Chapter 1: Time Is Not on My Side
I made this trip before. Every time that mom got really sick, she stayed at the hospital until she recovered. The cancer was eating her alive. But I could remember a time when it was not like that.
About eight years ago, we were a normal, happy family. I was fifteen, and my sister was seven. All was at peace in the world as we shared long summers together.
Our home was beautiful. A white marble pathway led up to the two story monument that was our house. Wild vines grew along the walls. This gave the house most of its color. A big, brown fence surrounded the entire property. Mom's white Focus sat parked in the driveway.
At certain times during the day, the sun hit the house just right. All of the glass would light up and glisten. That is why mom left the car out in the driveway. Being white, the sun made it glisten with everything else in the yard. "Might as well not hide such a beautiful car," she would say with a smile.
Being in a place like this, one could not help but feel that things would be perfect forever. One could be wrong. As time passed, I learned that nothing lasted forever. The more that I tried to keep it that way, the quicker it found its own path.
I spent most of my time in the back yard. Whether it be drawing or writing or whistling a familiar tune, I always found something to do. Mom kept me in check though. I only had my free time after the work was done. I can remember her scolding me with, "Christian, did you feed the dog?" and "Christian, did you get the wash?"
No matter what I did, mom never got mad at me. I got special attention, maybe because I was the only guy. I was not the only one who got special attention, however.
My little sister Faith did exactly as she pleased. Mom did not give her chores. I could understand that; she was only seven. Besides, I loved her. If there was one person on earth that I would do anything for, it was Faith.
Mom got our names from her religious side. She read from her Bible every day and went out of her way to attend church. Mom told us on several occasions that God gave us to her for being faithful to Him.
Although she did not have chores, Faith was able to make herself useful sometimes. She would "fold" clothes for me after pulling them off of the line. She also played with our dog Jack while I washed him. She had a talent for keeping him distracted long enough for me to get the job done.
I could not say that I did all of the work. Mom had responsibilities of her own. She kept up the huge house without much help. Home economics was not my specialty. I was not the best cook, either. I tried sometimes, but it was clearly a lost cause. Mom was an excellent cook so I let her have the kitchen to herself. She called it her third "baby."
I did not get my creative gene from mom. She was creative in the kitchen, but that was it. My inspiration came from my surroundings. Everything on our property spoke to me in one way or another.
During the evening, I liked to hop up in our old recliner on the back porch and let my mind go to work. Jack slept in my lap while I worked. He gave me the peace that I needed to think just by being there with me.
Ironically, Jack was a big dog. He was a full grown golden retriever. His size did not bother me. The sunlight made his fur shine radiantly in the afternoon. He never barked or became irritable. Although he was not great as a guard dog, he was the best afternoon companion that I could have asked for. Thank heavens. I would have been really lonely all by myself on those quiet evenings.
The back yard was home to some of my favorite places. One place that I was particularly fond of was the underside of the big oak tree. Mom told Faith and me stories about it. She told us how it had been there for fifty years. She played under it when she was a little girl in the same way that we played under it.
I liked to sit under the tree and nap. The birds and squirrels did not mind. The tree was huge. Its branches covered the entire back yard like a canopy. We shared the tree with our animal neighbors, and the tree protected us.
Another inviting place was the pond. In order to reach it, we made a path through the forest behind our house. Faith and I used the path all of the time in the summer. It quickly became a popular hang-out place. Faith ran herself to death on that path. She forced me to race her. She ended up being excellent at track so I can not complain.
Even the trees on the path were nice. The leaves were bright and full of life. I would have sworn that they spoke to us, especially when we needed to hear them.
The pond itself was actually more of a natural spring. It was not a pond until I came up with the idea of making it into one. We convinced mom to hire someone to dig a hole and let the spring water fill it up. This was much cheaper than paying for a swimming pool. Mom offered to buy one once, but Faith and I convinced her that we were happy with what we had.
