Our aunt had invited us to stay at her house, but we did not want to be a burden. We had meals at a nearby restaurant and went to bed. Hannah, who was sharing the room with me, slept soundly while nightmares plagued me all night long. At one point when I was awake, I heard howling. Since it was a woody area, I figured it was wolves. I had heard howling before when on a tour, but this sounded different. Too real, loud. Despite that, I got some quality sleep towards morning.
“Leave me alone,” I told Hannah when she woke me up.
“I’m going to the resort site to see what needs to get sorted out,” she said.
“Are we not going together?” I asked.
“No. Our stuff is arriving today and you’ll be going to the apartment we’ll be staying at. I’ve called Bonnie. She’ll be here soon to take you there.”
“But-“
Bonnie was my cousin. She and aunt Zora had visited us a few years back, and I had barely given her the time of day. It was now time for me to get ignored so I really didn’t feel like seeing her. I figured this was a chance for her to take her revenge.
“Why don’t I go with you, and the boys put away the stuff.”
“You’ll have to talk to Bonnie one way or another. I’m going up there alone. I noticed you didn’t seem very comfortable at the resort.”
“You and Mr. Morgenstern seemed to be hiding something. Maybe I will find out from Bonnie, huh?”
Hannah rolled her eyes and picked up her handbag. “Lock the door when you leave.”
As soon as she closed the door, I jumped out of bed. I did not know when Bonnie would arrive, so I needed to be ready by then. Having already done one wrong thing to her before, she probably hated me. I couldn’t make that worse by making her wait when she arrived.
Bonnie arrived an hour later. She was wearing a stripped white and black blouse with black pants. Her flats were white. She had a fringe now and looked so much hotter than before.
“Hi Bonnie,” I said, almost shyly. She had not seemed so confident back then, probably because she was in unknown territory. Now I was the shy one.
“Hannah,” she smiled. “You’re all grown up now.”
I smiled, although I knew I had barely changed.
“How are you?”
“Good, as you can see. Welcome to our little town.”
“Thank you. Hannah said you would help us.”
“Of course. What kind of cousin would I be if I left you all alone?”
“I’m sorry for how I behaved when you came to our home.”
She chuckled. “Don’t worry. It’s water under the bridge. Forgot all about it.”
“Sure?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
Having heard her voice, Emmett and Zach came out of their room.
“Emmett!” Bonnie said happily as they approached each other and hugged. “How are you guys?” she hugged Zach. I stood there awkwardly, feeling jealous of their connection. I was like the odd man out. They spoke for two minutes before walking towards the car.
Emmett got in the passenger seat while Zach and I sat in the back. Lately, Zach and I had been quarrelling a lot, so it was awkward. I had been brittle with everyone. Ever since mom died, I had been on edge with emotions flying high. That we had to stay home most of the time had nearly driven me crazy.
Emmett and Bonnie talked the whole time, as if they’d known each other forever. It turned out they were F******k friends and had many mutual friends they could gossip about. Clearly, Emmett had been communicating with many people in town.
Had I been the only one who never cared much about this place and its people? It finally made sense to me why Emmett had not rejected the idea of moving here. Normally, it was impossible to get him to agree to things that brought about change. I avoided their conversation and was more than glad when we got to the building and saw that the moving cars had reached and our things were being unloaded.
The house was three stories, brick walled and old, just like the town. I liked it was a bit out of town. The apartment was pleasant, but tiny. We had only two bedrooms, which meant I would share with Hannah for the time it would take to renovate the resort. Hannah had said we would move there but after seeing it but I was not sure I wanted to live there. Those bones. What if Zach had been right? What if they were human bones? I made a mental note to ask Bonnie about it later.
But I never got the chance to do it. Bonnie and Emmett stuck together like glue for the rest of the time while Zach kept asking me questions about a town I knew nothing about. When we finished putting stuff in, we went to have lunch.
I saw that boy again. What was his name again? I racked my brains until it came back to me. Bradley Lightwood. He sat in a corner sipping a smoothie while staring at people in the restaurant. When we got there, he stared at us.
“Who is that guy?” I asked. “I mean, why does he stare at people so much?”
“Bradley Lockwood,” Bonnie placed her fork on the plate. “He is bad news. Every girl who comes into this town gets attracted to him, but it never ends well. I hope you’re not falling for him.”
I shook my head. “Nah. Just curious. He seems creepy.”
