DISCLAIMER: This story is a work of fiction. Any similarities between this story and any other story are purely coincidental. Any feedback is welcomed, just email me at faeris.of.them.all@gmail.com.
I just want to thank everybody for the awesome feedback they've given me so far. I especially love the positive feedback. If anybody has any constructive (or negative, I can take it) criticism feel free to email me. I want to make this a story that people can enjoy without it getting lost in some of the `oh so tempting' fantastical (it's a word, I looked it up) elements.
I woke up to the sounds of birds chirping on the balcony (like there's any other way to wake up). I got out of bed and opened the balcony's French doors and was greeted by the warm sunshine and fresh air of the valley. `I could get used to this,' I thought. Back at the estate we had plenty of fresh air and sunshine, but this felt so much better. As if it was made for just me. My room back home also didn't have a balcony on it, so that's a plus. I went back into my room and put on a pair of jeans and a shirt. I went down stairs to look for my grandmother and headed towards the kitchen and before I knew it, there was a wonderful smell in nose. `Pancakes,' I thought. I walked into the kitchen and was greeted by the sight of my grandmother flipping a pancake. "Good morning sleepyhead," she said without even turning around. "Did you get a good night's rest?" "Definitely," I said. I took a seat at the breakfast nook. "I fell asleep as soon as I hit my pillow." "Of course you did. I made those pillows myself," she said rather proudly. She took a plate with a stack of pancakes on it and placed it right in front of me. "Grammy, these look amazing," I said. "I thought you would like these," she said. She added a dollop of whipped cream and a strawberry to my already delicious looking meal. I must've been hungrier than I thought because I devoured that stack of pancakes. Grammy just stood at the counter and watched me eat, laughing at my feverish attempt to finish my meal. After breakfast Grammy asked me if I could help her in her garden. My task was to pull out all the weeds. It wasn't as easy as one would think because some of her plants looked like weeds themselves. While I was doing this she was telling about all the different plants she grew. There was Jasmine, which were little flowers that were as white as snow. There were Honeysuckles, which had sweet nectar that if you pulled out the stem you could taste. There was also Belladonna, which she told me was one of the most poisonous plants on the east coast. Needless to say I didn't get to close to that one. When we were done in the garden, Grammy told me she needed to go to town and get something. "What do you need to get?" I asked. "Oh, just a few things," she said very cryptically. "Can I come with you," I asked. I had wanted to get a better look of the town after I caught a glimpse of it last night. "Oh no dear, I need you to stay here," she said, walking into the house to retrieve her keys. I followed behind her. "Why? There's nothing to do here, besides I really want to see the town," I pleaded (more like whined). "Of course there's something for you to do here," she said, searching around the kitchen for something. "Here," she exclaimed while holding up a screw driver. This must be her subtle way of telling me to go screw myself. "You want me to screw something?" I asked. That doesn't sound right. "No, no dear," she said, handing me the screw driver. "I need you to return that to Jake, he was fixing up the light fixture on your balcony the other day and left that behind." "Well, he didn't do too good of a job because the light wouldn't come on last night," I said, suddenly thinking of the wolf I saw. "Grammy, are there wolves around here?" I asked. "Wolves?" she asked. "Yes, wolves," I said. "Why would you ask?" she asked. "Because I saw one last night while I was on the balcony," I said. It's not like I ask a lot of random questions, or anything. "Oh, that was probably just one of the McMillan's dogs," she said. "I don't think this was a dog Grammy," I said. "It was way too big to be just a regular dog." "Don't worry about, those things are nothing but a bunch of harmless mutts," she said on her way out the door. "Since you're going over to the McMillan's you can ride this." She walked over to a tarp covered object and pulled the tarp back. Underneath was an old looking red bicycle, complete with an oversized basket. "That thing looks dangerous," I said apprehensively. "This use to be your mother's," she said. "You can ride over to the McMillan's house to return that screw driver." "Fine, but I really wanted to see the town," I said, with my hands up in defeat. "Thank you dear," she said as she started up her old blue VW bug. "I'll be back before dark," was all I could hear as she drove off, her hand waving out the window at me. "Great," I said. I looked down at the screw driver in my hand. `Stupid screw driver,' I thought. I walked over the bicycle and inspected it. I knew how to ride a bike, but I hadn't ridden one in years. It didn't look too bad, maybe a little dated. I placed the screw driver in the ridiculously large basket and lowered myself onto the seat. I started peddling down the driveway and got onto the old dirt road. It feels nice to have the wind blowing in my hair. Jake's house really