DISCLAIMER: This story is a work of fiction. Any similarities between this story and any other story are purely coincidental. This is also my first story. Any feedback is welcomed, just email me at faeris.of.them.all@gmail.com.
`Today is going to be so awesome,' I thought as I rolled out of bed. I walked into my bathroom started the water for my hot shower. I glanced at myself in the mirror. I looked at my reflection and tried to find something about myself to admire. I'm not much to look at, especially standing at 5'10 on a good day. My hair is a dark brown, which I think is the color of mud sometimes. It's not straight and it's not curly, it's just a big wavy mess. Body wise, I'm not that great either. I way in fewer than 150 pounds, which doesn't make me dreadfully skinny but it doesn't allow for much room in the muscle and tone department either. My eyes are probably one of the only things about me that I actually like. They're a bright violet color. I know it's really weird, but it runs in the family on my mom's side so I don't feel like too much of a freak. Some sort of family trait from Europe or something.
I pushed most of those self deprecating thoughts out of my head and jumped into the shower for a nice morning wake up.
After my shower I packed up the rest of the things that I hadn't already taken care of the night before. `I can't believe I'm actually leaving today,' I thought as I grabbed some of my suitcases and threw them down the stairs. I won't miss those big ass stairs that I have to climb everyday to get to my room. After having thrown most everything that wasn't breakable to its demise, I gathered the rest of my things and made my way down the stairs into the foyer.
"Honey, I made breakfast for you," my mom said as she entered the foyer.
"You made breakfast? You mean Elsa made breakfast," I said. My mother doesn't cook but she likes to flatter herself anyways.
"Same thing," she said, stepping over the suitcases. "Are you sure you don't want to postpone this whole thing just one more day?"
"Yes mom, I'm sure," I said. "School starts in a week and I need to get somewhat adjusted to life in a new town."
"You're right," she said, "but-"
"Mom, no buts! I'm leaving TODAY," I stated. I have to put my foot down at some point or I'll never escape this place.
"Fine, fine, fine," she said, throwing her hands up in defeat.
My dad came in from the left wing, "We're leaving in 30 minutes guys. Oh, looks like someone's an eager beaver," he said while surveying the pile of luggage at the foot of the stairs.
"Tell me about it," I said.
After a nice breakfast with my parents, we loaded up the car and began our drive to the airport. I listened to the music on my phone while my parents chatted away. It felt like it took forever to get there. After getting all of my non-carry on checked we had finally made it to my gate with 10 minutes to spare. I stood in front of the window and watched as some of the other planes began to take off. I've never really flown before, so this was all kind of exciting to me. My mom grabbed me by my shoulders and spun me around to give me her 100th hug of the day. She pulled away from the hug, but still kept her hands on my shoulders as if she were trying to keep me from floating away.
"Are you sure you have everything?" She asked, now starting to wipe some non-existent dust off my jacket.
"Yes, mom. I have everything, and if I've forgotten anything you can just send it to me in the mail," I said while trying to knock her hands away. It's one thing to have your parents drop you off at the train station; it's a whole other thing when they insist on treating you like your 10 in front of complete strangers.
"He's right Anna. Besides it's not like we're sending him off to live on his own. He'll be with his grandmother and your sister," dad said. He put a hand her shoulder to try and comfort her.
"God! That doesn't make me feel any better. An alcoholic spinster and a complete flake are going to be the only things standing between my son and death," she said while waiving her hands in the air for what I think was dramatic effect. With my mother it's better not to question the things she does.
"Gee. Thanks for the vote of confidence on my survival skills, mom. I've done pretty well not to die so far, but give me time I'm sure I'll get myself into something dangerous," I said the last part while rolling my eyes.
"That's not what I meant and you know it. I know that you know how to take care of yourself; I just don't want you having to take care of everyone else. You're just starting high school in a new town and I don't want you to have to worry about more than what a kid your age has to worry about," she said.
I put my hands on her shoulders. "I know mom, don't worry. I'll be just fine. Besides I'm excited about actually going to school with other kids my age. It beats having an army of servants and tutors as my only friends," I said. It was true. I've been home schooled my whole life. My mother didn't like the idea of me having a life outside of our estate. It's not like I've been locked in a tower my whole life. I've just never been allowed an ounce of freedom outside of those iron gates.