“But he gets away with it because of his good looks,” Emmett commented.
I turned. Bradley was no longer staring at us. He looked up and our eyes met. Standing up, he walked out of the restaurant.
“He probably heard you,” Bonnie said.
“What?”
“Just kidding.”
“How old is he?”
“He says 18.”
“And how do you think he is?”
“Emilia, Emilia. People around here don’t appreciate being asked too many questions and prying. You’re lucky it’s just me today. Brad is 18. That’s all you should know.”
“It seems this town has a lot of secrets,” I commented. “Not as sleepy as it looks, is it?”
Bonnie sighed and turned to Emmett.
“Emmy,” Zach said. I turned to him to listen to whatever question he had. “Do you think Mr. Morgenstern was hiding a secret about those bones we found yesterday?”
“What bones?” Bonnie asked.
“We found human bones in the resort house,” my little brother said to her.
“We’re not sure if they were human bones, actually. Mr. Morgenstern got us out of there before we could study them. We should have taken pictures. Said it was probably animal bones. Are there a lot of animals around here?”
“Wolves,” Emmett said and Bonnie gave him a look.
“I heard them last night, and Carrie Smith always posts pictures of them. She says her father is a hunter.”
“Mr. Morgenstern was probably right. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about bones when I’m having lunch.”
We continued to have lunch in relative silence. I was now more than convinced that something was going on and everyone was trying so hard to hide. Did Hannah know? How dangerous was this secret? We were almost done when two pretty girls walked into the restaurant. There he is. One of them said as they walked towards us. Emmett stood up and hugged the two girls. Not bothering to introduce us, he walked out with them by his side.
“Who are they?” I asked Bonnie.
She sighed. Carrie Smith and Kiera King. The hottest girls in this town trying to snag the city boy.”
“You’re hot too,” I said.
Bonnie rolled her eyes. It seemed she didn’t believe it, but she was actually prettier than Carrie and Kiera.
“So Zach, tell me something. Do you like this town?”
“I love it. There’s so many things to discover. I’ve always wanted to hunt and play in the forest. Have seen kids in the movies doing it and felt like it.”
“Unfortunately, the forests in the movies are not like the ones in the real world. These are dangerous.
Bonnie took us back to the motel where we picked our stuff and took them to our new home. I took to cleaning the bedrooms as Zach and Emmett started unpacking our things. I couldn’t wait for us to fully settle.
That night, I slept better than the previous one. Hannah, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have had a good night as she was grumpy. I noticed she was disturbed.“What’s wrong?” I asked as I slipped a white blouse over my head.“Mr. Morgenstern does not want me to renovate the resort. He thinks it’s not a good idea.”“Why?” I was one of those who did not approve of her idea but seeing her so down made me feel concerned. I would have been the happiest if she, on her own, abandoned the idea. But, being forced to abandon by some other people was not fair.“There are things I have not yet told you about the resort.”“Yeah, I suspected so. Let me guess, they’re not good things.”Hannah shook her head. “That’s right, but I need this. This is the only thing that connects us to our father.”I sighed. “What’s wrong with that resort? Why was it closed all those years ago? Were people killed in it? Those bones, were they human?”“I will tell you,” she said, standing up. “I will narrate everythin
Zach continued to cry for over thirty minutes while I tried to comfort him in vain. At some point he stopped crying and I figured he had probably slept off. I didn’t mind that I was in the same situation. I was more worried for my innocent brother. I started shouting “help” as loudly as possible but no one came to save us. After sometime, I gave up and stayed silent, left with no other option.Being alone made me think of my mother’s death, a subject I had successfully avoided for a long time. I had kept myself busy to avoid thinking of her and now I had all the time in the world. I was starting to feel the emptiness she had left behind. Mama was who I rushed to whenever I felt overwhelmed. Her hugs were the best and never failed to make me feel better. Had she been alive, we wouldn’t be in that shanty town. We would be back home, living life the way it should be, not stuck in some pit in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, I heard whistling. I stood up and listened attentively before
The doctors found nothing wrong with Zach. As for me, I had to have a minor surgery to remove part of a thorn that had lodged itself in my leg. I ended up limping on my third day in town. If I had a choice in the matter, I would have left the town immediately. But first, I needed to figure out what was going on. I wanted to leave but not without answers. There was something mysterious about the town and I knew that if I left without finding out, I would always wonder what it was.We settled in well at home. Hannah liked what we had done with the little space provided to us. We had managed to find a place for everything we had carried with us and made sure to organize them neatly. I knew that sooner or later, the organization would crumble and everything would go back to being a mess. When my siblings started looking around for their stuff, they would put everything in disarray.On the third day of arrival, a letter arrived. It was addressed the Colman children. At any other time, I wo
