Two

Something odd about that town....

My mood was somber as I watched the trees whiz by. Leaving the city was something that, surprisingly, was not hard to do. We had lived in New York City, and my parents figured that moving to a different state would ease the pain.

I rather doubted it.

 

Moving was not a remedy for a grieving conscious, but they were logical people, who believed in philosophy and the sciences. “Moving away from a place of great remorse helps to lessen the blow.” My father had said and then my mother had chimed in: “Moving to a place opposite of where tragedy struck you sometimes makes the griever forget the reasons for grieving.”

 

I had frowned at them and shook my head. Crazy, misunderstanding philosophers is what they were, practically believed anything they read when it came to things like that. I wasn’t some made-up subject some loony old git had assumed about, I was a real person with actual feelings.

 

They had applied their beliefs to every aspect of my life. As a child, any idea of mythical creatures or beings was frowned upon and dismissed and I was encouraged not to pursue any belief in them. Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, even God were not spoken of in our house because none could be scientifically explained or proven.

 

Of course, my mother had always been a lot more hard-nosed when it came to things like that, my father was a lot more loose and open minded, but he knew if he showed it, it would upset my mother so he just went along with what she did.

I had had an interest in the whole, Jesus and church thing, and when they told me such a thing couldn’t exist, I had questioned them about the bible. Hearing this, my mother shook her head and said: “The bible is man-made DanI, anyone could’ve made that rubbish up. Don’t believe a word of it.”

 

Of course, I refused to believe the way they did, and behind their back, had read the bible, and prayed silently in my head at night. If I wasn’t encouraged to believe in anything but science and good reasoning, what was I supposed to have faith in? Frankly, the idea of evolution and the “big-bang” seemed just a ludicrous to me as God did to my parents, well to my mother. My father hadn’t given his two-sense on the subject.

 

I wasn’t a bible thumper or anything, but I did have a little trust in God, if there was such a thing. Besides, having the idea that Hallee was in Heaven, that she was still alive somewhere else was highly comforting. As far as mostly my mother was concerned, once she had died, that was it, there was nothing beyond that point, she was just a part of the ground, nothing but more dirt.

 

After she had told me this, and my dad hadn’t shown any kind of protest, I hadn’t spoken to them for hours, and besides a few ‘yeses’ and ‘no’s when they asked me questions, I still wasn’t speaking to them.

 

We had been driving for roughly four hours and I was beginning to get bored and impatient. Skyscrapers had turned into rolling hills, and those soon turned into lush mountains and forests.

 

“This town in the mountains?” I asked quietly, still gazing out the window.

“Yes, we’re actually not far from it.” My mother’s soft voice answered me from the front seat. “We heard about it from Yolanda, you know the older woman that lived a few houses down? She said it was a small, historic town, quiet and peaceful.”

“Yes,” My dad replied, uncertainty in his voice, “But she also said it was a bit strange, not like other towns. That the people were…different.”

 

My mother was silent after his statement and did not deny it.

 

“What did she mean by different?” I asked, suddenly interested in this unknown town.

 

Both my parents shrugged their shoulders in response. “We don’t know, she didn’t elaborate, only muttered something about no bloody sunlight.” My father told me, adjusting his glasses.

 

No sunlight? Well what in the world did that mean? I had never heard of anyplace like that. Yolanda, though, was a ninety year old woman who had lived alone for so long, that we suspected she might have been a bit batty.

 

After a few minutes of calm silence, my dad swore, and lightly smacked the steering wheel.

 

“What is dear?” My mother questioned him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“We’re nearly out of gas. We’re going to have to stop in the next town.” He retorted to her. He didn’t really like stopping and going, he’d have rather just drove straight through.

 

Just after he finished his sentence, buildings came into view as we came around a bend. A few were small, rather old looking homes, no bigger then a large shack. As we drove further, a few bigger buildings came into view, one had a sign overhead that said “Leslie’s Market” and I had the strangest feeling that Leslie was a man. Right beside Leslie’s Market was a small inn and finally, across the way from that was a old-looking gas station.

