When a Home Becomes a House

We moved into our brand new house about 20 months ago. The family next door to us had been living there for a few years and consisted of Mom, Dad, Grandmother, two very lively (and noisy!) little kids and a maltese poodle named Audi.

We used to hear the kids running, screaming and swimming in the afternoons and over weekends, with Audi barking hysterically as he ran after them... Sunday afternoon naps were very near impossible!

Then, a few months ago, we woke up one morning and they were gone. They had literally disappeared overnight. Dad had apparently lost everything and the house was in the process of becoming a bank repo... they evidently left in quite a hurry, as there were still bits and pieces scattered across the garden and through the house, visible through the empty windows.

The house now has a huge auctioneers board outside, reading: "Urgent Sale". A friend of ours is interested in the property, so we joined him when he went to have a look inside yesterday. As I walked through the kitchen, this little note caught my eye where it was still stuck to the oven door; a lonely memory in a big empty house that once was a home. The little boy's name was Damian...