Something About Alton
Part I: Welcome To Alton
Saturday, 5th September, 1998
"Adam, look over here!" Mom called enthusiastically as she aimed the camera. She had posed Adam to sit behind his birthday cake, a flaming fountain placed in the middle spewing sparks everywhere. Adam rolled his eyes as he followed his mom's orders; move one way, move out the way of the birthday candle.
"Curt, why don't you get in, too?" Mom suggested, pushing Adam's dad over to her son.
"I'm sure Adam doesn't want my ugly mug cramping his style," Curt joked while Adam cringed at his dad's attempted use of slang talk.
"Just get in!" Mom exclaimed, bending slightly to take the picture while Dad pulled up a chair beside his son, wrapping a big, strong arm around his shoulder.
"This candle is insane..." Adam shook his head as sparks continued flying out of the top.
"Well, if anything goes wrong, the man for the job's right here!" Dad pointed at himself with his thumb.
"Smile!" Mom grinned as the camera flashed.
-O-
Adam was jolted awake as the car hit a speed bump. Rudely awoken, he looked to the driver's seat to see his tired mother at the wheel, black rings under her eyes.
"You okay, mom?" Adam yawned.
"We'll be there soon," mom replied without answering his question. Adam shuffled in his seat, forcing himself upright before checking on his younger sister, still fast asleep beside him; then again, she could sleep through anything.
The window was clouded. Adam scrunched up his sleeve and wiped to make a clear view, though there was nothing all that remarkable to look at. The side of the road was still occupied by trees and when Adam tried to peek ahead, the mist obscured his view completely. As much as he wanted to go back to sleep until they arrived at Grandpa's, Adam found it to be a pointless endeavour; for one, he could never go back to sleep once he was awake, and for another, if his mom's exhausted response was anything to go by, they would be arriving soon anyway.
Another quarter of an hour passed before Adam finally saw signs of civilisation; place names on signs, "Alton", houses instead of trees. Soon enough, they were pulling up into the small, quiet town – quiet enough that it could pass for a ghost town. Adam had been here just a handful of times as a child to visit his grandparents; the last time when he was six, maybe seven. Now aged sixteen, it would mark the first time he saw his Grandpa Louis since the funeral of his father, and his grandmother before that.
Adam watched his mom slow the car down before pulling in to an empty space on the side of the road. He looked across the sidewalk at his Grandpa's house, exactly how he remembered it from all those years ago. The door opened and Grandpa came out, clutching his walking stick, as if he'd been waiting there for them all this time.
"Sarah," mom turned around in her seat, gently placing her hand on Sarah's knee and shaking it. The young girl stirred, rubbing her eyes and stretching. "We're here – go say hi to your Grandpa Louis!"
Adam swung the car door open and, the moment he stepped out of the vehicle, was met with a strong gust of wind, blowing his long, bleached hair over his face. His sister undid her seatbelt and shuffled along the seats, following him out his door and up the porch steps.
"You need a decent haircut," Grandpa chided at Adam, who flicked his fringe back so it was no longer covering his face. "And you!" the elderly man slowly leant down to speak to Sarah, who smiled and looked away, "My, you grow more every time I see you!"
"Kids, go get your stuff from the car," she commanded, hugging Grandpa as they walked down the porch steps. "Thank you so much for doing this..." Adam heard before they were out of earshot. Opening the boot of the car, Adam grabbed two of Sarah's bags.
"Hey, show me which room you want," Adam winced as he carried the heavy bags, "I'll carry them up for you."
Sarah smiled as she excitedly jogged back up to the house, Adam trying desperately to keep up with her. He followed her inside and up the stairs, where there were five rooms; Grandpa's room, a bathroom and three others, which were for mom, Adam and Sarah to choose. Sarah opened one of the doors into a medium-sized bedroom, with a nice view over the garden and woods behind the house.
"You want this one?" Adam asked, met with a nod from Sarah. He lowered the bags to the floor. "I'll let you unpack everything; I'll head down and get the rest of your stuff now, okay?"
Sarah nodded again as she rummaged through the baggage, picking out her toys one by one. She was always a quiet girl; friendly, lovely, but quiet. To most people, it was hard to know exactly what she was thinking, but she and Adam had a special bond. While she stayed relatively quiet, she always seemed happiest with him. It was clear she really loved her big brother and Adam loved her back, as he had always done. He got down on one knee to help her unpack and, hopefully, ease any nerves she might have about moving house.