"Gabriel Alexander Faeris!" Oh Great! The entire name is never a good thing. "Your father and I take offense to that statement. Aren't we your friends too?" She faked a shocked expression. Did I mention how much my mother likes to dramatize things?
"That's not what I meant and you know it. I've never had any real friends my own age. I'm 15 for Pete's sake! It's time I start acting and being treated like a real person," I said rather defiantly. I was sick and tired of being treated like a child. My mom wasn't too happy about my sudden burst of assertiveness, but you could tell my dad had a bit of pride in his eyes.
"He's right Anna. It's time we give him some freedom to grow into who he wants to be," he said. Dad always had my back on these kinds of things. I guess that's what most fathers and sons do. But like I said, I have very little field experience with these kinds of things.
"You're right. I'm sorry sweetie," she said, pulling me into another tearful and slightly embarrassing hug. "I made my peace with you going a while back. It's just hard to actually let go."
"I know mom, it'll only be for school. I'll call every d-," I cut myself off, "every week. Besides I'll be back in the summer, and you guys can visit me for winter holidays." I said while trying to push her off me. For someone slightly smaller than me she sure is strong.
"Okay honey. He can't miss us if he doesn't leave," my dad said while trying to help me get her off. We might as well have been trying to pull the sword from the stone because she wasn't budging an inch.
"I know, I know. I just want to make this last," she said. Finally after a whole two minutes of what I'm sure will become income for my future therapist, she let go of me. She kissed me on my forehead and said, "It's so hard watching you grow up. I just want you to be my little angel forever." Seriously, the only way this could be more mortifying is if she pulled out my baby album and started showing it off to random strangers.
"Flight 42 is now boarding," the attendant announced.
"Okay. Well I'm going to board my flight now while I still have a thing called dignity."
"He's right dear. They're beginning to board," my dad said while squeezing her in close to his side.
"Okay," my mom said through her sniffles.
I know I'll regret this but I gave my mom another hug and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't worry. Besides if I don't like it I'll come straight home," I said knowing that wasn't going to happen.
"Really?" She said with a bit of hope. False hope, but hope none the less.
"Yes really. Now I've got to go but don't worry I'll be fine," I said. I gave my dad a quick hug too before gathering my bags and heading towards the walkway to the plain.
I turned around to wave at them one more time before boarding. Finally, my first steps to freedom.
~~
"Do you think he'll be alright?" she said as she watched him wave good bye.
"He'll be fine. Besides, he has something very few kids his age have," he said while bringing her into a side hug and rubbing her arm.
"Something he knows nothing about. I wanted to wait for him to find out about that whole other side of himself, but because she had to call and get him started about being with kids his own age he's going to find out about it sooner than I wanted him to and from someone I didn't want him to learn about it from," she said.
"Well, Morgan raised you and look how that turned out," he said.
"That does nothing to reassure me," she said as she watched the passengers begin to board the plane. "He's going to have a hard time adjusting in that town, that's for sure."
~~
After finally putting all of my bags away I sat back and relaxed in my seat. I was finally on my own and it felt exhilarating. I pulled out the book I've been reading. I like to read books about history because the stories in them actually happened as opposed to those cheesy romantic novels, or those ridiculous sci-fi/fantasy books. I much prefer something that is actually relevant to the real world. After a while we started to take off. I turned on my side and looked out the window. I watched as the scenery rushed by me, as if the land itself were moving. The scenery was so beautiful; I hope it's just as beautiful where I'm going. To move from one coast to the next is bound to be a bit of a shock for anyone. As I watched the terrain move I began to close my eyes. I hadn't slept at all last night in anticipation for my trip today. I began to slowly drift off into a much needed sleep.
I awoke to the sounds of passengers shuffling about. I rubbed my eyes until they adjusted and saw that everyone was exiting the plane. Good timing,' I thought. I quickly gathered my things. As I was exiting I looked around for my grandmother or my aunt. I didn't see either of them. I drug my luggage over to a row of seats and plopped myself down. Maybe they're running late,' I thought, or maybe they got lost, this place is pretty big.' I looked around again just to make sure. Everybody that was standing there a minute ago had left. I did notice a cute guy sitting across from me though. He had short blonde hair and looked like he had a pretty nice body underneath all those clothes if biceps are an indicator. I couldn't really see his face though because he had it tilted down. Now that I'm looking closer at him it looks like he's asleep. How anyone can fall asleep in this place is beyond me, what with the intercom screaming half the time and all the passengers going about. I wonder if there are any cute boys where I'm going,' I thought.
