The Coming Light
By Taylor Konstanzer
"And sometimes life's curveballs are just the thing you need."
Chapter 1: welcome
It is almost September, this brings back the school days. I suppose it's always nice to go back to school (ha-ha) But when you've got so much changing, things seem to stay the same at the same time. Judging from that example, I guess you can tell that I'm a pretty complicated girl. Its' inevitable. I love the way I' am and I wouldn't change for anyone. But that's just personality wise. Looks is a whole other story. What I would change though, are situations at hand. For example, the fact that my parents are in the process of getting a nice divorce, and when I say nice I mean they can't be in the same room and add their name on the same holiday cards nice. Oh and the fact that I' am going to go live with my uncle jack. My parents don't want me around all the legal stuff that will start to bloom in a few days. So off to uncle Jacks I go. My uncle Jack lives in the quiet little town of Kalma, Washington. It's mostly foggy gloomy and 85% of days rainy. Question, how do I go from the hot, sunny days in Austin, Texas, to Kalma? Ill have to deal. Other then those few little things, I'm actually a very happy girl. So being who I' am, I will make this experience a good one.
My dad drove me to the airport on Saturday morning bright and early at 8:30am. Mom had other things to do (like not be in the same car with my dad for the ride). When we got their, the parking lot was as good as empty. Maybe it's because right now families are going school shopping instead of splitting up. Who knows, but that is my opinion.
I've always had a better relationship with my dad rather then my mom. I'm not sure why but that's how it's always been. I'm so much like my dad it's crazy. My mom tears her hair out of her head when she thinks about it. The goodbyes with my dad were tough, but I got through it. I guess I'm like my dad in that way.
The plane ride was pretty cool. It was my first time being on a plane and I wasn't going to forget that change from the beautiful Austin sky to the gloomy atmosphere of Washington. The difference was tremendous. After 10 minutes of being over Washington I couldn't even see out of my window the rain was beating down so hard. All I could think about was seeing my uncle jack after 7 years. When he lived in Houston I used to stay at his house for weekends on end. I loved being with my uncle jack. But then there was some kind of mix up with money in the family and my parents basically disowned him. It was really sad being that they were all so close. I will never forget one summer when I was 10 my uncle Jack and went to the rocks by the damn and we watched the fireworks across the water on the fourth of July. He took me fishing, tubing, camping, everything. It was the most fun id ever had.
My train of thought was interrupted with the pilot coming over the speaker:
"Attention passengers we have reached our destination Seattle Washington with the time being 12:00pm (time zones aren't fun.) Thank you for flying with us and we hope to have you aboard again soon."
I grabbed my brown back pack and was the 1st one off the plane. I traveled light so I was in and out of baggage claim in a blink. I underestimated the weather here and didn't think I would need a very heavy rain jacket, plus I though it wouldn't be raining as hard when I got off the plane. Well I was very wrong. I waited outside in the pouring rain for 30 minutes waiting for my uncle jack. He's lucky he came when he did because my patients and my good mood were running low.
"HEY! WHAT'S UP BUD?" (My pet name)
"Hey uncle jack!"
He helped me put my bags into his red pick up truck and we were off. It wasn't a short ride back to Kalma but it was nice catching up with my uncle, and getting dry from all the nice Kalma rain.
My uncle lives 20 minutes away from town. To me, a perfect distance. Nice privacy but if need be accessible to the people. The town was very small, very old buildings and there weren't many of them at all.
A supermarket, a all natural organic food supply store, a very tiny ice cream parlor, a wine shop, antique store, variety mart, bookstore, and the town inquirer.
Small and quaint, and to my surprise more pleasant then I expected.
413 Hidden Creek Dr. very quiet house. A 2 story beige color house, equipped with brick chimney, and a section in the front of the house was made out of stone and pebbles, a big, brown door and a side garage. A good house for a full family, but in this case just me and my uncle. My room had a big window facing out of the front of the house. And my uncle had the room in the back across the hall. My room had birch floor boards, lots of windows, and a white metal bed. My uncle's friend from his old church helped him pick out some stuff for my room. And to be honest it wasn't bad at all. I had deep green comforter with blue sheets and pillows. A small desk in the corner by the window had a small bright green lamp on it. On the back of my closet door there was a memory board with all the pictures of me and my uncle over the years. It was all so nice. This really isn't so bad after all. My closet was big with a whole row of shelves on one side and closet space on the other. I spent a little while putting my clothes away and then my uncle called me down for some lunch.
