Ghost Story Competition Entry (Part One)

So a few months ago I entered a ghost story writing competition, and now I found out I didn't win (didn't even come close) I am allowed to post it online for you all to see and this is it, I will be posting it in parts because its pretty long and with all the possibilities on the internet and needing to check twitter every 5 minutes I know your focus is pretty small.


Black Eyes (Part One)

Moving to a new house is never quite like you would expect. it’s not like in the movies where you sit in the car and look out the window with a meaningful glance to all your friends who have taken the time to see you off, and that look on your face just kind of says it all and sums up your friendship perfectly.
Well sadly my life is not a classic eighties movie and my goodbye did not have perfect musical accompaniment and a guy who appears at the last minute running up and saying he loves me and pleading with me not to go because we are soul mates and meant for each other, then by some perfect twist of fate it turns out I don’t have to leave and we live happily ever after. Roll credits.
No, that is not my life.
So if that is the sort of thing you were hoping for then I suggest you stop reading right now, get on your computer and buy all John Hughes movies you can from amazon and leave this story behind.
Well there was no classic ending to my story, I left my house in the middle of the night, my mum came in my room to wake me up, although I wasn’t really sleeping, after another night of my dad knocking her from room to room in a drunken rage she had told me she finally had enough, I was strangely laid back about the whole situation maybe the walls I had built as a child were still up and protecting me just like they always had, or maybe I didn’t believe  my mother would really do it and we would just drive a down a couple streets and sleep in the car, I don’t know and the heartless protective walls around my emotions wouldn’t let me care.
As my mother threw our cases in the boot of the car I walked around my side of  the car to get in just as my dad stumbled out of the front door and down the path, I could see neighbours curtains twitch and a few stepped out to see our circus act. Ladies and gentleman feast your eyes on the suburban domestic abuse double act.
My dad started shouting “YOU’LL NEVER FIND ANYONE, WHO WOULD WANT YOU. YOU’RE NOTHING; YOU’D BE NOTHING WITHOUT ME!”  more neighbours started to step out on their porches just out of some kind of morbid curiosity, help didn't exist on our street nobody took a step further, I can’t say I blame them I wouldn't want to jump in to this mess, I got in the car and shut the door I didn't want to hear anymore, I didn't want anything in that moment except to be anyone else but me. After some more shouting back and forth that I couldn't quite make out as thankfully the old car muffled the sounds of the screaming, I had heard it all before I recited this argument in my head like a familiar old song  I knew so well, my mum eventually climbed in the car and started to drive. We drove in silence for about an hour when we had some distance between us and what used to be our life, I shivered inside as I looked over at my mother’s face it was covered in bruises, a fresh one across the bridge of her nose was cut and bleeding heavily on one side and was dripping down her cheek and on to her shirt.
I wanted to say something supportive or caring, anything that a daughter should say in a situation like this but all I could say was "that's going to stain your shirt" as soon as I said it I wish I had just stayed silent. She didn't respond, who would respond to that anyway, I'm glad she didn't dignify that with a response. I decided that it would be best to just shut up for the rest of the journey, but apparently my mouth had other plans, "where are we going?" I said like my mouth had no filter and at this point I started to hate myself, again not expecting a response, so I was a bit taken aback when my mother slowly replied, "our new home"  her answer only raised more questions, but this time with a protective and concerned filter, I decided not to ask.
 I drifted off to sleep, the journey and exhaustion overcame my curiosity, when I woke Mum was parking the car in front of a huge house, then I knew where we were, it was my nan's old house, I hadn't been here in years, my nan stopped talking to my mother after the last time my parents got back together, she knew he was no good and eventually said make your choice , him or me, probably thinking my mum would make the smart choice and pick the woman who brought her in to this world. But when my mother chose him again then my Nan washed her hands of the whole situation and told her not to come back.  Mother’s bad decision somehow began nan's decline and the heartbreak of watching another human being choosing abuse over love was a rejection to far for her, she died  in this house we were outside alone and lonely a shadow of the  proud woman she once was.
As I walked to the front door the house seemed much smaller then I remembered, as I stepped inside I felt the cold emotional memories of the betrayal of nan's wisdom and how life would have been so different if we had never left. The interior matched the feelings, no pictures, no lived in homely feel, Just dingy white walls all throughout the house, as I walked down the hall I went in each room, nothing unusual just a couple bedrooms, a bathroom and some cupboards. Everywhere I looked in the house was in desperate need of fixing up and modernizing but nowhere close to un-livable, so I guess that if we were staying here then we had our work cut out for us.