I don’t really know where I am, but at the same time, it feels so… familiar… almost like home. Although I miss my room, and waking up to the smell of my mother’s fresh blueberry scones, I’ve found it very easy to adapt to my new surroundings. Everything and every…one… is rather welcoming. Almost too welcoming. I can’t complain though.
There hasn’t been one person to walk by without singing hello, or waving, at the very least. If I’m not at “home”, I’m either engaging in conversation with. or helping my fellow neighbors. However, the conversations can get kind of weird sometimes. Somehow, a few of them have figured out I’m not from here. I don’t recall ever sharing this information… I don’t think they mind that I’m different, though. This one lady from across the street once told me, “We love new meat”. I though it was a pretty odd way to call me a friend, but I paid no mind to it. Perhaps they do and say things differently around here. After all, her grin was from ear to ear, and her eyes were shot wide— I felt as if she was excited to have someone new around.
Another thing I love about this place is the children. They’re all so sweet. They play outside a lot, and occasionally even bring me little treats. My dog Lucky is also here with me. The kids love playing with her. I think Lucky is rather fond of them, too. I think its adorable how she continuously barks when the children knock on my door. I think they could relax on the knocking a little bit though, because sometimes it causes Lucky to whine and whimper. It’s rather odd, since Lucky never did that at our other home, but I guess she is still getting used to how things are around here. I don’t think any of the children have their own pets, though. This one little girl, Sarah, always comes to play with Lucky. She tells me that she wishes her parents would let her get a dog. Her old one apparently went missing one night after he broke her brother, Liam’s, computer. She told me she misses the smell of his mint-washed fur. She still doesn’t know what happened to him. This occurred about five days ago.
Dinner time is my favorite. Sarah and Liam occasionally accompany me. Something kind of weird happened the other night, though.
As Lily took in a whiff of the stew I cooked, she sighed with relief and fell back in her chair. I chuckled, “Long day?”. She looked at me and said, “No not really. I’m only seven years old haha! I don’t have much to do in my life. It’s just sooo refreshing to finally eat something that doesn’t smell like mint”. As soon as she said that, Liam cleared his throat while glaring at Sarah. Sarah’s face instantly turned white. She then turned back to eat her stew. I was really confused. What Sarah said wasn’t unusual, but Liam’s reaction was. I turned to Sarah and inquired, “What do you mean? Do your meals come with mint leaves on top, or..” Liam turned to me and said, “Yeah, we actually have to get going. I forgot dad wants us home for dinner tonight. Let’s go, Sarah”. He grabbed Sarah’s hand and pulled her from her seat. “Thank you for the stew” Liam exclaimed while he lead Sarah out from my house. Something was off, but I didn’t want to be nosey. Lucky was acting a bit weird though. She seemed scared, like she’d just seen something horrific. I didn’t pay much attention to it.
Yeah, that’s pretty much everything about my new community. Right now, I’m out looking for Lucky. I woke up this morning and couldn’t find her. I sprinted out of my house, almost tripping over her Lemon-scented fur wash. I was running around my neighborhood, looking probably as frantic as ever. The lady that I had previously mentioned about welcoming me stopped me when I ran past her house. She brought me inside, where I was also greeted by Liam and Sarah. I guess this woman was their mother. She sat me down at their table and handed me a glass of water. While I was drinking it, I couldn’t help but notice how nervous Sarah looked. I would catch her occasionally looking over at me with a scared expression painted on her face. I think she was just worried for me though. She had never seen me such a mess.
The lady offered me something to eat. I was kind of scatter-brained, so I figured some food in my stomach would help, as well as give me energy to keep looking for Lucky. She placed a plate of salad with… what looked like chicken?… in front of me. The scent was kind of off though. It sort of smelled like… lemon… but off. I was too much in a rush to stop and think about what the hell she was feeding me. I devoured it in about five minutes. I drank the rest of the water and politely thanked the woman. On my way out, I gave the woman my condolences for the loss of their dog, and that I was actually out looking for mine. She stared at me confused and said “Um, we never had a dog.. are you feeling okay?”. I was incredibly confused, but I had bigger things to worry about. I waved goodbye to Sarah and Liam. Liam waved goodbye as normal, but Lily was tearing up for some reason… I didn’t have time to think about that, though. I still had to find Lucky.
Right now, I’m searching for Lucky again. I can’t stop thinking about that salad. Now that I think about it, it actually smelled horrible— gut wrenchingly horrible. It really smelled like expired lemon, or death and lemon. I can’t put my finger on it. Just thinking about it makes me want to puke it all up.
Whatever, I still have to find… I still have to…find…wait, what am I looking for? I stopped in my tracks and frantically looked around.
This isn’t… my home. No. I have to calm down. I feel like I’m losing my mind… You know, now that I really look at my neighbors, I can’t help but notice how different they look from me. The scenery began to look… fake. Unreal. I need to leave.. I-I need to wake up-
Like I said, I don’t exactly know where I am, but that doesn’t matter to me. I live alone though. Some company every now and then would be nice. The people here look really different from me, and say some pretty weird things. I can’t judge though… maybe the things they do and say are just different than where I’m from… wherever that may be.