Moving Day

“Moving Day” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Srisha Kandulapati, Sampson G. Smith Intermediate School, USA.

Moving Day

"Zoe, wake up!" Zoe's mom yelled as she pulled the blankets off of her. "Mom, what time is it? Where are we going?" Zoe asked in a groggy and tired voice. "Enough questions and get ready!" her mom snapped. Zoe got out of bed, dragging her bare feet as she slowly walked towards the bathroom. Her eyes were squinted because she was pretty much asleep. She went into the bathroom got ready, brushed her teeth, and her hair. Then she walked back to her room. She was so tired so she couldn't walk straight. She went to the window and saw a moving van, and in that moment she noticed everything besides her bed was gone. She ran downstairs to the final step, where she was in shock. Frozen like a statue. She was curious. Everything was in boxes, people came in one by one taking one box after another. "Mom, what is going on here, why is there a moving van outside of our house?" Zoe asked.

"We're moving," her mom replied.

"What? Why didn't I know about this? Zoe cried, and ran upstairs with teardrops stuck in her eyes. "Zoe," her mom whispered as she was walking to Zoe's room. In a low voice mom said "Honey, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner but it was a last minute decision."

"Why?" Zoe asked as she sat on her bed.

"Well, dad got a new job and it's not here. He didn't know he got the job until last night," her mom replied, while gently wiping the tears off Zoe's face.

"Couldn't you have at least told me sooner, or given me a warning," Zoe cried.

"Zoe, you have to understand!" her mom said as her voice got louder and louder every time a word came out of her mouth. "Well, anyway the people will be taking your bed," mom said as she walked downstairs.

"Mom, could I go to Karina's house one last time before we leave?" Zoe asked.

"Sure, but eat something before you leave, and be back by 8:05 am," she replied. Zoe ate a corn muffin and rushed through the door to get to Karina's house.

"Ding, Dong" Zoe rang the doorbell to Karina's house. "Hi, Zo," Karina said in a gleaming voice as giving her friend a big hug."Come in," Karina said as pointing to her house. Zoe came in and told Karina about moving. "Will I ever see you again?" asked Karina.

"That's the thing, I don't know if we'll ever see each other again. I didn't know I was going to move until this morning," Zoe cried.

"Zo, no matter how far we are we will always be friends. I bet we'll see each other again, if not we can always facetime each other." Karina said as she put her head on Zoe.

"Yeah we can, thanks, Karina," Zoe replied wiping her tears. Zoe looked at the clock a "Oh, I gotta go, my mom said to be home by 8:05."

"Bye," Karina cried giving her friend a hug.

Zoe was walking home from Karina's house and heard her mom yell "Zoe! We're leaving." Zoe walked to her car and sat all the way in the back. It was an hour drive, a silent hour drive. Zoe fell asleep for the most part of it. When finally reaching the house Zoe said to herself "Pretty cool."

"Zoe!" Zoe's mom called from the kitchen. Zoe walked to the kitchen and saw a small table with chairs. She saw her mom sitting on a chair and then she sat on a chair too. "Zo, thanks, this must be hard for you but I promise we'll get through it together," her mom said.

"Honestly I was scared at first, I still am but I think I can do it," Zoe proclaimed in a low and confident voice.

"Anyway go upstairs and pick a room, me and dad will get the paint and stuff to decorate your room," said her mom.

"OK," Zoe replied.

Zoe went upstairs and looked for a room. She found the room she liked, it was medium size and had a bathroom attached to it. "Mom! I found a room," Zoe yelled as running downstairs.

" Alright, sit in the kitchen while me and your dad go out to get paint for the room. The moving people will leave in like... 2 minutes. Do you have any particular color you want for your room?" she asked.

"I prefer purple but I don't really care, just anything besides green or orange, " Zoe replied.

"OK," her mom said.

After the moving people left...

"Bye Zoe, remember to stay in the kitchen, and we have snacks in the blue bag,"

. "OK, bye mom," Zoe's mom and dad left so she went to get her bag. She took her laptop out and called Karina.

