Lucas

it was a hot summer day. Lucas sat on the sing out front of a small house. The house house like all of the other houses in the neighborhood had cracked paint, this one was once a shade of yellow but the rain had washed most of it out and was now much more pale. Weeds had over gown the lawn except where the bare dirt showed through. Lucas' mother was inside crying. "I will have the rent next week. I promise" she had said. "I'm sorry but your not the only one in a hard time..." the landlord said softly "But you still owe me four hundred dollars from last month. and i cant just forget about it. I'll give you a week to find a new place". It had been an hour now since the landlord had left. Lucas hated to hear his mother cry. He would say he didn't really like her for various reasons when asked, but it still sat wrong with him when ever she was upset. a stray cat approached him with caution. he let his hand out for the cat to sniff him, but the cat took it as a threat and ran away. his mom called from the screen door "Lucas, get in here and pack your crap. We can at least move into the shelter again if we can't find another place." Lucas, following his mother's commands and made his way to his room. it wasn't really hard for him to pack. He didn't have much. he had ten or so shirts and five pairs of pants that actually fit still. it wasn't often that he had got more clothes. The bed sheets where his but the bed itself belonged to the landlord. He didn't really have that many toys either, but he didn't mind that fact. Lucas never could play with toys. never could get his imagination to work in that way. His love was more for reading and drawing. It had always been like that. he had a couple of spiral notebooks that the school ha given him for class but he never used them for that porous. instead he used them to house his doodles and scribbling. He has been told by many people that he was a good artist but he wasn't happy with what he did. every thing never came out quite as he had wished but he kept them any way. Lucas grabbed a box that was still in the house from when they moved in and placed all of his belongings inside.

Lucas' mom pulled the car along the dirt path. It was by the grace of god that they had found this place. It wasn't advertised in the Classifieds. The only way she had found out about it was over hearing a conversation someone was having with the owner in a convenience store. 

"so jack, that place down on Adams, no one bought it from you yet?" the man asked "I'm surprised, three hundred bucks for a place like that? god man you could sell it for a hundred times that!"

"Listen I've already told you that place was Amber's Dream not mine. now that she's gone i can't stay another week there no more." the man named Jack had replied. 

"yeah man sorry about Amber. she was a lovely woman. I just don't understand exactly how it was that she died. I know the doctors said it was a heart attack but the woman was as strong as an ox and in perfect health. How could she just go like that?"

"I ask myself that question every morning i wake up to an empty bed." 

Jack and the man he was speaking to both got themselves a fountain drink. and Jack had bought a carton of cigarettes. the mother got her cigarettes, and hurried after the man named Jack. She caught him in the parking lot as he was about to enter his truck. 

"Um-mm sir, sorry ,but i was just listening to your conversation with this gentleman. I might be interested in buying that house you mentioned. you see me and my son got kicked out of ours. and we're pretty much out on our asses." 

"Well then you sound pretty lucky to have ran into me. Why don't you follow me on out there and I'll see what we can do?" he said with a grin. 

"I should mention now that i wont really have the money right now. I lost my job and so i really don't really have any money coming in."

"no problem i don't know how much of the conversation you where listening in on but I'm not really interested in the money. I just need to get rid of the place." he said loosing his grin. 

" yeah, I'm sorry about your wife. I'm sure she was a lovely woman."

"she was. but like i was saying you can go ahead and move in now and worry about the money later okay?"

"thank you so very much. You have no idea how much your helping us."

They parked under the carport of a small brick house nestled into the woods on the outskirts of town. the place had a large front yard. A short white picket fence was over grown with small vine flowers. the grass hadn't been tended to and had grown as high one's ankles and higher in some places. there was a stepping stone path that led to the front porch on which hung a bench swing with a large doily thrown across the back of it. the screen door stood ajar and gently slammed in the wind. the place had a warm feeling of home to it even in the decrepit conditions that it was currently in. "Well the place comes pretty much fully furnished. I'll have to get a bed for your son for now i suppose he can sleep on the sofa."
"that'll be fine thank you "
"okay well we can sign the papers once you actually have the money but for now I'll leave it to you to unpack."
"oh no we haven't got much. it's no problem at all for us to do it by our selves. you've done so much for us already."
"okay well. here is my number. call me if you need any thing at all." he said as he jotted down the seven digits.
"I will. thank you again for every thing."
"no problem. I'll see you later-rrr..."

