Two weeks later...

Y/n walked through the door into the now empty house. Her parents didn't have the heart to sell it, so they decided to rent it out. The family that was going to be moving in was coming in the next month, so they had to get out as soon as they could.

Chris and Kris could care less about moving. They had friends, but they didn't have really close friends like Y/n did. Sarah and Melody were on their way to say goodbye. The L/ns would be leaving the next day at five in the morning to get to their new house before dark.

Earlier that day cousins, uncles, aunts, and other family members had come to say their goodbyes. Tears were shed. It was hard leaving the place that you had lived in your entire life, especially when everyone you know pretty much lives there. They didn't have any relatives in the east, save it be an uncle who they never really talked to.

Y/n had been staying strong throughout the goodbye ceremonies. Then Sarah and Melody just happened to show up and ruin her streak of no tears. They cried too though. They all promised to each other that they would keep in touch. The deal was to call once a day, but if they couldn't, they had to at least do it twice a week.

They would of course text each other all the time. No matter what time of day it was, whether it was three in the morning or one in the afternoon, at least two of them would be awake and willing to talk with each other.

The night was long and restless. Y/n couldn't sleep until three hours before they were actually supposed to leave. She had stayed up talking with Sarah and Melody about past memories that they had over the years. Eventually she and the others had fallen asleep.

___

Y/n's third alarm went off, it's annoying sound carrying itself throughout the house. Everyone had already woken up and were helping with the last bit of packing. Y/n grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and got dressed. They were going to drive all the way there because their parents didn't want to pay for the entire family to fly out. Both parents would be driving two cars.

They had a third, but they were keeping it there for when they would visit and if anyone else they knew needed it. Y/n pulled out her phone and checked to see her notifications. There wasn't anything important, just goodbyes from her friends and other acquaintances. She turned the screen off and took a deep breath, looking around and her sister's room.

This was probably the last time she was going to call this place her room. Grabbing her backpack in the corner she stuffed her phone in the front pocket. In the biggest pocket she had her laptop, which had a few video games and a couple movies downloaded. She also had a couple books. Just because she was a gamer didn't mean she didn't enjoy a good story from time to time.

In about fifteen minutes the eight person family was in the car and on their way to Florida. The first few hours were full of sleeping children and tired parents. No one wanted to be awake at this time. Y/n couldn't sleep because of the sun, so she just grabbed her laptop and started a new Minecraft world.

It wasn't the best spawn point, but she didn't care much about beating the ender dragon. She decided to explore the new world. The last time Y/n had explored was probably one of the first few times she had played the game.

Eventually Lori had woken up and was staring at what Y/n was doing. "Are you going to kill the dragon?" She asked. Y/n laughed. "Not this time, Lori." Lori replied with a simple okay and continued to stare at the screen.

Leo, who was also in the same car with them, woke up too and Y/n stopped playing. She turned on Megamind. A few minutes later the car was filled with laughter, coming from the children in the back and the mother in the front. A few times their Dad talked through a walkie talkie. It was mainly to keep the two drivers awake.

After hours of driving, they stopped at a hotel. The two parents walked into the building with the kids following them like little ducklings. The front desk gave them a key to their room that they had got before they arrived. They went up to the elevator and plopped themselves on the beds.

The youngest kids passed out. The twins and Y/n all helped their parents put them in a bed so that they could rest. The twins both hadn't changed their pajamas that morning, so after the couch was pulled out to make a bigger bed, they too fell asleep. Y/n's parents had already fallen asleep almost right after the youngest ones did.

Y/n was the only one that was still awake, again staying up because of her friends and their conversations. Though it was 2 in the morning, the trio were all awake. They talked about what they had done that day, which wasn't much. Y/n explained to them that she hadn't done much on the ride to the hotel, only watching TV, gaming, and reading.

The conversation died pretty quickly, and the other two fell asleep quickly. Y/n stayed up looking at YouTube, trying to find videos to watch and hopefully become exhausted enough to get some rest. Nothing really caught her eye, so she turned it off and sat silently in the dark.

Sometime during the night she had fallen asleep. She was woken by the sound of Lori and Leo running around the room playing a game of tag. Later the family was back on the road. Nothing really changed from what they had done during the ride the day before.

Soon they had eventually gotten to their new house. The house was at the end of a cul de sac. The front had few trees, the only ones being palm trees. Hibiscus bushes littered the yard too, blooming with beautiful colors. Most of the family of eight were too tired to admire the beauty of their new home and immediately went inside to rest while the moving truck came to drop the rest of their stuff off.

Y/n took a picture of the front yard and sent it to Sarah and Melody.

Y/n
We just arrived at the house! Everyone's inside sleeping right now.

Mel
Why aren't you sleeping?! You've only gotten, like five hours of sleep in the past two days!

Sarah
Yeah, girl! You should be resting those eyes of yours so we can pester you tonight! I don't want you falling asleep in the middle of it.

Y/n
Alright, alright. Geez. Didn't know you guys cared that much. 😎

Sarah
Dude. We've been childhood friends since day one. How could you not now?
*know
STUPID AUTOCORRECT!!!

Mel
😂😂😂
Of course that would only happen to you!

Y/n
Guys. What happened to me going to sleep? I can't sleep with all of this ruckus going on.

Mel
Well, GO TO SLEEP CHILD. NOW.

Sarah
Yeah, what she said.

Y/n smiled at the conversation. They really did care a lot about her. She stood outside of the house and laid down on the soft grass. The sun was warm against her skin. There was a slight breeze flowing through, making it so that it wasn't so hot. Y/n closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the outdoors.

___

Y/n didn't know how tired she was until she was woken up by Kris shaking her awake. "Dinner's ready. Mom and Dad want you to come inside too." The h/c haired girl gave a sleepy response and got up. The truck was coming tomorrow, so they wouldn't have their beds for a while.

Luckily they had sleeping bags with them. Sleeping on the hardwood floor with just a blanket and a pillow wasn't always comfortable. Dinner was just pizza that was dropped off. Just cheese and pepperoni. Nothing too ambitious.

The twins were arguing whether or not pineapple should be on pizza. "Boys, boys. Calm down. Pineapple should never ever ever be allowed on pizza. Whoever came up with that idea had some serious problems." Y/n said, with a smirk on her face.

"What! You can't just join in and say that! MOM! DAD! Y/N AND CHRIS ARE GAINING UP ON ME!!!!" His pleas were useless, given the fact that the other three kids decided to join in on the fight, on the no pineapple side.

Lori shouted and shook her tiny fist in the air "DEATH TO PINEAPPLE ON PIZZA!!!" All the kids made a battle cry and dog-piled on the youngest twin. The rest of the night was filled with giggles and games of tag and war.

The family didn't have a care in the world. But later on the kids would have to start at their new schools, after they got everything in order. Until then, they were taking a break.

Published March 7, 2022