I. New Beginnings

Cara

THE MOON was bright and beautiful in the dark cloudy sky. I could stare at it for hours and hours. I probably had since I had been stuck in the car since early in the morning. To make matters worse, my battery had died now I was bored and had nothing else to do.

"We're here."My dad said and not too soon because I was this close to jumping out of the moving vehicle. More than sixteen hours on the road can make someone suicidal.

"Finally!"I exclaimed in celebration throwing my hands up in the air and accidentally hitting the car roof.

It was nearly midnight we had just arrived at our new house. I was a bit surprised that we were there considering how far Carlifornia is from New York.

Since I was seven we hadn't lived anywhere for more than a year, rarely more than six months.

I grabbed my bag and got out of the car to take a look at our new house. Pushing open the small metal gate, I went into the compound.

The yard had one sad lemon tree with a few lemons on it, surrounded by fresh looking green grass.

The house was larger than our last. Our last residence was actually an apartment in New York. As soon as I started to like it dad told me we were moving again.

Dad always blamed our moving a lot on his work, he was a research scientist at a large company that had branches all over the world.

The lights on the front porch were on. Walking over to the porch, I found a set of keys on the porch and a note.

The neighbourhood was probably so safe that you could leave your door wide open, leave for a week and find that someone only got in to water your potted plants. At least that's what I'd heard about this part of Carlifornia.

I picked up the small note and read it.

Hey Danny.Sorry I had to leave. I hope you like your new home. It's all yours. If you have a problem with the house or just want to talk call me on 555-719-8261.

-Vanessa.

Using the keys that Vanessa had left on the porch I opened the door to the house.

It was cosy and warm. You'd look at it and imagine a nice neat family with a present mother, father and children. Not at all like my family which was just me and my dad. My mom left us when I was ten years. I never found out why.

On opening the door, the first thing you'd would be a flight of stairs with a light blue carpet and a corridor next to the stairs.

Then I remembered something, it's all yours.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

" You like it?" My dad asked behind me.

" Yeah. Did you buy it?" I asked turning to him.

"Yes and before you say anything, we are not moving anymore. We're here to stay. I promise. You're a senior now and moving wastes too much time, time I could spend with my daughter."

He gave me a hug. I was left speechless, not knowing whether to believe him or not. What reassured me was that he had never lied to me or hidden the truth from me.

"By the way, there was a note at the front porch," I informed him. I went and grabbed the note from Vanessa and gave it to him. "Who's Vanessa?"

"I see you already read it... Vanessa is the realiter who helped me buy this house, sweetheart."

"Oh see...Danny ," I mocked him.

***

It had nearly been a week since we moved to this neighbourhood and the last thing my dad and I wanted was to throw a house warming party . It was just too much work.

As expected a lot of our neighbours had come over to say hi. Many of them were picture perfect families who came with either a pie or a cake. It was always a baked good.

So I was not surprised when the door bell rang and in the peephole I saw more of my neighbours , one of which was holding a tray with what I had already guessed was a pie. I opened the door.

"Hi there, " began the woman, " I'm Gloria and this is my family. We are the Sprouses your next door neighbours." The woman gave a smile. Her hair was ebony and reached a few inches below her shoulders.

"Hi I'm Cara, " I introduced myself shaking her hand. She had a firm grip.

" This is my husband George," she gestured to the blue eyed man standing behind her ,"my daughter Piage, " she continued to introduce the others," my son Robbie and my other son...wait... where is Connor?"

"I'm right here." I heard a voice sound from behind the family. George moved away and I spotted the boy lying lazily on the porch swing. He spotted me and immediately got up,coming towards me.

He had black hair and brown eyes . He was tall and easily towered over me, then again most people did since I was only five feet and three inches.

"Hello, I am Connor ,"his voice was a deep velvety baritone. I stuck out my hand to shake but he took it and slowly brought it to his lips and kissed the back of it.

He was clearly a playboy. Dazzling smile, smooth talking, overconfidence and cool attitude, all the characteristics of playboy.

"Connor enough..." his mother interrupted ," we brought you a steak."I can't say I was not surprised. She handed me the tray just as my father came to the door. I introduced him to them and handed him the tray to hold.

"The Sprouses were nice enough to bring us a steak, dad"

"A steak?" Dad asked with surprise in his voice."Ummh... I mean thank you."

"We figured you've received so many pies and cakes, so we decided to bring you steak instead...plus who doesn't like meat.Welcome to the neighbourhood. We'll be right next door if you need anything. Have a nice day." With that they left.

"See you later ,Cara."Connor said, flashing his pearly white, as he left with his family.

My dad closed the door and we got back inside. It was chilly despite it being only the beginning of autumn.

"At least it's not another apple pie,"I joked. Dad placed the steak on the counter. " plus now we don't have to order pizza."

It was chilly despite it being the beginning of autumn. Freezing, I turned on the heater and put on a sweater.

As we were having dinner later that night my dad got an emergency call from work.

He rushed out leaving me to watch a Breaking Bad marathon all alone on the couch.

As soon as dad was out the door I threw myself on the with a blanket and put my show on. Now that dad was gone the house and the popcorn was all mine.

Most teens would throw a party if they were home alone but I chose to sit and watch TV for two reasons ; the first was that I knew no one in town, the second reason being that I always got bored at parties, well the few I'd been to. I always ended up standing alone in any corner I could find without horny teenagers making out and looking at memes on my phone.

As usual by midnight passed out on the couch. Thankfully I woke later, at around two in the morning and went to upstairs to my room. Dad had a key so he could let himself in at whatever time he came in.

I locked my room (as I always did every night before bed), secured my mom's necklace in my sidebed locker drawer, switched off the lights and got into bed. I curled up deep inside the warm and cosy blankets, my eye lids getting heavier and heavier.

That's when I heard them, the howls and growls outside my bedroom window, out in the forest.

I was successful in ignoring the sounds but I knew in that moment that there was more in those woods than meets the eye.

***