"Hey, I don't know how you're feeling now that we've left home," Adam said softly, "But you've still got me and mom – and Grandpa Louis, of course."
Sarah looked a little more solemn as she continued emptying her bag.
"You're gonna make new friends here," Adam reassured her, "It's like... like a chance to start over, right?"
"I don't want to start over," Sarah said quietly.
"I know," Adam patted her on the shoulder, "But we have to, okay? There's a lot of... opportunity, here, and soon enough we'll be fine, like we've been here our whole lives."
Sarah nodded and Adam stood up, heading downstairs and out to the car to grab the rest of their things. His sister still had a few bags of luggage, consisting mostly of clothes, which he carried up for her, filling her wardrobe with her tops and jumpers. As he went back down to collect his own luggage, Adam passed his mother on the stairs, hauling a cardboard box of miscellaneous items.
"Hey, d'you need help with anything?" Adam asked.
"I'll be okay," mom answered confidently, marching on up the stairs. Now, Adam thought, the only thing left is to unpack his stuff. He picked up a box of his own, full of music CDs, and jogged back inside and up the stairs, finding the only room left unoccupied and dropping it in there. He looked around and envisioned where everything would go, estimating that he'd have plenty of room left even after he had unpacked everything. Grandpa's house always seemed massive when he was younger, something Adam chalked down to him being a child and everything seeming big, but it really was pretty sizeable.
About an hour later, everything was unpacked; his acoustic guitar stood propped against the wall, still in its flimsy case, while his CDs were neatly organized on the shelf above his desk – bands in alphabetical order, CDs stacked in order of release. On the desk sat stationary, should Adam ever decide to do his homework, and around the room posters occupied the walls; Nirvana, Beatles, Ramones.
Satisfied with the appearance of his room, Adam flopped back onto his bed and looked over at his bedside table, on which he had set up a framed picture of him and his dad, taken on Adam's fifteenth birthday.
"I miss you," Adam thought to himself as he stared at his father. It was always remarked how Adam and his father shared similar features; the big, blue eyes, the crinkles on the corners of their eyes as they smiled and laughed, even the hair – before Adam bleached it, they both shared the same mousey brown hair colour.
As for personality, that was something he shared with his mother. So the story goes, Sandy Docherty was a slightly introverted but good-spirited senior who Curt, an outgoing, athletic class-clown, happened to take a liking to. That introverted aspect was always something that Adam felt clicked with him, even when his dad helped mom get out of her shell throughout their time together. That was all undone now.
Monday, 7th September, 1998
Adam nervously walked up to the entrance of his new high school, which sat within walking distance of his new home. Starting somewhere in his penultimate year of high school was nerve-wracking to say the least; everybody was in a clique by now, and Adam was a little worried about fitting in. Ideally, he'd find a group with a similar taste in music or a similar sense of humour to his own, but this was a small town – it wouldn't be guaranteed. Regardless of what happens to him, Adam's primary concerns were in regard to his sister, whom he worried about settling in. He and his mom walked Sarah there before he came here.
Opening the doors and walking through the halls, the mental picture Adam had of what this school might be like was quickly discarded; he found it to be fairly packed, leading him to assume that lots of people from out of town came here, since there was no way all of these people could be from the town of Alton itself.
When organizing his relocation to Alton High, its principal suggested that Adam stop by her office to collect a timetable and school map, as well as to discuss anything that may generally be of use. Adam stopped at the school's reception, hoping that he'd find the principal somewhere around here.
"Excuse me," he cleared his throat, getting the attention of a middle-aged, female receptionist, "I'm looking to speak to the principal, is his office around here?"
"It's right through the back, here," the portly lady stood up. Adam followed her around the desk to a small, well-lit corridor behind the reception area. She showed Adam to a door at the end. "This is the principal's office, here. I'll leave you to talk with him."
Adam knocked on the door.
"Come in," a female voice sounded. Adam opened the door and stepped into the office. He was met with a lady, in her early thirties at most, looking up from her computer.
"Ah, you must be Adam!" she stood up. She was very conventionally attractive; slim with straight, dark brown hair and big, brown eyes. She held out her hand for Adam to shake; he did so clumsily. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Miss Farrow. Please, take a seat!"
Adam sat in the chair directly opposite her, smiling excitedly as his hormones raged. She sat in her chair and bent down to the side, rummaging through a bag before pulling out an A4 file.