wasn't that far away, maybe further than a stone's throw but then again after seeing the arms on that boy I wouldn't be surprised. I turned off the dirt road and onto their driveway. Their house was nice. It looked like a farmhouse, except bigger. I rode up to the porch and leaned the bike on it. I took the screw driver out of the basket and walked up to the front door. I knocked on the door and waited for a second. The door opened up and a boy who wasn't Jake stood there. `This must be one of his brothers,' I thought. He didn't have blonde hair like Jake though, his was a light brown. "Hi," I said. "My name's Gabe, I'm Morgan's grandson. I came to return Jake's screw driver." I gave him my most neighborly smile. "Oh, Jake's over at the Wilson's right now but he'll back in a minute," he said while looking down at the floor. "You can come in and wait though," he said. He turned around and walked back into the house. `Ok,' I thought as I followed him into the house. It was nice, especially with all the pictures of his family hanging everywhere. `Wow,' I thought, `He wasn't kidding when he said he had a big family.' I walked up to a really huge family portrait that was hanging above the fireplace. They looked so happy and perfect. You could tell that good looks ran in his family. There Jake was with that gorgeous smile of his. This whole family was photogenic, like they were all models or something. The kid that just opened the door was there too of course. You couldn't tell by meeting him, but he also had a great smile. He looked like he was my age, but Jake said that his siblings ranged from 3 to 14 so I'm guessing he was 14. There were two blonde twin girls standing in front of him that looked to be the age of 10. They were so cute; they looked just like a pair of porcelain dolls. There was also a little blonde boy who looked like he was 6 standing in front of the brother who just opened the door. Next to him, standing in the middle, was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She had long brown hair, kind of like mine except way nicer looking I think. She was flawless, like a statue someone carved. Her smile was mesmerizing. This has to be Jake's mom I thought, which would explain the amazing smile. In her arms was a sweet looking boy, who looked to be around 2. Behind her was tall man that looked just like an older version of Jake. He had one of his arms over Jake's shoulder. His other arm was around another boy who must have been Jake's older brother. I'd be lying if I said he wasn't handsome. He had dark hair and a smile that made me want to melt on the inside. I must've have zoned out because the next thing in know I felt like I was being watched. I turned and saw the boy standing in the doorway was now watching me very intently. He must've gotten embarrassed from being caught because he started to blush and lowered his head. "Do you want anything to drink while you wait," he asked, still looking down. "Sure, that sounds great," I said, trying to be a good guest. He turned around and I followed him into the kitchen. The kitchen looked so homey and warm, like the way a family kitchen should look. I used to hang out in the kitchen with Elsa, my family's caretaker, whenever I got bored. She would tell me stories about the old country all the time in her eastern European accent. I usually would just pretend to listen, unless she was telling one of her fairy tales, then I would listen very intently. She would tell me stories about golems, werewolves, vampires, and even witches. I think the stories where she was from were less about saving a princess and more about surviving the night from the various monsters. She would always finish her story with, "and that's why you should always eat your vegetables," even if the story had absolutely nothing to do with vegetables, but I guess it had some kind of effect on me since I've been a vegetarian ever since I was kid. I sat down at the kitchen table and waited while the boy poured us some lemonade. `I don't even know his name,' I thought to myself. "I'm sorry," I said, "I don't think I know your name." "It's Billy," he said. He sat down on the other side of the table. I took a sip of the lemonade. "This taste pretty good," I said. "Thanks, I made it this morning so it should be fresh," he said, still looking down at his untouched glass. "Well you sure do know how to make a killer a glass of lemonade," I said. I caught a smile on his face from that comment. He took a sip out of his glass. "It's not that good," he said, trying to be cool. "Are you kidding me, it's probably one of the best glasses of lemonade I've ever had," I said. I wouldn't be lying because I don't usually drink lemonade and this stuff was pretty good. "I might have to come by more often for this stuff," I said, taking another sip. "Thanks," he said, blushing a little from the compliments I was giving him. He looked up from his glass at me. "You have really pretty eyes," he said. I was a little surprised by this sudden interest in my eyes and it must have shown on my face because he suddenly dropped his head. "You know, for a boy and all," he mumbled. "Thanks, you have nice eyes too," I said, "for a boy and all." I chuckled a little after that last part. He gave a little laugh too. We sat there for a little while talking. I told him about how I just moved here from California and how Jake gave