Chapter 7

"We're not going back already," I told Josh sternly, not even a dozen steps from our driveway.

"But I don't want to go on this dumb walk," he pouted, trying to cross his arms, but PD pulled on the leash hard enough that Josh struggled to get his left arm to his chest.

"Look, PD wants to go exploring. Let's just go see what there is."

Josh didn't answer so much as groan loudly, taking long stomping steps, shoulders hunched over like every step required every ounce of effort.

I laughed. "You're such a dork."

"Na-uh," he argued, a big smile on his face. "You are!"

He stopped putting on the stubborn act and we began walking down the street, PD still pulling at the leash, nearly choking himself with excitement. That is, until he found some scent to follow and ultimately track down and pee on.

The little mutt kicked at the grass or dirt, as if any of it did any good at covering up his little messes. And then he would take off again, straining at the taught leash. Josh and I just looked at the furry little thing and laughed. It was a ridiculous cycle every time we had taken him for a walk.

I looked up from the dog and the street we were walking to look at the houses. They were spread far enough apart that you didn't feel like your house was built a few feet from your neighbor, close enough to look into their windows and see what they were having for dinner that night. Instead, each house was surrounded by wide yards that kept each house oddly spaced from the one next to it on the long winding street. When I first saw it, I thought it looked like they had built a regular city neighborhood, realized they only had a quarter of the people needed to fill it, so they just gave everyone a lot more space. I thought it was weird. But maybe it was just weird compared to the crammed neighborhoods of the city. It was a lot quieter in Dark Falls, that isn't always a bad thing. It would be peaceful if it wasn't still succeeding at giving me the chills.

We passed house after house as we made our way down the road. They stood like dark monuments jutting out of the rolling hills, dark window eyes staring down at us as we walked by. Heavy old trees with sprawling branches dotted the spaces between the houses. And once again, not a single person was around. Where was everyone in this town. There was obviously people living in these houses. We passed one with an old '70s station wagon parked in the drive. But we still saw no one.

PD and Josh stopped in front of me and I nearly walked into them both, my eyes everywhere but where I was walking.

"Which way?" Josh asked. I looked ahead to see that we were at a fork in the road. The street continued on to more houses, or split off, down the hill toward the town.

"I think the school is over that way," I pointed down the hill. "Want to check it out?"

I didn't really give him a chance to answer, I just started down the hill. PD came following after me, dragging Josh behind him. The road sloped even more as we left the neighborhood behind. Josh grabbed an old tree branch on the side of the road to use as a walking stick. Though he had trouble walking with it as it was too tall for him, and PD kept trying to attack the bottom of the branch every time Josh stabbed it into the ground.

The sky was still grey, but I could feel the sun rising over us. We still saw no one on the road. No cars, no one else walking. It was like it was just the three of us in that entire county. I really was starting to think the entire town of Dark Falls was deserted and we were the only family dumb enough to move there, when a boy stepped out from a hedge of scraggly bushes on the side of the road.

He seemed just as startled to see us as we were to see him. His round blue eyes soften under a mop of blonde hair. "Hi," he said simply, lifting his hand in a motionless wave.

"Hi," Josh and I answered at the same time. Josh seemed about ready to say something more when PD moved toward the boy. The dog sniffed at the old torn muddy sneakers of the kid and suddenly began barking. His lips curled back, nose wrinkled, to bare his tiny white teeth in a menacing snarl.

The kid stepped back instinctively, his hands pulling up to his chest to protect himself. Those pale blue eyes went wide again and the poor kid looked like he was about to piss himself.

"PD! Stop!" Josh yelled, pulling back on the leash. The dog danced backwards, the leash pulling him up off his front paws. Josh tugged harder and pulled the dog into his arms. He picked up the mutt and PD seemed to calm slightly.

"What the hell, PD?" I looked at the dog as if he had just stepped off a spaceship. It was so unlike him to act like that.

"Sorry," Josh said sheepishly. "He doesn't bite. He usually doesn't even bark or snarl. I don't know why he did that."

"He's been out of sorts since we moved here," I explained, as much to Josh as to the newcomer.

"It's okay," the boy said, he seemed visibly calmer now that the dog was in Josh's arms, but he hadn't moved any closer. "He probably just smelled something on me."

"PD, stop." Josh commanded, the dog squirming to get out of Josh's arms. I don't think it was because he wanted another chance at the blonde kid. PD hated being held.

The blonde boy stood there staring at the animal. His hair was short, but little waves were fighting to become out of control if the hair were any longer. His skin was pale, which didn't surprise me. I wondered if everyone one in town lacked a tan. They'd probably all melt if the sun ever came out.

He was wearing a maroon sweatshirt with some logo I didn't recognize stitched across the left breast and a pair of dirty jeans, the cuffs tattered around the old sneakers. A matching maroon baseball cap was stuffed into his back pocket.