"So, I've sorted out your timetable," Miss Farrow explained, sliding a sheet out of the file and presenting it in front of Adam. "And right here I've got a map of the school, with the room numbers and things like that – just in case you get lost."
"Thank you," Adam picked up the sheet with the map, glancing from the timetable to the map to check where he'd be having his lessons.
"Now, I understand that starting a new school can be a frightening experience," Miss Farrow said gently, "And when I talked on the phone with your mother, I heard about the difficulties you and your family have been experiencing. It's in your best interests that you aren't alone, right?"
"Right," Adam nodded, wincing slightly at the mention of 'difficulties'.
"So, what are your interests?" the principal flipped her hair out of her face, "I'm sure that whatever your hobbies are, there's a place for you here in Alton."
"Well," Adam thought aloud, "I like music, I guess – you know, playing guitar? And I listen to a lot of it in my free time."
"Music, huh?" Miss Farrow grinned, "We've got a lot of musicians here; if you look on your map, the music rooms are marked out. They tend to hang out there at break."
"I'll check it out," Adam nodded, though he was uncertain; he didn't want to be associated with the negative connotations surrounding band kids. Still, he maintained some optimism; maybe there'd be someone with the same musical interests as him?
"If you're still having trouble finding a place here, feel free to come and meet with me any time," Miss Farrow smiled reassuringly as the bell rang, "Though I'm sure that you'll fit in just fine!"
"I will – thank you!" Adam stood up; clutching the two sheets of paper he was handed as he walked out the room, navigating the halls using the map to find the room for first period; English Literature.
Adam found the room pretty quickly, the class not being too far from the principal's office. The class was mostly full already, though the teacher was not there yet. It was hard to tell which seats were taken as none of the other students were sitting, instead clustered in their friend groups to gossip before the teacher arrived. Anxiously, Adam made his way to an empty corner of the room, finding a seat three rows from the front, two from the back, second seat along from the window. As Adam unpacked his backpack, setting out his papers and stationery on his desk, his teacher came in.
"Good morning," his voice boomed above the chatter of the class, who quickly dispersed into their seats. "Hope you all had a good summer break!"
Not exactly, Adam thought, two funerals and moving to the middle of fucking nowhere.
Mr Harrison dropped his bag off his shoulder and down onto the floor by his desk. He looked across the room; he was skinny with virtually no muscle and a patchy beard. Despite his seemingly optimistic demeanour, he looked like he didn't take much care of himself physically.
"Now," Mr Harrison squinted as he looked around the room, "I'm told we have a new student joining us; a Mr Adam Weller. Is he with us?"
Adam awkwardly raised his hand, hating the attention being drawn on him.
"Adam!" Mr Harrison greeted him, "Good to have you here – mind coming up and introducing yourself to the class?"
Fucking great.
Adam stood up, bumping into his desk as he walked up to the front of the class. He felt all their eyes on him and he saw their smirks as he nervously stepped past. He reached the front and turned around, looking to the teacher for approval to speak. Mr Harrison nodded.
"I'm... I'm Adam," he introduced himself, half-heartedly waving, "And, uh, I just moved here, like, the other day."
"Where'd you move from?" Mr Harrison asked.
"Pittsburgh," Adam nodded, looking at him to answer. "But I've got family here so... y'know, I live with them."
"Right," Mr Harrison smiled, "Well, I hope you settle down well here in Alton."
Adam walked back to his seat and slumped down. He always hated speaking in front of people, especially a group of complete strangers. Fortunately, he didn't make too big a fool of himself; at least, he didn't think so.
-O-
The lessons passed and soon came lunch break. Adam hadn't experienced much luck in the making friends department but then again he wasn't making much of an effort. He figured he may as well check out the music rooms, just to see if anyone was around.
The area of the school with the music rooms in was pretty quiet, people-wise. Where most of the corridors were pretty packed or at least had one or two people, the corridors by the music rooms were quiet except for the sound of a bass guitar rumbling. Adam looked in through the window in the door to see a boy with short, shaved hair playing fast, punky bass lines. There was no one else in there, save for two girls sat at the other end of the room, seemingly disinterested in the bassist's performance.
Adam psyched himself up before opening the door, eager to make a good impression without coming off like he was trying too hard. The bassist glanced up from the fret board for a moment before focusing his concentration back on his playing. Adam smiled and watched his fingers move across the neck – F#, then C#, D and A.
"Sounds good, man," Adam complimented, "What song's that?"