me a ride home yesterday. He told me about how he would be starting high school this year with me and Jake, and how he was dreading having to take math. "Really?" I asked. "I love math." It's true; one of my favorite subjects besides history was math. Now that I think about it I'm kind of boring. "How can you love math?" he said. "It's so complicated." "No it's not. Why don't you get Jake to help you out some time?" I asked. "Oh, Jake's too busy with football and everything," he said. "Besides, I don't think he's any better at it than I am." "Well, how about I help you." I said. "I don't really have that much going on since I just came here." "Really?" he asked. "You would want to help me with my math?" "Sure," I said. Billy just sat there looking at me with a dopey smile on his face. `This kid is easy to make friends with,' I thought. All of a sudden his smile disappeared and his head shot up. "Jake's here," he said. The next thing I heard was the front door opening. I turned around and in walked Jake with a surprised look on his face when he saw me sitting at the table with Billy. "Gabe, what are you doing here?" he asked. I stood up and held out my hand with the screw driver in it. "My grandmother wanted to make sure you got this," I said. "Oh thanks," he said, taking the screw driver out of my hand and placing it in a drawer. "That was nice of you to bring it," he said. "Yeah, well she made a big deal about making sure you got it back," I said. "I think she was just trying to keep me from going into town with her." He just stood there smiling at me the same way Billy was sitting down smiling at me. `Is my shirt inside out,' I thought. I looked over my shoulder to see if the tag was hanging. My tag search must have snapped Jake out of his trance. "I was just about to make some lunch if you want to stay," he said. "I don't know. I don't want to impose on you guys or anything," I said. I felt like I didn't deserve them being this nice to me. "Nonsense," he said. "Besides, I make a pretty mean sandwich." "Well, Ok. Since you insist," I said. I took a seat down at the table with Billy. "So, where's the rest of your family?" I asked. "That's a good question. Billy, where is everybody?" Jake asked his brother. "Dad took them into to town for some ice cream," Billy said without taking his gaze off me. "Why didn't you go with him?" Jake asked while he started making our sandwiches. "I'm in high school now, so I'm way too old for that stuff," Billy said, propping his hands behind his head. I think he was trying to look cool, but since the conversation was about ice cream that wasn't going to happen. "You weren't too old last week when he took y'all," Jake said. "Yeah, well that was last week," Billy said. Jake walked to the table with a plate of sandwiches. "Here you go Gabe," he said while handing me a PB&J sandwich. "I remembered you saying you were a vegetarian," he said with a big smile. "Wow, thanks," I said. "I've told Grammy that a thousand times and she still thinks I'm making it up." He took a one of the ham sandwiches off the plate. "You can have one too," he said looking at Billy. "That is unless you're too old for one." "Whatever," Billy said. He took a sandwich regardless though. We sat there and ate our sandwiches for a little while. They both resumed their smiling and staring at me. `I have to have something on my face,' I thought. I quickly thought of something to say to break the uncomfortable (for me anyways) silence. "Before I forget to mention it, Grammy wanted me to tell you that the light on my room's balcony isn't working right," I said. Jake suddenly snapped back to reality. "What? I just fixed that thing the other day," he said. "Don't worry. I'll come by and fix it tomorrow." "I'll come too," Billy chimed in. "Since when have you wanted to help me fix something?" Jake asked. "Since now," Billy said. I chuckled a little. `So this is how brothers fight with each other,' I thought. `It's kind of cute.' "So, where's this dog I keep hearing about?" I asked. "I love dogs; my mom says they shed too much so I could never actually have one." "Dog?" Billy had a questioning look on his face. "We don't have a-," before he could finish Jake interrupted. "Yeah we do Billy," he said giving Billy a weird look. "Oh that dog," Billy said, as if he just had an epiphany. "Yeah," I said. "It was standing in our garden last night staring at me while I was on the balcony." "It was, was it?" Billy asked, giving a Jake a knowing look. "And what did this dog look like?" "It was really big. I thought it was a wolf at first but Grammy said it wasn't," I said. "It had really white fur that looked so amazing in the moonlight." "You thought it looked amazing?" Jake asked. "So amazing, it was probably one of the best looking dogs I've ever seen," I told him. All of a sudden Jake got this really big smile on his face. `I could stare at that smile forever,' I thought. "Well he isn't that great," Billy interjected. "In fact I think he has something wrong in the head. Besides he has a really bad case of flees." Jake dropped his smile and gave Billy a really nasty look. "He's a lot better than that ugly brown one we have," Jake said. He turned to me and said in low voice, "Dad said we're probably going to have to put him down soon because he's so disobedient." "Whatever," Billy said. "I'll go get him so you can see." He got up