lovethedays-blog

[lovethedays-blog]

Somebody Save Us (Part Three)

 Lana stood up and went to her closet to grab her duffel bag. She began tossing clothes into it without really knowing what she was packing. Tears filled her eyes as she remembered how the last two members of her little circle joined the group.

 It was the second day back to school after Spring Break in sixth grade. Alex Tanner sat in the back corner of the classroom furiously scribbling on a piece of paper trying to ignore the cacophony of noise around him caused by the teacher leaving for just a moment. He looked up when someone sat backwards in the seat in front of them so that they were facing him. What he saw was dark brown eyes surrounded by shoulder length white blonde hair, and a smile that always left him feeling dazed.

 Kiera smiled when she saw Alex get that panicked little look on his face every time she talked to him. She had started looking at him in the beginning of the school year; she liked him. She was twelve years old, almost a teenager after all; she wanted a boyfriend, and she wanted it to be him. She didn’t understand why Lana didn’t care yet about a boyfriend, like they were going to be teenagers soon. Kiera saw the way Lana looked at Jordan, and she was pretty sure that when they grew up they were going to get married, but Lana denied it, and Kiera didn’t want to push the issue or make her uncomfortable, so she didn’t say anything, but having boyfriends together would be so cool!

 Kiera focused on Alex, and said

“My friends and I are going bowling on Friday; you should come with us.”

Alex blinked in surprise; no girl had ever asked him to hang out before, most people didn’t ask him to do anything; usually he liked it that way, but he found himself liking the idea of going bowling with Kiera even more. He was about to say something when Kiera spoke again,

“Let me have your number, my parents will have someone pick you up, our driver will be taking us to the bowling alley so you don’t have to worry about a ride or anything,” She stopped and looked at him expectantly. Alex shook his head yes, wrote his number on a piece of paper, and handed it to her. With a hesitant smile he said,

“Thanks for inviting me, it sounds really fun.” before Kiera could reply the teacher walked back in. With another smile at Alex, she got up, and walked back to her seat. With a quick eye conversation with Lana that only close friends can understand, she sat down and stared at the paper with his number on it. That was the first time she ever felt her heart actually flutter; it was something more than she had experienced before, and without knowing, it was exactly what had happened with Lana when her heart fluttered for Jordan.

 At the front of the class the teacher, Mrs. K, called attention to herself and a bright haired boy standing next to her.

“Class we have a new student,” she began, “his name is Bobby Grey, and he moved her from Nevada. I expect you to all be nice, and to make him feel comfortable. Go ahead and sit next to Lana,” Mrs. K said gesturing to the empty seat to Lana’s right. 

 Bobby made his way to the seat with his shoulders hunched. He hated this. He had never been the new kid before now, but he had seen the new kid presentation given by a well-meaning teacher enough times, that he had been dreading it ever since his dad said they were moving to be closer to family after his mom died. Thrown into a new school with people he didn’t know after he just lost one of the most important people in his life, he felt like the air had weight, and was pressing down on him. 

 Jordan stared at the boy that was about to sit in front of him, and all he could see was grief; he didn’t understand it, never having felt it himself, but he did understand that he was feeling sadness for the new kid. Whatever made Bobby feel such a grown up emotion must’ve been bad. As Bobby reached his seat Jordan said in a hushed voice, 

“Hey, I’m Jordan; I think you will like it here,”

Lana turned to him and introduced herself as well, and before they knew it they were all smiling. By the end of class they had invited him bowling, and he had said yes. 

 It was under the black light in the family-friendly bowling alley that the seven kids became a family of their own. They bowled until they couldn’t bowl anymore, and with aching feet and laughter in their hearts they took pictures, and made memories. Years went by and they only got closer. Kiera and Alex started dating in ninth grade, and fell deeply in love. All through High School they were together, and their love never once faltered. Brian and Sam joined the High School football team, but never joined the jock clique. Bobby and Jordan and Lana all joined Track in High School, and even though they all had different interests, they stuck together. Throughout all of it, the seven of them stayed a family, and they were happy. Jordan and Lana danced around each other; it was obvious to everyone that they were in love, and even Lana and Jordan could sometimes tell. They were afraid of messing things up because things were so great the way they were, but as they grew up, that fear lessened, and their need for each other only grew.

