Missing House

No no no.

It's not true.

It can't be true.

How could this have happened?

Just get up and leave like that?

I stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the empty land. 

Our house left us.

And to make it worse, it took dad.

"So it's true!"said mom, shocked.

I didn't realize she was standing there. She must have arrived a few seconds ago. I was caught up in my own thoughts that I didn't even hear her.

Looking at the land where our house once stood, it looked like a dust of anti-matter swallowed most our property. All that remained reminded me of a construction sight. The only thing remaining were bits and pieces of metal, and our confused cat who was sniffing relentlessly at the empty land.

--------

I knew our house was unhappy. It made it clear that it wanted more affection and attention. 

How can you, when you come back home tired at the end of the day. God knows we tried so hard.

It made numerous threats about finding a better place. 

"One day you'll come back and you won't find me here".

But it's just a house. You don't take these kind of threats seriously. 

Or so we thought.

------

"Whats the plan?" asked my brother.

"Simple. We find the house." I replied

"You make it sound so simple." said mom, exasperated. 

"It's a house, for crying out loud. How hard will it be to locate a missing house?" I knew I was snapping. My stomach was in knots. I wanted to sound calm, make everyone believe it was going to be better. But I wasn't as confident as I would've liked to be.

Gossip spreads like wildfire. It a matter of minutes we were surrounded by people. Strangers, friends and foes.

We were the talk of the town, it's not everyday a house decides to abandon his family.

What's baffling is that none of the neighbors noticed anything. 

"Have you tried calling your dad's cellphone?" asked an official looking man in a suit. 

"What do you think, Sherlock?"

"Manners." snapped mom

My dad's cell was unreachable. Another reminder of how weird the situation was. 

----

My brother was becoming increasingly passive. 

It was a tiring journey, but one we must embark on. 

We've been through 5 neighborhoods, knocking on doors and inquiring about a missing house. 

Our misfortune has reached a lot of people. Those who have heard about our story looked at us sympathetically, shaking their heads to every question. Others looked as us as if we were crazy. I wouldn't blame them. What a sight we must have been, walking around with mismatched belonging in our hands; a grandfather clock, a side-lamp, an aggravated kitty, a confused woman in her 50's that was on the verge of tears, a passive man that grumbled and growled, and a flustered and angry 20-something girl. 

By midnight, a welcoming stranger, an elderly woman of 80, invited us to stay at her house. 

What we later found out is that when she was a teenager, her house had done the same thing to her. If anyone understood what we were going through, it was her. 

"It wasn't a pretty sight, dearies," she said over a cup of freshly brewed tea.

"I still remember it like it was yesterday. After my husband was shipped off to war, I spent less and less time at the house. You see, it was painful being in a place that constantly reminded me of him." She paused, the memory and pain were still fresh in her eyes.

"So one day, I go to the house after picking up some groceries and nothing was there." she continued to sip on her mug.

We were all expecting her to continue, but she was staring at our cat. She could have forgotten that she was talking to us or she thought what she said was enough.

"So what happened?" I finally asked after 5 minutes of silence.

She took a deep breath. "I searched for weeks. At first my family and relatives helped me. Then it was just my close family. After a while they gave up and I was left so look on my own. Years passed and I had given up hope. Hope on ever seeing my house again and hope on ever seeing my husband again, too. You see, dearies, he was missing. MIA at war. Life was bleak, dearies, you can't live without hope."

For the first time in hours, my brother broke his silence and spoke coherently. "But it was all ok in the end, right?"

"You have to know one thing about houses, dearies. They are meticulous creatures. They can disguise themselves utterly well. So no matter how hard you look, you will never find it. It will reveal itself to you when it thinks the time is right."

"When is that?" asked mom, hope glimmering in her eyes.

"When a house becomes a home."