“What does it say?” I asked Hannah, unable to take the suspense anymore. Hannah glanced up and turned her eyes back to the letter in her hand. She continued to peruse through it before sighing.“It says a lot,” she said and handed the letter to Emmett who was next to her.“Give it to me,” I told Emmett who was just holding it. He gave it to me without resisting. Zach was chewing food while staring at us. I was surprised he had not yet started bombarding us with questions.“Should I read it out loud?” I asked Hannah, throwing a glance at the youngest member of our family. I needed to know if there was any information in the letter that was not appropriate for him.Dear Hannah, Emilia, Emmett and Zach. I hope you’re well, adjusting and moving on from the terrible things that have happened to you. I know this is a very tough time and I don’t want to make it harder but there are things I cannot keep from you because you deserve to know them in order to be safe.On the other hand, there
By the time we reached outside, some of the other residents had gathered near the protestors who were chanting, “Do not reopen”. As we walked towards them, Emmett and Zach decided to go and stand near the residents while Hannah and I went to face the protesting group.Even as we approached, they continued to chant, their lips moving in sync. The chanting grew louder when we stood right in front of them. There was a woman with huge dreadlocks wearing a black t-shirt with a huge drawing of a skull and crossbones at the front. She seemed to be the leader.Hannah and I remained silent, waiting for them to stop so that we could have a decent conversation. But they never stopped. When I had heard enough, I yelled. “STOP.”Suddenly, the group became silent and stared at us in anticipation. The woman with dreadlocks stepped forward. She was very tall and big boned. Those characteristics made her very much intimidating but I knew she would not dare to try anything in front of so many people.
Hannah and I watched as Bradley walked towards us in calm, collected strides. His frame, covered in black garments, looked taller than before. My heart rate was slowly skyrocketing as I watched the hottest man I knew head towards me. I had fantasized about running into him and my chance had arrived.“Who are you and what are you doing in our home?” He asked.“I believe you already know who we are,” I said. We were the newest family to move into the town and he had seen us on that first day at the resort. Surely, Mr. Morgenstern had told him about us.“Sorry about my sister,” Hannah said. “We haven’t met. My name is Hannah Colman. Your father and I spoke yesterday and he agreed to let us have some flowers from your garden, with the help of the florist who will be arriving soon.”“Okay,” he said and walked away.“Rude,” I said.“Not more than you,” Hannah lashed back.I rolled my eyes. “If Mr. Morgenstern is his father, why is his name Lightwood?”“He’s adopted,” Hannah informed me.“Oh
We returned to the resort and found Emmett and Zach lounging on a bench on the balcony of the ground floor. Zach was playing a game on Emmett’s phone while the latter was looking through some house plans.We passed them without a word and made our way to the flower garden where Hannah started to sort through the soil she had dug up the previous day.“We have to get rid of anything that is not soil,” she told me as she collected grass stems and put them in a growing pile. “We get rid of all the rubbish and grass residue. Once everything is gone, we shall begin planting.After watching her for a few seconds, I grabbed a pair of black gloves, squatted down and started removing everything that was not soil. Hannah was doing it without the gloves but I thought gardening barehanded was not healthy. In science class, I had learnt of several microorganisms and germs. I was sure the soil contained most of those.The work was going fairly well until I saw an earth worm. I screamed out loud befo
A few minutes later, I saw Leon coming out of the forest. He had changed into purple overalls and seemed to be in high spirits. I could swear he was even singing under his breath. “Hey Emilia,” he said as he passed by me. I barely glanced at him. After everything that had just happened to me, I was sure Hannah was giving the threats from the locals less attention than they deserved. This was gravely serious and I was not going to let her ignore it anymore. I had been a few feet away from an animal that could have erased me off the world. I knew that Zach could not tolerate another loss in the family, especially that soon after another. Hannah was going to have to listen.Speak of the devil and it appears.“Hey you,” she said, appearing in my view. “I’m hungry. The workers are going for lunch so I guess we need a lunch break too. Why do look like you just saw a ghost?”She pulled out a hander kerchief. “Here, wipe off that sweat. Have you been running in the forest?”I refused her ha