Should I be starting a new story? Probably not. But I'm really proud of this one (and it's only the first chapter). Please be patient with me on this, though. I'm going to take my time with this story because I need it to come out... close to perfect. I've done my research, so...
Here goes.
Augusta, Georgia
"Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more, no!"
"Swanson."
"He's not going to listen to you," the twenty-one year old wearing glasses tells his exasperated friend with a slow smile. "He's too busy with his air guitar." He crushes his cigarette into the ash tray on the compartment next to him.
"I don't care," snaps the guy who resembles a human pig. "I did not agree to listen to Kerry Livgren here sing in a confined space for over four hours."
There's a small crash near the back of the bus. "Bumper! Where'd you put the Twinkies?"
Bumper huffs. "Don't touch them! They're mine."
A mop of hair comes stomping over with a frown. Unicycle opens his mouth to argue before plopping back onto his seat after Bumper cuts him off with a dismissive wave of his hand. "So not fair," he mumbles.
"Twenty minutes, guys." Aaron "Hat" Matthews raises the volume of the radio from shotgun. The blonde tipped head in the designated driver's seat pushes the hand away from the device and switches stations.
"I liked that song!" Benji complains, not looking away from his deck of magic cards.
Bumper pulls on his maroon hoodie as he says dryly, "Why would you want to listen to the radio when we have Swanson giving us a hell of a performance."
This finally catches the attention of the seemingly distracted Treble blocking all outside noise with his headphones. "It's called Music Appreciation, Andrew." His cheeky remark is met with a hiss of "Don't call me that."
"Will you guys shut up?" The lump under a multitude of blankets asks. "I'm trying to sleep here."
"You've slept the whole fucking ride! I'm the one who's suffered!"
Donald rolls his eyes as he lights another cigarette. "Bumper, dude, you're getting naggy."
Benji scowls when he sees Bumper get the look on his face that preludes an oncoming, what the group collectively calls, Allen Never-ending Nag Fest. "Can we just wait the, what, fifteen minutes left to get there? I know it's been stuffy and annoying but come on, guys. Just a few more minutes," he pleads. There's a synonymous grumble of agreement before each one of them settle down with their own method of distraction.
Jesse pauses the song wafting in through his ear phones and leans his forehead onto the cool glass of the bus window. He watches the open road fly by, the green slowly fading as they reach a small section of woods. The bright light streaming through the bus windows disappears abruptly as they head into a dark opening where one can only see long, brown tree trunks hovering over the two sides of the road.
He hears Unicycle choke on a mouthful of chips on the seat across from him. "Creepy, much?" The dark skinned boy mutters as he tightens his grip reflexively on his one-wheeler.
Jesse glances over at him and chuckles. "Blame him," he motions his head to Bumper. "Never know where he's taking us."
Heaving heard, Bumper glares over at both from the tops of his crossed arms and sneers, "You'll take those words back once you see my grandfather's place. I said it was going to be the summer of a lifetime and it will be." He reaches into his pocket for a Twinkie, ignoring Unicycle's offended gawking as he slowly unwraps the plastic and takes an exaggerated whiff of the sweet aroma.
Jesse snorts while Unicycle grumbles. He looks back out the window once light streams in again. They've passed the woods and entered a small clearing, their teeth snapping closed as they come across an unexpected, bumpy part of the road. Bumper lets out a loud gasp as his treat falls to the bus floor and Unicycle takes great delight in pointing and laughing.
"Shit," Austin says as he throws off the blanket covers, holding onto his seat. "We're gonna end up with a flat tire!"
"It's fine," Brandon tells him once they've reached smooth road again and his hands have stopped vibrating on the steering wheel. "It's lucky we didn't," he remarks.
The Trebles nod in agreement as they gain their balance. The bus floor now looks like a waste area for plastic wrappers and empty soda cans. "Damn. I told you guys not to leave junk on the car seats. I'm not cleaning that up," Donald shakes his head.
"Just leave it," Austin waves him off. "Are we there yet?"
Aaron calls back, "Yeah, Bumper, man, how long is the driveway exactly?"
"Pretty long," Bumper inspects his nails. "Like I said before, Grandfather was rich."
"And he's not anymore?" Jesse asks curiously.
"He lost quite a bit after his company went bankrupt, but he got to keep this place because it was in his father's will or something like that," Bumper shrugs. He wrinkles his nose as he contemplates his next sentence, "The place has been deserted for years, actually. No one really came here much. Just a cleaning maid once every month to check up on things."
Unicycle and Benji's heads snap back to look at him. "You mean there's a high chance the place is probably haunted?" Unicycle squeaks. Benji also wears a worried grimace.
Bumper guffaws, "Geez, you two dweebs are hilarious. Yeah, it's definitely full of ghosts. And they go straight for dorks like you." He snickers as he picks invisible lint off his collar.
Jesse chuckles when he sees Benji and Unicycle's frowns. "Guys, you know he's just teasing. There's no such thing. Relax."
"Woah. There it is," they hears Aaron say in awe from the front.
And there it is.
Painted a soft gray, the chipping roof a light blue, the house looks like something out of a Gothic Revival era, every bit as big and ancient looking. The first thing you notice as it comes into view, besides the size, is the amount of windows. They line up on the right, the left, and they even round a small tower on top of the house. Regardless of the extensive pieces of glass, the house doesn't look like it gets much light at all. The windows are dark, even more so with the curtains drawn closed, and they look to be made of steel. It looks to have three floors, plus an attic and maybe even a basement.
There are three main balconies spread throughout the second and first floors; the rest are significantly smaller. There's a front porch that wraps around one corner and some stairs leading to the main entrance. The front door is one of those large, double wooden ones you see in movies, with the large doorbell off to the side. There's a chimney; scratch that, two chimneys. And a tower that extends outward. In the middle of the main driveway, there's a large fountain that obviously stopped working a long time ago.
