A New Home

They entered the village. It was quiet and no one was there. Mary looked around. Some houses were really old and some were broken.

For some reason, the old man shouted, "Our new neighbor is here!"Mary looked at him with a confused expression. Suddenly, all the houses doors flung open and a whole lot of people came out of their houses, carrying some things in their hands.

A middle-aged woman carrying a basket of fruits was the first one to approach them. She said in a happy tone "Hello, my name is Lily. What about you? I hope we can be good friends. Oh, here. Fruits for both of you."

She gave Mary the whole basket of fruits. Mary was shocked but tried to be nice, she said "Oh, thank you. My name is Mary and this kid in my arms is Jack, my little brother."

"Ohhhh, that's why you two look so alike," Lily said in astonishment.

"Well, thank you I guess? I get that a lot."

Now, she was surrounded by the villagers. They were all insisting on having dinner with Mary. Mary felt bad to refuse their kindness but she couldn't go to all their houses at the same time too.

Suddenly, she heard a loud yawn coming from her arms. Mary looked down and saw Jack rubbing his eyes, he was awoken by the loud villagers.

They saw Jack and started to persuade him to play with their children. Frightened, Jack looked away from the villagers and stuffed his face into Mary's shirt.

Mary looked back at the villagers and said "Maybe next time, my brother is still tired."

Mary could feel all of them were disappointed but she couldn't help it.

She looked left and right and turned her view to the old man. She asked, "Um...where is my house?"

The old man looked at her and gave her a key. There were numbers printed on top of the key. The numbers were No.5-56. She looked at the keys and understood.

She walked around the village and found a house with the same numbers. The house was the same as the others, old and a little broken.

She walked towards it and slowly opened the door. It let out a loud, ear-splitting creak. Dust flew out of the house and Mary coughed, swiping the dust away with one of her hands.

Then, she put Jack on the ground. Jack stood on his feet, looking scared and confused. He grabbed onto Mary's pants and said in a low shaky voice "Where are we?"

Mary noticed him and said, "This is our new home, you don't have to be scared."

"Then, who are all those people?"Jack continued.

"Oh! Those are our new neighbors."

"Okay," Jack said, now looking a lot better.

Mary looked into the house. It was dark and extremely dirty. She walked into the dirty house, groping in the darkness to find the light switch. Mary touched the walls and it was very dusty.

After a while, she felt a switch. She pressed on it and the lights opened. The lights were quite dim but it was alright. She looked at Jack and told him to go play with the kids while she cleaned the place. Jack shook his head, refusing her request.

Suddenly, a group of kids appeared, asking him to play with them. He looked at Mary seeking help but Mary only looked at him with a smile and pushed him to play him the kids.

After some time, Jack was dragged away by the kids. Mary turned back to the house and let out a sigh. She scratched her head and went to borrow some cleaning materials from the neighbors.

Instead of giving her the cleaning materials she needed, they insisted on helping her clean the house. She allowed them and they started cleaning the old dusty house together.

After a long time, the house was cleaned. The sky was now dark, she thanked all of them for helping her out and went to find her brother.

She found her brother playing with a group of children, he seemed happy. But, she must bring him away. She approached in front of the kids.

Jack noticed Mary and waved goodbye to his friends. They went back together while Jack told Mary about the games he played with the kids.