"Hey bud lunch is ready come on down"
"Kay ill be right their"
I changed out of my semi wet clothed into a tank top and jeans. I went downstairs and turned the corner to the kitchen, he had ramen noodles in 2 bowls steaming on the table. I sat down as well as he did. We sat in silence for a couple minutes trying not to burn our mouths to the point of no return. He slurped up some noodles and broke the silence.
"Later I have to go to the neighbor's house, I have to help him with something in his garage, you can come if you'd like, he has a son and a daughter your age, they will be going to school with you on Monday, you might want to get acquainted."
"Sure that sounds great, what are their names?"
"Kaleb and Emma"
"Oh…those are some cool names"
"Yeah their a little different"
"I don't mind, it would be nice to make some friends before school starts"
"Good then, we'll go after were done"
After I was done I went upstairs to go grab my brown boots and my green rain jacket that my uncle got for me. He already had the car warmed up, as I was walking through the kitchen to the front door, out of the corner of my eye, through the glass sliding doors, I saw people moving in the woods. Dark figures, but they were bigger then people, at least I think so. It was as if where ever the figures went a big cloud around them tagged along. It kind of startled me so I shook it off and went to the car.
"You Ready?"
"Yeah I'm ready Uncle Jack"
Now in any other place, if you were going to a neighbor's house, you'd just walk right over. Not in Kalma-or Washington period. You take on step out side with out protection; you're swept away like Noah's ark on the flood.
Now when I think of neighbors, I think of people that live right across the street, or down the block. No. we drove further up the winding road about 10 minutes to get to the "neighbors" house.
We parked across the street, and ran to the porch. The house was huge! It was a clay color, set back into the woods. It had a wrap around porch, and in the front of the house was 5 big huge windows parted nicely by a larger then life grey stone chimney. 2 stories and the very dark forest color of the roof gave a nice accent of the whole house its self. The light was on next to the door, and thank god for that, that was the only way I knew where I was going. My uncle knocked 3 times, the door opened automatically. In the doorway stood and older looking man looked about 46? He was like a handsome teenager with a light color scruff growing on his face, and his hair looked as if it had gotten lighter with the passing years. But he was still good looking. Black leather jacket, Nice pressed pants, and work shoes. Is he really going to be working like that in the garage?
"Jack! Welcome, I'm so glad you could come"
"Hey Miles how's everything going?"
"Fine, just fine, and who is this lovely young lady?"
He reached forward and kissed my h
"Anna and I am his niece."
"Well it is a pleasure to meet you Anna, but unnfortunaly I am being called on a work related issue."(He didn't really look convincing, I pick these things in people put very quickly, I listened more inventively)
"I am afraid that we will have to work in the garage another day, but my children are here, you are welcome to stay with them if you want"
"Well I'm not going to be the older drag; Anna can stay and get to know them"
"Sounds great jack, she can stay as long as she wants"
"Um, okay, if they don't mind…"
"No of course not, just walk in and make a right their in the big whit room"
"Thank you very much Miles this was very nice of you, and ill be by later in the week, you have a good time Anna, ill come get you around dinner"
"Okay see you later"
I didn't exactly buy Miles's story 100% although he was pretty convincing. My uncle pulled away along side Miles, and I was standing alone on the porch in the rain, looking stupid. I went inside and herd murmurs of voices coming from farther back into the house, I hung my coat up on the rack and shook the rain out of my hair. When I was done, the murmuring stopped, as well as I. I walked to the back room and turned, and I saw Kaleb and Emma, and oh my, they were magnificent.
Kaleb was tall and built; he had on a black, tight long sleeve shirt with dark jeans on, and just like his father some kind of very nice shoes. His face was perfect. Every crease every laugh line was wear it should be, even with the face he had on as I walked in, I knew that when he smiled it must have ripped the heavens open to stair down at him in awe at what he was. Along with his gorgeous over all appearance, he had the deepest most amazing dark brown eyes I had ever seen. I had no thoughts on him, because any word that I could use wouldn't do him justice.
Emma was everything that every girl wanted to be. She was the perfect size, also in a black long sleeve shirt with dark jeans on. She had pin straight, jet black hair that went down to her mid back. She had a white little headband that went around the front. She was wearing black flat shoes. (I've now noticed that the family has a thing for the color black) she had great big deep auburn eyes that sparkled even with no light, I could just picture all of the guys back at my old school just passing out at the mere sight of her. She was without a doubt the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
Both of them must be a real big hit at school. But I wasn't sure on if their personalities matched up with their looks. But id find out.
When I walked into the room, their expressions went from frustrated and somewhat angry, to cool calm and collected.
