The automobile skidded to a bumpy stop in front of their new home. It was large and made from bricks, looking like a mansion. To be fair, Maddie’s old house was small, along with most of the houses in her old village. This one towered over the small family. There was a large yard behind with lush grass. Past the grass was an expansive forest, the leaves beginning to redden and fall as autumn came.

  Maddie lugged one of her bags out of the automobile and wandered towards the house. Her father opened the door and the family went in. Immediately, Daisy and Jason whipped through the house and opened every door possible, seeing all the rooms. Nina, though younger than Jason, was timidly standing next to Maddie and Lilly, holding their dog, Felicia, in her arms.

  Jean led Maddie and Lilly to their shared room (yeah, at a closer look, it wasn’t really a mansion). Up a flight of stairs into a room with no door laid their room.

  It was large with a slanted ceiling because it was right underneath the roof. Two windows adorned opposite sides of the room, one even having a window seat. Across from the opening was the closet. It was humongous. Maddie debated for a minute with Lilly, wondering if one of them should just take the closet as her room.

  That thought didn’t last long when they felt a rush of cold air hit them. There was no insulation in there. They quickly shut the door and set their stuff down on the ground.

  Hired movers had already been by so Maddie’s and Lilly’s beds were already set up. Maddie flopped on her bed and heaved a sigh.

  Minutes later, she remembered the letter. Excitedly sitting up, she tugged the envelope out of her pocket and carefully opened it. Inside, there were lots of papers. Each paper was a picture of her and each of her friends, expertly drawn but inexpertly colored with crayons. None of the people had faces and Maddie had to laugh at how Eddie had drawn everyone. On the last page, there were tinier drawings of each of them. Then…

  Maddie quickly wiped at her eyes. Geeze, it wasn’t that big a deal but… Hormones or whatever.

  On that final page were little notes from each of her friends, telling her how much they love her and will miss her. Saying goodbye.

  “You okay, Madds?” Asked Lilly. She was already unpacking and stuffing stuff under her bed.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Instead of answering, Maddie waved the stack of papers at Lilly who got up to read them. She smiled and laughed then handed them back to Maddie.

  “That’s nice of them. That’s what Eddie gave you?”

  “Yeah,” Maddie responded, taking the parchments back and folding them nicely back into the envelope. She turned to Lilly and asked, “Do you miss your friends?”

  “Well, yeah, of course,” she said with a shrug that said that she obviously wasn’t devastated. “But I have my family so that’s all I need,” this last part she said with a dramatic flare and laid onto her own bed as if fainting.

  Maddie laughed and chucked a pillow at her sister who threw one right back. Soon, Daisy, Nina, and Jason clambered up into their room. All became chaos as they dog piled Lilly onto the floor. Maddie momentarily forgot about her sadness.

  Not long after the dog pile, the kids were called down to dinner. Jean stirred a pot of stew over the fire and their father was cutting a small loaf of bread on the table. Seeing that they’d all arrived, Jean moved the pot from the fire to the table, putting a knit cloth underneath it to avoid burning the table.

  When everyone was seated with a serving of stew and a slice of bread with butter on their plates, Jean started, saying, “Okay, what is one thing you guys are grateful for today? Let’s start with you, Chris.”

  The father cleared his throat and said, “I’m grateful that we were able to arrive here without any trouble on the road or Highwaymen.”

  Josh went next and said, “I’m grateful that I got my own room!”

  “I’m grateful for my family,” answered Daisy with a large smile.

  “I'm grateful for the forest out back.” Nina.

  Lilly answered, “I’m grateful for the house.”

  Maddie said, “I’m grateful for my friends.”

  And finally, Jean replied, “I’m grateful for this new opportunity we have in this new town.”

  The family dug into their food, laughing and talking about stupid things like what their favorite vegetables were and what their dream rooms would look like.

  They moved to the family room where Chris read a few chapters of a book to them. Maddie wasn’t paying attention, though. She wasn’t paying attention because Jean wasn’t paying attention. Her mother sat scribbling fast words on a piece of parchment. One, two… Three pages long until she folded it crisply into thirds and stuffed it in an envelope. She scratched an address into the envelope then turned her attention to her husband. But Maddie couldn’t tear her eyes off of the envelope. She glanced over at Lilly, who met her eyes with mild surprise. So, she’d seen it as well.

  The rest of the night went well but Maddie’s thoughts lied elsewhere. In her room, late at night with the lights off and boxes strewn around the room from when she gave up on unpacking, she looked out her window. And there was her mother, handing off a letter to a messenger who flew away fast, heading east.