John's Novel Blog

Downtown was situated on top of a hill where the government buildings were. The schools were in the middle of the city. Parks were scattered in many places but most were next to schools. The houses were up on the hill also. The only thing that wasn’t on the hill was a park. I didn’t get to see it that first day. We came from the north of the city off the interstate highway. The park was in the south were a lot of farms were.
“We’re here, Charlie”, my mom said from the front seat.
I was in my own world and only heard her voice the second time. I looked out the window and saw a blue house that I saw on the computer when my dad showed me the new house. My dad was always showing me cool stuff he does on his computer. I was interested but not as much as he was. He would be so happy when he would find an answer on the internet. For me it was obvious the answer would be there. I never understood the wonder of it all.

The city looked normal. Nothing seemed out of place. Drove by the city hall which looked normal. Drove by many schools and they looked normal but boring. Saw some parks with slides and other normal park stuff. One thing I noticed was all the parks were empty. I saw kids walking by but not one kid or parent was in any of the parks I saw. As a kid I thought that was strange. As a shy kid I was worried I wouldn’t be able to play at a park. Didn’t want to be the only one playing and have people look at me weird. I always thought people were looking at me. I rarely go outside for fear that someone would laugh at me for some reason. This was obviously a stupid thing to think about but I thought about it all the time.

The grass as green as it can be. Roses with the smell of chocolate. Dirt tasty as the cake in a store. Sand ready to become a castle. These are all the things in The Terces Park Place down the hill from downtown. All the kids knew of the place. The parents knew but never understood the feelings. You might not understand the feelings also but I will try to guide you with my eyes. The eyes of a boy at age 9, innocent and shy.
I remember that day when we arrived at downtown to live in our new house. My parents worked hard to get us out of the apartment and now our dreams are coming true. Little did my parents know that my eyes would be opened up to a whole new world.