 Lana zipped her duffel bag, quickly braided her dark hair, and left her bedroom. Walking down the stairs, she started moving slower as the memories of that fateful summer flooded her mind. Last Summer was supposed to be fun; it was going to be their last hurrah before college. Yeah everyone except Kiera was going to college together, but it was the last time they would all be together for a while. They never would have guessed that it would actually be the last time they would all be together for the rest of their lives.

[lovethedays-blog]

The Little Girl in the Basement

That damn basement; the little girl stood at the top of the stairs looking into the darkness below. It was the place she saw him throw her mother to the ground; it was the place he put her when he wanted to punish her because he knew how much it scared her; it was the place that she imagined things crawled and slithered and bit. She hated that place, but knew that she would be there again soon. Her mother was passed out in her room again, drugs or just sleep she had no idea, but she could hear him moving around upstairs, and she stayed quiet in the hopes he forgot about her. 

 He came down the stairs, but she didn’t move. If he had to look for her, she would have to be down there longer. Only when he grabbed her arm did she start screaming; she screamed for her mom to help her, but her mom never stirred; her mom never even heard her. He forced her into the basement to the bottom of the stairs, and yelled at her to stay as he went back up. He flicked the switch, and the little girl was in darkness; he shut the door, and she was alone. It was so dark, she had trouble seeing; she couldn’t make herself climb the stairs to try to open the door because the stairs had big gaps in them, and were open to the room around. She could so clearly see a hand shooting out from the darkness and grabbing her as she ascended that she didn’t even try. 

 Her eyes adjusted enough that she could make out where the objects were; she was young enough that the darkness frightened her, and looking intently around her she could always see things moving. She knew nothing was there, but her eyes played tricks. She made her way to the back of the basement where there were two doors that led outside. Always locked, and underneath a vaulted porch so she couldn’t even see the sky; she looked out anyway. The only source of light was there, and she couldn’t stay at the end of the stairs. 

 Staring out the window barely able to see anything, just a little bit of light from the moon, the little girl was a storm inside. Horrible gut wrenching fear, and near crippling rage. Too many emotions for such a little body ,and absolutely nowhere for it to go. She had no idea how long she had been down there, but like every time before, the door at the top of the stairs opened, and she made her way out of the basement as quickly as she could. Going straight to her room, she didn’t even see him anywhere, and like always she just went to bed. Her outrage meant nothing in that house. No one was around or even able to care. Drugs ruled that house, and she was alone.

 The little girl grew up, and her fear turned to resolve, and her anger turned into a goal. She became a person that was full of love, and kindness, and she had healthy relationships, defying what her early childhood had been. Every once in a while though, she would think about the basement, and her anger would rise. She would never be the little girl in the basement again. She didn’t hate her or think she was weak because she actually loved the little girl locked in the basement. The little girl in the basement led her to who she was. No doors, or darkness, or fear would ever keep her back again because the little girl in the basement showed her who she wanted to be, so that she would never be locked away again, and so she would never be the person at the top of the stairs locking the door.

[lovethedays-blog]

Somebody Save Us (Part Two)

Warning: This story contains gore and violent attacks.

 Lana sat on her bed and smiled as she remembered how her circle of friends grew when they hit fifth grade. It had been an extremely cold day. Jordan, Lana, and Kiera sat by each other on the bus on the way to the field trip to Black Mountain. Everyone thought it was going to be cancelled due to the amount of snow that had fallen overnight, but that hadn’t happened so there they were freezing in their seats because of the bus’s crappy heating. Lana turned to say something to Jordan and blushed when she realized that he had been staring at her. Jordan’s cheeks turned pink when he got caught, and with a shy smile, he looked away toward the front of the bus as laughter rose up from the seat in front of him.