After about twenty minutes I was getting a little impatient. Nobody has shown up yet and I was getting a little worried that they'd forgotten about me. I pulled out my phone dialed the number my grandmother gave me to call if I was still at the airport. I pressed send and all of a sudden my ears a flooded with this god awful music. It was some kind of heavy metal, which I can enjoy sometimes but this stuff was making my brain hemorrhage. While I held the phone a safe distance from my ears I heard someone's phone ringing. It sounded as if it was coming from that cute guy sitting across from me. He was so funny waking up from his sleep. His head shot up and he looked like someone just blasted an air horn at him. I started to laugh a little while I watched him reach inside his pocket for his phone. Now that he was awake I could get a good look at his face. Wow, he was hot. He had one of those faces you would only see on billboard in Times Square or in a magazine. He also had beautiful blue eyes with flecks of silver scattered throughout.
`Am I creeping on this guy?' I thought.
He pulled out his phone and said "Hello?" That's when I heard someone answer on my phone. `That's weird,' I thought.
"Hello?" I asked rather timidly. As soon as I said that he noticed me sitting across from him.
"Is this Gabe?" he said with a smile, looking right at me.
Holy crap, this isn't happening' I thought. "Umm. Wrong number," I said and quickly hung up the phone. I-am-an-idiot' I immediately thought to myself. He started laughing and walked over to me. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't as red as a tomato.
"Hey. I'm Jake McMillan," he said while extending his hand, "you're grandmother asked me to pick you up." I reached out and shook his hand and it was one of the strongest grips I'd ever felt. `Damn you hormones,' I thought.
"Umm, hi," I said nervously, "I'm Gabe." I can't believe I'm acting like a little school girl. Even though I've never actually hung out with a lot of people my age, I've been around a hot guy before. Hell, our gardener was in his twenties and he would constantly work without a shirt on. I've just never had one this hot actually interact with me before.
He started rubbing the back of his head in the cutest way and smiling right at me. "Sorry about that," he said looking over by his chair, "I got here a little early and must have dozed off."
"Its fine," I said while keeping my gaze towards the floor, "I just got off my flight." Yeah, I lied. You would too if you saw the guy who was picking me up. I began to reach for my suit case.
"Here let me get that for you," he said.
His hand practically engulfed mine while I was holding on to the handle. Oh my god,' I thought, this isn't happening.'
"That's okay," I said, "I can carry my own stuff." I don't like having other people do things for me, I've always had people do stuff for me and now that I'm away from the estate I needed to start being a little more independent.
"Come on," he said with the cutest look on his face, "I insist. I'm sure you're tired from your flight."
Stand your ground man,' I thought to myself. He's just trying to be polite.' "No really, I can carry my own stuff," I said, "I insist." I gave him a little smile with that last part.
"Okay, okay. You win," he said with his hands up in mock defeat, "but let me at least carry your other luggage. Please." He said the last part with a puppy dog look.
"Fine," I said still smiling, "50/50 works for me."
As he grabbed the luggage he chuckled a little. "Look at that," he said, "we make a great couple."
As soon as he said that I nearly dropped my luggage and froze. He must have realized what he said because he went as pale as a ghost. I don't have much of a poker face so you could clearly see some of the shock on me.
"Pair!" he almost shouted, "I meant pair. I just get my words mixed up sometimes." Some of the people around us started looking.
We were pretty much quiet the whole time we walked from the terminal to the parking garage. He did mumble something to himself in the terminal, but I couldn't hear it. When we got to the parking garage I followed him to his vehicle. Vehicle is being pretty generous now that I think about it. He was driving a white busted old pick up, the kind that belonged at a scrap yard. He took the suit case I was carrying and put it in the back with the rest of my luggage that he was carrying. He then opened up the passenger door for me to get in.
He started up the truck and began driving out of the parking garage. "So how do you know my grandmother," I couldn't believe I hadn't asked that yet. He could have been some murderer for all I know, but I trust my grandmother wouldn't send a killer to get me.
"She's my family's next door neighbor," he said. Great,' I thought, I live next door to a Greek god.' "She's always been real kind to us, and when she asked me if I could come and pick you up I just couldn't say no."