"I'm Amanda Benson," I broke the silence. "And this is my brother Josh."

Josh set PD back onto the ground, his hands tight on the leash. The dog barely got a noise out of his throat, taking a sideways glace at Josh before buttoning his lip. PD sat down, his short tail not even wagging.

"I'm Ray Thurston," the boy said, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets awkwardly. The boy stared down at the dog, but finally let the tension out of his shoulders and relaxed when he saw that the dog was no longer interested in him. PD's tongue rolled out the side of his mouth and he panted as he looked around.

I looked at the boy as his posture loosened. He looked really familiar. But where would I have seen his face? I stared at him trying to remember. Maybe before the move? Or in some magazine? Did he look like someone on TV? It's not like we had seen anyone else since we moved to Dark Falls. And then it hit me.

"Jesus Christ," I gasped, my arm out, pulling Josh back a step with me. "It's you! You were in our house!"

"Huh?" a confused and concerned look on his face.

"You were in my fucking room!" I insisted. "Weren't you!"

By this point I was wagging my finger at him as if I were his scolding mother. Noticing this, I straitened back up, only to put my hands on my hips, just like my mother.

I waited for his response, but he just stood there, silent and confused.

"C'mon, admit it! I saw you."

"I don't understand," he ventured cautiously. "Why would I have been in your room?"

"You tell me?" my voice waivered. He had gone too long without so much as a glimmer of guilt crossing his face. I was suddenly very self conscious about the volume of my voice. Was this the kid? Had I even seen anything? Maybe he just reminded me of what I saw. Or it was all just some stupid fucked up coincidence. God, Amanda, you really might be losing it here.

"I thought I saw you," I gave in, my voice now sounding doubtful.

"I haven't been in your house in a long time," Ray said, still looking down worriedly at the dog.

"Long time?" I questioned. "So you have been in our house. And how do you even know which house is ours in the first place?"

"I heard about a new family moving here. Not many people move to Dark Falls any more. And you moved into my old house."

"Huh?" Josh spoke up in surprise. "You used to live in our house?"

"Yeah," Ray continued. "A long time ago, when we first moved here," he absently kicked at a small stone in the road. The sudden motion perked up PD's ears as he contemplated chasing after the object. Deciding against it, he sat back down, this time the faintest of wags from his stubby tail.

Josh pulled at the leash, keeping it taught between him and the dog, my brother unsure what the little mutt would do next. He looked down at his pet confused. But at least PD had stopped barking and snarling. He still seemed agitated every time he looked up at the new boy, but he seemed content to wait things out.

"Do you want to do something?" Ray said to Josh, the luminance of the idea visible on his pale face.

"Like what?" Josh asked, his voice no longer whined. A boy his age and an opportunity to play, Josh was easily losing sight of why it sucked to move here.

"I dunno," Ray shrugged. Great, what excitement.

"We could go to your house," Josh suggested. I was quickly trying to think of exit strategies. Mom wouldn't love if I just abandoned Josh at some stranger's house, but the last thing I wanted to do was hang out with a pair of children, rooting through boxes of GI Joes and Star Wars action figures.

Ray shook his head. "No, not right now," he stated with no further explanation .

"Where is everyone?" I asked, making a point to look up and down the long road for emphasis. "This town is really dead."

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Maybe we can go to the playground at the school?"

"Playground?" I cocked one eyebrow, looking at the boys.

"That sounds fun!" Josh chimed in, PD stood up, his tail now wagging excitedly.

"Sure," I sighed. "But I'm getting a bit old for playgrounds."

The three of us continued down the road, Ray standing on my left, opposite Josh, still not trusting PD. The kid smelled like dirt. Not sweaty, like Josh would get when he played too long outside in the summer. But like freshly tilled soil. Like the mud and dirt caked on his jeans and clothes were thick enough to smell when he came close enough.

Josh tried to keep walking with his oversized hiking stick in one hand and the dog leash in the other, but he eventually gave up and chucked the branch into a set of bushes. Leaving PD straining at the leash to go and fetch the stick three times his size.

You could see the school, looking as boring as any other municipal building. We couldn't see the playground or the gang of kids there until we finally rounded the corner of the building. There were ten or twelve figures in the little open space by the school. Mostly boys, but there were a few girls as well. They were laughing and shouting as we approached. Two of the boys were pushing each other, playfully wrestling as only close male friends can, and obviously urged on by the giggles and smiles of one of the girls. Some of them, I saw, were close to my age, maybe a year or so younger. While a couple were closer to half way between Josh and I. The teenagers were mostly clad in jeans and dark t-shirts. But one of the girls stood out because she had short, straight blonde hair and had on a pair of green spandex tights. The stretchy exercise fabric clung to her long legs.