 Brian and Sam Brighte sat together talking about football. Even though they shared a somewhat unique last name, they were not related; that weird coincidence is what sparked their friendship in the first place. Kiera had always been a flirt, and even though she had just turned eleven, she knew what flirting was, and she enjoyed the reaction she got from most boys when she practiced her skills on them. Jordan rolled his eyes as Kiera leaned toward Brian and Sam’s seat, 

“What are you guys talking about?” She asked with a flirty little smile and a flutter of her dark brown eyes. Both boys looked at her and smiled, not flirting back, but just because they were happy to talk more about football. Before the could answer, the sound of screeching tires rang through the air, and with a squeal from Kiera, all the kids shot forward as the driver slammed on his brakes. With the tires locked and the bus driver panicked, the ice on the ground took control and sent the bus off the road. The bus was halted by a row of trees, and then silence descended upon the scene.

 Inside the bus, Lana lay dazed, squished between the seat bottom and the seat in front of her she was on the floor of the bus. She had been by the window, so she hadn’t fallen into the aisle. A small trickle of blood ran down her cheek from where she hit her head on the window. She could hear Kiera crying in a high pitched whine that indicated she was hurt. Looking over she saw Kiera in the aisle on the floor holding her arm; blood was dripping off her elbow, and a jagged edge of what could only be bone was sticking out of her forearm. Lana took a deep breath, and started to move toward Kiera. Before she got anywhere though, both Brian and Sam were there, one behind Kiera helping to sit her up, and the other holding the hand of her uninjured arm. Jordan moved to Kiera’s feet and with the phone his parents gave him for emergencies he called 911. After a few moments, he started speaking,

“ The bus we are on going to Black Mountain crashed, the bus driver isn’t moving, and my sister is really hurt. There is blood, and I think there is bone sticking out of her arm,” at that moment he looked over at Lana, and the blood drained from his face, he moved toward Lana while saying into the phone,

“Also, my friend’s head is bleeding, and we just need help,” He then handed the phone over to Brian telling him to answer whatever questions they had, and he reached down to Lana, and helped her up.

“ How bad are you hurt?” he asked her hesitating a bit when he went to touch her head.

“ I’m okay. I don’t think it’s bad.”

 At that moment Kiera let out a piercing wail, and with one last look at Lana he turned back to comfort his sister. But from that moment on, they were all friends; Brian, Sam, Jordan, Kiera, and Lana became a unit.

[lovethedays-blog]

Its Watching (Part Two)

The Sheriff looked down at the body; Nora Jones had been missing for two days before he was able to get a search and rescue party going. The dogs hadn’t found her alive, but they had found her. What was left of her that is; there wasn’t much left of her. Definitely not something the parents could identify. It had to be Nora, there was only one missing girl in town, but they were going to have to wait for dental records to officially say it was her body. Sheriff King blinked rapidly, he had known that girl her whole life, and now there she was killed by some animal that was still there somewhere in the woods, woods he had loved his entire life, but it was different now. The forest around him looked different, like something was watching him. He wondered if the animal that had killed and eaten Nora was out there right now watching him. 

 Sheriff King turned quickly and went toward his car. He needed to go tell the Joneses what he had found. Of course, it wasn’t officially one-hundred percent her, but he knew who it was. Soon, the entire town would know, and he needed to get to them first. He wasn’t accustomed to having to do a notification such as what he was about to do. How do you tell a man you play poker with that his child was killed and eaten by an animal on her morning run. He got into his car and put his keys in the ignition. A ten minute ride was all he had to collect himself before he got to their house, and he damn sure would be calm and collected for them. They didn’t need his sadness.

 Avery Smith sat on her back porch wringing her hands. Something bad must have happened to Nora; they had never gone this long without talking. If she had just run off, Nora would have told her first. Something was definitely wrong; the Sheriff was out there with others and search dogs looking for her. No one believed that she had just run off; Avery had desperately wanted to help look for her. She had been completely ready to shove down her fear of those damn woods, and go help find her best friend. They hadn’t let her; no minors allowed they said. 