from the table and walked out the back door. "Where's he going?" I asked. "Who cares," Jake said while quickly making his way over to the door. Right before he could close it a big dog came into the kitchen. It was brown and I swear looked just like a wolf. He sat down right in front of me. "Aww," I said. "He's so cute." I got out of my chair and knelt down in front of him. "Can I pet him?" I asked. "I don't think that's a good idea, he probably has rabbis," Jake said. The dog turned around and gave Jake a growl. "Yeah right," I said. I started petting the dog's head and back. "His coat is so soft," I said. He must have liked that because he nearly tackled me and started licking my face. "He sure is playful," I said while laughing. "Yeah a little too playful," Jake said with not so nice look on his face. "I think it's time to put him out," he said while reaching for the dog. I don't think the dog likes him too much because he bared his teeth at Jake and started growling. "I don't think he likes you too much," I said still rubbing the dog's ears. "What's his name anyways?" A little smile crept up on Jake's face. "Scarecrow," Jake said, "because he's always looking for a brain." The dog gave a little growl Jake's way. "Really?" I asked. "The Wizard of Oz is my favorite movie." I know it's a cliché for me to like a Judy Garland flick, but that really is one of my favorite movies, followed by the Sound of Music. Now that I think about it, I might want to start keeping some of these things to myself. "Oh is it? We have it on DVD if you want to watch it right now," he said. "Right now?" I asked. "Sure. Why not? My day is pretty free," he said. "That'd be great," I said. I got off the floor and patted Scarecrow on the head. "Should we wait for your brother though?" I asked. "Don't worry about him, he probably fell in a puddle and drowned," Jake said while leading me to the living room. He walked over to shelf and looked around for a minute. "Here we go," he said. He took the movie and put it in the DVD player. He walked over to the light dimmer and turned it down and closed a couple of curtains. I sat down on the couch and right when Jake was about to sit next to me, Scarecrow jumps up and takes his place. I laughed a little and Jake just scowled at the dog. "I think Scarecrow wants to see where his name comes from," I said. Scarecrow just scooted closer to me until his head was on my lap. "I swear this is the friendliest dog I have ever met," I said. Jake took a seat on the couch with Scarecrow between the both of us. "He's ok, just wait till you meet Hercules, the white dog," Jake said. "You'll really like him. He's a lot better and cleaner than this thing." Scarecrow just made another growling noise and rested his head in my lap. Jake started the movie and we sat there and watched it for the next hour and forty-three minutes. When the part with Scarecrow came up I rubbed the dog's head and said, "Look Scarecrow, that's you." He looked at the TV and then reached up and gave me another kiss on the cheek. I just laughed but Jake was on the other side of the couch giving the dog some of the worst looks I've ever seen. `They really must not get along,' I thought. Towards the end Scarecrow fell asleep in my lap. When the movie was over he still hadn't woken up. Jake put his finger to his mouth and made a shushing sound. He gently picked up the dog's head and placed it on the couch. He motioned for me to quietly come outside with him. We quietly stepped out the door. "He's so cute falling asleep during the movie like that," I said. "He's alright," Jake said sitting down on the porch swing. "He's more Billy's dog though." He starting patting the spot next to him, indicating he wanted me to sit there. "I could tell," I said as I sat down. We just sat there for a while, swinging a little back and forth. I looked around at the scenery. It was so beautiful here. There were flowers everywhere, and trees full of birds and squirrels. "It's so peaceful out here," I said while gazing at my surroundings. "Yeah it sure is," Jake said. He gave a little yawn and stretched his arms out. He laid his left arm behind me on the swing. `Is he aware of anything he does,' I thought. First a movie, then an arm across the back of the swing, if this is how he treats his friends then I'd love to be one the many girls I'm sure he dates. He started staring at me again like I had two heads or something. I just smiled at him, trying to shake off this weird feeling I was getting. "You have really nice eyes, you know," he said while still staring at me. "For a boy, right?" I said thinking about how Billy had said the same thing earlier. "For anybody," he said. Suddenly the air got really tense. "Gee, thanks," I said, starting to get a really deep blush on my face. This started to feel weird, good, but weird. My heart started to beat really fast. Jake just kept looking at me and I kept blushing while trying to avert my gaze. All of a sudden he started leaning in to me. If I thought my heart was beating fast before I was wrong because now it was going into overdrive. `What is he doing,' I thought, `He's not going to try and kiss me is he?' The gap between us was getting smaller and smaller, and my breathing was getting shallower and shallower. He was so close to my face that I could feel his breath on me. `This isn't happening,' I thought. But it was happening.