A New Start (Again)

The car shook as if there was an earthquake right beneath, it caused my immersion to be broken from the book. To be immersed in something was hard for me to do, so once my attention had been taken away from it, it'd take me a long while to get back in. I was about to attempt to place myself into the book again but after I looked outside of the windows, I realized we were on a road not made of concrete or asphalt, but pebbles, I figured it'd be shaking even more. With that in mind, I placed my bookmark on the current page I was at and closed the book. The cover of the book was fully black with nothing but white text displaying "Mother", and under it, there was a subtext that showing "Volume 2".

Mother was a novel about a figure labeled "Mother" running through the dangers of the world with an egg she always carries around as she waits for her child to finally break out of the egg. The author is unknown because the book never listed any name besides the publisher's, it was published by a well-known company that had many popular works under their belts. When the first volume of Mother was out, it initially received no attention from people and was destined to be a complete failure, however, there were still a few people who picked up the book because of the company that published it. One of those people was a famous book critic, who after finishing the first volume, wrote a long review that boosted the novel's sales, praising it for its "Excellent storytelling and usage of imageries." I can't see what he was talking about because all this just seems like a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me. The only reason I was reading the book at all was because it was so well-regarded by many people that it piqued my interest. I was halfway through the second book, and the latest book to be release in the series, and still couldn't get what the story was about or what it was trying to say.

"Are we okay back there? These pebbled roads are quite bumpy." My dad who was driving, asked.

"Besides feeling like I was experiencing turbulence on a plane, I'm fine," I replied.

My dad was the reason why my family is going to the countryside. His job always has him traveling from place to place every few years. So, our family (consisting of me, my dad, and my mom) moved to these places with him. There were some nice places we've been to but others, not so nice, and the place we're heading to looks like one of them. I've never been a fan of any place that is devoid of the bustling sounds of people and cars. It always seems so melancholic and eerie for some reason.

It was raining heavily outside, I could see the water droplets forming on the windows of, the car there was also a thick shroud of fog, so besides the ground, you couldn't see much surrounding the car. Weathers like this mean that I can't be outside much, this is because I am susceptible to getting sick from the changing weather, especially since the previous place I was at is hot around all year so such a sudden change could easily get me bedridden if I don't watch out.

"Is that it?" My mom pointed at a house that was revealing from the fog as we were driving closer to it.

"That should be it." My dad looked in the direction of my mom's finger "Based on the description from the agency, it looks the most fitting."

As the car got closer to the house, I was able to make out the details more clearly, it was an average two-story house with a small garage. The exterior was painted white, my guess was that since I heard it would rain often, the paint would peel off if it was painted anyway. It was a bit smaller than our previous place, but it still looked like it could fit another person in addition to my family. My parents had already talked about having another child, but it seems like Dad never found the time.

"Let's see here..." Dad muttered after stopping the car in front of the garage, he was looking for something in the glove compartment "Found it." He then pulled out a black remote with two buttons, a button showing an up arrow and a button showing a down arrow, it wasn't hard to figure out what it was for. Dad then pressed the button with the up arrow, then the garage door started to slowly rise.

"This is like our house…3 houses ago," I said with a bit of dry humor thrown in the mix.

Mom then turned her head around "This is the only house in town with a garage like this, actually, it's the only house with a garage. And it's the biggest house too. Seems like your dad's agency arranged a nice house for us this time around."

"Really?" I was a bit surprised that such an average house was considered the biggest in the place. I guess that was just a countryside thing.

After getting the car parked inside the garage, all of us got out and we started to unpack our stuff from the top of the car. All of the big furniture or equipment had already been moved to the house before we got here by a moving company that was fully paid for by Dad's agency. As I was carrying a box full of Mom's personal stuff for her with a backpack filled with my own things on my back, I opened the door inside the garage which led into the main hall. Boxes were littered around the house with labels on them detailing what the contents inside were. Covered furniture was also placed specifically at different positions, my Dad actually told the moving company where to put each of them through a video call days before we actually drove here.

Before checking out the entire house, I walked up the stairs and immediately walked over to the door the furthest away from the stairs. I opened it and inside was a small room with a bed and a wardrobe already set up, as well as a small desk and a TV. I was told beforehand that this would be my room, and I didn't mind, nor did I really care that much, as long as it was in decent condition, it doesn't matter where the room is located.

