “Did you enjoy it? The pie?”
“Yes, it was amazing!” Elain said, unable to hide her enjoyment from it. “None of us had something that good in so long! Though that’s probably because of my parent’s jobs and school. It’s always been hard trying to find the time to cook. They’re both busy, and my brother and I are pretty bad at cooking, so to receive something like that after just arriving was really unexpected.”
“I’m happy you enjoyed it,” he says with a smile. “Say, would you like to come inside? I can give you a copy of the recipe if you or your family are interested.”
“Oh, I don’t want to impose. I know you’re probably busy.”
“It’s fine,” he says as he heads into the house, leaving the door open for her. Only to stop and look back at her as he chuckled, seeing her not move from where she stood. “It’s all right Miss Ortiz. I don’t bite.”
She felt a flush of embarrassment rushed to her cheeks. “Oh, okay…” she says softly as she steps into the foyer, closing the door behind her. “Should I take off my shoes?”
“Yes, please. There are some guest slippers in the closet to your right. You can put your shoes there.” He calls from the kitchen of the house.
As Elain did so, her mismatched eyes wandered about, the staircase near the back which led to the upstairs, the wood for the floor was of the same dark colour, possibly walnut. Given how old the place was, it wouldn’t surprise her. She peered further in, seeing what looked to be the living room to her right where there was a fireplace with a flatscreen TV above it, a couch with a coffee table in the middle and a bookshelf that held more framed photos than books by the doorway.
While on her right led to a rather impressive-sized kitchen, with dark redwood cabinets and black appliances. With a large island in the middle made of black marble with grey marble lining cracks, it looked to have been one where a professional chief would work. While to the left of the kitchen looked to be where what would have been a wall once stood, now had an impressive double sliding door that was left open, which led to an equally impressive dining room table lined with several chairs.
The man had a lot of money.
“How are you accommodating to your new home?” he asked as he flipped through what looked to hold business cards but instead was something to store recipes. Smart. “If you aren’t sure of something, I’m more than willing to assist.”
“You don’t have to do that.” She says but then adds. “You know you didn’t have to go out of your way to make something like that for us. I mean, we wouldn’t want to inconvenience you, especially since my family and I just moved in.”
“It was just a simple steak and mushroom pie, and it was nothing of the sort. I merely saw the movers arrive early this morning and thought to myself that you and your family might enjoy something like this since you were all dealing with the move. I was worried I might have been overstepping my boundaries. You can never tell with some folks.”
So, he did make the pie. “I don’t think you were overstepping. If anything, I think my parents were happy to have a decent meal that isn’t frozen or takeout for once.”
He glanced at her with a smile. “I personally never liked anything that isn’t made by my hands. I’ve always made dinners for my daughter and myself, sometimes I will go to a local bakery, but even then, I like making what we eat regardless of what it is.”
That was an interesting way to look at it, but then Elain wondered something. “Is it just you and Amalie?”
This seemed to bring the man to pause, his back still facing her. “You met with Amalie?”
“Just briefly, I think she was just curious about what was going on since it was so busy. It’s pretty normal for a kid.”
“Oh yes, I remember now. She did mention that. I suppose she forgot to tell me that you both met. But that’s fine. And to answer your question, Miss Ortiz, yes, it’s just her, and I. Amalie doesn’t have a mother, hasn’t for a good majority of her life.”
“I’m so sorry.” She said quickly. “I shouldn’t have asked; it was rude.”
“You weren’t rude at all.” He says as he faces her, handing her the recipe in question. She realized that he had written it down, on top of which he had beautiful penmanship. “I find it good that young people your age are so inquisitive.”
Elain couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. “Thanks, though; people often tell me I should mind my own business and that I’m too nosy.”
“I see nothing wrong with it at all.” He says as he leaves the kitchen and back to the front entrance. “A healthy dose of curiosity is always good for the mind, regardless of age.”
“I guess,” was all she could say back as she followed after him while looking at what the recipe initialled before putting on her shoes.
“I’ll see you around then, Miss Ortiz.” He says as he opens the door. “Tell your family I say hello.”
“I will. Thank you again, Mr. Hilmarsson.” She said as she headed out the door he waved goodbye. When he closed the door, Elain looked back at his house and smiled. She felt good things coming from this.
* * *
Alastor watched as one of his new neighbours headed back across the street, smiling while doing so, as he gave her a wave when she looked back. She, in turn, did the same thing as she went on her way.
What a sweet girl. He thought to himself as he headed towards the back of the stairs to the basement door. He paused, then listened, no sounds. His daughter was upstairs currently listening to music while reading a book, a fantasy series that she immensely enjoyed, and would become completely engrossed in it to the point where everything else around her would vanish. A wonderful thing that imagination was.
He then used the electronic keypad to unlock the door as the faint sound of music from the 1930s could be heard coming from below. “Best not keep our dinner waiting any longer.” He said with a chuckle as he decided to close the door behind him as he did so.