"Hey Karina," Zoe said.

" Hey Zo, hows the new house?" Karina asked.

"Honestly pretty cool, anyway where are you?" Zoe replied.

"I'm busy, my cousins came, bye, just before you skyped" Karina said.

"OK, call me later," Zoe said and ended the call. She went into her bag to grab her iPad.

Zoe's parents came back after 30 minutes.

"Zoe we got your dinner for you from Mcdonalds, me and mom will be painting your room," Zoe's dad said while giving Zoe the McDonalds brown bag.

"OK dad, thanks," Zoe said with a smile on her face. As Zoe's parents went upstairs Zoe opened the brown bag. She took out the burger and put her Ipad in front of her. She ate her burger while watching Netflix. Zoe's mom called as she was walking down the stairs.

"Zoe we finished your room, we'll do the rest of the rooms later, when you're in school," "OK, when will my bed be ready?" Zoe asked.

"The movers will be coming at 8, they'll put up our bed and your bed. Tomorrow is going to be the rest of the furniture and the basement," Zoe's dad said. "Why are you guys doing everything all at once. You don't have to do everything in 2 days, take your time don't stress your selves out," Zoe said. "You have 3 more weeks of summer vacation we don't want it all to be boring for you. We want you to have the best end of summer 3 weeks ever," Zoe's dad replied. "Thank, but it alright, anyway can I go upstairs?" Zoe asked. "Sure," her mom replied. Zoe took her computer and iPad and ran upstairs. "I'm going to talk to her, " her dad said with his head turned to mom. Mom nodded and dad went upstairs.

"Zoe are you alright? You haven't been yourself lately," Zoe's dad asked putting his hand around Zoe.

"I'm fine, everything is fine," Zoe said in a low voice.

"Honey, tell me the truth, I know something is wrong," Zoe's dad said.

"Fine, I'm scared, like you said 3 more weeks, I don't want to go to a new school," Zoe cried.

"Oh Zoe, come here," her dad said giving her a hug. "I promise there is nothing to be afraid of," he continued.

"What if I get bullied, or.. or no one likes me or.. or.."

"You're over thinking it," her dad interrupted. "And if someone doesn't like you there .... on second thought, let's not go there. The point is you're an amazing, awesome, funny, you are an amazing friend," her dad continued.

"Thanks, dad," Zoe mumbled through her tears.

"No problem," Zoe's dad said and Zoe began to laugh.

It was around 8:30 pm when the moving people got the beds in the rooms. Zoe fell asleep pretty fast.

The next morning Zoe woke up at 10 am. She slowly walked downstairs and stopped when she heard her parents talking. She hid behind the wall trying to listen but they were practically whispering. "Mom, dad, what are you talking about?" Zoe asked.

"Well today we finished the basement and we're going to Karina's house on Saturday for 5 days. Dad and I will be cleaning up the old house, you, on the other hand, you will be having a... PARTY," her mom replied.

"Really!" Zoe yelled and ran upstairs faster than a cheetah.

Zoe ran to her room and grabbed her laptop and jumped on the bed. She called Karina and when she picked up Zoe yelled in a "KARINA, KARINA, you won't believe it."

"Zoe, calm down, take a deep breath and I know what you're going to say and... I'm SO EXCITED!" Karina yelled.

"I can't wait," Zoe screamed.

"You need to calm down, gtg, cousins are still here," Karina said.

"K, bye," Zoe exclaimed as she ended the call. She closed her computer and went to her bathroom. She got ready and went downstairs. She ate a corn muffin and went to her room to read.

"Zoe," Zoe's mom whispered.

"Ya, mom what's up?" Zoe asked.

"Oh nothing just checking if your good or you needed more calming down," Zoe's mom said.

Saturday...

Zoe was in the car with her bag, and some blankets, a stuffed animal, a pillow, a book. She was so excited. When Zoe reached Karina's house she was really excited. She walked in and Zoe wasn't scared about her school or anything about her move at all.