"Ow!" Theresa shouted as her head bounced off the car window. Her eyes slowly opened, only to be met with bright ways of sunlight. "Today is not my day!" she shouted as she rushed to cover her eyes with her hand.
She could barely see it ahead of her, but she knew exactly where she was heading; Whitechapel. Theresa's family was moving to Whitechapel this weekend to take care of her grandmother who was getting much too old to live alone. Theresa had rarely been to Whitechapel, only visiting a few times every couple of years in-between extracurriculars.
She didn't remember much of the town, but she did remember an old friend; Benny Weir. A strange fellow, who was more obsessed with make believe than Darth Vader was about ruling the galaxy. He lived across the street with the rest of his family. Benny was always with his friend, Ethan; a dark-haired boy who was always scared of getting into trouble.
As the caravan pulled up to the old home, Theresa's stomach was flipping. The town had a different vibe than it usually did. Something felt almost supernatural. As soon as the car had stopped, the twins had begun to jump, eager to escape the vehicle. Theresa wasted no time taking them out of their car seats as her mother opened the car door. Opening her own car door, Theresa stepped out into the sunlight, her dark hair immediately turning a lighter shade of brown.
"Theresa! Can you help with the last of the boxes?" her mother said, from the trunk of the car.
Walking over to the trunk, Theresa looked around the street. It looked so familiar, yet so strange. Looking across the street, she could make out two boys standing in the driveway of the Weirs. She gave them a gentle wave before picking up a box and carrying it inside.
The house wasn't big. It didn't have enough bedrooms, so Theresa was faced with rooming with the twins or sleeping in the basement. At the time, the basement seemed like her best bet. Stepping down the stairs to the basement, Theresa felt around for a light switch. When she found it, the room lit up. There was a small couch facing an old television in the middle of the room, and there was barely room between the back of the couch and the foot of the bed. The bed looked like it hadn't been used since the dark ages, dust had settled into what seemed like an eternal sleep.
"Wow, it's been a while since I've been down here!" Theresa's mom chuckled as she made her way down the stairs. "You doing alright?"
Theresa shrugged, sitting on the arm of the couch.
Her mom came around, pulling her into a hug. "It'll be alright, trust me."
As Theresa settled into her bed, she looked around the small basement. It was small and dingy, and probably never meant to house anyone. Leaning over the bed, she pulled over a box with a strip of masking tape stuck onto it with the word, books. If there was anything in the world that Theresa could not live without, it would be her book collection. From Rowling to Hawthorne, she had them all.
There wasn't a book shelf, so Theresa did the only thing that she could think of at the time; shove them under her bed. Stack by stack, the books were filed under her bed. That is, until she pushed stack in and a book went flying out of the other end of the bed. Theresa groaned, rolling off the bed and walking to get the book.
Standing over the book, she couldn't recognize it. It wasn't one of her own. Picking it up, she flipped over the book. On the front of the large bound book were the words, spell book. Raising an eyebrow, she opened the book, looking through the first couple of pages. Almost everything was in Latin, and was therefore untranslatable. Every few pages, there would be some English and a few pictures. Sitting on her bed, Theresa only got to the tenth page before her grandmother called.
"Theresa! Dinner is ready!" shouted her grandmother, Helen, from the top of the staircase.
"On my way grandma!" she called back, quickly shutting the book and shoving it under her pillow.
Running up the stairs, Theresa heard more than just her family's voices. "They've grown up so fast! I haven't seem them since they were so small!" Theresa knew that voice, Samantha Morgan. It wouldn't have been crazy to think that the entire Morgan family was here, Samantha and Theresa's mom had been close during high school, and to this day had never lost touch.
Walking into the living room, Theresa was met with six familiar faces; the Morgan family and their plus one, Benny Weir.
"Hi," Theresa said, awkwardly rubbing her wrists.
The Morgan family hadn't really changed in the last little while. Jane had grown, but still had the same face from when she was younger. Ethan was much taller now, probably taller than Theresa. Beside him was Benny, tall and scrawny as per usual. They looked at her wide-eyed, as if they had seen a ghost. Theresa had changed quite a bit since she last came to Whitechapel. She had slimmed down quite a lot due to join more sports teams; as well, she had contacts instead of her usual wide-rimmed glasses. She was changed.
"Theresa?" Samantha asked, standing up off the couch to give Theresa a hug.
"That's me," Theresa said, pulling Samantha into a hug, "It's nice to see you again Aunt Sam." She then hugged Ross and Jane.
She stood in front of Benny and Ethan, giving them a small smile. "It's nice to see you guys again," she said shyly pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"You too," Ethan said, standing up to give her a hug. As he wrapped his arms around her, he stopped, almost as if he were frozen in place.
"Ethan, you okay?" Theresa whispered, as he jerked away from the hug. He looked panicked, but nodded and sat back down.
"I missed you Terry," Benny chuckled, pulling her into a hug.
"I missed you too Benny," Theresa smiled as she pulled away from the hug.
"Well," Helen announced, "Let's eat!"
The night went by quickly. The parents were chatting throughout the dinner, and the kids sat in the living room watching TV. Theresa awkwardly sat beside Ethan with Benny to his left. A cartoon was on the TV screen, and Theresa was blankly staring at it.
"What exactly did you see?" Benny whispered to Ethan, gently nudging him with his elbow.
"I don't know exactly what it was, but I think she may be like you…" Ethan replied, his voice low.
"You mean…?"
"Yes!" Ethan exclaimed.
Later that night, when everyone had gone home and fallen asleep, Theresa lay asleep in her bed. Little did she know what was ahead of her in the town of Whitechapel. Behind the quaint exterior came a darker, secret world that Theresa would soon find herself swept up in...
I hoped you liked this first chapter! I haven't written in a while and I thought that I would try it out... Feel free to tell me what you think of it! Thanks for reading! I'll talk to you next time!
~ Cait