"Descendants," the bassist answered, muting the strings. "They're a punk rock band from the eighties."
"Nice," Adam leant back, "Yeah, I listen to punk, too. I don't know Descendants, though."
"Who do you listen to, then?" the bassist asked.
"Ramones," Adam replied with his favourite punk band, "And newer stuff, too. You know Blink-182?"
"Yeah, I know them," the bassist chuckled before playing the riff to their song Carousel. "They're alright, I guess. Ramones are good."
"You can play it well," Adam nodded as the bass player strummed the top two strings. "I'm Adam, by the way – I'm new here."
"Nice to meet you, Adam," the bassist extended a hand, "I'm Ron, Ron Evans."
Adam shook his hand. "Hey, I play an instrument, too; I got an acoustic guitar back at my house."
"Pick one up from the closet," Ron motioned to the door behind him. "They're old and decrepit as shit, but they'll do if you want to jam."
"Sure," Adam smiled excitedly, opening up the closet. He was met with a small range of instruments; two old, no-name acoustic guitars and a Fender Stratocaster clone, its paint job ruined from years of wear and tear. Adam grabbed the acoustic closest to him and emerged from the closet, shutting the door behind him.
The two musicians jammed for a little while, blitzing through songs by the Ramones, Nirvana and the Pixies before Ron taught him the guitar riff for the Descendants song he was playing earlier, "Hope". They got on well – Ron reminded Adam of a friend he had back home, Will, who had a similar self-deprecating sense of humour.
"So, is this all the usual people who hang out here?" Adam asked; it was still just him and the two girls, who he noticed would occasionally stop their conversation to watch the two perform.
"Paula and Dan are usually here," Ron retuned his bass, "Brother and sister. They're still on holiday and aren't back home until tonight."
"Right," Adam nodded.
"And over there, that's Ellie and Liv," Ron waved, "Hi, girls!"
Liv, dressed in a black long-sleeved top and darned in gothic eyeliner, waved back over-exaggeratedly. Ellie, dressed in a more traditional, "normal" outfit, turned around in her seat to look at Adam.
"Hey, you're the new guy," Ellie smiled, "You were in my English class this morning!"
"Oh, yeah," Adam chuckled, not recognising her.
"Did Mr Harrison make him introduce himself?" Liv asked.
"Yeah, it was pretty embarrassing," Adam winced.
The conversation between Adam and Ron extended to involve Ellie and Liv. The four were getting along pretty well with one another; Ron was a senior, while the girls were juniors, just like Adam. Just as Adam was enjoying himself, the bell rang, marking the end of lunch break.
"Hey, man, tell you what," Ron took Adam by the shoulder, "You seem pretty cool, right? You'd probably get along with our friends."
"Yeah?" Adam asked.
"Yeah, for sure," Ron confirmed, "We hang out at the park here most afternoons. We three will be there, at least, but I'll introduce you to Mike and Eric. They're a year older than us, but they're cool, they'll like you. You up for joining us?"
"Definitely," Adam agreed, "Not like I've got anyone else to hang out with."
"Right on," Ron grinned, "See you then!"
"Bye, Adam!" Ellie and Liv walked past him, bags carried over their shoulders.
Adam left the room feeling pretty good. As much as he'd miss his friends back in Pittsburgh, it might not be so bad here after all.
-O-
Adam returned home to hear the sound of sobbing from the living room, accompanied by his mom's soothing voice.
"It's okay, sweetie, it's okay..."
Immediately Adam kicked off his shoes and dropped his bag down, rushing into the living room to find his distraught sister in his mother's arms.
"What's wrong?" Adam asked, kneeling down to be eye-level with her.
"She... she had a tough first day," Mom answered as she stroked the back of Sarah's head.
"Oh, no," Adam put his hand on Sarah's back, "What happened?"
"She – she doesn't want to talk about it, Adam," Mom ushered him away, "She'll be okay, Adam, just go upstairs."
Adam felt heartbroken as he watched Sarah cry into Mom's shoulder but, feeling that his presence was only going to further stress Mom out, he walked back into the hall and picked up his bag, taking it upstairs into his room. While he felt sad for Sarah for having a hard time at her new school, he simultaneously felt relieved that he seemingly found himself a friend group. Picking up his guitar, he played the chords Ron taught him to Hope by Descendants; maybe he'd ask him to lend the CD so he could play along to it.
After some time, the crying subsided. Following Sarah's light footsteps going up the stairs, Adam heard the sound of heavier ones.
