TALK TO NO-ONE Suivre l’histoire

"Come on dear! Be quick now!"

Mum rushed to the car to meet Dad while I sat in the backseat of the car. Mum had boxes in her hand and she then later put them in the car.

"Is that everything?" Dad asked Mum.

"There is some glassware in the kitchen and... Sophia! Did you forget anything?"

I opened the door and quickly rushed inside the house. No doubt about it. I almost forgot my headphones, silly me!

There were ghost imprints on the walls from the pictures that hung there. Mothballs, cobwebs and spiders had gathered everywhere. I opened my room door; my headphones were lying on the bed.

"At least I remembered you," I said as I picked up the headphones and went downstairs before Mum got angry and started to give me a lifelong lecture on punctuality! I sat inside the car while Mum and Dad were inside about to start the car. Dad started the car and off we went, far away from home, never to be seen again.

We were leaving the neighbourhood and in fact, we were leaving the state.

"Can we stop at Mira's house first, I want to say goodbye to her."

Dad was reluctant but he stopped at her house while I got out of the car and knocked on the door.

"What's going on Sophia?"

I gave her a big hug and explained to her we were moving and never coming back again. She cried too and before we knew it, we were having a crying showdown.

Dad had to drag me into the car and zoom off before we flooded the front of Mira's house with our tears.

Girls." Dad mumbled as he continued.

I'm Sophia Martin. Just a 15-year-old teenager with a boring and miserable life! Every two months, we always move neighbourhood. I don't know why but it's really hard to cope in different environments and my parents won't tell me the reason why we're always moving. When I was 10, all the nonsense moving ideas started. Mum would tell me that Dad got a new job there but don't get me wrong: what kind of job is locking yourself in a room, depriving yourself of spending time with your one and only daughter? I don't know, you tell me. Anyway, it used to be a lot simpler back then. We lived in an awesome duplex in Pennsylvania but when I was 10, things changed for the worse. Mum and Dad became more secretive than normal. Dad would go out in a hoodie every night while Mum would switch on the security cameras every day and laser trap the house.

"Mummy, what's going on?" I would ask her.

"Umm.. nothing dear... just go to bed."

We kept changing until we moved to New York. At first, I was excited, because I thought we weren't moving again but guess what? We did and that is what I want to tell you all about.

We were stuck in traffic. Well, I guess the Big Apple was having a bit of trouble on its road.

"Will we be able to get there on time?"

Mum and Dad started to whisper again. I didn't want to pay attention to them so I plugged my headphones into my phone and started listening to music to pass the time. I later glanced at the dashboard: 12:00.We have been stuck in traffic for an hour. Mum and Dad grumbled.

"This is all your fault, Sophia!" Dad complained.

"Oh yeah? Well, it's not my fault when you, crazy parents keep on moving from house to house to get some stupid jobs!"

But I said that in my head so no one could hear me.

Mum seemed to be a little agitated because the cars kept moving little by little. I was getting bored, so I decided to stare out the window to see if anything could chase away my boredom. I then spotted a Toyota with people wearing black clothes and handkerchiefs as masks. They were armed with AK-47s and they seemed to be looking in every direction.

"Umm... Mum, who are those guys? " I asked as I pointed in the direction of the truck. It was 5 lanes to our right but Mum went stone cold.

"Mum, are you okay?"

She leaned closer to Dad and whispered something in his ear. Dad was petrified; they both looked like they saw a ghost!

"Mum, Dad? What's going on?" I cried, trembling in fear as I sank into my seat, crying.

Mum and Dad whispered some things to each other and by the time the traffic lightened up, they sped away so drastically like maniacs.

"Slow down!" I yelled hysterically as I strapped myself to my seatbelt, holding on for dear life. I turned back to stare at the rear window; no one was chasing us. How odd!

"Um.. you can slow down Dad; there's no one behind us."

But they didn't listen. They kept on speeding until we got to the bridge. THEN, they finally slowed down.

"Oh! Thank goodness." I sighed in relief.

Something was fishy about my parents. They were first being secretive, then moved, then went stone cold and finally tore the road like maniacs.

"That was close." Mum sighed.

"Yeah, and good timing too. We're in Maryland now."

I slept off in the car, still having nightmares of the crazy driving my dad did.

When I woke up, we were at our new house. It was a duplex coated in peach colour, there were flowers, and ugh! Security cameras; even the flowers were security cameras.

"Well, let's get unpacking," Mum instructed as she got out of the car and started to move things into the house.

I put my phone in my pocket and helped out in unpacking things. I moved trunks and some furniture into the house.

"Can't we just hire some people to do it?" I grumbled.

"No, dear! Now, chop, chop!"

By the time we got everything inside the house, I took my stuff upstairs to my new room. It wasn't so spacious but it did fit in all my stuff. I then collapsed on the bed. I was a bit teary but then, I got a call from Mira.

"Mira!"

"Sophia! Have you gotten to your new house?"

"Yes."

"Is it awesome?"

"No. I miss my old one."

"Yeah, I miss you. Talk tomorrow?"

"Sure."

I ended the call and went downstairs to help Mum and Dad finish unpacking. I tried to look on the bright side and try to embrace the new life but that would just be a waste of time because, guess what? We'll move again in three months.

I helped Mum put everything in the kitchen and finally, we were done.

We collapsed on the chair but suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Mum and Dad were fueled with fear. Dad approached the door with a frying pan and a knife.

"Who's there?" He asked as he opened the door.

A family was at our door with their daughter. They looked at Dad like he was some form of a maniac.

"Are you ok?" The woman asked.

Dad was red with embarrassment. He threw all the stuff he used to arm himself away.

"What brings you here?"

"We wanted to welcome you to our neighbourhood and we even baked some cookies for you."

Dad rudely took the cookies and slammed the door shut in their faces.

"Dad! That was rude!" I yelled at him.

He gave me a death stare and I instantly regretted those words. He took them into the kitchen and shoved them in a cupboard.

"Keep an eye on those neighbours." He told Mum.

He went upstairs and locked himself in his new room while I sat in the living room perplexed.

"I must get to the bottom of this crappy nonsense!" I told myself as I went up to my room to think a little.