The Paradigm Shift

So, this story here is my A+ English short story from last year. The theme was displacement and I used my personal experiences for inspiation. The characters used in this story are my characters from my story I want to write when I'm older... :]

Hope you like it! - It's written in third person!

Each town looks the same to Lisa Hale. As she sat in the back seat of her parents 4WD, growing restless with each passing tree, the afternoon sun suddenly burst through the clouds. It filtered through the woodlands canopy that surrounded the road and danced across Lisa’s face.
Lisa and her parents had inherited her Dad’s Great Uncle’s farm house. Until now, she never even knew that her Dad had a Great Uncle. And, until now, she never knew that her parents would pack up everything they owned and sell their house, just to move to a little farm house, in a small town named Carlisle, located at the top of North West of England.
Lisa’s Dad lifted his eyes to the rearview mirror and stared at Lisa with a smile beginning at the corners of his lips. “Why look so glum princess?”
Lisa’s parents had been delighted when they were told the news, and were both bubbling with excitement. ‘I hope it has a vegetable garden. I don’t really want to dig one out for you dear,’ her Dad had said.
‘I hope the place isn’t dirty,’ her Mum added. It had been like this the whole way; exchanging comments and complaints about the house they knew little about.
Lisa sighed and lifted her eyes to meet her Dad’s anxious reflection in the mirror.
“Nothing’s wrong Dad, don’t worry about it,” she replied in a monotone. She’d repeated this same sentence over and over again.
Lisa’s Dad sighed. He turned his eyes to his wife of many years, sighed once more, before drawing his attention back to the road.
“Don’t worry darling, you’ll make plenty of new friends.” her Mum’s voice reassured from the front seat of the car. Lisa smiled faintly, crossing her legs and squirmed deeper into the backseat. She turned her attention to her iPod in her lap, switching the song and turning up the volume. Lisa was utterly bored.
“How much longer?” she asked, meeting two pairs of eyes in the reflection of the mirror.
“About an hour or so dear,” her father replied.
“Good. Because my whole bottom half is numb. I probably won’t be able to walk after this long journey.” She emphasized the word long, mainly because her parents chose to drive the 420km from London to Carlisle, following the removal truck the whole way. Lisa’s parents laughed in harmony.
The hour passed quickly, surprising Lisa. As the Hales’ drove through the small town of Carlisle, the excited babbling of Lisa’s parents grew more pleased with the quaint town. While they drove down the narrowing country lane, the rolling hills on either side of the road, filled with lush green grass, flowed effortlessly up and down next to each other.
Lisa had the whole top half of her torso turned towards the opaque woodlands that now lined either side of the road once more. She rolled down the window and smelt the fresh county air, filled with the smells of pine needles and bark.
“It’s beautiful, I have to admit,” Lisa admitted to her parents, turning away from the orange tinged woods that now played host to eerie shadows caused by the setting sun.
“It’s not a disappointment, is it?” her mother asked turning her upper-body around to face Lisa, smiling hugely. Lisa smiled back in agreement.
The sky was a rich ruby as Lisa’s Dad pulled into a long, narrow driveway, obscured by tall pine trees, leaving the road ahead only discernable for a few meters as it weaved, serpent-like, around the ancient trees.
And then, after a couple of miles, there was a noticeable thinning of the woods. Whatever Lisa and her parents were expecting, it, without doubt, wasn’t this.
The paint was a soft, faded white. The timeless farm house stood two stories tall and had a welcoming front porch that spanned across the face of the house. Lisa’s Dad parked the car in front of the farm house. Both of her parents stepped out of the car, staring at the house with fascination clear on their faces.
Lisa stepped out of the car, pulling her earphones out of her ears and sliding them into the back pocket of her jeans.
“I like it,” Lisa said, surprisingly.
“So do I,” her father replied.
Lisa walked over to her parents at the front of the car, shoving her hands to the bottom of her pockets. Her Dad put a comforting arm around her shoulders and headed towards the front door. The entry’s high ceiling towered above their heads as the Hales’ stepped into the house. The last of the suns golden rays streamed in through three windows from a dormer over their heads, bathing the elegant curving staircase and hallway in a golden light.
“I’m just going to find a room. I want to unpack and get some proper sleep, if that’s okay?” Lisa asked stepping out from under her Dads arm.
“Sure,” her Mum replied as she walked to the right into the living room, absorbed by the homey stone fireplace that dominated the room.
“Make yourself at home,” Lisa’s Dad added as he followed his wife into the living room.
Lisa took a deep breath and walked back outside and pulled her small weekend suitcase that held only a few of her clothes out of the car. She walked passed the removal truck, watching the men unload the boxes one by one and then placing them at the front door.
She made her way up the classy wooden stairs and into one of the rooms. The bedroom had a double bed off to one side and a mirror cabinet and French doors leading off onto a small balcony.
“It’s not so bad,” she said to herself, slinging her suitcase onto the bed. “I might just actually like this place.”

Fin.