After it was full of water, we added the fish. Nothing compliments a home-made pond like a school of fish. Faith had fun with them. She waded through the water and let the fish tackle her legs. She was careful not to step on them. "Aren't they wonderful!" she would say.
When it was too cold to swim or play in the water, we sat and talked. Faith was a perceptive girl in her earlier years. She listened to everything I told her and learned things from me. I was guilty of being prideful when I taught her things. We got our smart gene from mom.
Mom was naturally intelligent. She had a great education from her time at college. She was known for her memorization skills. We did fairly well on our school work as well. Mom gave the credit to living where we did. She said that we were able to "focus our thoughts" because there were no distractions.
Friends were scarce. I only had one or two that I talked with during the school year. Faith was similar to me, but she connected better with people. She gloated about having natural charm. Although she was more open to friendship than I was, she was still very particular with people. I wondered if she went by standards or something ridiculous like that. To made matters worse, the neighbors that we had were older people without children of their own.
The friends that we did make did not stay around very long. Our place was somewhat out of the way, and we were too. We did not grow up surrounded by people our age so we did not know how to act around them. Everything was too quiet for their taste.
Another thing that chased people away was the property itself. I still am not able to explain some of the crazy things that went on out there. It was not so much scary as it was mysterious. My friends dealt with it, but Faith's friends were younger. They were freaked out by it.
For example, anywhere on the property at any particular time, I could hear strange noises. The noises were not your everyday wind sounds, either. Dings from bells, clucks from chickens, even moos from cows became frequent. Unfortunately, we did not own any of these things. The sounds were not intimidating, but they had a bad habit of making me jump. I tried not to pay them any attention. They were trivial.
Some sounds were not as trivial. Invisible chickens and cows were one thing, but I began to hear the sound of battle. The Confederates were fighting the Union in our backyard. In the back of the forest near an abandoned pond, that was strange. Battle sounds of war from all parts of time became regular. I was hoping that it was in my head, but I was not that lucky.
Other strange occurrences involved mom's cooking appliances. They ended up tossed around the backyard. Jack's food bowl was even a victim. It was at the bottom of the pond when I found it. Good thing I was an excellent swimmer. Faith was absurd about events like these. She made them into games. I told her not to be too hopeful. They could only have been coincidences, right?
Even with things like these happening everyday, home was still home to me. I always felt safe there. Nothing was dangerous or wrong to our little family. Only neighbors and friends thought that it was weird. I lived there for seventeen years, and only one event messed with my head during that time period.
Once, during the "golden days" as I liked to call them, I was playing with Faith in the backyard. We were minding our own business, and all of the chores were down. Faith was supposed to be with me, but I let myself lose track of her. The sun had gone down.
I was picking some fresh apples off of an old apple tree at the edge of the yard when I noticed that she was missing. I gave the yard a scan, but I could barely see anything. Nothing was out of place to my knowledge.
I did not become worried initially. I just assumed that she had run off down the path. It was strange that she had gone without me. Mom made us walk the path together although we knew it like the back of our hands.
I took a bite out of one of the freshly picked apples and headed for the path. It was the same as it usually was - quiet and peaceful.
"Faith?" I called. No answer.
It was dark already. My eyesight was not perfect, and my glasses were back on the porch. Seeing her from a distance would be out of the questions. I walked slowly, not because I was worried about her; but it was better to be safe than sorry. As I got farther along the path, I began to hear a faint sound.
At first, I thought it was singing. A young voice, possibly my sister's. No, it was not singing. It was laughter. I did not feel like it was coming from just one person. When you are unable to use the sense of sight, hearing seemed to strengthen, not that my sight was anything to brag about. I thought I heard several voices. It reminded me of being at the park, watching a group of kids play together.
I finally found my way to the heart of the pond. I felt the water at my ankles. The only issue was I could not see anything. I recognized exactly where I was when I found a familiar tree that we always passed on the way to the pond.
