Wonders of the Eye

She did it every Saturday morning when no one would see her out and about. But not anymore. She was now on her way to Tempe, Arizona- a place she had hoped to never see again. But here she was with all her belongings and her little brother sitting in a old car driven by her aunt.

Her brother had called shotgun, not that she cared much, the happiness was already drained from her. She sat in the back, forehead pressed to the cold window. Her aunt babbled on and on about how much older her son would look to them, completely ignoring the giant white elephant that sat in the car with them. In every pause she made Alice could tell how hard it was for her to avoid the subject, but yet she still managed to have a new subject constantly streaming from her mouth. That is until they pulled into the suburban drive way.

“Here we are, your new home,” She said in her sickly sweet voice that made Alice want to gag. Home. The word made her sad and coming from her throat made her mad. This wasn’t her home this was some stranger’s home, a stranger that she was supposed to know as family.

Her brother on the other hand was overjoyed about this whole situation. If anything bad was ever to happen, like it just had, this was the one place he would want to be. He loved the warm weather and his family. Because God knows that family wasn’t a big thing where they used to live.

She looked around the driveway to see her older brother’s car parked neatly in front of the garage. The remainder of her stuff was in there. All the stuff that was important to her. She couldn’t wait to get it all out again, to find that inspiration that died in her. The inspiration she left back home. She did a 360 to see if she could find anything to jumpstart the creativity close to “home”. But all she saw were houses almost identical to hers and too much sun for her to handle. While looking at the house across the street she could have sworn she saw someone looking out of the off-white blinds of the upstairs window, but before she could think about it twice her older brother asked her to get her shit out of his car and come inside.

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“Is that my little cousin Alice?” her cousin, Jared, pulled her into a bone crushing hug, as she cringed at his greeting, not just because by little he means younger by two and a half years, but more because of the name Alice.

“Jar you know she doesn’t like to be called Alice… well at least not at the moment, its Monet now, right?” She nodded slowly pulling away from Jared.

“Not talking? That’s cool, I’ll just show you to your room, since you’re the only girl in the house you don’t have to share” he went to grab her bag but she pulled her arm away and followed him down the hall.

They went upstairs to the unfinished attic. The walls, if they were done, were left bare and white. In one corner there was a bed with her old pillows and comforter on it. In another corner there was a large window that let in some sunlight with bright yellow curtains that could keep the natural light to Alice’s liking. On the other side of the room there were buckets of paint and brushes by a large white canvas that just called her name. She turned to look at her cousin a large smile plastered on her face. The first real smile she’d had in weeks.

“I knew you were still into that kind of stuff, so I thought I’d make you feel more at home.” There was that word again, but coming from Jared’s mouth made it sound right, made it sound like home. “Also I think we owe you something since you have to live up here where its ten billion degrees!”

“Thanks Jared I love it!” Her voice sounded strange since it was the first time it had been heard it in a few weeks and she pulled him into a side hug. Alice wasn't one for PDA but she felt he deserved it.

And maybe deep down inside she needed that hug more than he did. Jared didn't know it just yet but by making her talk, he made that flower bloom within her, that inspiration she needed. But all Jared did was smile and savor the hug from his cousin who was mostly emotionless to the outside world. He knew she had been that way since they were young, so when he was told she was they were moving in he wasn't expecting her to giving him a hug on her own terms. Especially on her first day home.

"Kids come on we're going across the street for dinner, we don't want to be late, again!" Her Aunt yelled to them form downstairs.

"Don't worry Monet you'll be fine no one is expecting you to be normal all of sudden" He said after he noticed the nervous look in her eyes.

"I know, but no one ever said I was normal in the first place" At this Jared laughed and pulled her downstairs.

Little did they know that across the street lived the most important thing Alice would ever have.