"Hello you must be Anna"
"Um yeah and you must be Kaleb"
"Yes and this is my sister Emma"
"Hello Emma it is very nice to meet you"
"Hello."
"So this I your first say here in Kalma right Anna?"
"Yeah, it's been good so far, a lot of rain"
"Well it comes with the placement of course"
"Yeah I suppose your right"
"Um excuse me but I have to go, I have things to take care of. It was very nice meeting you Anna and ill be seeing you around school"
She shot on warning look to Kaleb and she went up stairs.
"Please forgive my sister she can be rude at times"
"Not a problem at all I'm not anyone to judge, and she was very nice"
"Well I am going to make your time here pleasant, would you like something to drink?"
When he finished his sentence he seemed tired, as if it took a lot for him to say it.
"No nothing I'm fine"
"Okay, well ill be right back make your self at home"
He walked into the kitchen and all was silent, I walked around the big white room admiring all of the diplomas that Miles had gotten along with Kaleb Emma and Grace?
"Hey I'm back"
"Um don't find me rude by asking but who is grace?"
"Oh, that would be my older sister. Aka the rebel of the family"
We sat on the couch and talked and talked and talked for a couple of hours. We got to know a lot about each other in that time, and I'm happy with what I found out.
All of a sudden we herd a thump on the roof above us.
He looked at me with such anxiety
"Oh that was just the gutters, they get filled with water, and then they just go POP, it's quite annoying"
"Oh yes we'll I can see your point their, but I hope that we have some classes together, it'll be nice having a friend already at a new school"
I put my little flirty smile on. He was cute, I was new, I liked the odds. And plus he was extremely nice and charming and inhumanly beautiful…
"Yeah I agree, you are defiantly a good friend of mine now"
He smiled and it was EXACTLY the way I had pictured it only about 1000 better. My imagination is limited, and this just opened my horizons. Perfect white teeth and his smile made the room get warmer. I almost felt like I should be curled up in a blanket next to a fireplace the mood was so incredible. Could a smile do this?
He looked over at the clock and shot a hard double take. I looked then also. It was 30 minutes to 6. The look on his faced showed worry, but it was hidden deep.
"Hey um shouldn't your Uncle be coming to get you soon?"
"Wanting me out already?"
"No nothing like that at all Anna, I just have to eat myself and I have homework and you still have unpacking and eating to do am I right?"
"Yes I do suppose you are"
"Well then maybe you should call your uncle"
"Yes I should can u show me where the phone is?"
He led me into the kitchen and pointed to the counter. I picked up the phone and dialed. He would be coming in 10-15 minutes, every minute that passed made then tension hidden deep in Kaleb's face begin to surface. I herd a honk from outside finally,
"Well I had a very nice time, thank you so much for having me here, we should do it again"
"I did also, and I defiantly agree we should"
He opened the door and politely waved to my uncle, I gave him a little flirtatious wave and I shut the door behind me.
"Anna hurry up they say is going to start hailing soon"
I ran across the street and jumped into the car, and we were off to the dry warm place I know call home.
It was 10:00 pm when I decided to go to sleep, I had eaten dinner, a very nice macaroni and cheese, taken a shower, got my clothes picked out for Monday, read a little, listened to music. Basically everything there was to do. I was bored out of my mind, and on the first day, I was very tired so I jumped into bed and snuggled into the soft green blankets. I was on the road to sleep, eyes shut ready to fall, when through my dreary eye lids I saw some kind of light, soft, far away, but noticeably bright enough to see.
I opened my eyes ands I saw where it was coming from. The window across from my bed was naked without the blinds over it. It stopped raining and hailing, and all was left wad little droplets of water and wind. Very deep inside the woods I could see the 6 colors buried in nature. They moved swiftly but you could see them swerve in and out of the trees. It was so dark, but the colors were so clear. Bright cores, with their colors floating around like graceful hanging fog. A bright red in the front followed by light green, light blue, lavender, dark grey, and bright white.
I had absolutely no idea what it was. I opened the widow and burst of wind smacked me hard in the face made a U turn around me and blew back into the night blowing my hair in a crazy way. I started out back at the colors. They stopped moving. They got closer together, and started to get dimmer and dimmer. Darker and darker, and then they disappeared. I herd nothing afterwards, just the silence of the forest. I closed the window and climbed back into bed. I got no sleep that night.
I woke up to the bright light streaming in through all 4 of my windows scattered on my walls. My room was bright and warm. Then I remembered. I scrambled up and ran to the window. I looked at where I was sure I saw the colors last night but only saw untouched woods. I was completely baffled. The house was quiet, and that usually wasn't the case with my uncle jack. I went down stairs and looked around. I found nothing. It felt like I was in one of those movies and the killer was peering at her from the crack of a closet, and I didn't know. I went into the kitchen and on the counter was a note from my uncle jack.