 

As we pulled in, an older man, wearing a dark blue jumpsuit, the kind auto mechanics wore (the station probably doubled as a garage) and a red cap came out of the ‘50’s looking building and headed towards our car.

 

By the look of the gas pumps and station I was pretty sure modern times had yet to reach this part of Massachusetts. I had the wildest urge to roll down my window and say “The fifties called, they want their town back.” but I dismissed the idea, I didn’t need to take my sour mood out on the poor old man.

 

“Hey folks, how are ’ya?” He asked, walking up to the passenger side of the car, where my mom was seated, and tipped his cap.

 

“Oh we’re doing to fine thank you. Just passing through.” My dad replied with a kind smile, leaning forward so that he could see over my mother.

 

The man, whose name was Ulysses according to the patch sewn onto his jumpsuit nodded and took the nozzle, placing it in the pump, and started sifting gas into the tank.

 

“You want her full?” He asked and my dad nodded. “Yeah, go ahead and fill it up.”

After a few moments of nothing but silence and the sound of the gas rushing into our car, Ulysses spoke up.

 

“Where you folks headed?” He asked, leaving the nozzle and walking a few steps back the passenger window. “Don’t see too many city folks ’round here, they don’t come around no more.”

 

“We’re on our way to ah, Colden. We’re moving there from New York, thought it’d be a nice change from the city.” My father answered, still wearing the kind smile.

At the name ‘Colden’, Ulysses’ smile faded, and something passed over his eyes. He frowned and turned his head to the road that curved up a hill and out of sight.

 

“Not too much I can say ‘bout that place.” He said in a lower voice. “People there are very strange, lots ‘o high an mighty rich folks up that way. None of ’em never come down neither, always keep to themselves. We never hear nothin from up there, no news, no nothin. Not a word ever comes from Colden. Strange weather too, sun don’t never shine in that valley. They’ve always got them thick clouds over the sky. It don’t ever rain or snow up there either. Been up there couple of times myself, its always dark like its about to rain, but it never does, not cold either, just dark. Even in the summer mind you.” He paused for a moment, his eyes on the clouds that stood in the distance.

 

We all sat there, absorbed in what he had been saying and so none of said anything as we waited for him to continue.

 

“I gotta tell ya, s’not natural. It just ain’t natural. Been up there twice, and I don’t reckon I’m ever goin back.” He finished with a shake of his head.

The click of the gas pump finishing took us out of the sort of trance we had been in by his words and he turned back to the nozzle, removing it from the pump on the car and hanging it back on the hook.

 

“Well you all be careful alright? Folks up there in Colden can be…intimidatin. If any of ya ever need anything don‘t be afraid to come on down.” He told us and then smiled and tipped his hat again before retreating back to his station with one more glance at the clouds.

 

My father watched Ulysses walk back and close the door behind him before starting the car and driving forward, back onto the road, his face wrinkled in thought.

“See.” My dad told my mom after a while, throwing her a side glance. “Yolanda wasn’t the only one to say it was a strange place.”

 

“Yeah Honey, but she’s so old, she’s probably gone a little wrong in the head, and that man’s probably not much younger.” My mom said in protest.

 

“Yes but Emily, he seemed quite convinced and I’m pretty sure he and Yolanda are perfectly fine in the head. Maybe we should consider someplace else.”

Emily sighed but was quiet, thinking about what he had said.

 

They may have been weary of it, but it interested me and I wasn’t about to let them ruin my fun as they have countless times.

 

“Can’t we at least see it? It can’t be that bad.” I told them, leaning so that I was in between their seats.

 

My father looked down at me with his kind gray eyes and sighed deeply before looking back to the road.

 

“Well, we’re not going to know for sure if this town is as odd as people keep saying unless we take a look at it ourselves.” He said and I wanted to hug him. Usually, once my father got an idea into his head, he didn’t like to let it go. He had always been considerably more open to different ideas then my mother had, but when he feared something, he didn’t like to chase after it.

 

So we kept driving in the usual direction. Another hour of silence passed until more buildings came into view through the dense trees.

 

We had finally reached the limits of the town, but I hadn’t seen any kind of sign saying we were entering Colden.

