Chapter 2

Our second protagonist is introduced, who has newly moved to Feller's Glen from the city with her father, who has taken a job as a librarian in the town where he spent his childhood summer vacations.

            The hills surrounding Pineview Reservoir and the towns dotting Ogden Valley burst with color that day as Sarah and her father drove through the woods, past the lake in the center of the vale, passing the few residences, stores and offices the community had to offer.  A brick chapel with an old-fashioned belfry stood between a general store and gas station.  The houses dotting the sides of the one-lane highway each had a fresh coat of paint, but seemed oddly worn.  It was as if the neighborhood couldn’t decide whether it was old or new, but somewhere in between.

            The Outback her dad had bought a few years back sped past fields and fences.  A few farmers were out on their tractors baling the last bunches of hay before autumn set in for the year.  The morning was cool, and the clouds overhead promised rain.

            Sarah’s cat purred along with the engine, dozing in her lap.  The bell wrapped around its neck jingled as it lifted its head, yawning briefly before settling back down.

            The countryside was beautiful, but Sarah doubted she would ever love the rolling hills as much as the city streets she had grown up in.

            Her family had moved up here for a job her dad had taken as a librarian, a career he had always wanted to pursue.  Although she had wanted to protest, she knew it wouldn’t work.  Her dad had been searching for a job for over a year now, ever since he was laid off from being a teacher in the city. 

            “It’ll be a new start for us,” he said, knowing that she would be disappointed to leave her friends and school.

            She had cried that night, calling her boyfriend, her best friend, who both listened to her sobs over the phone, then her grandmother, who had little sympathy for her.

            “Dad?”

            “Yeah, hon?”

            “How big is this town again?”

            “Oh, I don’t know, a few hundred folks, at least,” he said, glancing at her from the driver’s seat.

            “It seemed to always have a few families with kids, at least when I would visit here, but that was a while ago.”

            Her dad had spent his childhood spending his summers up in Feller’s Glen with his grandparents, who had been kind enough to leave him about a dozen acres with their passing.  Sarah had never visited, but had listened to countless stories of her dad’s adventures with the local children who, according to him, had been plenty friendly to him when he visited.

            “We’ll go to church on Sunday, just to get to know some neighbors.”

            “Church, dad?”

            He shrugged.

            “I know we’ve never gone, but in a town like this, it’s almost expected for you to attend at least once in a while.  Don’t want people thinking we’re devil worshippers, do you?”  He smiled at his joke, but was disappointed to see that she hadn’t found it very funny.

            They turned a corner to find two cars parked in the middle of the road, one of which was a police cruiser.

            An officer waved a flashlight over his head, signaling Sarah’s father to slow down.  Sarah looked and saw two adults, including the police officer, and two children, a boy and a girl, near the vehicles.

            “Is the road closed,” her dad yelled out the window as he rolled to a halt.

            “No sir,” replied the officer, “I’m just going to need you to hold up for a minute while we move our vehicles.  Sorry about this, we’ll be out of your way shortly.”

            “Take your time, officer.”

            The cop seemed a little shaken, Sarah thought, a little too white.  It was still early morning, but it wasn’t too chilly, and there was only a slight breeze blowing.

            Sarah turned her attention to the children, specifically the little girl.  She looked to be about ten or eleven years old.  Without warning, the girl reeled over and spewed vomit across the blacktop.  The other man pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped her mouth as she grabbed at him desperately.  Another wave of vomit spilled out onto the road, then she seemed to regain her composure.

            The two adults took the children, the one man the boy and the police officer the little girl, and drove away, the cop waving as he passed.  The little boy, looking to be about the same age if not a little younger than the girl, burst into tears as they drove away.

            Sarah’s dad looked at her, shook his head, and continued driving down the road for about a hundred yards and then took a turn onto a dirt road.

            The dirt road leading up to what would be her new home was full of potholes, and curved up a small hill to where the house sat.  A huge willow tree stood behind the house, which was lacking the fresh coat of paint on every other house they’d passed since entering the valley. 

            They pulled up and got out.  After looking up at it, they walked in without a word.  The house smelled of timber and cobwebs, and was filled with plenty of both.  Everything was made out of wood, including the floor, and everything was covered in dust and cobwebs. 

            “What the hell?”

            Sarah followed her dad into the main room, which was bare except for an empty fireplace, and the decorations that had most likely caused her father’s cussing.

            A dead opossum hung from the ceiling, ribs bare, freshly gutted.  Its innards had spilled into the center of the room, where, in yellow chalk, a pentagram had been crudely drawn.  The star and the circle surrounding had been drawn almost perfectly, and each of the five points of the star had a matching yellow, unlit candle.  The wax on all of them dribbled down the sides, dry, showing signs of use.

            “Damn kids.”

            Sarah’s dad kicked one of the candles over.

            “I’m going to go get a trash bag, see if you can find the mop.”  He left her alone in the room with the rodent’s corpse.

            It seemed to stare at her with its glossy, beady eyes.

            Home…

            She followed her father out to the car to get the mop.

Author's Note

comments?
questions?

Reviews

[JenJen]

Great start! I wanna read more! I got a little confused in the first chapter--the narration seemed to change to I somewhere--but I loved how they stared in a slightly disconnected way and then the situation developed into something more and more real for them. I would love to hear more about the specific setting of the woods to set up the mood, but I understand if you're saving that for like a crime scene analysis or something. I LOVE how you described that the neighborhood couldn't decide if it was old or new and I think you could expand on that a little--maybe the houses on a specific street or a contrast with the woods...? Maybe this is too much of my opinion, it's just what I'd like to see as a reader :)

[John]

no, thank you, this review was spectacular! Please feel free to comment as much as you'd like on any of my pieces, your feed back is very appreciated, and heard.

[JenJen]

Thanks! Please feel free to continue writing!