I do not own…
Alex always had a hard time sleeping at night. It had started when she hit puberty. No matter what she did or tried from the doctors she could never fall right to sleep. Only when the sun starts to peak that she's able to sleep. She could sleep for a few hours and she'll still have full energy for school. The same thing happened last night and the only reason Alex woke up around 11:21 am is because her mom called her. Her ring tone was I love rock and roll by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and she had the volume pretty loud so Alex bolted up from her bed. Blinking her eyes a bit she started looking around and found her cell phone on her nightstand.
"Hey mom." She said as stretched a bit.
"Hey Honey, are you still asleep?" Leah asked
"No…no, I'm up." Alex lied
After rubbing her eyes a bit Alex got up and opened blinds to let some sunlight in.
"So how's your first day of work?" Alex asked
"I had about three patients today, nothing major." Leah said "I'm only calling to make sure that you take your medicine."
"Geeze, Mom. You don't need to remind me everyday. I know." Alex sighed in annoyance.
"I'm just worried…you know how weak you get when you don't." Leah said
"Mom, I'm not a little girl anymore. I've been taking it for three years now. I always remember taking it, you don't need to keep worrying about it." Alex said
Not wanting to argue this early Leah decided to let it go and asked Alex what are her plans for today. Alex wasn't sure but she had thought about checking out the town. Maybe check out the house up the hill, but she didn't tell her mom that. After talking a bit the two said their goodbyes and hung up. Alex looked over at the homemade locked mini-fridge her grandfather made her years ago. It was tucked under her desk. Her meds always had to stay in a cool temperature. They had them in the fridge before but after a cousin of theirs almost tried one her grandfather designed and built the mini-fridge. The code lock was to make sure no one tries to steal them. That she could understand, she used to have a friend that liked to get high from prescription drugs. Not to mention she liked to keep her sodas inside.
Getting up she pressed in the code, unlocking the fridge. She took out one tiny glass bottle and opened the case that had many covered syringes inside. Opening one, she sticked the needle in the bottle and injected the liquid medicine. Once she got it all out Alex sticked the needle into her upper left arm and injected the medicine inside. She quickly covered the syringe before throwing it in her trash bin. With a sigh, the girl made her bed and headed downstairs. She was starving so she checked out what they had in the fridge. There wasn't much to eat. Leah did say she was gonna go grocery shopping after her shift was over. There was still pizza left over along with the two gift baskets they received last night. They were from Mrs. Douglas and Mrs. Washington. The women came about two hours ago before Simon arrived and they gifted Leah and Alex as a welcome to the neighborhood. Before they left Mrs. Washington had invited them over to her house as their family will be hosting a Pool BBQ for the neighborhood. Mrs. Douglas's gift basket was smaller than Mrs. Washington's but it had a bunch of baked goods. There were cookies, brownies and whoopie pies. Alex liked that one because it looked like the lady put a lot of heart into it. With Mrs. Washington's gift basket it looked more like to show off how much money they have. There was a bottle of expensive wine, fancy cheese, meat, crackers, nuts and jams.
So Alex warmed up a few pizza slices and ate them. Shadow came back from outside and drank from his water bowl. There was a large doggie door to the backyard so he was able to go in and out when he wants. It was Alex's job to lock it at night and when she starts school while Leah opens it in the morning before leaving. After lapping up his water he walked over to his large doggie bed that was in the living room and laid down.
When Alex finished her meal she washed her plate and headed upstairs to take a shower. After the long cool shower was over she got dressed in some jean shorts, a black tank-top of Three Day Grace and placed on her running shoes. She placed her long black hair in a pony-tail as she didn't want it in her face. Once seeing that she was ready Alex grabbed her backpack and placed her wallet and switchblade inside. Then she headed back to the kitchen again and placed some water bottles, snacks and treats in the bag. After that she grabbed Shadows' leash and checked out the garage to see where her bike was. It was a silver mountain bike that she had for about two years. Looking around she found it behind a few boxes that says Christmas decoration. The move hadn't damaged it and the tires are still full and pumped. Even the Death-Head Hawkmonth she designed is still on it. She brought it inside and leaned it on the wall by the front door.
"Shadow! Come on boy, want some exercise?" Alex called
Shadow came jogging towards her and sat down. Once she clipped the leash on him she took her bike out first before taking hold of the leash. After making sure the front door was locked up Alex tied the leash to one of the handles and the two took off.