"Hey!" someone shouted, breaking concentration from the girl's legs. A tall boy with gelled black hair pointed at us. The gang of teens began moving toward us. A few of them giggled as if to a private joke. We stopped and watched them approach us. I smiled, waiting for them to get close enough to say hello.

PD was straining at the leash, snarling and barking his head off.

"Hey," the tall boy with the slicked back hair said, a crooked smile on his face. The rest of the gang thought this was funny enough to warrant another round of giggles. I smiled awkwardly, feeling very out of the loop. One of the other boys, gave a shorter red-headed boy with bad acne a teasing shove, nearly knocking him into me. I tried my best to stay on my feet, despite nearly getting bowled over. I looked up at the girl in the green tights. She had eyes almost as brilliantly green, and cute smile. The silver wire of a retainer glinted from under her lips as she smiled, though I could tell she tried hard to hide it. She was beautiful.

"How's it going, Ray?" a younger girl with short black hair asked, smiling at the blonde boy.

"Not too bad. Hey guys," Ray turned to Josh and me. "These are some new kids I just met. They just moved to Dark Falls."

"Oh hey!" a sleepy-eyed teen said from behind mousy-brown curtains of hair. If I were back home in Pine Valley I would swear this guy head smoked himself stupid. "You're the family that just moved into the old shit shack up on the hill."

"That's us," I agreed, half amused by the new term for our new home.

"This is George Carpenter," Ray pointed at the awkward red-head, who nodded silently, not really making eye contact. Ray then moved to the sleepy-eyed stoner, "Jerry Franklin." He continued around the circle, listing off names. "Karen Somerset, Bill Gregory..." He kept going, but in all honesty I tuned him out. So her name was Karen.

"How do you like Dark Falls," one of the girls who wasn't Karen asked.

"I dunno," I said honestly. "It's alright so far."

A couple of the kids laughed at my answer for no reason I could see. Was I sure they weren't all high as a kite?

"What kind of dog is that?" I heard George asking Josh.

Josh, holding the leash tight, proudly went into his speech of PD's pedigree, or lack there of really. George looked at the dog with an intense fascination that looked as if he had never seen a dog before.

"He's a mutt," I interrupted with my succinct summarization. Karen giggled.

She moved closer to me as the others admired the dog. PD now seemed more content with the positive attention rather than snarling at the strangers, he was happy being dotted on.

Karen was much taller than I was. She was slim, but not a stick, and I bet should would be a hell of basketball player. She seemed the type, though I wondered if her short hair got in her face, not long enough to really tie up in a ponytail. But the golden blonde tresses framed her face well. She smiled again, that awkward grin that betrayed her self-consciousness about the retainer, but her clear complexion and bright green eyes distracted from the shimmer of silver. But I kind of thought the retainer was sort of cute too.

"I used to live your house," she said to me softly.

At first, I thought I hadn't heard her correctly. I looked into her eyes quizzically.

"C'mon, Josh," Ray interrupted. "Let's go to the playground."

No one responded to Ray's suggestion. The gang grew quiet.

Had Karen really said that she had lived in our house? Was she related to Ray? They didn't have the same last name. He didn't introduce her as some sort of cousin or anything. I wanted to ask her, but before I could, she had stepped back into the circle of teens and kids.

This is when I noticed that it was a circle. A circle around me and my brother. A sudden pang of fear swept through my body. I remembered stories of gangs from the other high school in Pine Valley. Thought of the news stories of rising gang violence among teens. Drug use. Violence. Was my mind getting carried away? Was I imagining things? The teens suddenly looked very different to me. They were still smiling, even Karen and that awkward red-head George. But their grins seemed tense, sinister. Like grimacing gargoyles on an old stone church staring down at us. Watching, as if expecting trouble.

That is when I noticed that two of the teens had baseball bats. How had I not noticed that before. Of course, get distracted by the pretty blonde, don't notice the menacing teens about to bash your brains out. I looked at Karen. Her bright green eyes swept over me, looking me up and down. Was she checking me out? Sizing me up? Contemplating what I tasted like? Oh God! That dream! Now I knew my spiraling thoughts were getting out of hand, but there was nothing I could do to stop them.

The streets were silent, we were all alone out here. They'd have time to ditch our bodies before our parents even knew were missing. Why were they staring at us like that? Just stop fucking staring!

I turned to Ray, the small blonde haired boy was still next to me. He didn't seem bothered by any of this. But he also didn't return my gaze. Had he planned this? Did he lead us to them?

"Hey, guys," I try to keep the tremble out of my voice. "What's going on?"

I stole a glance over at Josh, so busy petting and soothing PD that he hadn't notice the sudden change.

The two boys with the baseball bats held them up at waist height and moved forward. This was it. This was how I would die. My eyes darted back and forth around the circle, feeling the fear clamp down on my chest until my heart beat so hard I could feel it trying to escape through my head.

The circle tightened. The teens closed in on us.