Chapter 1

Seven o'clock. The alarm went off with Christina Aguilera's newest hit, playing on the radio. The music kept blaring for a while in the silent, darkened room until a faint grunt, almost imperceptible, joined in. His body stirred under the covers as his senses gradually became aware of the world around him. Without actually being aware of his movements, he raised his body and sat up on the edge of his rumpled bed, his bare feet resting on the blue rug. His open hands rubbed his still sleepy face a couple of times and very timidly his blue eyes opened to a brand new day.

The music finished, the disc jockey called the time and wished his audience a good weekend. "Oh damn!" Kid cursed under his breath as he silenced the radio with a strong thump on the off-button. He had forgotten to turn off the alarm for the weekend and now that he was awake, he knew he would not fall asleep again.

Kid rose from the bed, his naked legs stumbling over his football, which he sent rolling to the far extreme of the bedroom. Walking to the window, he stood there, just clad in his boxers, yawning once again and scratching his short hair. His left hand grabbed the cord on the blinds and pulled at it. The soft, morning light darted into the bedroom, washing over its whole length, and blinding Kid momentarily. He then threw a casual glimpse outside and saw a big van parked before the house opposite his. "Seems we have new neighbors," he muttered to himself.

Shifting his eyes from the window, he pressed the start button on his desktop computer. After a few minutes, the monitor came to life, showing a wallpaper of the emblem of his favorite football logo, the Buffalo Bills. Kid turned on the modem, and a window required his access password. Once he keyed it in, the modem started to screech for a minute and when the noise stopped, an accepting message came through. Kid double clicked on the icon of his Internet Explorer and when the window popped up, he typed in his email address and password. About a dozen unread messages flashed in his inbox.

Kid groaned unhappily as he noticed that eight of those emails came from Samantha Edgars, which wasn't such a surprise since, much to his chagrin, Samantha had chased him relentlessly for the last year. He could guess what all those messages said, so he'd save them for later when he felt in the mood to read them. Apart from those emails, there was also another one from his friend Jimmy, reminding him that they had a practice that afternoon. The rest was just ads for his favorite stores, which he deleted without bothering to open them.

An hour later Kid had taken a shower and put on a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. He ran down the stairs, and as he reached downstairs, a voice called him. "Samuel?"

"Yes, Mom?"

Emma Cain appeared from the kitchen into the hall. "What are you doing up so early on a Saturday, Kid?"

He shrugged his shoulders in indifference. "Something woke me up, I guess," Kid simply said, too embarrassed to admit that he had forgotten to reset his alarm clock for the weekend again. Mother and son walked together to the kitchen where his father was sitting at the table having his breakfast. Kid greeted him while Emma sat down next to her husband. "I thought you were off this morning, Dad," Kid remarked as he noticed his father was wearing his impeccable police uniform.

"Yes," Sam replied after having a sip of his coffee, "but I changed my shift. Your mother and I have been invited to dinner by her boss tonight."

Kid crossed the length of the kitchen, opened a cupboard, took a bowl out and poured some cereal into it. As he left the cereal box on the counter, he threw a casual look through the widow. The van was still parked outside and the moving men were coming in and out of the house, unloading the vehicle. Kid stood there watching when something, or rather somebody, caught his attention. In the middle of the driveway was a girl around his age, talking to one of the moving men. She had a petite frame, with short, dark hair, and was wearing a white t-shirt and loose blue jeans. From where he was, Kid could not see much more, but for some strange reason he could not avert his eyes from her. There was something about this girl that drew him. The way she held herself, her gestures, and how she moved her hands as she talked were nothing special, but somehow it felt different, fresh, as if it was something he had never witnessed before.

"Do you like what you see?"

The question interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up to find his mother smiling next to him.

"Uh… I'm just curious about the new neighbors," Kid replied awkwardly.

"Yes, we're gonna have a very pretty neighbor, I must say," Emma remarked, tilting her head toward the scene outside.

"Mom, please!" Kid exclaimed annoyed.

"Kid, you needn't be shy with your mother," Emma replied, patting him on the back and sharing a knowing look with her husband. "It's natural you like pretty girls." Kid did not try to say another word, or else he would be dragged to a conversation that he did not want to have.

"It was high time that house was taken," Sam remarked from his position at the table. "It's been empty for too many years… since Old McCloud went to live in that nursing home."

"He must have sold it then," Kid said as he threw another look through the window. The girl had stopped talking to the man and was inspecting the overgrown front lawn.

"Not him," Emma replied. "I heard he passed away a month or so ago."

"You used to be friends with his daughter, didn't you? What was her name?" Sam added when his wife sat back at the table again.

"Mary Louise. She was a good friend, but we lost contact."

"Why, Mom? What happened?" Kid asked as he turned round to look at his mother, resting his hips against the counter.

"Life's complications," Emma replied. "We were about your age, seventeen or so. Of course I was still single and living with Mom and Dad. Back then Mary Louise was dating an older guy her father didn't approve of. She got pregnant, and when she announced she was going to marry this guy, her father disowned her… practically threw her out of the house."

"Yeah, Old McCloud was a tough nut," Sam remarked.

"She moved to the city and we talked a few times over the phone. But her husband was a businessman, and they moved around the country quite a lot, so we lost touch."

"It's a shame, Mom."

"Yes… I'm sorry too, but well, that's life," Emma said in a melancholic tone, thus concluding her account.