They rode around the area for a bit before they headed to the town. There were different stores and buildings around. Eddie's Ice Cream Parlor, Honeybees cafe, Holy-Jelly Donut shop, and Davids' Hardware Shop. What got her to stop was the movie theater called the Multiplexes. There was a help wanted sign hanging in the window. She has been thinking of getting a job as she wanted to save for a car. A part of her knew her grandpa could give her a job at his shop but she wanted to try and earn it. So she chained up her bike and gave Shadow some water as she headed inside. She saw a girl running the ticket booth and asked if they had any application forms left. They did but the girl did try to scare her off by saying that there were many that applied. Alex paid no heed to it and just took the forms. Her actions caught the attention of the girl that worked at the snack bar.
"Well I'm glad someones' not falling for Stacys' bullshit." The girl said "She's just trying to save the positions for her friends. Thinking this place will be a dobe place to hang out."
"I don't scare that easily." Alex said
"You just moved here?" The girl, Cleo, according to her nametag, asked
"Yeah…just yesterday." Alex said
"So where are you normally from?" Cleo asked
"New York." Alex said
"What brought a city kid to a small town like Jersulsalem's Lot?" Cleo asked
"My grandpa lives here and since he's in his 70's, alone, still does hunting, mom wanted us to be close just in case." Alex said
A few customers came in and Cleo helped them with their snacks. By the time she was done Alex finished the application form.
"So do I turn this back to Stacy or…?" She asked
"Don't worry, I'll take that for him. You hand that to Stacy, she'll just end up putting it in the trash." Cleo smiled
After thanking her, Alex headed back out and continued on. It wasn't long till she reached Marsten Hill. She chained up her bike and took Shadow by the leash with her. Before heading off she took out her switchblade from backpack and hid it in her back pocket. They trudged up the hill and the burned down Marsten House was in full view. She looked around the house to see if there was any opening. Parts of the walls were broken down but only enough for her to look inside. The left side of the house was taken down but she would still have to climb up to get in. There was a backdoor to the house but that was locked. After rounding back to the front door she carefully stepped on the front steps. So far nothing but creaks. She went to open the door and surprisingly it was unlocked. The door opened widely and she and Shadow carefully walked in. Parts of the floor was gone so they did their best to walk on the good parts and looked around. There was a staircase in the middle and a chandelier that was really low and it looked like it would break soon. She tried to go upstairs but once Alex put a foot on the first step and it made a loud groan noise. When she put a little more pressure on it parts of the staircase started to crack a little.
"Okay. No, to the upstairs." She muttered and placed her foot back down.
They continued walking around till they heard a noise. It was coming from one of the doors. With light footing she walked towards the door, her hand was on her switchblade. Shadow was on guard but he wasn't baring his teeth, growling or fur was raising so it wasn't something supernatural. Alex opened the door and screams were shouted. The door led to the cellar and inside were three teens.
"Holy shit, man." One boy said
He was a curly hair overweight boy and he had his hand on his heart. In one hand he had a brown bag that looked like a bottle of liquor. The other boy was black, tall, lean and he was holding on to a camera.
"What the hell are you doing here?" The only girl asked
"I could ask the same about you three." Alex said "I didn't think this is a good place to drink and get high."
The curly hair boy quickly placed the bottle behind his back.
"How did you guys get in there?" Alex asked
"The cellar door is in the back. How did you get in?" The tall boy asked
"The front door was unlocked." She said
"I told you we should have tried the front door." The girl scoffed
Once everyone calmed down Alex learned their names. Andy was the curly hair boy. Caleb was the tall and lean one. The girl was named Natalie. She sat down near the staircase and lit a joint that she had. After taking a few hits she handed it to Alex.
"You want a hit?" Natalie asked
"You don't have to." Caleb said
"Don't worry…it's not my first time." Alex said
She took the joint and started smoking it.
"So what brought you to Salem's Lot?" Natalie asked
"Just moved here with my mom." Alex said before passing the joint to Caleb.
"Well that sucks. This place is a hellhole." Natalie muttered
"You'll get used to Nat's attitude." Andy said and lifted the bottle. "Tequila?"
"I'm more of a Whiskey person." Alex said
"New girls' got good taste." Nat laughed
She took the bottle from Andy and took a swing from it. It must have tasted bad as she had a look of disgust afterwards.