"When you say next door, how close are we talking?" I had to ask.
"Less than a stone's throw," he said with a smile.
"I hope you can throw far," I said as quietly as I could to myself.
"I'm trying out for quarterback so let's hope so," he said. `Damn! He's got some pretty good ears.'
"You play football?" I asked, hoping to change the subject of neighborliness.
"Yeah, been playing since I was a pup," he said.
"A pup?" I asked.
"I mean kid," he said, "like I said I get my words mixed up sometimes. So how old are you?"
"15. You?" I asked.
"16. I just got my driver's license. That's why I was so eager to come pick you up," he said.
"Cool. I have a learner's but neither of my parents have time to teach me," I said, feeling like a total loser.
"Oh, well I can show you how to sometime," he said. "I mean if you want me to," he quickly added.
"Sure," I said, "that'd be really great." I turned my head to the window, `God he's perfect,' I thought.
"So I bet you're excited about school starting next week," he said. "Your grandmother said you've never been to a real school before."
"Did she now?" I asked. "How much has she said about me?"
"I'd be lying if I said she didn't talk about you all the time," he said. `Great, she's going around telling everybody about her weird little home schooled grandson,' I thought. "I've wanted to meet this you for a while now, this godsend of a grandson that she keeps talking about."
"She seriously didn't say that. Did she?" I asked.
"Yup," he said, chuckling to himself as he drove.
"It's going to be hard to live up to that," I said.
"You're doing pretty well so far," he said.
My heart started thumping a little harder. Straight guys must be my kryptonite because this is getting ridiculous. We were quiet for the rest of drive. After a while I pulled out my book and started to read. He turned off of the main road we were on. I noticed that he pulled off the highway a while ago.
"Where exactly is this place?" I asked.
"Just up ahead," he said, pointing to a sign ahead of us. It read `WELCOME to Hollowsburg.'
"It seems a little weird for it not to be on the main road," I said.
"Yeah, well we all like our privacy," he said with a smile.
Great,' I thought, the whole damn town is a cult.'
After a few minutes I finally started to see some lights up ahead. From what I could see the town didn't look half bad. I could see rows of buildings and homes leading to what looked like City Hall. Just as I was starting to get a good look of the town, we turned off on another road.
"Are we not going into town," I asked, a little disappointed.
"Your Grandmother doesn't live in town, some of us like the quiet of the country side," he said, turning to give me another little grin. Even his grins are amazing.
A few miles from where we turned, we got off the main road and onto a dirt road. `They weren't kidding about their privacy,' I thought. The road started to climb up a hill, and as soon as we reached the top I could see some signs of life in the little valley. There were about three lights, which I assumed were houses, scattered throughout the area. I know my grandmother has to live in one of them, and Jake said he was our neighbor. But who does the third light belong to?
"Who else lives here?" I asked.
"See that light over there near the river," he pointed. "That's the Wilson's. They don't get out much but their son is a good friend of mine."
"There are more kids our age out here," I asked.
"He's the only one our age, but I have a lot of little brothers and sisters," he said.
"Really? How many?" I asked.
"About 5," he said with a little smile. "They go from ages 3 to 14. Not counting me and my brother. He's 22."
"Wow, your mother must really like children to want to put up with 7 of them," I said, laughing in disbelief as to who would want to raise 7 children.
Jake wasn't laughing too much. In fact he wasn't laughing at all. I must've put my foot in my mouth and said something. You could almost feel the air in the truck change, and get real heavy.
"I'm sorry," I said. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No," he said, still keeping his gaze straight ahead of him. "It's just my mom passed away last year."
`Yup, that's definitely foot I taste,' I thought.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know," I said.
"It's alright," he said.
The next 2 minutes were engulfed in complete silence. I kept trying to think of something to say, but everything that came to mind would probably just make things worse.
"We're here," he said. The truck pulled in to a little cobblestone driveway that led to a really old Victorian style house.
"Wow! This place looks like its a hundred years old," I said. The house was really old. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't decrepit or falling in on itself. In fact it looked like somebody had done some work on it. It's hard to tell at night though.
I got out of the truck and looked around for a second. This place seems pretty peaceful, I might enjoy living here. I must've been staring for a little too long because Jake walked right behind me. "Are you still with us?" he asked. I jumped because I'd forgotten about him for a second. He started laughing at my surprise. He walked to the bed of the truck and pulled out my entire luggage and started to carry it to the house.
