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 everything to you and Emmett at the same time. Let me first shower. I’m hungry.”
“Fine,” I said and left the room. Emmett and Zach were setting up the TV while waiting for us. We were not yet in a position to cook.
“So, Emmett, what do you know about this town?” I plonked onto the sofa, leaning back comfortably. “You seem to know so many people here.”
“I know it has its own mysteries, which I will not try to find out. Curiosity killed the cat.”
“Are you saying that the secrets are deadly?”
“So, I have been told.”
Zach grabbed Emmett’s wrist. “So, those were human bones?”
Emmett placed the remote on the table before coming to sit where I was, Zach following suit. “Like Mr. Morgenstern said, those were animal bones.”
“But they looked like human bones,” Zach insisted. “I have seen the ones in Uncle Ian’s office and the museum.”
Ian, a brother to my mother was an anthropologist. He and Zach had been quite close over the years. My father died when my mother was pregnant, so Ian become Zach’s most reliable father figure. They spent a lot of time together, which explained why Zach knew a lot about bones.
I sighed, staring at Emmett, eager to see how he would handle the situation. It seemed Emmett had no plans to let this issue go until someone agreed with him that those bones were human. As for me, a person who had a zero interest in science, I didn’t even have an idea.
“There are some gigantic animals around here that have bones as long as those of humans,” Zach said. Sounded reasonable. “Those may have been animal bones. If not, they were human bones. There have been so many animal attacks around these parts over the years. It is possible that those animals killed people when they were left to roam around. Those bones are probably ancient. The resort has been closed for many decades. You need to know that the woods are still very dangerous. Never go there alone.”
“Okay, I think they were human.”
“Okay,” Emmett said.
“What have you been telling him?” Hannah asked as she walked in, freshly showered. That was fast.
“He was telling him about those bones we found in the resort. Were there more in other rooms?”
Hannah offered me a death glare. “Let’s go.”
“Were there more?” Zach asked.
“No,” Hannah answered him. From her expression, I was pretty sure she was lying, which was okay. Zach was too young to get to know whatever mess our elder sister was involving us in. However, if Zach got hurt because of the move, Hannah was going to face my wrath. The good thing I would be eighteen in a few months.
Hannah would still not let us go to the resort site that day. Emmett said he was going hiking with his friends and they left me on babysitting duty. I took to the internet to find if there was any child-friendly thing worth doing in this town. I could handle being bored, but Zach was something else when he was bored.
After failing to agree on what to do because of so many options, we cast lots and decided to go and see the lake. We had to go through the woods, but there was a route that was closer to the road. Since I was not yet sure what lay behind those trees, I used that route. If anything happened, we could just run to the road. The blog post I read had warned us it was advisable to move into the woods with a local tour guide. However, since we were not going that far, there was no need. Besides, this was my father’s hometown. He had not been a murderer, so I assumed the town wasn’t so bad.
After branching off the road, we took a wide path leading into the forest. I was appreciating the quietness, fresh air we had had little of. The air smelled fresh, with the woody smell of trees and leaves. We posed for a few tree-hugging pictures while Zach kept asking me for the names of trees.
The trees were exceptionally tall; ground lined by short vegetation. The path was clear, with a few fresh leaves on it.
Zach ran downhill when he saw the lake while I continued to take selfies and short videos. I was describing the area while shooting. Lately, I had not been on social media because of bullying. However, I was planning to create new accounts and figured the shots would be really helpful.
“Emmy, I see flowers over there,” Zach shouted. Instead of heading to the lake, he went sideways to check out the flowers. When I reached the mesmerizing lake, I took some cool pictures, chastising myself for not dressing better. When I was done with photos, I put my phone in the bag and removed my flip-flops to test the temperature of the water. I withdrew my leg immediately. The water turned out to be colder than I assumed.
Then I heard a scream.
“Zach,” I yelled, running in the direction of the scream, leaving my flip-flops and bag behind. A thorn or two pricked me as I ran while calling Zach’s name.
“Down here,” he said.
“Where?” I asked, looking around a clearing a few meters away from the flowers that had attracted Zach’s attention.
“Be careful,” Zach said from behind me. Just as I turned, I fell and found myself at the bottom of a pit that contained dried grass. There was no Zach.
“Zach,” I called.
“Where are you?”
“I fell.”
“Me too.”
I remembered my phone was at the lake just as Zach started wailing.
“Don’t cry, Zach. Someone will come for us.”
It was a lie. I had told no one about our whereabouts.
We were stuck, and I could do nothing about it because the pit was quite high.
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
Hannah and I did not talk much for the rest of the day. After lunch, she dropped me at home and returned to the resort alone. To avoid the negative thoughts, I decided to try and bake some cookies by following a recipe book. I ended up making a mess of things but the cookies turned out to be pretty decent. The extra sugar I put in them made them eatable. Otherwise, there was not much to them. Zach actually loved them. Emmett said he was not going to risk upsetting his taste buds and stomach while Hannah acted like they did not exist.We all returned to the resort the next day. Hannah dropped us there and left, claiming she had a meeting with Arthforde high school’s principal to get us vacancies. She did not forget to warn us about going to the forest. I had a feeling that would not be listened to because when I had told my brothers the story, they had seemed to be filled with curiosity.“I want to see the big bad wolf,” Zach had said. “I don’t think it will bite me either.”“No one is