 Avery’s head shot up when she heard a branch snap in the woods across her back yard. Branches snapping is a completely normal noise to hear when around the forest, there are so many different animals and things happening in there; it was definitely just a squirrel. Avery stood up slowly anyway, and watched the woods warily. Her and Nora were the only ones that thought something was wrong with the woods. Ever since they were little, they both just knew that something was there that shouldn’t be. That sort of thinking didn’t make sense to anyone else, and they quickly stopped talking about it to everyone except each other. Avery thought she saw something move, and focused her vision on one spot. Nothing happened. She stood there, unmoving for a few minutes, and still she saw nothing. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, and her back straightened when she realized all the noise had stopped completely. No more snapping branches, no more birds, no anything but her own breathing. She about fell down the couple of steps to the yard when a phone rang inside. It was her mom’s cell phone currently set to a song about cheating and slashing tires; her parents had split up recently due to an affair her dad was having with some woman he met in a bar the next town over. Avery tried to hear what her mom was saying when she answered the phone while at the same time watching that same spot in the forest where she thought she saw a flicker of movement when she jumped out of her skin due to the phone ringing. 

 She only looked away when her mom stepped onto the back porch; Avery turned to look at her, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Her mom’s eyes were streaming tears, and she kept trying to keep eye contact with Avery but couldn’t. Avery knew what that meant, and she didn’t even feel it when she hit the ground. She didn’t faint, she was fully conscious, but it was like whatever power kept her body going just gave out. She didn’t even feel her mom hugging her; she could barely hear her telling her about Nora; there was just a loud buzzing in her head, and she just tried to keep breathing. She also didn’t notice when like a switch the birds started singing again, and the regular outdoor sounds started up. And she certainly didn’t notice the creature slinking away, back to the hole it crawled out of thinking to itself about the meal it had just had, and the pretty girl sitting on the porch.

[lovethedays-blog]

Somebody Save Us (Part One)

Warning: This story has gore and violent attacks.

 Lana Pierce glared in the mirror and her sad blue eyes glared back. She couldn’t tell if her expression was one of accusation, exasperation, or guilt. Most of the time she didn’t even know how she felt, so deciphering her facial expression was even more of a puzzle. She didn’t feel guilty, did she? She had nothing to feel guilty about. She didn’t do anything wrong; in fact, she told them it was a bad idea in the first place. They didn’t listen, and it’s not like she could control the way other people choose to act. And yet, her mental rant did nothing to stop the leaden weight of a guilty conscience spreading through her chest. Lana rubbed her hand over her heart, sat back in her chair, and remembered better times.

 It was in first grade when her group of friends started being drawn to each other; Lana had been running around the playground, playing by herself. Until that day on the playground, she was pretty solitary as a child. She was spinning in circles and laughing; with the imagination only a child can summon, she was able to see the wind curling around her outstretched arms as she spun faster and faster. She knew in her heart that if she could spin fast enough, she would lift off the ground and take flight. She didn’t even notice Mike Hanson watching her with a wicked grin. Mike Hanson was a notorious bully, two grades ahead of her, no one escaped his torment; everyone was a target no matter what grade; he even tried to pick on some of the kids older than him; although, that didn’t always pan out well for Mike. Anyway, as Lana reached for the sky Mike closed in, and with one well timed kick to her foot, Lana went soaring. At first she thought she had done it; for a split second her heart bellowed in triumph, and then she hit the ground. She had been spinning so fast that her body skid along the asphalt a good couple of feet. Her ankle hurt where Mike’s foot had connected, and her arms and legs were scraped and bloody from the fall. For a moment, she just lay there. She didn’t yell, or scream, or even cry; she just paused. The world came rushing back to her when she heard an angry voice yelling at Mike.

