I pulled on my mom's arm the moment she finished hanging up a holiday picture frame. "We have to go right now!"
"What the hell's gotten into you." She smiled a pained smile with her brow furrowed. When I heard her speak, I didn't hear lags in a lazy drawl. She spoke in a clear voice like mine. When I looked into her eyes, I didn't see a drugged haze clouding them. They were alert and serious like mine.
I hear the beating of Josh's feet on the weak wooden stairs. He peaked at us through the bars under the railing, he briefly looked like he was crouching in a cage. No one except me knew what was going on and that drove me mad. Everyone else had acted like this is their first time here.
I'm not crazy, or blind. You have to be a real idiot to not recognize this as the house from Dark Falls. The mental mention of that title was a magnet that picked up all the pieces of that memory.
"Doesn't this place seem a little too familiar," I urged, almost sarcastic. When I released her arm, I stroked mine. The elbow area was rubbed tenderly to ease the pressure. Mom heeds her widened eyes all over.
She runs her sight over the patches of white on every wall, the amount of Sheetrock and sanded holes were more generous then I remembered. Mom looked down to the bottom of her jeans and saw shucked pieces of wood that clung to them like claws. If I were her I would have had an insight, drove away and never returned. The way she just stood passive gave me the sneaky suspicion she won't.
"No," mom flatly said. "By the way I saw a room you might like; it has a big window you can sit at."
I groaned long and loud, in a very stereotypical teenage way. Josh winched and shares glances with mom, his finger twirled around his ear. He mouthed a word that made me snatch my backpack and storm out, "crazy".
Being out in the snow alone gave me time to doubt myself. I didn't think I cried wolf too many times before. Except the time when I wanted to switch schools because my history teacher wore a big black cowboy hat. I was gaslight by my family ever since; I was told that I was paranoid, that I just wanted an excuse because I didn't like change. Of course I don't like change, our last "change" almost got us killed. Also my zodiac sign is a Taurus— we like things the same.
I shush Maddie to stop her barking. If she brings attention to mom and dad, they will know what I'm doing. I figured she wanted to come with me but I didn't like that idea.
Josh's wooden sleigh was left out and sticking out of a mound of snow. It was small but it was big enough for me to sleep my pack on top of it. It even had room for me if I squatted right, Maddie growled at me when I sat. To pacify her I dug through my bag and fished out a pair of underwear. My unmentionable were showed to be her favorite chew toy, when I came home one day to several pairs having holes in them. Shamefully, I sagged it in the air over her. Right when I wanted no one to see me, someone comes into my view. No less, it was a fully grown man. Even worse, it was the real estate agent.
He laughed as he came from behind. "Ho-ho- HO!"
"Oh shut up," I mumbled. Avoiding eye contact, I take the hooped handle of Maddie's harness and hung it onto one of the panels of the sleigh. It was silly but I might be able to make some use out of her.
He stood puzzled, likely flummoxed by my lack of fear. He asked me what I was doing in his real voice and not the Santa imitation voice. I answered him with empty silence. I will not reward him with any answers.
Unlucky for me, he guessed on his own. He returns to his thunderous voice as he said, "you better not be leaving your home that your folks registered for you, young lady."
I found a stick that I used to make a flag with my underwear. Maddie was drawn to it before I can even wave it. Her nose snooped into the crotch area but I lift it up quickly in case she tried for a bite.
I hated not turning my attention back to him. His strong blue gaze reminded me that there's a wolf at the table.
"Leaving your family behind on Christmas is not very nice," Dawes said hauntingly.
"I'll go back for them." I adjust my white jacket and zipped it all the way. "After I contact the police and have this place shut down forever, I'll go back for them."
The way my voice sounded made me seem desperate; I forgot I was a kid. It made me feel guilty that I was leaving my family in a dangerous town. Those feelings were fought as I once over my ride for any missing arrangements.
"Santa Dawes doesn't like that one bit," he rumbles low. Those full eyebrows of his knit low to his angered gleam. His meaty black mittens are on his hips and he looks at me threatening. Fatherly, but threatening.
Maddie ate a chunk out of the snow to suffice herself until I drop my underwear on a stick. I won't take it out until comes the time I need to, right now I just use my hands to hold onto the curled front part of the sleigh.
"W-what are you going to do," I sneer but the shiver in my hoarse throat was evident. I kick myself off and we start to take off. "Give me some coal?"
Mushing a little dog is never a smart thing to do. Maddie put up a fuss midway and I had to make room for her on my lap. Her hay colored fur was too thin for her to be in this weather, I can feel her shake under my fingers.
I look up to see nothing but fields of snow and naked trees. I fear we might be lost with no way back; even though I didn't want to go back. I panicked when I saw someone ahead. It was a person unmistakably making their way closer to me. Has Mr. Dawes hunted me? No, as they come closer I see they're wearing a pea coat. Instead of a Santa hat I see a black skiing cap with a ooze green stripe around it. To evade taking chances, I attempt to break away from the person. My shoe felt like a rock caught in the ice, I couldn't even move my toes. My latent scream escalated into a real one with every step they take.
It wasn't an off-putting stranger but a tall boy that I assumed to be a man from afar. A tuft of golden fringe split down the middle of his forehead, between a pair of baby blues. Not the strong vibrant blue eyes of Mr. Dawes that rivaled the Christmas lights, they were a bit weak in color. But chillingly pretty.
"Long time no see, Amanda," he said with a bright smile. He wished me a happy holiday and tried to hug me but I backed away.
"Ray!" I cried.
He was still smiling innocently. His funny upturn nose was rosy from the cold, which I found odd. As well as his winter wear, with his pea coat and skinny jeans. I did recall him being a fruity dresser as he wore a lot of tight jeans and plum sweaters in the past. His hat seemed normal for a kid his age.
He yells over to his friends in the distance, "Amanda's here, guys!"
They didn't approach us, they all just waved. Two of them stood out to me, a pair of twin children about the same age as Josh— the children of the new family that moved in. The boys I briefly talked to before escaping Dark Falls. I felt queasy seeing them casually melded with the kids.
Maddie fearlessly nibbled at the rubber of Ray's sneakers. It didn't take much to know she wasn't a smart dog. Petey caught onto the dead kids' instantaneous and wouldn't stop barking at them. Maddie just stays quiet in his presence.
A snowball crashed into his cheek out of nowhere. His face goes blank from shock, he turned away from me and at the kids from behind. The bald, skinny black boy clapped some particals of snow off his gloves; the rest of them laugh. I remember his name being Jerry Franklin. Ray scoped up his own globe of white, grinning, he charged over. Jerry tripped over trying to flee and fell on his back laughing. Part of me wanted to join in but I knew what was best for me. They seemed like a bunch of normal kids and not bloodsucking monsters.
A shock of discomfort ruined my opinion. A hunk of leather curls on my shoulder, my teeth chattered. At the ground before me, a mighty big shadow gives the snow color. The shade made the ground I stood on look like a storm cloud.
"I will be taking you home for the holidays, little girl."
A/N: boring chapter, had writers block, sorry.