 

As we drove into the outer limits of the town, my eyes were wide as we passed grand houses, with high stone and wrought iron fences blocking off what were probably huge gardens and yards because the houses always stood a good way away from the gates and walls.

 

They didn’t look to be modern homes either, they looked older, more refined. Instead of smooth walls, they were made of large gray stones or bricks, ivy clinging to the walls. A few were huge old Victorians that had been beautifully restored to their former grandeur but not altered or remodeled.

 

I was absolutely mesmerized. These homes looked more like manors, or castles then actual houses. With vast gardens and immaculate front yards, huge, neatly manicured hedges, thick wooden front doors that I could see even from the road, intricate stone work, tall cathedral-like windows and towers, beautiful wrought iron gates…it all gave the town a very distinguished, medieval feel.

 

The more we drove on, the grander the houses became, and soon, single, large homes turned into absolutely huge estates and I couldn’t help but stare silently at all the very old looking, but lovely houses.

 

Ulysses had said high and mighty rich people lived up here and I noticed not a modern building stood in sight. Even the church and surrounding buildings looked to be about four-hundred years old.

 

Because I had been so distracted by people’s homes, I hadn’t noticed how bumpy and uneven the road had become and so I gazed down and almost gasped. The roads weren’t the usual black asphalt, they were cobblestone, old cobblestone.

If it weren’t for the street lights and lights from the houses, I would’ve felt like we had stepped back into the fifteenth century.

 

“Wow Don, look at this place!” My mom exclaimed, gripping his shoulder, her other hand over her heart. “It’s magnificent! We have to stay, if not for at least a couple of months. Where’s the high school? Where‘s our house?” She frantically looked around trying to take everything, and trying to locate whatever home they had seen on the internet as well as the high school I’d be attending.

 

As we drove further, the buildings remained in the sixteenth century, perhaps much older, I was just guessing. There were a few smaller homes, like cottages and I kind of hoped we would be living in something like that, but knowing my parents, they had bought some huge old mansion.

 

As we rounded a bend, my mom let out a small gasp and pointed, looking back at me, “There it is DanI, there’s the high school!”

 

Though it was dark I could see the magnificent building well. I was….indescribable, far larger then any of the homes and I was slightly reminded of Hogwarts school from Harry Potter, but this…this was so much more…grandiose as it stood high and majestic on it’s hill. In addition to being reminded of Hogwarts, I was also reminded of the Vatican in Italy. It was breath-taking.

 

“I wonder why we’ve never heard of this town before.” My dad muttered, also staring at the magnificent school.

 

After a few moments of thinking, I said:--and I don’t know why I said it--”Because they don’t want anybody to.”

 

Both Emily and Don looked back at me with curious expressions and I continued in what I hoped would make sense to them.

 

“Well, look at this place, it’s like going back in time. I know I wouldn’t want a bunch of tourist ruining it.”

 

Seeming to understand and agree, they nodded and turned back to the school for a few more minutes before passing it and driving down an isolated road that led back into the thick forest.

 

“Where are we going?” I asked, disappointed to have left the town. “To the house!” My mom replied, clearly very excited. “Oh DanI, if you like all this, you’ll love the house we bought.”

 

Oddly enough, I knew she was right.

 

After about fifteen minutes of driving under filtered moonlight, we drove past a small lake, and on other side, a house that, for some reason, I found far more beautiful than the others, stood bathed in pale moonlight. There was so much detail and different architecture that it was indescribable. Beauty beyond words and I counted the seconds until it was obscured by the trees.

 

The whole rest of the way my mind was on that house and who it belonged to. Hopefully whoever owned it had kids that went to the high school so that I might be able to get a glimpse inside.

Reviews

[Syldor]

I love this! Can't wait for the next chapter!

[ebur™]

Great start to this book, I'm already interesting into seeing where this will head. I liked how you haven't rushed anything, like everything isn't being pushed onto the reader at once, because it seems alot of books on here seem to do that. I also love the way you write, it's just easy to understand and get the idea of what is going on. I thoroughly enjoyed this story so far and hope to see more soon :)

[Galldora King]

Lovely chapter and im a bit curious. Please continue.