I had always lived what seemed to be the “perfect life” until a new family moved into the house next to us. After that nothing was the same. Not even our school was the same. There presence in our town flipped everything upside down. It wasn’t until Midnight that night that I realized why there presence changed everything.
“Jinxy. Its time to wake up.” My mother called to me. Although I wasn’t sure why she was waking me so early on a Saturday I woke up quickly and dressed myself properly. When I got to the bottom of the stairs the smell of waffles teased my nose. “I want you to meet the new neighbors.” She said to me as I walked into the kitchen. Standing next to her stood a fairly young women about 5’5 and a middle aged man about 5’8. Both were taller than my 4’11 mom though. But that wasn’t a surprise. She was the shortest in the family.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Alyssa Graburn and this is my husband John Graburn.” The fairly young women said reaching her hand out as a gesture to shake it. I did as she offered but as soon as our hands touched I pulled back.
“Your hands. There so cold.” I said flustered and embarrassed. She gave a worried look to her husband and he met her with the same eyes. “I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself properly. I’m Jinx Lexton.” I said receiving dagger eyes from my mother. She hated it when I didn’t tell people my real name. But it was so embarrassing that I didn’t even think of it as my real name. It was Jinkyersy Malicet Lexton. But I hated it. I couldn’t wait until I was eighteen and I could change it to Jinx.
“I love your name.” John said with his eyes gazing precisely at mine. He looked like he was reading my mind.
“We’re sorry you didn’t get to meet our lovely son but he had some business to attend to. We told him it was his loss but he had been planning what he had to do today for months. We’ll tell him to come over here as soon as he gets home to introduce himself.” She said softly sitting down on a stool.
“Well it will be a pleasure to meet him.” my mother smiled. “Would you like to stay for breakfast?” she asked politely.
“Oh. No thank you. We already had dinner plans. As a matter of fact we must be going. We will see you later.” She said rushing her husband out the door.
“Have a great day.” My mom shouted briefly before they were out the door. “Well that was interesting.” She said calmly to me laughing briefly. I laughed with her. They were quite strange. But something inside made me feel connected to them in some way. Like we knew each other. It was strange but the other feeling was a longing to meet there son. I didn’t know why but I could already tell I would like him. His parents were nothing like him, I didn’t know how I knew that but I did. Could it be we were connected. I told myself not to be foolish but this thought wouldn’t leave my mind.