I helped Mom unpack the last box. We were now officially moved in, not that I wanted to be. Mom wanted a new start since Dad died, I suppose it had to do with the fact that I started isolating myself from everyone, but now I have to complete my last few years of high school here.

"Are you ready for school tomorrow?" Mom asked.

As much as I love my Mom, she really does try to make conversation at the worst times. I was planning on going upstairs and moping, but I don't think that will be happening anytime soon.

"I guess, I just didn't see why we had to move," I told her.

"I know, but it's for the best," She assured me.

"Whatever," I replied.

There was a moment of silence.

"Also, who calls a town 'Echo Falls'?" I asked. "That has serial killer written all through it."

"From what I'm aware, they named it after a cave that echoed behind waterfall in the forest."

"That still doesn't mean it's not creepy."

"Go get your stuff ready for school tomorrow, it's almost time for bed."

I checked my watch, "But it's only like, nine-thirty."

She just gave me a look of 'don't argue with me' so I shuffled off into my room. I got my outfit ready for tomorrow, and put a few books in my bag. In no way was I okay to start over again. I walked out of the room to the kitchen, I was hungry. However, I forgot that we had no edible food in stock at the moment and I groaned a little inside. I went back into my bedroom and just decided to go to sleep. Sleeping was one of my favourite activities, but nowadays I just tossed and turned for hours before I could actually fall asleep.

...

My alarm buzzed. I groaned, smacking it and making it fall to the floor. Great, now I actually had to get up. I hauled myself out of bed, reluctantly letting go of my pillow and throwing my blankets aside. I got ready for school, and went downstairs for breakfast. A note sat alone on the dust covered benchtop, it read:

'Hey Sweetie,

Work called me in early, but good luck on your first day!

Mom xx'

I sighed and shoved some more books in my bag and managed to fit my lunch in there. I put on my shoes and walked out onto the damp street, ready for my first day. Generally they're always a nightmare. Everything in this town just seemed gloomy and sad. It was a short walk to the school, not unlike back at home. I soon arrived at the school gates, it was a big and obviously old school. The thought of ditching crossed my mind, but I did want to have a life after school, so that was off. I walked into the school gates and found myself lost in the mounds of people. First days, weren't fun, especially in the middle of the school year. I took a look at my schedule and saw that I have English class first, at least that was one of my favourite subjects. I found the English classroom and walked inside. A teacher stood at the front preparing her lesson.

"Um, hello," I said shyly. "You are Ms. Hoffman, right?"

"Yes, dear," she said. "That's me. You must be Roxanne Bancroft."

"Yeah, that's me," I told her.

The school bell rang and students started to pile in. I sighed, this was the last place I wanted to be in. It was easy to weed out the cliques of the classroom. The nerds were near the front, the popular girls seemed to all be cheerleaders, and then the jocks next to the cheerleaders. In middle sat a few others.

"Good morning students," Ms. Hoffman said. "We have a new student today..."

Please don't say it, please don't say it.

"Her name is Roxanne Bancroft," she finished.

Well that's just fantastic.

"Stand up please, Roxanne," she ordered.

I obeyed and stood up.

"Um hi, I'm Roxanne," I said, even though it was redundant. "But, please call me Roxy."

"Why don't you tell us something about yourself?" Ms. Hoffman asked. "Like, where are you from?"

I swear she was trying to embarrass me.

"I just moved here, uh, my Mom wanted a fresh start after...after..." my voice trailed off.

"After what, dear?" Ms. Hoffman prodded.

"After my father died..." I said quietly.

"Oh," Ms. Hoffman said, I heard a few people whispering. "Well, please make her feel welcome."

Ugh. Now I'd just made a complete fool of myself. Ms. Hoffman went on to say something, but I didn't listen. I didn't really pay attention for the rest of the class, and thank goodness she didn't call on me. I wished that I was back home, with my friends and family. Well, just family I suppose, but even then that would just be my Mom. Soon enough, the school bell rang and class was finally over.

"Hey," a girl approached me. "You're Roxy, right?"

"Yeah, that's me," I said.

"Well, I'm Opal," she said. "Would you like a tour of the school?"

"Well yeah, getting around will be an issue if I don't," I replied.

"Okay, I'll give you one during recess," she said. "See you then."