"I can get that," I said, trying to be a little helpful. It was quite a sight though, seeing him carry all of that weight like it was nothing. I know it shouldn't but it made me feel a little inadequate. I followed him to the porch and rang the doorbell. The door swung open and the next thing I know is a pair of arms reaching out and wrapping around me.
"Hi Grammy!" I wheezed as she squeezed what felt like my entire being into oblivion.
"Hi honey!" she said while still holding me in a vice grip. After a few breathless seconds she was finally gracious enough to let me live. For a woman who's smaller than me, she sure can crush a man. Between her and my mom I think we must be part boa constrictor.
"Look at you," she said. "You're still handsome as ever. You look as thin as a rail though. Are they still feeding you that toe fooey swill?"
"It's tofu, and yes, Grammy, I'm still a vegetarian," I said. She just rolled her eyes.
She looked over at Jake and smiled. "Thanks for picking him up Jake," she said.
"It was my pleasure m'am," he said. "Where do you want me to put these?" He asked, still carrying my luggage.
"You can just sit them down next to the stairs dear," Grammy said.
"Where's Aunt Lydia?" I asked. It's hard to miss Lydia when she's around.
"Oh, she's at one of those Native American reservations in Colorado," Grammy said.
"A man?" I asked.
"A man," Grammy said, as if she were verbalizing a sigh.
"Ehem," Jake coughed. "If you don't mind I need to get home and make sure everything is still intact."
"Well, thank you so much for picking up my grandson," Grammy said, giving him a hug.
"Yeah," I chimed in, "thanks so much for picking me up from the airport." I held out my hand.
He grabbed my hand. "It really was my pleasure," he said.
We just stood there staring and smiling at each other for what felt like a minute. We didn't even realize that my grandmother had left the room only to be interrupted when she returned. "Jake honey, here is that extra strength flee shampoo that you needed," she said.
"Flee shampoo?" I asked.
"Umm... I... well," he started to stammer.
It suddenly clicked for me. The puzzle pieces have finally started to fall into place.
"Do you have a dog?" I asked.
"Yes! A dog! I have a dog," he said rather enthusiastically.
"I thought your truck smelt like wet dog," I said.
"Hey! It was raining a lot last week," he chuckled.
"That's all very nice and well, but don't you have a house full of little monsters to take care of?" Grammy asked, pushing the bottle of shampoo into his chest.
"You're right. I need to get going," he said. He turned to me before walking out the door. "It was nice to finally meet you," he said.
"It was really nice to meet you Jake," I said.
After Jake left, Grammy and I caught up on things since we talked on the phone a few weeks ago. Apparently Aunt Lydia met a very nice Native American man on her last camping trip. He's some kind of shaman in his tribe. Aunt Lydia falls for all kinds of weirdoes. One time it was a voodoo priest from New Orleans she met while she was down there for Mardi Gras. There was also that tax attorney from Wisconsin. Nothing strange about him, in fact he was really boring. I don't know what she saw in him, but they were together for a while.
We talked for little while longer until I started to feel sleep creep up on me. Grammy showed me up to my room on the second floor. It was nice, a little out dated though. The bed even had curtains on it, like something out of a period piece. The room had its own bathroom, complete with a toilet and shower. The best feature about the bedroom was the private balcony that overlooked the garden area and a good portion of the valley. I even had a good view of Jake's house, which I hope will come in handy later on. I leaned on the railing and breathed in the fresh air. Something about the air here tasted so much better than anywhere else I've been.
While I was enjoying the night air I heard a rustle in the garden. When I looked down I saw a pair of glowing eyes looking back at me. Is that a dog?' I thought. He just sat there staring up at me. It was dark, but the moonlight shone perfectly on the garden. It had beautiful mane of silver fur that reflected the light off of it like a mirror. It was also large, quite large in fact. I've never seen a dog that big. Now that I think about it, dogs don't get that big. `Wolves do,' I thought. My face must have given me away, because as soon as the thought crossed my mind it disappeared into the bushes. I flipped the switch for the balcony light to come on but nothing happened.
I stood on that balcony for a little while longer, just checking to see if the wolf would come back. After a while I went back into the bedroom. I guess I didn't know how tired I was because as soon as I laid my head down my entire body was taken over by sleep.