The house may have a deserted vibe to it, but its sturdiness and stability is easily visible.
The eight Trebles get off the bus slowly, one by one dropping their bags on the ground in front of them in disbelief.
"Damn. Even I didn't expect this." Bumper gawks…and gawks. Then a smug smile slowly crawls up his face. "I told you guys."
Brandon claps him on the back. "Okay, I'll admit it. This summer is going to be awesome."
Jesse grins. "You came through, man."
Unicycle shifts uneasily. "I don't know. I don't like it."
"Dude, it's going to be fine," Donald puts a hand on his shoulder. "Places like these are great once we get inside, open up all the curtains, and light everything up. You'll see." He picks up his bag and shoots a wide smile at the rest of the guys. "Time to pick rooms. And go!" He races off and six pairs of feet follow after him immediately.
"No fair! I still have to park the car right!" Brandon yells after them as muffled laughter drifts back. "Assholes!"
"Go! Go!"
"Quit running so fast! This is my grandfather's place. I should be granted special privileges on picking- oh, screw it! Move out of my way!"
They take a small second to appreciate the inside of the house before they dart up the steps simultaneously.
"There's another flight of stairs over here!"
"Holy crap, it's like my whole house can fit into the main hall alone!"
Jesse takes the stairs three at a time, glancing back and forth, trying to figure out whether to go right or left. He sees another flight of stairs to the far right leading up to the third floor. He moves toward them instinctively and picks up his pace once he hears more feet pounding after him.
"Third or second floor? Third or second floor?!"
Jesse stops at the top and cups his hands around his mouth. "Benji! Donald! Come up to the third floor!" He calls out. He waits to hear his best friends' footsteps follow after him before going down the hall. From there, he can see down onto the third floor and he takes the time to study the view. He can already tell the house has the cliché drawing room, dining room, study room, etc. Maybe he can even snag an extra room to himself.
The inside of the house smells like books and wooden floors. Any carpeting is a deep brown and the paintings hanging up on the walls look to have frames made of real gold. Jesse runs his hand across the third floor banister and when he looks at his fingers there's barely any dust on them. He frowns.
You'd think for a place that only has a maid come in once a month there'd more cobwebs or something.
The dark haired boy purses his lips in thought as he looks down the hall. There are three rooms on his side of the banister and if he rounds the hall, he'll also have the three across from the other side. They all look pretty much the same, really. His ears pick up some movement to his right and he looks to the last room by the far end. Donald must have snuck by him while he was busy checking out the house.
He walks toward the room and the door creaks as he pushes it open. "Hey Donald, how are-"
Nothing.
The room is spacious, a bit dark but that can easily be fixed by drawing open the heavy curtains. It's one of the rooms that have a big balcony and there's also a large wooden desk. The bed is against the far wall and the bathroom only a few paces away. He looks around and feels satisfied with the arrangement. It's a good thing Donald didn't make it there first.
Speaking of Donald.
"Donald! You find your room yet?" Jesse pokes his head out the door. He sees him come up the steps.
"Yeah," his friend smiles. "I was just about to do that. I just wanted to check out the back of the house first. Dude, it's awesome, you have to see it." Donald pokes his head through a random room and nods. "I'll take this one. Where's Benji?"
"Here," Benji calls, coming up the steps. "This place has a pool, but I'm not sure if it's sanitary."
"It looks fine, though," Donald says. "I expected it to be filled to the brim with leaves or branches and some shit."
"This place is pretty cool," Benji smiles.
Jesse grins at him. "Go pick your room and it'll seem even better." He goes back inside his own room to drop his bag on the bed. As he turns, he notices something that makes his eyes bug out.
There's a keyboard. On the desk.
"Hey Bumper!" Jesse yells as he stares at the out of place equipment. A faint "What?" answers him. "Is this place supposed to have technology?" He hears Donald snort from the hall.
"Well, yeah! How else are we supposed to survive the whole summer? There's a couple of laptops in a special storage closet, too. I have the key. And a TV in the living room. But that's the only one." Bumper's voice gets closer as he climbs the stairs to the third floor.
One TV. Okay. At least he brought his laptop with him. Now he just has to organize his movies and he's good to go.
"I know this place looks old, but it does have electricity, you know," Bumper says as he comes to rest by his door.
Jesse shrugs. "I figured. But this," he points at the keyboard. "Is pretty cool. And I just can't figure out why your grandfather would feel it necessary to have an up to date keyboard in this place. Especially if he never comes here."
Bumper quirks an eyebrow. "I don't know, I guess he knows I'm a music freak so he… wanted to leave options open? There's a piano, too. But don't think that means you can keep us up by playing all night, Swanson. Besides that… the only thing I don't really see us using is the library. I mean, yuck."
"There's a library?" Benji pokes his head, raising excited eyebrows.
Bumper rolls his eyes. "Nevermind. I guess we'll be using every inch of this house. Let's go eat, I'm starved." He takes out another Twinkie from his pocket as he walks out the room.
Jesse shakes his head and looks to Benji. "And your room? All good?"
"Awesome," Benji gives him a thumbs-up.
"Guys! Let's go downstairs, I'm starving!" Donald calls from across the hall.
Jesse rubs his hands together and he and Benji grin at each other as they leave the room. "This place is going to be paradise."
"For the summer," Benji agrees.
Their footsteps catch up with Donald and as the three make their way to the first floor, the soft padding noise fades away. The third floor is quiet once again and in the room, only a small stream of light shines through the now open curtains.
And a voice.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me."