"Yeah thanks," I told her.

The next class also passed with a blur. It was History and the teacher didn't even teach, he just sat around playing his ukulele. It was ridiculous, he didn't even speak to me the entire time. I'll never know how that guy got hired, then again, this is just a public school. Recess came and Opal showed me around, and invited me to sit with her at lunch. To which I agreed because what other option did I have? It's not like anyone else asked me to sit with them. I followed Opal to the cafeteria, where she lead me to a table. A boy already sat there reading.

"Okay, so this is Odin," she said.

He didn't even look up.

"He's my brother," she continued.

His face was completely expressionless.

"So I've gotta go and help out at the library," she said. "I'll be back soon."

Odin just sat there, motionless. She strutted off, leaving me stranded with Mr. I-Don't-Talk-Or-Move, seriously, how does one stay that still? He should really consider a career option as one of those people that pose as statues. After a while, a girl approached the table, I recognized her from my class in first period. She was tall with dark hair and skin. There was something about her that seemed... off. But, I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Hey, I'm Rani," she said.

"Yeah, I recognize you from my English class," I told her.

"Roxy, right?" she asked.
"Well, I am the one that embarrassingly stood up in front of the class, right?" I told her.

She chuckled a little.

"Do you want to come sit with us?" she asked.

"Sure," I replied, I would do anything to get out of this situation with Odin.

She walked me over to her table where a girl and a boy both sat. She offered me a seat next to her and sat down.

"So, Matteo and Carisa, this is Roxy," she said.

"Hey," said the boy, whom I assume is Matteo.

"How you doing?" asked Carisa.

"I'm fine, thank you," I said politely, not knowing what else to say.

Something about all of them seemed off, but I still couldn't put my finger on it. As if they were hiding a secret or something, which seemed odd of me to say because I'd just met them.

"So you got stuck with Mr. Antisocial over there?" Matteo asked. "How'd that happen? He's a little uninviting I'm surprised you sat there."

"Opal invited me to sit with them," I told them. "Little did I know that she had library duty and would leave me with Odin."

Matteo chuckled, obviously finding my embarrassment amusing.

"Hey, you should come over this afternoon," Rani said, quickly changing the subject.

"That's a good idea," Carisa seconded her. "It would give us a chance to get to know you better."

"Um sure," I said, despite wanting to go home and sleep forever.

The bell ran before I could say anything else.

"Meet us at the front of the school, and we'll take you there," Rani told me.

"Okay," I told her, and walked off to my next class.

Two more classes left before home time, or in my case, hanging out with Matteo, Rani and Carisa, which will probably turn out to be interesting. The next few classes were so boring, so boring, they're not even mentionable. Once the bell rang, I got out of the classroom as soon as I could. I walked out to the front of the school, and Rani was already there waiting for me.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hi," I replied.

Matteo and Carisa walked over, and smiled.

"Are we ready to go?" Matteo asked.

"Sure," I replied.

The walk over was short but also felt a little awkward for me. Rani went on about some gossip involving her and some girl who had gotten into an argument about something presumably stupid. I stayed silent for most of the walk.

"So Roxy," Rani started. "I know that recent events have led to you being here, but what made your Mom decide to actually move, if you don't mind me asking?"

"My Dad died, it's okay you can say it," I told her.

"I just assumed it was still a fresh wound," she said.
"It is, but it's not like not mentioning it will bring him back," I told her.

"It may cause unwanted emotions, that's all," she told me.

"Thanks for the consideration, but I'm okay," I said. "Well the thing is, I started to isolate myself from friends and my Mom herself right after he died, so she figured that I different house and scenery wouldn't bring back those emotions so much."

"Yeah, I was like that when my Mom died," Rani said. "So I moved and met Matteo in the process."

"Ha, that was a long time ago," Matteo added.

"It was ages ago," she added, smiling, as if there were a hidden meaning to her words.

"What about Carisa?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, I became friends with her around a year ago," she said. "So not as long as Matteo."

We approached a huge Victorian looking mansion. The road circled in front of the house, it was so huge. There were even gardens and a little pavilion! I don't think I've ever seen a bigger or nicer house in real life.

"This is where you live?" I asked, not able to believe my eyes.

