Chapter 3 - Hard Work

  It had been 6 months since mom and dad passed away. Although it has been extremely tough on me and my siblings, we were doing alright on our own. Our parents had left us a §150,000 through their life insurance policy but we had not touched any of it yet. We still could not believe our parents were gone, although we knew mom was sick we never would have thought that they would go together.

  After going through things in my mind for a few days I decided it was time to sit down with my siblings and have a chat.

"I have been thinking things over the past few days and I have decided that we need to change some things around here."

"Elena, what are you talking about?" Alexis started, "Don't you think we have gone through enough lately?"

"I agree with Alexa," Damon said "Do you think that now since your in charge we have to do every little thing you tell us to do?"

"You guys, this is hard enough as it is. So can you please just hear what I have to say?!"

  I tried to ignore how they were talking to me. Ever since mom and dad died Alexis and Damon had become different people. yes, they worked hard at their jobs but they were hard partiers after hours. I have had to bail them out of jail more times than I care to remember.

"Anyways, I really think it is time that we completely redo this house."

"Elena, do you really think that is a good idea?" Stefan asked, unsure if he liked the idea or not.

"Yes I do, unless you guys want to keep sharing a room."

Damon looked at Stefan and sneered.

"I do NOT want to share a room with you anymore!" Damon said in disgust.

I looked at Alexis and she nodded her head in agreement.

"So, we are all on the same page with changing the house. Good. The workers will be here tomorrow so we need to decide what is staying and what is being sold. Everything that is staying needs to go in a storage unit that will be here in an hour."

  We spent the rest of the day cleaning out the house and sold everything that we did not want anymore. When we were finished I went to the bank and transfered the life insurance money into my checking account and then checked the balance (which was §175,000.)

  Our house was extremely busy over the next couple weeks but we were very happy with the end result. The renovations consisted of:

• 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
• kitchen w/breakfast table
• dining room
• formal living room
• family room
• study in master bedroom
• laundry room
• finished garage
• deck w/outdoor eating area
• redesigned pool
• furnished basement (band area, exercise equipment, entertainment area, and indoor pool & jacuzzi.)

  Stefan was helping me clean the little bit of mess that was left over after the workers were done while Damon and Alexis were working.

"Ok, that's the last of it. I am going for a run," Stefan said.

  I finally had the house to myself and that gave me time to relax and read.