I watched quietly as trees and lamp posts whizzed by on the other side of the glass. The sky was cloudy and grey and if I hadn’t been checking the time religiously I would’ve assumed it was nighttime now. While the atmosphere outside may have been dark and gloomy it was rather opposite inside the car. In the front seat was my mother, focused on driving rather than listening to everyone chatter, and on her passenger side was my dad. He was spouting info about our new house as we got closer to our destination. Both of my parents come from old values and even older money. That being said, they aren’t exactly closed-minded either, they try to be supportive of all of our... decisions, in life. Despite not understanding them often.

In the back of the car was my older sister, Paisley. She was somehow listening intently to both my father and younger sister at the same time. She’s good at that, like she’s good at just about everything. She is lovely and talented and perfect and sometimes I can’t help but be envious of her. I still can’t ever be upset with her though, because she’s got such a pure heart, too. That’s Paisley for you, perfect both inside and out, mostly.

In the middle was Sophie-Rose. She was six, and an enormous chatterbox. I love her though. She’s always got something to say, and more often than not it’ll make you smile, no matter the situation. Currently she’s buzzing with excitement at the prospect of new adventure.

I, myself was trying to listen to my dad, really I was. It was hard though, with everything bouncing around in my head relentlessly. Dread, excitement, curiosity, sadness. This new place sounded interesting but I couldn’t decide if I was happy for the change or afraid of it, and what about my life? I had friends and what felt like a purpose at my old home; now I’m much too far away to hang out with them regularly, if at all.

“Owen, you good back there? You’re foggin up the window.” My dad’s voice interrupted my thoughts, and I snapped my head away from where it was leaning against the door.

“Yep, I’m good. Just distracted.” I readjusted my glasses slightly and leaned back.

“Hey hey Owen didja hear that?” Sophie bounced.

“No Sophie, sorry. What was it?” I asked

“Papa said our new house was a palace, we can be princesses and you can be the prince!”

“Papa said our new house was a castle, once. A long time ago. It’s been renovated now but there’s a lot of old areas, it sounds like your kind of thing.” Paisley clarified for me, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to see it.

“I think you’ll dig it kiddo. There’s a lotta history in this place.” Dad sounded enthusiastic about it when he spoke, he was always a pretty energetic guy. I see where Sophie gets it from.

“Hey guys, look up ahead.” My mom’s voice suddenly cut in. I leaned to the left a bit to see what she was referring to, and sure enough there was a bit of a stone tower and what looked like the top of an extravagant building peeking through the trees.

“Just a bit further and there we are.” She added after waiting for Sophie to calm her excitement a bit. I checked my phone for the time once again. 5:40, it was starting to get darker. We arrived to the area sooner than I was expecting. Another glance up at the sky said it was going to rain soon. I was a little more excited, now that I could see it and the rain was going to fall.

I felt hot air pass my ear, and a glance backwards told me that Alice had woken up. She wagged her tail at me, and I didn’t bother resisting a quick scratch behind her ears. It looks like she’s excited too. Alice was a big dog, with soft black fur, she could look scary but had a heart of gold. Paisley and I finished the ride to our new home quietly, sharing a look now and then when Sophie said something silly or when mom or dad made a particularly bad joke.

The movers arrived not long after us, thankfully. I had only just gotten the dog out and on her leash when they pulled into the massive driveway near us. I surveyed the area, aside from the massive building that was to serve as my new home, there was an old tower a short distance away that looked like it had seen better days. There were some pathways and short walls made from cobblestone, and what looked like a fountain obscured a bit by the house. I was about to start up the steps to the front doors when a tug at the leash had me pause. Alice was sniffing around, walking towards the grass. The backyard did seem pretty cool…

“Hey mom, I’m gonna take the dog for a walk real quick.” I shouted in her direction.

“Go ahead and explore honey just head back soon.” She caught on in no time to my curiosity, and turned back to the chaos of moving; and with that Alice and I moved on.

The backyard turned out to be a beautiful sight. Most of it was renovated with the house, with new sheer stones and a huge garden filled with flowers and fruits and vegetables and decorative trees. However, a little bit aways from all of that was the old cobblestone that I saw earlier. There was the fountain, and the tower (Alice refused to even go near it), and this big flat area. All cobblestone, with some short walls around some of it except for where it fell away. Oddly enough despite the old, crumbling status of most of the area, black painted lamp posts stood in several places. Two by the fountain, and four surrounding the ‘flat spot’. This made the area somewhat easier to see, and I really liked the vibes they gave off.

I stepped down the stairs to the flat area, the dog in tow, and stepped into the middle. A chill ran through me as cold wetness landed on my nose. I slowly lifted my head as more water began to fall. Looking at the sky above, I felt giddy, almost. It was hard to describe. After stressing about moving all day and now there I was, watching the rain in silence as it fell onto me. I felt like I could just forget I was even upset for at least a little while before I had to go in and go back to worrying. I grinned, and hummed as the water began to come down harder. The rain and the warmth from my face quickly fogged up my glasses, I had to clear them a few times. All of our stuff could get wet in the transfer from truck to house at this point and I couldn’t bring myself to care. Alice wagged her tail and tapped her feet excitedly, sensing my happiness and ease. I laughed a bit. Then my humming turned to singing, and I was prancing around the area almost like I was in an old movie famously known for singing in the rain. Alice, wanting to play, lifted herself to rest her front paws on my jacket front. Normally I’d scold her but dancing is always better with a partner. I finished the song while scratching her neck and swaying and laughed. After getting her to drop off I turned around to the much darker area illuminated mostly by the lamps and relaxed again until I was interrupted by a crack of lightning. I looked in it’s direction for a moment before I could hear Paisley’s voice calling from the house. I ran with the dog to get inside.