Hey Bud, I went down to the grocery store and then I'm going up to the church to do some work with the other volunteers. Ill be back by dinner the latest.
Love Uncle Jack
Awesome, I'm alone. But what do I do? Just sit and watch TV all day? No. I'm going out. In the garage was my Aunt Karen's old car. It was a small silver Toyota truck. It was actually something that I would get my self. I got my license a couple of months ago to. I'm defiantly not spending the day here. I went to go get dressed and brush my teeth. I put on jeans my converses, a white tank top with a black and white flannel top. I only had to put on a light jacket on today; it was just drizzling, not even. I went into the bathroom to fix myself up. I splashed water on my face. I blinked and saw my big brown glowing eyes. I put a brush through my golden brown wavy hair and let it hang down to my mid back. I tucked the hair behind my ears, grabbed my cell phone and my CD case.
The keys were in a box on my uncle's dresser in his room. I swiped those and went to the garage. The car purred as I started it. It felt so good. I pressed the control to the door. As the door was going up I was adjusting myself in the seat. I adjusted my rear view mirror and almost jumped when I saw Kaleb staring back at me from under the garage door. I rolled down the window and he came up to it.
"Hey Kaleb, you almost gave me a heart attack!"
"I'm very sorry, I was wondering what you were up to?"
"Oh nothing I was actually going to explore the town-and who dropped you off?"
"Oh I Ra-walked here."
"Kaleb I don't live around the corner from you, it must have taken for ever."
"No I take these walks quite often, you'll notice that in time"
"Well, since you're here would you like to join me?"
"I'd love to Mrs. Thompson"
"Get in"
He went around to the other side and got in. we drove back down the green lush road to the town. I wanted to see what was going on down their.
"So where are we going?"
"Oh I just wanted to check some things out in town"
"Oh well they have a very nice book and antique store, you look like the type of person that would be into classic things"
"Right on target"
"Ha I usually am"
"Well this is one person who will surprise you most of the time"
"Oh well I'm sure I can handle that."
"We'll see"
I put on the same little crooked smile that I had on when I was at his house. It showed a little amusement, and a lot of fondness. And I think he liked it. I'll have to use it more often.
I parked in front of the bookstore and we got out, as we were walking in someone called Kaleb's name.
"KALEB!"
He looked and for a second he looked worried but then he smoothed his expression off of his face.
He smiled and started to walk over. He paused and turned to me.
"Um ill be right back I'm just going to say hello to him, ill meet you inside okay?"
"Sure"
I walked inside and the pleasant ring of the entrance bell snapped me back into why I was here. To find something that I can say I like about this place, besides that fact that I've already met the 2 most outrageously gorgeous people in my life. I weaved in and out of the isles. I came to the section labeled:
OLD FICTION/WIVES TALES
I skimmed the shelves
I came across a book called "The Silent Age"
The name caught my eye and I wanted to look to see what it was about. I went to go take it off the shelf when Kaleb grabbed my hand.
"Superstitious ding bat" his white teeth on his mile long grin made me weak.
"Not at all" and I smiled widely back at him, his eyes danced at my action. But he really did scare me; I didn't even hear the little bell ring…
"How about we join my friends outside and we come back later to get your big scary book" he laughed at his own joke. It was very cute.
"Fine, who are we going to be with?"
"My friends Daniel, Elizabeth, Chris, and Madison"
"Oh well do they look at all like you and your sister?"
"Um I'm not sure what you mean"
"Oh I think you do"
I stared into his eyes for a few short seconds just to throw him off.
"Well their outside so you tell me"
He grabbed my hand and lead my out the door. There in a great big sleek black truck were these four teenagers that did not look like teenagers at all.
Daniel had small spiked brown hair, tall, not as built as Kaleb but gorgeous none the less. Bright green eyes, a white sweatshirt, jeans and once again, elegant looking shoes. He looked very warm and friendly and by the way he acted toward the rest of them he was.
Elizabeth was drop dead gorgeous; she had dark chocolate brown hair that came to her shoulders. She had light blue eyes that looked like the depths of the sea, and glossy like beach glass. She wore a light green sweater and brown flats with beaded hanging earrings. She looked as though she was with Daniel, which was just confirmed with the peck on her check I just spotted.