The laughter was getting louder. I made an estimate that the kids were only ten or twenty feet in front of me. I squinted my eyes to try to see exactly who they were. I could definitely recognize the shape of my sister's body. The moon reflected some light off of her white-blond hair, and I knew it was her.
She was showing off, but to whom was she showing off? I watched in amazement because I had never seen something this bizarre. Faith did not get along with people to begin with, much less strangers. I inched my way over to them.
"Faith," I said quietly, "what are you doing?"
She heard my voice and stopped moving for a moment.
"Playing," she replied, "with my new friends. Come and meet them, Christian. They are really nice."
I still did not see anyone, but something was different. Blue streams of energy were forming shapes. Lines were coming together to make bodies. No facial features were visibly clear, but I could at least tell that they had faces. I would have sworn that one of them looked me directly in the eyes.
"Come on," I said, and I found my way to her wrist. I pulled her away while she protested.
"Hey!" she said, "what is the big deal? What business do you have stopping the game?"
"Do you remember what time it is?" I reminded her. "Mom is going to kill me for losing you as it is."
"I'm sorry." I could not see her face, but I could hear the remorse in her voice. She was really sorry, and I forgave her easily.
"It is alright. Next time though, tell me before you run off to play."
She did not respond, but she always told me before she ran off to play by herself from then on.
I felt better for a few minutes. I knew that mom was going to kill me, but I also knew where my sister was. It was too late to be out. I should have been more watchful of the time.
Mom did want to kill me…..for a moment. For some reason, she was fine after I told her about the "friends." I was having a heart attack, but mom was perfectly fine all of a sudden. That did not sound like her at all. She said that she had a smart daughter who could take care of herself. I felt my jaw drop open.
I did not sleep very well that night. I was still worried about the shadow people. Yep, I gave them a nickname. Sue me. I could have lost the most important thing in the world to me that night. Mom's reaction was even more puzzling. How had she not even questioned us?
After that night, home was never the same. I caught Faith with her shadow friends five or six other times. It was never early during the day. They preferred to come out at night when the sun was away. Were they vampires? I doubted it. A vampire would have attacked us already.
They stopped confining themselves to the pond as well. They made their way closer and closer to home. Mom responded to them with a laugh or a giggle or some other nonchalant reaction. What was I missing?
Even the other members of the family thought it was cute. Uncle Chuck was the odd ball out of the family so I expected it from him, but the others surprised me.
My Aunt Carol said, "She's growing up really quickly, Madeline. Make sure she behaves herself."
My mother would reply, "Yea, she is a special one."
"And so cute too," Uncle Chuck threw in. The women got a kick out of that.
Everyone thought it was funny except me. I got used to it though. I eventually stopped being over-protective. I just kept an eye on her. She was too important not to.
Faith talked about her encounters sometimes. She made sure not to go into the details like names. I began to think that the shadow people were telling her what to say. She thought that something was wrong for her.
Even at the age of seven, Faith knew that having friends like those was not normal.
"You are perfectly fine," I would lie.
Everyone made her feel normal, but I knew better. My sister was special, and it would not go ignored forever. If I did not take care of her, something would happen. I promised myself that. But I made sure that I did take care of her as long as we were together. I just convinced myself to stop being paranoid.
Even back then, things with out family were different. It was not just Faith. Uncle Chuck and Aunt Carol shared stories with us all of the time that were similar to ours. I wrote about them whenever I got bored. I should publish that book someday. It would be a best seller for sure.
As strange as we were, I did not let myself be bothered. I stayed in my own world. I still loved my sister, my mother, and my crazy relatives. Faith and I played by the pond and napped together under the tree every summer. It was not until the end of my senior year that I became distant. I still visited every summer and on holidays. Being at home kept me happy so I spent a lot of time there - maybe a little too much time.
This summer was supposed to be different. I dreaded it. Mom sent an application to several colleges for me. She said I was too smart to waste my intelligence. Little did I know that college was not in my near future. My near future was going to bring me back home.