"Uh, yeah," Matteo said, a little awkwardly.

"It's huge!" I exclaimed. "Man, I'm jealous."

We walked up the front steps, Matteo pulled out a key and opened the door.

"Come on in," he said.

When I walked inside, I could not believe my eyes. The mansion was decorated like an old Victorian home. The hallway was the main thing seen, decorated with a long red hall runner carpet with a few small tables decorated with flowers in fancy vases. The hallway had at least six dark wood doors, alternating left and right. At the end of the hall was a staircase, also dark wood, leading to an upstairs part of the house.

"Shall we go upstairs?" Matteo asked.

"Sure," I replied.

We walked along the hallway and trudged up the stairs. The room was open, like a fancy hang out space. In the middle there was a sofa with a T.V. in front of it. There were a few more single seated sofas in a circle around a coffee table in a different corner of the room. There were four doors around it, Matteo opened one of these doors and welcomed us all in.

"So this is your room?" I asked Matteo, the room was huge.

He nodded. There was a giant king size bed against the wall, across from the foot of the bed was a wardrobe. Next to the wardrobe was a desk, covered in paper, books and what appeared to be photos. To the left of the bed was a bookshelf stocked full with the classics of literature. I sat down on the bed, gosh, I'd kill for a bed this comfy.

"So how long have you lived here?" I asked.

"Uh... a while," replied Matteo.

"Oh... um, cool," I told him, why is he being so vague?

A few moments of awkward silence followed, I had no idea what to say next.

"Uh, who wants food?" Rani asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm starving," Matteo piped up.

"Me too," Carisa added.

They all looked at me.

"What about you Roxy?" asked Rani.

"Oh, um, I'm not that hungry," I said, awkwardly. "I kinda need to go to the bathroom, where would that be?"

"It's right in that door there," Matteo said, pointing to a door to the left of the bed.

"Thanks," I said.

I got up off the bed and started to head towards the bathroom.

"Hey, we'll go get food and bring it back up while you're in there," said Matteo.

"Okay, cool," I replied.

They all headed out of the room and down to the kitchen, this place was so big you would probably need a map to find everything. I headed into the bathroom and admired the gorgeousness of it. It huge, to begin with, much like everything else in this house. Instead of a shower, lay a bath with what looked to be jets inside of it. Geez, the things I would do for a house like this. I think Matteo would die of shock if he saw my house, it's probably the size of his living room! I did my business and headed out of the bathroom. Curiosity called me over to his desk, to see some of the photos of him. There were some cute ones of him, Rani and Carisa all pulling faces. There were also some ones of him, Rani and some strange man. Though the photos were nice, they didn't stand out as much as a small black and white one, poking out under some papers. Curiosity called again and I pulled out the photo, and looked at it. Once properly looking at it, I couldn't believe my eyes. A picture of Matteo, Rani and that strange man, dated in the nineteen-twenties. What are these people? Maybe this is just a filter... no, no, no, it couldn't be it was too faded and old looking for that. I had to get out of here. I ran towards the door, and opened it. Matteo appeared in front of me, startling me and making me jump, Rani and Carisa stood behind him.

"You look like you just saw a ghost!" he exclaimed.

I couldn't help thinking, maybe I'm looking at one right now.

"Uh... sorry, um, my Mom called and I have to go home," I said, very unconvincingly.

"Oh, that sucks," he said. "Want me to drive you home?"

"No, I should be good," I told him.

"You'll be sitting with us at lunch tomorrow?" Rani asked.

"Uh yeah, sure," I said, "I'll see you tomorrow"

I attempted to casually power walk out of the room, but let's face it, no power walk looks casual.

"Bye Roxy!" Rani called out behind me.
"Yeah, bye!" Carisa called.

"Um, bye," I managed to squeak.

Once I was out of the house, I ran as fast as I could home. What are they? Are they even human? I reached home within five minutes, geez I must've been running faster than I thought! Mom wasn't home from work yet so I just headed up to my room. I've officially gone insane. What was I thinking? This is all probably just a big misunderstanding, with a really good camera filter. Yes, that would've have to have been it. There's no other reasonable explanation otherwise, it's not like supernatural creatures could exist. At least, I hope not. I must be really out of it to even believe all of this stuff, I should just go to sleep.