Chapter Two: The Friendliest Town

Matt had been driving for ten hours straight. He hadn't even stopped to pee or grab a bite to eat. So when he passed by a sign that read, "Welcome to Luverne, the Friendliest Town in the South!" he figured he might have reached his destination. That, and his bladder was quite full and his stomach was quite empty.

"Luverne... Huh. I guess this'll be home." Matt drove around the town square and smiled at the shops and people laughing on the sidewalk. There was a beautiful, lush, green park in the middle of the square, filled with daisies and little kids running in and out of the magnificent fountain in the park's center. It looked like a scene straight out of a movie. It was everything Matt was looking for. It had sunshine, smiles, and most importantly, everyone looked rather human. He followed an old, faded sign that read "Boarders Wanted" to a victorian house that, despite its chipping paint, looked glorious. He parked his beaten up truck in the driveway and walked up to the double glass doors that served as the main entrance to the house. There was an ornate gold doorbell on the left side, and just as he was about to ring it, an old man opened the door.

"Well hello there, son. How can I help you?" The old man asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Hi, I'm Matt and I, uh, saw the sign that you needed boarders and I was wondering if I could stay here." Matt replied as he looked the man up and down. He was dressed in a pair of khaki's, a white button up shirt, and a bright blue cardigan that matched the flecks of blue in his otherwise amber colored eyes. Matt could tell that the old man had been handsome in his youth, and noticed the wrinkles around his eyes that proved the man had laughed and smiled a lot in his life. He instantly liked the man.

"Well, yes, we are looking for boarders. The rent is $1,000 a month and you get your own bedroom and bathroom, and full use of the kitchen and grounds."

Matt thought about it. $1,000 was kind of steep, especially considering he hadn't even found a job yet. But he really did like the old man, he felt like they had a grandfather to grandson connection already. Which he thought was crazy considering they had just met, but it was how he felt nonetheless. The old man noticed Matt's hesitation.

"Have you a job, boy? Because this estate is in a bit of disrepair and I could always use a strapping young lad like yourself to clean it all up."

"Really?" Matt asked. He was excited at the man's kindness, though not necessarily surprised by it.

"Well, if you think you can take on the job..." The old man asked with a toothy grin.

"Yes, sir. I definitely think I can."

"Alright, then it's settled. You'll start by painting the house. Your board will be free so long as there is still work to do on the property. Now come on in and meet everyone."

"Everyone?" Matt hadn't realized that there would probably be other boarders besides himself. But the thought of living with a lot of other people excited him. He had never had that at home, with his mom always leaving and Vicky always out somewhere partying. The idea of constantly having other people around, even if it was just to argue about what TV show to watch, was a nice change. Matt went back out to his car, grabbed his bag, and practically skipped up the steps to the house. Everything was coming together flawlessly.

Matt nearly toppled over the old man on his way through the door.

"Woah there, sonny boy, in a rush?"

"Sorry, I just didn't want to keep everyone waiting..." Matt replied, his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

"It's no problem at all boy. I'm Eugene Cratz by the way. And this lovely lady over here is my granddaughter, Nina."

Matt looked over at the girl. She had brilliantly blue eyes, the color of the ocean's waves out in the Mediterranean. She had dark, raven colored hair that framed her face in gorgeously abundant curls. She was absolutely stunning, almost perfect. Except above her right eye there was a jagged, nasty looking scar that shot upwards all the way to her hairline. Matt couldn't help but stare at it.

"What, never seen a scar before? Rude much." Nina spat at him and turned around, stomping back to her room.

"I apologize for my granddaughter's behavior. She is quite self-conscious about her injury."

"No, its fine. I was being rude." Matt felt bad. He hadn't meant to star, its just that the scar looked so intense. It looked so painful even though it seemed healed. It looked so inhuman! Oh god, not again. He wasn't in some supernatural zone again, with monsters that go bump in the night and apparently try and attack nice old man's daughters. He had to find out where she'd gotten that scar, because if it was from anything like what he was thinking, he needed to get the hell out of the "Friendliest Town in the South".

"Alright, Matt, this young woman over here is Clara and this is her fiancee, Jamie."

"Nice to meet you, Matt"

"Yeah, nice to have another guy in the house!" Clara was small, with reddish brown hair, freckles, and sparkling green eyes. She had a girl next door kind of beauty about her. Jamie was as tall as Clara was short. He had muscular arms, but the rest of him was rather lanky. He had sandy blonde hair that was cropped short, and dark brown eyes. Both of them looked really nice, but Matt couldn't stop thinking about Nina and her scar.

"Nice to, uh, meet you guys too."

"Well come here Matt, I'll show you to your room." Eugene started going up the spiraled staircase to the second floor. He had almost reached the second level before Matt snapped out of his curiosity and followed him up the stairs. Eugene led Matt to the second door on the left of the hallway.

"This room will be yours. Nina's is across the hall, and this door on the left of you is the bathroom. I hope you'll like it here. You can start the house work tomorrow morning."

"Where do Clara and Jamie live?" Matt asked, trying to create conversation to avoid the intense thinking session that was about to take place in his new room.

"They live on the ground floor, first door on the left. And I live next to them. Feel free to visit whenever you like, I really do wish you would. Dinner will be served in about an hour. Make yourself at home." And with that, Eugene closed the door, leaving Matt to contemplate how to figure out how Nina had gotten that awful scar...