"oh sorry. My name is Clarissa."
"Clarissa. nice name"
"thanks"

"oh, do you want me to show you around?"
"sure that would be great"
Jack opens the door into a small steeped ceiling-ed room. He and Clarissa have to duck down to get in the door way, and Lucas trailed in behind them. "This I suppose will be Lucas' room."
"that'll be just perfect."
Lucas had made his way out to the forest on the edge of the property. the trees where so close together he could barely get between them. He squeezed past the first few trees. Either he was getting the hang of it, or the trees where thinning out. whatever the reason he was eventually gliding through the forest with ease. He stopped as he came to a clearing. In the middle of the small clearing, not maybe only two yards across, was a black flat round stone. Upon which, was carved a heptagram containing a scorpion. the stone sat up off the ground only half an inch. Lucas, pushed by an urge which he brushed off as simple curiosity, knelt before the stone and brought his fingers beneath the lip of the stone and with all of his might lifted and slid the stone over. at first the stone would barely budge, but the moment the stone slid over enough to see into the cavity a gust of wind gusted from the hole. The stone, now weighing not even a quarter of a pound, flew from his hands, cracking against a nearby stone. After seeing that the hole was empty, Lucas, now startled, made his way quickly back home.

"okay Clarissa why don't you help with the other end of this will ya?" Jack asks hopefully "oh yeah sure" she said kneeling down to lift the opposite end of the mattress. They made there way to the back of the house and rested the bed at the base of the stairs. "I'll go ahead and take the top as we go up the stairs okay?" he said. "oh yeah sure i think that's best." she said giggling "I'm so clumsy, I would totally fall and break my neck." They had got the mattress up the stairs with no problem. "so Jack don't suppose you would stay for a cup of coffee?" 
"I would love you ma'am but i have a lot to do today. So I'm gonna have to pass on that offer. thank you though." 

Later that night Lucas lay awake in his new bed. He suddenly became alert, hearing something. Footsteps, out in the hallway. He approached the door listening. the source was coming up the stairs closer to his attic bedroom. he stood away from the door, as to clear its path if it where to open. Once the footsteps finally met the door they stopped, but the door did not budge. Lucas stepped forward to open the door. As he reached for the door knob it began to jiggle. He beckoned "hello?" not bringing his hand back to his side. The door fell still once again. He met his hand with the knob and tried to turn it. He was frightened to find that he could not. Harder now he fought with the knob. It did not budge. he stood back, frightened now. A large bang echoed from the door as though someone threw the whole force of their body against it. Once more the door screamed out. Again and again, Lucas was unsure how long the noises lasted. BANG BANG BANG. Lucas curled up in the corner too frightened to move staring at the door. BANG BANG BANG. It seemed to continue for several hours until the door, as quickly as it began, ceased to make any more noise. 

Lucas still terribly frightened stayed curled in a small ball until his mother called for him to come down for his breakfast. He slowly stood up not taking his eyes off the door. His room was still very dark. He a approached the door with great caution. He reached His hand out to take the knob. He could hear his heart beat loudly into his ears. he wanted to scream, to call for his mom to come up to meet him, but he did not. He slowly touched the door knob with his outstretched hand. he held his breath standing there for almost an eternity before he slowly turned the knob once more. It turned and gave easily this time. he pulled it open and stood in the light nearly blinding, he slowly walked down the stairs. "hurry the hell up" his mother once again called from down stairs they did not creek as he had heard last night. Either he had dreamed it all, or the stairs

had actually bore a much greater weight than himself. He made it to the bottom of the stairs. The fear that had coursed through his veins had settled into his muscles making him sore. With every step he took his body screamed. he entered the kitchen where Clarissa had set out a plate for him. He ate slowly even though he wasn't really all that hungry. Lucas thought about telling his mom about the events of last night but thought better of it. He was almost positive it was just a dream now. He even thought it was funny how scared he was. He finished off his meal and went out side. While thinking about how afraid he was he remembered the vault he had found in the woods. It too seemed less frightening now. He sought it out. Lucas made his way back through the trees,  coming up on the same clearing. when he emerged through the thick trees to find the vault had its lid reinstated. It did not have the symbol he remembered seeing. he knelt down at the stone and pulled on it. it came up easily. Lucas peered inside to find the hole opened up into a room no more than three feet wide and four feet deep.