Finding a new house to make it our home

Mom and I decided to move to a new house.

Hi!

I wanted to share the big change that happened this month. So… here we are.

In my “Shenanigans of moving to a new home” article series, I wrote about the time we moved to a new house from my grandma’s house. And I really liked the new home.

It was a very small house– with a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. But it had all the facilities for basic needs.

But, I can't say there were no problems. Sometimes, water won't be coming out of the tap. And we have to wait for almost half a day for the maintenance workers to sort it out.

There were also drunkards, robbers, and smugglers in the neighborhood, which we came to know through rumors and from my relatives who were well aware of that neighborhood.

Occasionally, we also watched the police enter the gates and arrest people who most likely did something wrong or were framed by someone else.

And I can't go outside alone because I'm afraid of dogs (and also the problematic neighbourhood), and there are two energetic doggos on my floor. (They were cute, but I can't help but feel strong fear whenever I see dogs. *Traumatic flashback of that one time I was chased by dogs*).

After a while, my mom joined a new job. She's a civil engineer, so her new work was a project to construct an apartment building in her new workplace, with her new team.

She would leave in the morning, before I wake up, and sometimes, she'd come home for lunch, but mostly she only returned at night.

Yep, I was home alone most of the time. (If you didn't know, I'm homeschooled. I got held a few years back from school because of covid. So I still have yet to complete high school).

I'd stay at home, doing my thing, learning, drawing, and stuff.

During this time, my mind was a complete mess. I'd sometimes get nightmares or dreams of the past, and the dread I felt the moment I recalled any event of the past was overwhelming. (I'm still experiencing mood swings, and I doubt it's going to stop anytime soon).

No one knows about it, though. I didn't tell them. Because… well, that's a story for another day.

My mom, grandma, and I didn't get along well, and we would be quarreling about 5 days a week. (Not going to go into the details, but yes, it happens).

One day, mom started saying how we would move to a better house with better facilities. There will be no water problems, no bad people, no scary dogs, and I can go outside whenever.

It sounded good so I agreed. We can move to a better house one day when it's possible.

But for now– until we save up enough, the house we were staying at was enough for me. Although flawed, the house we were staying in was free! “We didn't have to pay rent, so it'll be easier to save up”, I thought.

A few weeks ago, random people were visiting our house to look around.

I asked why, and mom said they're going to be our tenants, renting our house.

I did not want to give our house up for rent. I wanted to make sure the new house is better, or at least on the same level as our home. But mom convinced me that our new house is definitely better. “It's a good home in a good area“, “You can go outside without me”, “You won't have to stay cooped up indoors anymore!”, “I'll buy you a new bicycle after we move”, etc.

Mom was also going around looking for a new house so we could move there when she finds the right one.

And she did find a new house she liked.

A few days later, mom and our relatives all started the shifting process before I could go and see the new house.

Before I knew it, there I was, sitting in a chair at my empty home early in the morning, with just some of my things left in packages and boxes.

And I finally left our own home.

Mom and I got on the bike and went to the new house– which was within walking distance of my aunt's house.

We opened the gates…

The new house… was on the 2nd floor– and there was no elevator.

*Sigh*

I probably mentioned this in a previous article: I have leg pain. Of course— it's going to be hard to climb up.

Anyway, we climbed up the old, small, tall, and hardly usable stairs. (I was exhausted by the time we got to the second floor.)

We slowly opened the door.

I looked around the house…

…And I hated it.

It was very old, had gross switch boxes, the bathroom was way too small, and the floor plan was awful!

“How the heck did my mom like this house??”

Sure, it has a balcony and it's convenient that it's near our aunt's house, but those advantages are useless if the most important parts of the house are so bad!

I badly wanted to move back to our old home. But, I can't. Because it has already been given to some strangers for rent.

I expressed to mom that I don't like this new house.

Some of my relatives also agreed that this new house is worse than the house we were previously staying in.

I was taken to my cousin's house, and I refused to go to the new house.

I was against this decision because I didn't want to have to stay in a place I hated.

I already spent months or even years staying in places I hated. And I just didn't want to have to put up with that again.

I heard mom talking with our relatives, and it turns out– Mom also agrees that the new house is bad! (And I came to know that there were water problems too!)

(I don't know how someone will decide to move somewhere before looking around and carefully thinking about whether that new place is worth it or not. But… whatever. What's done is done, and I just wanted to move to a decent house).

After some convincing, mom agreed to look for a new, better home.

Until then, (I thought) I'll be staying at my cousin's house.

I stayed at my cousin's for 3 days and today– the day I'm writing this article, mom and I went out to eat lunch. While we were about to return to my cousin's, we thought we'd look around a bit– to see if we can find a better home.

We saw a lot of signs saying “House for rent” and we stopped and contacted the numbers written on the signboards.

We looked at three houses and rejected the first two of them.

But the 3rd one we saw was a good house. It had all the facilities we needed and it was neat and clean.

But… There was one drawback.

It was on the 2nd floor. And there was no elevator.

Mom and I took videos of the house and went back to my cousin's house.

We were not sure if we should keep looking for more houses or settle with the last one we saw, but after talking with my cousin and relatives, my mom and I decided to move to the last house we saw. Even though it's on the 2nd floor, we decided to compromise on that part.

The next day, we contacted the landlord of the house where our belongings are, talked with him, saying that we can't stay there and after a bit of convincing, he agreed. (Phew, I'm glad…)

In the end, it's decided that we're moving to our new house by May 10 or earlier.

And… we hope, it'll go well this time!

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Author's note: I'm not sure who'd be interested in reading this article. But I thought sharing about my life a bit would help my readers relate with me a bit more, so… yeah! I hope you liked it.

And let me know if you're interested in hearing more life stories. That's all for now, and I hope you have a great week!

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Thank you for reading! I hope you liked reading this article. Come again next week on Friday for a ✨new post✨

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- Harshini

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