"Tomorrow will be better," Adam heard his mom say softly, "Don't you worry."
The door to Sarah's room creaked shut, shortly followed by Adam's door opening.
"How was your day?" mom asked, poking her head around the door.
"Pretty good, actually," Adam grinned, "I made a couple of friends and actually, I was thinking of meeting them at the park soon."
"Oh, that's great, Adam," mom smiled weakly.
"So, what happened to Sarah?" Adam whispered, not wanting Sarah to hear them discussing her.
"She had a bit of a meltdown," mom sighed, "I don't know, they have, like... assistants, there. I just hope they can help co-ordinate her."
Adam nodded understandingly. He remembered how hard it was for Sarah to start school all those years ago. Now aged nine years old, it seemed like she was experiencing it all over again.
-O-
Adam walked up to the park, remembering it from when they passed it as they drove through the town to Grandpa's house. He saw Ron and Liv, accompanied by who Adam assumed to be either Mike or Eric. Adam waved, and Ron and Liv waved back.
"Hey, Eric," Ron introduced him to the newcomer, "This is Adam... Adam...?"
"Weller," Adam greeted Eric with a nod. Like Ron, he had short, shaved blonde hair. His face was littered with acne, dark red spots contrasting against his pale, ghostly white skin.
"Hey, Adam," Eric nodded back, "So, you just moved in?"
"That's right," Adam tucked his hands into his coat pockets, "I've been here since Saturday."
"Huh," Eric's lip curled, "How come you came to Alton?"
"Just, uh... we had some family issues, back home," Adam answered generally, not wanting to explain the tragic details, "But my Grandpa lives here, so me, my mom and my younger sister moved in with him."
"Family issues, huh?" Eric clicked his tongue, "Sucks."
"Yeah," Adam sighed. Ron looked awkward, like he was trying to think of a way to bring the conversation back up, while Liv had a thousand-yard-stare look about her. "So, what do you guys do around here? You know, like, for fun?"
"Uh," Eric looked around as if to find visual cues to help him answer, "I don't know, we just hang out here, normally. Sometimes we smoke, up in the woods."
"Oh, cool," Adam had only smoked once before; a cigarette offered to him by his crush, Hannah. He only agreed to do it to impress her but, after inhaling, he launched into an embarrassing coughing fit.
"Do you smoke any?" Ron asked, "You know, Pot?"
Pot, huh?
"Nah, not really," Adam played it cool while Liv scoffed in amusement, "I've never really, uh... tried any of that, I guess."
"It's cool, it's cool," Eric dug his foot into the ground beneath him, "Don't have to do it if you don't want to."
"Where the hell are they, already?" Liv scowled, "Is Ellie seriously going to be a no-show again?"
"Who cares?" Eric said disinterestedly, "Long as Mike comes, I don't care."
"Hey, where'd you say you moved in to, your Grandpa's house?" Ron asked, "Where's that?"
"Oh, it's way over there," Adam motioned in the direction he came from, "Can't remember the street name, but the woods are like, right behind us."
"Uh oh," Liv chuckled, "You're about to trigger Eric's conspiracy bullshit about the Alton woods."
"It's not a joke, Liv," Eric spat before turning to Adam, "Those woods, man, they're fucked up, right?"
"I – I don't know," Adam stuttered, "I haven't had the chance to go up there!"
"Yeah, well don't!" Eric grunted, "I don't know what it is that's in there, but it's bad. People go missing there, they don't come back, I'm telling ya!"
"Last time someone went missing in Alton was in nineteen-eighty-two," Liv scolded him, "And before that, even longer, way back in the fifties or something."
"It goes deeper than that," Eric said enthusiastically, "There's a reason why, more or less, every kid in this town is fucked! Alton's cursed, I swear to God..."
Adam nodded understandingly, though he didn't exactly believe any of it. As he listened to Eric blurt out conspiracy after conspiracy, he reasoned to himself that Eric was trying to find something interesting about a fairly boring place. After all, people can go missing anywhere.
"Hey, look who it is," Ron said excitedly, pointing over behind Adam. Turning around, Adam spotted a lanky, shaggy-haired figure approaching them, the cold wind blowing his black, wavy hair back off his face. It revealed a kind of zoned-out expression, like he was barely there; nevertheless, he seemed somewhat amused to see the four of them.
"About time!" Eric scolded him.