Kid turned back to the window and as he had another look, to his disappointment, he discovered that the girl was gone. So without anything interesting to see outside, he poured some milk onto his cereal, and went to sit at the table to share breakfast time with his parents on this very early Saturday morning.

Louise smiled as she heard the pattering of feet above her head. Her siblings were having a blast on their first day in their new home. No wonder. After living in that tiny apartment in the city, this house was a palace in comparison. This would be a nice change and she was feeling optimistic for the first time in many months.

Louise was dusting and ordering everything in the living room, but stopped when she saw her mother slowly walking in from the kitchen.

"Is there anything I can do, honey?" Mary Louise asked.

"Everything's under control, Mom. Just sit and relax."

The woman nodded and came to sit in her old armchair while Lou continued with the chore with energetic motions. "This house brings about so many memories. I had such a happy childhood here. I could tell you hundreds and hundreds of stories."

"We'll be happy now too," Lou replied with a smile. "The four of us together." The sound of voices swept in from the stairs, interrupting her words. Louise turned and saw her younger siblings appear, bickering like usual. "What is it now?" she asked in an irritated tone.

At once Jeremiah and Theresa shut up, not wanting to get in trouble with their older sister. "Nothing," Jeremiah quickly replied as they reached the ground floor.

"Do you like your rooms, my dears?" asked Mary Louise.

"Oh yes, Mom!" Theresa exclaimed, approaching the armchair on which her mother was sitting. "I love mine… it's beautiful, but I know I will miss my old one."

"You know that your new bedroom used to be mine when I was living here?" Mary Louise added.

"Really, Mom?" Theresa replied excitedly. "Oh in that case I love it even more."

Mary Louise smiled and her son then said, "Grandpa must have been very rich to have such a big house."

Mary Louise did not reply to Jeremiah's comment. It was not that her late father had been well off, but rather theirs was a family of very limited resources. Things had been hard, especially in the last two years after John had left. Money was scarce and it had been a constant struggle to make ends meet. Naturally there were things that young children should never learn or experience, and it burned her soul to realize that she could not give her children the comfortable and carefree existence they deserved.

"I'm sorry Grandpa died," Theresa added, holding her only doll tightly. "I enjoyed visiting with him."

"Yes, honey. I miss him too," Mary Louise replied in a husky voice. His death had been a terrible blow, making her regret all the years she had missed from his life because of her stupid pride and stubbornness. At least she had the consolation that she and her father had finally reconciled over a year before his death. That had granted the children the opportunity to know what a great person their grandfather was, and it had allowed him to meet his grandchildren as well. And also making up with her father had given her the chance to enjoy and live very precious moments with him before he left this world. It would have been totally shattering if she had lost him before she could tell him that despite everything she loved him.

Mary Louise bitterly regretted what had happened between the two of them all those years ago. Naturally, she was not sorry for all her actions, because otherwise, she would not have her three jewels, her children. Yet, she knew that if she had tried harder, she could have been able to patch up things with her father much sooner. But that was the way things had turned out, and there was no use crying over spilt milk. She should be happy that she had been able to enjoy the last months in her father's life. He had died a month ago, leaving her the old family house, which was the only valuable thing he had.

"But honey," Mary Louise continued after a while, "I tend to believe that he isn't completely gone and his presence is still here with us."

"Like a ghost?" Theresa asked fearfully.

"Yeah…" Jeremiah replied in fake voice and trying to look spooky as he came closer to his sister. "A ghost, wrapped in a white sheet and pulling big, clanking chains. And he will come to haunt you every single night"

"Jeremiah!" Lou exclaimed in a scolding tone. "That comment shows very little respect, if any, for your grandfather!"

The boy realized his mistake at once and hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make fun."

"Good," Lou said, and coming closer to her little sister, she stroked her head with her right hand as she added, "Don't worry, sweetie. He was just pulling your leg. There's no such thing as ghosts. And we're going to be fine in our new house."

Theresa nodded but still looked troubled. "I'm worried about Monday," she said when her mother asked her what was wrong. "I'm not sure if I'll like my new school and I miss my old friends."

"Tessie, you'll make new friends," Mary Louise replied. "It's a nice school and you'll be fine."

"Mom's right," Lou added. "I don't know anybody in my new school either, but that doesn't worry me."

"Yes," Theresa muttered in a tiny voice. She felt the urge to protest, but stopped herself. Things were very different for her sister. As far as she knew, Lou had never been close to anybody in her old school. She never brought anybody home, got no phone calls, and unlike other teenagers, Theresa knew she never went out with friends. So she couldn't miss anybody the way Theresa would miss her dear friends.

Lou shifted her eyes to her brother, who was looking at her with a strange expression. "And what do you say, young man?" she asked, ruffling his too long bangs.

"I'm hungry."

Louise laughed at her brother's out-of-context remark. "I'll run out to the supermarket now," she said. "We'll have a light lunch today, and afterwards, I will go, Mom."

At Lou's words, Theresa pouted unhappily. "Do you have to leave us today too?"

"You know I do, honey," Lou replied and walking to the door, she added, "And while I'm gone, make sure you unpack your bags, and put everything in its place, all right?"

The children nodded in unison as Lou walked out of the house. A shadow came over Mary Louise's pale face as she watched her eldest daughter leave for the store. She did not say a word, she did not even sigh, but her sad eyes showed that tears poured painfully from every corner of her heart.