Chris had very short black hair, dark brown eyes and a crooked bad boy smile. He was just as big as Kaleb, and let people know it by the way he would casually flex his muscles to the other girls. He had jeans and a navy blue jacket on. He stood up against the side of the car with Madison under his arm.
She had long light brown curly hair; she had black leggings, a fancy red shirt, and a black leather jacket, along with a pair of very high heels. She had bright maroon colored eyes, and the same attitude as Chris.
I stood in front of them waiting to be judged. They all stared at me, not out of judgment but it seems like curiosity?
Elizabeth spoke first.
"Hello you must me Anna; it's very nice to meet you"
She came up to me and shook my hand.
The other 3 said their hellos in unison, and then Kaleb came up behind me.
"Okay guys lets go"
I was kind of confused
"Um go where exactly?"
"Well we are going to show you around right guys?"
Another group yes.
We all got into Daniels car, Elizabeth in the passengers seat, Chris and Madison has the captains seat, and me and Kaleb got the back.
"Yo Kaleb I don't know what you want me to show her, its Sunday, nothing good is going on"
"Well we could drive down to clear water, its still early"
"Alright but then we have to stop at my house and get some food and jackets, it might get cold tonight"
What was so special about Clearwater? I needed some kind in information
"Um Kaleb, what's in Clearwater?"
"Oh well that's a surprise" this different grin he had in wasn't familiar. It had a subliminal message in it. And I saw in his eyes that he was in a place far away staring out the car window.
Daniel popped in a black CD and music started playing. I had never herd them before. But they were great. The music filled my head. Everyone's mood abruptly changed. They all rolled down the windows and let the wind blow through their hair; they all put their hands out of the window and let their fingers flow to the beat of the music. The wind rushed into the car and swirled around our heads, my hair blew all around my face and I felt so gone from the world. I looked at Kaleb and he just looked at me sweetly.
We stopped at Daniel's house first; he lived about 5 minutes in the opposite direction of the town.
The front of his house was all glass, and the top floor was all white. From outside you could see the huge luminous chandelier that hung after the front door. We all parked, got out and walked up to the house on top of the gravel. He swung open the front door and when I walked inside it was unreal.
There were classical paintings hanging all over the front walk through on the house. Everything was so elegant. I was comparing my new home in my head, envy washed over me. We walked through the house to a door in the back. Daniel opened it and down went a flight of stairs.
We went down, and to my surprise, what my guesses of a basement, was nothing at all. There were a lot of storage closets, and what looked to be very large tool cabinets all around the room. The walls were grey, and everything was very clean and organized.
Daniel went over to a couple of the cabinets and pulled out hiking boots, jackets, blankets, the essential outdoor equipment. Elizabeth grabbed some more things from another compartment, she knew her way around the house very well, it was almost as if she lived their her self.
They through all the stuff into a black duffle bag and we went back to the car.
We were on a long stretch of road that seemed to go on forever, the lush green was gone, replaced with natures other colors. It was just as comforting none the less. We pulled over on the side of the road, I was confused, is this what we came here for? Or was their more?
Kaleb and I were the last to get out, Daniel grabbed the duffle bag from the trunk and Elizabeth's hand, and they stared at each other longingly. Even though they seemed so young, the look that they gave each other reminded me of the love much older people have for one another, people that had been together for a majority of their lives already, Madison and Chris followed behind them in each others arms. There was just so much love. I looked at Kaleb, I found that he was already looking at me, I blushed. He grabbed my arm and helped me out of the car to join the others.
We walked for a good amount of time. At first nothing seemed out of ordinary in the great big forest, but then Daniel stopped and smiled, Elizabeth right along with him. Chris and Madison caught on and held hands and began to look around above them.
What was happening?
"Kaleb what's going on?"
"Don't worry Anna, this is a very special surprise I doubt you've seen this before, Daniel how much longer?"
"Any second now"
He grabbed hold of Elizabeth's hand and they moved closer, I double took my surroundings, and noticed that things began to change. Kaleb inched a little bit closer, and a huge smile came across his face, I noticed the light that came through the trees changed. The leaves were not the same leaves that I saw before me; they changed colors ever so slightly and slowly. The light came through with dashes of different colors, I felt as though I had my own aurora borealis right here with me. It was amazingly beautiful. I was dazzled, not only did everything look different, but everyone looked different also, everyone had their own special glow, and to my surprise, Kaleb's was the brightest, as I caught him looking at me thoughtfully.
"Amazing isn't it? The leaves only do this at a certain time of day, and I thought it would be nice for you to see"
"Its amazing Kaleb thank you so much"
"Not a problem at all Anna"
He touched my hand ever so lightly and smiled