"This isn't…why did you get gold?" She coughed
"It was the only thing I could grab before the cashier turned around." Andy shrugged
"So why did you come to the old Marsten house? Come to see some ghost?" Caleb asked before passing the joint to Andy.
She looked at him with a raised brow.
"She's new here, dumbass. I hardly doubt she knows the myth about this place." Nat said
Caleb nodded and sat down on the floor. Andy and Alex followed his movement as they had a feeling he was gonna start a story. Alex found it funny as it was daylight and scary stories are told best at night.
"Around the late 20's Hubie Marsten came here to Jersulsalem's Lot from Boston. He built this house for him and his wife. They lived a reclusive life. No one knew much about them…they only came down once a week to get groceries. In 1939, no one had seen the Marstens' in weeks. The postman came back and noticed the pile of mail and newspaper on the floor. The door was unlocked so he went in and saw Mrs. Marsten…dead." Caleb explained "The postman headed off and got the police. They searched the place and found Hubie hanging on the second floor."
"And get this, the son of a bitch killed his wife before hanging himself." Andy said
"Why?" Alex asked
"Fear? Paranoia maybe? I would say guilt but I doubt that. You see four kids had gone missing back then. And they found all these Satanism books and symbols in the house. The locals believed he had something to do with their disappearance. Now nobody knew this but old Hubie was once a professional hitman of the mafia back in Boston. He was a cold son of bitch. And what he was most famous for was killing an eleven year old kid that was a witness." Caleb continued.
"So you think this place is haunted because they died in the house?" Alex asked
"I've heard a story, back in the 50's, a kid named Ben Mears entered the very house on a dare. He ended up on the second floor and that's where he saw him. Hubie Marsten. He saw his body hanging from the rafters. And his eyes were open, staring right at him with a sinister smile on his face." Caleb said
"And that's the only story anyone has heard about a ghost in this house." Nat said "I think it's bullshit."
"Hey, there was that time in the late 70's. A year before the fire. A kid went missing when two new arrivals bought this house." Andy replied and clearly high. "Hey…maybe whoever gets ownership of the house Hubie possesses them…and the cycle of kidnapping kids continues."
"Yeah…along with that stupid story that vampires killed off the town." Nat rolled her eyes.
"You don't believe in the supernatural?" Alex asked
"I believe in what I can see." Nat said "Caleb was just hoping to capture something before the new owners tear this place down and rebuild the place."
"New owners?" Alex asked "Who?"
She wasn't that surprised. As she was biking up here she saw a lot of construction signs nearby, saying the place was gonna be condemned. She didn't think the land was gonna get a new owner or the fact they'll rebuild the place.
"Some…rich family from New Hampshire." Nat shrugged, "Probably gonna make it into their summer home or something."
"So…what to help us find a ghost?" Caleb asked
"There's only a few problems." Alex said "One, ghost activities normally start at night. Two, these stairs are a hazard. You'll fall back into the cellar within two steps. And three…we got company outside."
They all stood up when she said that and Andy looked out the window that was near him. Outside there was a cop car and a Porsche parked in the front.
"Shit…Caleb…it's your dad." Andy whispered
"Fuck." Caleb cursed
Natalie threw the bottle in the cellar before asking what to do. Neither wanted to go back into the cellar so they tried looking for the back door. When they got to the door they were stopped by one of the officers. They were taken to the front where they met with Caleb's dad and a woman. She was wearing an elegant womens' three piece business suit and had dark shaded sunglasses. Alex had to hold onto Shadows' leash tightly as he started to growl when the woman came into view.
"I believe these are the intruders you saw, Mrs. Cloverfields." Caleb's dad, Officer Jack Thomason said
"Yes, Mr. Thomason, they are." Mrs. Cloverfield said as she adjusted her sunglasses. The whole time the woman's eyes were on Alex. "I don't want them arrested for trespassing. Kids will be kids, after all. I just didn't want them to get hurt. The place is a death trap. That's why I'm having it tear down tomorrow." She looked at all the teens. "Hopefully there won't be any more…intruders."
"Don't worry, Mrs. Cloverfield…there won't be." Mr. Thomason said while glaring at his son.
Mrs. Cloverfield nodded and headed back to her car. The moment she drove off the lot Shadow calmed down a little. Alex knew that something was not right about that woman.