I only own the Sullivans. No one else!

The Girl Next Door

Part 1

June 9th

Dear Diary,

And a very happy 15th birthday to me! Since you, Diary, are new around here, I may as well introduce myself. My name is Nicole Sullivan, and I live in a generations-old farmhouse out in the country outside of Albany, New York.

I live here with my parents, Betty and Randy, my 10 year old brother Alex, and my lovable and spoiled silly golden retriever Sadie. I also have a 19 year old sister Susan, but she's away at college.

A man named Jacob Jones owns a farm about a quarter mile down the road, the only house for miles. And what a creepy looking man he is! He's this short, stoop-shouldered man with greasy black hair and a pencil-thin mustache. He smokes a lot, and has these creepy coal black eyes that seem to burn into you. Thankfully I don't see him very often. The man's a loner with a horrid temper.

Which is why two years ago, I had the shock of my life.

Jones got married! And not to some chick he met at the bar. No, he married a sweet-natured woman named Katie Frayne, whose husband had died just a year before.

I actually didn't mind going into their smoke-tainted farmhouse, sitting at the counter munching on cookies, listening as Mrs. Frayne recited stories of the past. Many times her blue eyes filled with tears as she talked about Win, her late husband, the man whom she'd fallen in love with at the age of 15.

Oh wow! I'm 15! Perhaps Jim could be mine…

Oh I'm sorry Diary! Did I not mention Jim Frayne? Jim is Mrs. Frayne's 14 year old son, who, since he is only a month younger than me, should be in a lot of my classes, but he skipped a grade in elementary school, so now he's a grade above me. He's also so mature for his age and so different from other high school guys.

Jim has bright red hair that he keeps cut short during the hot summer months on the farm, and a mess of freckles spattered across his lean face. He's got a hot temper and a wide stubborn streak, but I can out-stubborn any redhead!

Jim is really muscled and tanned from working on his stepfather's farm, and he's only a few inches taller than me (which is good, because I hate having to look up at people). The absolute perfect emerald green eyes are mine to stare into (but of course, I don't let Jim see I'm staring).

But don't think I'm just another shallow girl that cares only about what a guy looks like. Jim is funny, and smart, and understands when I need some time for myself, or I'm having a bad day. We can always talk to each other about anything; at least, that's what I thought…

You see Diary, Mrs. Frayne died suddenly October before last, when Jim was thirteen, and ever since then Jim has been very distant, always avoiding hanging out with me or his other friends at school.

Speaking of school, Jim has suddenly got this wild idea to skip ANOTHER grade in school. I asked him once why he was pushing himself so hard. "Because" was his only response, before ducking his head back into his science book.

I understood his secluded attitude at first. Jim needed to grieve, and I offered many times to listen if he wanted someone to talk to. But Jim isn't talking to anyone, and seems to be falling deeper into his depression vortex.

And I'm worried, Diary. Jim hasn't been at school the past couple days, and no one's answering at his house, and I have a feeling that something is very very wrong…

**********

Nicole Sullivan closed her diary shut, flexing her tired hand after writing that long first entry.

She stared out her bedroom window, across the plains of grass to the pink and gold striped horizon, where the sun began its gentle decent. Her view had been the same since she was a baby, when her parents had bought the home.

A mixture of homework papers and birthday cards lay scattered across her bed. Her family had thrown her a small party at their house with a couple of Nicole's close friends. The event had ended an hour before (it was a school night, after all), and the birthday girl had to admit, it had been a nice party.

A certain someone would've made it better, she thought regretfully.

A spark of worry flashed in her dark brown eyes as she thought of the red-haired boy she so sorely missed. Did he run away? She wondered Is Jim out there alone somewhere? Tired and hungry? But why would he run away? And to where?

Nicole sighed as many more ideas fluttered through her mind. Everyone keeps saying that Jim and Jones went on a vacation without telling anyone, but that can't be right. Jim would have told me…

The tall brunette winced as she realized that fact might not be as true as it may have been before. Well, even if Jim didn't tell me, he wouldn't have gone anywhere with Jones. He despised the man! And with good reason, the sleazy arrogant jerk.

Jones had always been rude to Nicole and her family, and disliked when Nicole came to visit his new wife and stepson. He'd never said it straight to her face; he was rarely home when she came over, but whenever Jones was there, the air was filled with tension as his dark cold eyes burned into her from over the rim of his beer bottle.

And after witnessing a few arguments between Jim and Jones, she knew the man was just as cold on the inside as he was on the outside. The 15 year old knew that the only reason Jim tolerated Jones was for his mother, but since her death…

Nicole shook her head to get rid of the overwhelming thoughts. Maybe a walk will clear my mind, she decided as she quickly made her way out of the bedroom.

*************

Nicole made her way across the fields, her long legs carrying her unconsciously toward the Jones farm. The sun was casting long shadows across the vast countryside, and nearby birds began to sing a sweet melody. Nicole breathed in the cool sweet air of spring turning to summer, gazing over the rolling fields of green.

Nicole stopped short in the tall grass as she squinted into the distance. There was a flickering light, probably a candle, shining through Jones's old barn window, which stood abandoned at the edge of Jones's property.

I haven't been to the barn since Jim and I hung out there, she thought, No one should be there… Could it be Jim?

Nicole immediately quickened her stride as she made her way to the deteriorating barn. Stepping carefully through the thick turfs of uncut grass, the teen crouched down beneath the window.

Peeking through the dirty window, Nicole took in the old stable doors loosening from their hinges, the deserted bags of feed piled up in the corner, the pieces of hay that covered the ground.

And that's where she saw a huddled, unmoving form, lying on top of a pile of blood-stained hay…

DUNDUNDUN!!!

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