Nob Hill Manor

Glenn hated Star City Arkansas with a passion; he thought he would never feel any different about this place. That was until he met Anthony, the boy that lived next door to him. Glen thought he was about the coolest kid he had ever met. He knew all the cool things to do and all the neat places to hang out. Anthony was the leader of their little group, he wasn’t the biggest by any means but the others seemed to hang on every word the boy said. Glen’s parents divorced and his mother decided to get a fresh start, they would move to Star City, Arkansas. Glen could not believe the town his mother had moved him to, “Mom there is nothing here but hills, what am I going to do here?” His mother told him he would make friends and be happy. As he was moving boxes from the van he saw the boy on his bike, he threw it down and ran in the house next door. “See” said his mother, “there is a boy about your age right next door” Glen rolled his eyes and carried the box he had been holding into the house. Later that evening he heard a knock on the door, he heard his mother swing the screen door open and invite whomever it was in. “Glen” she yelled up at him “ we have company.” Glen grimaced at the thought of having to go out there. His mother was cool most of the time but she could embarrass him too. He took the steps two at a time down, “Glen this is our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez and their son Anthony” “Hi” Glen said. Anthony tilted his chin up and nodded to Glen. “Why don’t you take Anthony up to your room honey” Glen looked at Anthony and asked “you wanna come up to my room?”

“Guess so” Anthony replied the boys went up the stairs. Glenn moved the clothes and boxes of his bed so Anthony could sit down, and went back to work at his desk. Eventually Anthony came over and peered over Glens shoulders. “Hey that’s cool,” he said. Glen just nodded and continued to work on his robot, “each key you hit on the keyboard” Glen explained, “makes the robot move one way or another, here you try”

Anthony hit F5 on the computers keyboard and the robots arm rose. He hit Y and the robot blinked his eyes. “Wow that is tight!” shouted Anthony, “where did you learn how to do that?” Glen smiled “My dad, he is a computer engineer at NASA in Houston he taught me how to do it”

            The boys talked and talked about the robot and things they could make it do. They giggled at some of the things they came up with. Soon Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez called for Anthony to come down. Anthony said “See you tomorrow?” “Yeah sure” said Glen.

Glens new friend ran down the stairs excitedly telling his parents what Glen had in his room. Glen and his mother said goodbye to their neighbors and closed the door. Later Glen slipped out on the roof from the window of his room. He picked the room because of that reason, he could easily get out on the roof, and he pulled his cigarettes out of his sock and lit one inhaling the tobacco heavily. It was a habit that he picked up when his parents had started fighting all the time. Now he thought it was just habit. He finished his cigarette and went to bed, for the first time in awhile he was excited about the next day.

            The next morning he was sitting on the roof drinking a cup of coffee, another bad habit he had picked up. He heard Anthony slam the screen door.  “ Hey Glen you coming?”  Glen nodded he finished his coffee and yelled at his mom “Going with Anthony! Mom” He didn’t wait for a reply. He met him at the street. “ Today” Anthony said “ you meet the rest of the gang.” He laughed at the thought of that, some gang it was he, Craig and Chris, and now Glen if he could pass the test. They rode their bikes down the street and across the railroad tracks into a trailer park, they met up with Chris. He was a tall lanky boy with thick rim glasses and braces on his teeth. “What’s up Tony?” he said as he caught up with us on his bike. “This is Glen, thought we would take him to the Nob Hill Manor” “Cool” Chris said with a devilish grin. “What’s Nob Hill Manor?” asked Glen. “Don’t ya worry about it Glen, it’s a hang out of ours.” Said Anthony.

            The boys continued out of the trailer park through the woods and up a small hill on a dirt road. Glen saw the boy heading toward them on his bike. Dirty, holes in his jeans and his shoes, but a big lopsided grin on his face.  “Hey Tony” the boy said with a wave of his hand, “Hi Chris” “Hi Craig” the boys said in unison. They stopped long enough for Craig to give Glen the once over. “Hey” he said. Anthony piped in “ We are on our way to Nob Hill Manor.” “I’m with you” Craig said, “Who is the new guy?”

Chris said, “This is Glen. Glen Craig” The boys exchanged glances and again they were off.

            “What is Nob Hill Manor?” Glen asked Anthony. Anthony told him “The legend is that Mr. Nob built the house for his wife and their three children Rebecca, Daisy and Devon. It is said that she wanted a mansion fit for a queen, and she would accept nothing less. Mr. Nob worked day in and day out on the house, leaving before dawn and coming home well past sunset. But Mrs. Nob didn’t care, she told him he was not working fast enough and the house was not large enough, she called it a shack and told him it was not worthy for rats to live in. Weeks of hearing this Mr. Nob could take no more he took his wife and the three children to the house he called Nob Hill Manor and tied them up. They say he went crazy, no one ever found the bodies of the girls or the wife, all they found was a note that Mr. Nob had written on the reasons he killed his family and himself. They say the house is haunted that Mrs. Nob and the girls roam the halls looking for Mr. Nob.”

Glen listened to the story that Anthony told in awe. He looked up the road and there the house loomed in the distance. A huge gray house made entirely of stone. Completely overtaken by weeds and tall grass, one could barley see the house itself. The entire manor was fenced in. The Gate to the house was at least 8 feet tall, Glenn thought to himself. The sunset gave the house an eerie feeling. The boys jumped off their bikes and headed for the gate. “Come on” said Anthony to Glen who was lagging behind. “I’m coming,” said Glen has he took in the ominous building. He caught up with the rest of the group and asked what they were doing here. “Well” Anthony said, “ If you want to be part of our group, you have to stand in the house for two minutes.” The boys watched Glen go to the front of the steps. Glen leaned over to the window he wiped the years of dust of the glass and peered in. “Go ahead chicken!” Anthony teased. Glen looked back at his friends and moved closer to the door. “He won’t go in,” said Craig.  Glen turned the knob of the door; the door creaked open. He cautiously stepped into the house.  “GO FOR IT!” yelled Chris. Glen swallowed a few times and took a few deep breaths. He was standing in the foyer and the boys outside were whooping and hollering he walked a little further inside. His palms sweating he rubbed them on his pants. He continued in to the house a little further. Only two minutes he thought to himself. He heard something scrape the wall and he jumped back a little. He looked around but didn’t see anything. Of course not he said to himself with a sigh this house is not haunted its just something the guys told me to scare me so they could call me names and stuff. Glen pulled out his cigarettes and put one to his mouth. He walked quietly and steadily up the stairs. There was nothing mentioned about him having to go upstairs, but he had come up with a wonderful plan. Almost laughing out loud, he entered the room on the opposite side of the house from where the boys where at. He climbed out the window and shimmed down the tree. Around the corner and back around the boys.  He waited quietly until the boys started yelling, “Hey Glen you can come out now you did it!” He didn’t budge he waited until the right moment. The boys started sounding a little anxious. Glen came barreling out from behind the boys screaming at the top of his lungs “MURDERER!!!!!!!!!” He had never seen three boys scatter and run so fast in his life. He laughed so hard he was rolling on the ground.  He never saw the man behind him, he never saw him raise the axe.

        They never heard from Glen again.