I turned my head around and shouted "Mom! I'm leaving your stuff in front of my room, okay?! So if you need to pick it up it's there!"

Without waiting for a reply, I went inside and immediately plopped down on the bed with the backpack still on me. It crushed me a bit and slightly hurt my back but what's more important was that I was so drained after that long car ride and the bed was feeling like it was going to swallow me whole because of how comfy it was. I sat up slowly and took the backpack off, put it over to a side, and then once again lay down on my bed.

"I'll never get used to this." I said as I looked up at the ceiling and slowly closed my eyes.

A week had already gone by. I was finally getting used to the weather, however I was still avoiding the heavy rain. All of the stuff around the house was finally unpacked, and my family had gotten to meet the neighbors. They were a comfortable bunch and seemed pleased to have new faces around.

We were having dinner in the kitchen when Mom spoke up "Well it's Monday tomorrow, are you ready for school?" She asked me about my school. She already knew the answer, it wasn't the first time we moved after all. But still, I decided to reply despite feeling a bit annoyed having to repeat the same thing again, I do think Mom still treated me like a kid although I was 17, which is practically an adult.

"I've packed my stuff. Yes, I know how to get to school on foot, Dad showed me the path. Yes I'll bring an umbrella to make sure I won't get wet in case it rains." I answered. It was less of an answer and more of a "No need to worry about me, I know how to handle myself." statement.

"That's good. Rest early tonight." Mom smiled before continue eating the pasta from her plate.

I finished my dinner not long after and was finally back on my bed. I opened my phone and did a Google search of the school I was going to study at. I've seen it in real life once when I went there with my dad but wanted to look again just to remind myself of its size.

"For a high school, it definitely isn't as grand as the other ones I've been to." I looked through the very few pictures available on Google. The school, like most other structures in the countryside, was noticeably smaller in size compared to the ones in the city. It isn't particularly surprising since I don't think there are many kids my age in this place anyway.

Deciding to call it a night, I took a hot shower and changed into my pajamas. I took a careful look at my bag again to make sure I brought everything with me and after I made sure that nothing was missing. I jumped on my bed and because I'd finally gotten used to my room, I fell asleep easily.

The next morning, with my backpack on and with Mother on one hand, I was heading toward the school. It takes around 15 minutes to walk from where my home was to the school, so I thought I'd get some reading in. I'd figure I should just drop the novel but unfortunately, I had already read too much to consider dropping it, I'd rather finish it and not like it than drop it so far in and make all the time spent previously to be wasted.

Once I found myself closer to the school, I could hear other students talking and laughing as all teenagers like me do. No matter which school I'm going to, it will always be that same scene and sound every morning. I didn't pay much attention to them but instead continued reading, I was close to the end of this volume anyway so might as well get it off my head.

"Mother, after leaving her egg under a hidden spot in the ruin to find more food and water out in the pitch-black world, finally came back. However, something about the egg was different. Before she had left, the egg was perfectly white, but now, a certain spot on the egg was of a different color, and that spot was cracking. The shell started to fall apart piece by piece around that spot, Mother immediately ran to the egg and embraced it once again, the shell stopped cracking when it was covered in Mother's warm hug 'My child, you mustn't come out when there are still those who wish to taint your purity. You shall come out only when there is only my love for you.' However, the shell had fallen off enough for Mother to look inside and see-"

A bump. Someone bumped on my shoulder, causing me to instinctively move my arm and because I wasn't holding the novel tightly, I accidentally threw it onto a puddle of water on the sidewalks, formed by the rain yesterday. Caring about the novel more than I did taking care of the person who did it, this is due to me having just arrived at the school, it was best not to stir up troubles on my first day. I stepped over to the puddle and picked it up, it was on the last page, also the page that I was on, and I read the last two words of the sentence to finish the volume.

"Are you okay?" Someone stood in front of me as I was focusing on trying to read the last two words from the still-dripping book "Sorry, I was rushing a bit."

I looked up and faced the person, as I looked at them, the last 2 words I just read suddenly rang out from my mind.

"A boy."