"Adam, this is Mike – Mike Colson," Ron informed him, "Mike, this here's Adam Weller, he's a new kid."
Mike looked at Adam. There was a smile on his face, but the way he looked at Adam made him feel like he was staring straight through him, as though he were a ghost. "Hey," he said slowly.
"Hey," Eric nudged Mike, "You got anything?"
"No, man," Mike sighed, rubbing his eyes, "I'm not seeing my uncle 'til like, Friday, maybe. I won't be able to get any until then."
"Great," Eric pitifully kicked the ground in frustration.
"Hey, it's not a big deal, right?" Ron tried to cool Eric down, "We've got, like, other stuff we can do, right?"
"Like what?" Liv retorted.
"Hey, why don't you show me what's so freaky about the woods?" Adam smirked at Eric, whose face dropped.
"Yeah, c'mon, Eric," Ron chuckled, "Let's go monster hunting, huh?"
"You know what? Fine!" Eric snapped, "Let's go, let's go check out this haunted fucking woods..."
Eric marched on while Adam, Ron and Liv excitedly followed, with Mike trailing behind them.
-O-
The five kids marched around the forest as Eric looked for something, desperately searching for even the smallest detail that could be used as evidence to support his case.
"There's nothin' fuckin' here, Eric," Ron drawled as Eric shifted through a pack of cigarettes he drew from the pocket of his bomber jacket.
"I'm having a smoke," Eric announced, "Anyone care to join me?"
"I will," Liv stepped forward. Eric extended a cigarette out to her and she plucked it from in between his fingers. Adam and Ron went for a wander, not straying too far from the others, while Mike looked around, taking in the nature around him.
"Hey, so you were saying you had, like... family trouble?" Ron asked tenderly, remembering Adam's reasoning for why he moved here.
"Yeah, right..." Adam nodded, unsure of whether he'd want to go into detail if Ron asked him.
"Look, I get that we're pretty much complete strangers," Ron whispered, "You might not be, like, comfortable sharing that stuff with us. But we'd understand, you know? I mean, Liv..."
Ron and Adam shot a glance over in Liv and Eric's direction.
"Liv's got similar issues, you know?" Ron explained, "Her and her dad, they don't get on..."
"No, no," Adam cut him off before taking a deep breath. "My dad died."
Ron's eyes widened. The two went quiet for a few seconds.
"He was a fire fighter," Adam folded his arms, "I guess that – the risk – is part of the job and all, and you kind of expect that one day he might not come home, but..."
Adam's voice trailed off as he felt himself welling up. Ron rested his hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay, man," Ron reassured him, "You've got us – we're good people."
Adam nodded, grateful for Ron's kindness. Lifting the mood, Ron looked up and called at Eric.
"So, you given up on your monster hunt?" he teased. Eric flicked his cigarette onto the ground, digging into hit with the heel of his shoe. The five friends regrouped.
"I'm not bullshitting," Eric said adamantly, "There's something off about this place – I mean, you've gotta feel it, right?"
"Feels just like any other creepy woods to me," Ron motioned around them, "Maybe all that pot's making you go schizo, huh?"
"Whatever," Eric scoffed, suppressing a grin.
-O-
Sarah.
The girl looked up from her notepad, on which she had been sketching a picture of their old home. She had tried to do it as best she could from memory, going as far to include the minutest details. Someone had called her, though – but who was it?
Sarah.
It wasn't so much a voice; more like a thought. It was like when she imagined the sound of dad's voice.
Sarah.
This wasn't dad's voice, though. She remembered it well, how he always put on a happy, cheerful tone to talk to her.
Sarah.
This voice was too ambiguous, too vague. It wasn't even clear if it belonged to a boy or a girl, an old person or a young person. Feeling a sense of anxiety, she hopped off her chair and ran over to her bedroom door.
Come outside, Sarah. Come by the woods.
She felt so confused. From the door, she stared out the small, rectangular window that overlooked their back yard and the woods beyond it. Scared and anxious, she let out a small squeal as she flung the door open and ran into the hall, bumping in to someone's leg. Terrified, she looked up before seeing her Grandpa.
"Woah," he exclaimed with a chuckle, "Careful where you're goin', young lady!"
Staring up at him, she heard the door open downstairs, followed by the sound of Adam's voice.
"Hello!" Adam greeted the house.
"C'mon, kid," Grandpa guided Sarah along, "Let's go say hi to your brother."
Part I: Welcome To Alton - 5,195 words