“What’s wrong with you! It’s not okay to hurt people!” Screamed a voice she almost recognized. Looking up she saw the new kid in her class with his head tilted back seething into Mike’s face with a fury that her young mind couldn’t quite grasp. His name was Jordan Tate, and that was the first time Lana felt a fluttering in her heart that had nothing to do with exertion, and all to do with first love. As Jordan put himself between Mike and Lana, the other newcomer to the class ran to Lana’s side. Jordan’s twin sister Kiera knelt by Lana’s side and helped her up. She took Lana’s arm and said,

“I will go with you to the nurse. Who is that guy? He’s so mean!”

And with those first words, they became bound to each other. What would follow is years of sleepovers and laughter.

 Lana stood up from her chair, and turned to the wall nearest her bed. It was covered in photographs of her friends. She touched her fingers to one particular photo of her and Kiera on graduation day in their caps and gowns. They looked so happy, they were going to graduate, and have the summer together, them and the others in their group. Then they would go off to college; Kiera was the only one of their friends that chose to go far away; all six of the others in their friend group, including Lana and Jordan, were staying close to home for college. Kiera and Jordan’s parents were pretty rich, but not in the snobbish way that often goes along with wealth. They were happy sending their children wherever they really wanted to go, and Kiera wanted to be far away for no other reason than that she felt bigger than the area she grew up in; Maine’s forests were too rustic for her, she never liked the outdoors, and she wanted to be able to say she went somewhere prestigious. That sort of thing didn’t matter to Jordan, but because it did to Kiera, she was going to be going to Princeton when the summer after graduation ended. At least, that was the plan before it happened.

[lovethedays-blog]

It’s Watching ( part one)

 It didn’t remember falling asleep. It didn’t remember doing anything; it didn’t seem to have a past at all, and it didn’t seem to know much. What it did know, was that it was very hungry. It knew how to hunt, and it knew exactly what it wanted to eat.

 Nora Jones was on her morning run when she heard the rustling behind her. She spun around, almost tripping over her own feet, and stared into the bushes. The forest always kind of freaked her out; she refused to go into it, which was a choice none of her family understood. They were built to live on the edge of a small town in Maine. The forest was lush, and they all loved to hike, and camp, and hunt. She hated all of those things, and she felt panic every single time she even looked at it. She was fine running along the edge of it, but she would not step a foot inside. 

 She wasn’t the only one in town that felt that way; there was another girl, her best friend, that felt exactly the same, and for the same seemingly unknown reason. Just a fear that there was something there. Something that watched them whenever they got close. It didn’t make any sense though, and so they just ignored it. Mostly.

 Nora stood there unmoving for who knows how long, looking into the dense forest just knowing that something was there looking back at her. She could feel sweat running down her back, but she was freezing. She still hadn’t actually seen anything, but she couldn’t stand it any longer, and without anymore hesitation, she spun on her heel, and dashed off. At least, that’s what she tried to do.

[lovethedays-blog]

Finally Done

  I could hear them before I even entered the house, and I could already picture what I was walking into. The screaming and the crashing of dishes was such a commonplace sound that I didn’t even hesitate walking through the door. 

  Just like I expected, there they were going at it again. Usually, I would just head straight up to my room, and block them out with music and sleep, but this time felt different. Standing there watching them scream and circle around each other, I kept waiting for one of them to take a punch. However, the indifference I usually feel when I come home to this was missing. Instead, something else was taking its place. I felt it; something I hadn’t felt in a long time: hope. It wasn’t hope for them; they would never change. Until one of them died, this would be their lives together. They fed on it; the viciousness exploding out of both of them was all they ever wanted in life. Watching them, I knew exactly what I wanted, and how to get it. 

 I turned right around, and walked back out the door. They didn’t even notice, and I didn’t expect them to. I stood at the top of the driveway, and I couldn’t help but smile. It was like who I was and what I wanted suddenly pushed itself to the forefront of my mind, and I knew, I just knew that walking away would give me my freedom. My life was about to start, and for the first time since I don’t know when, I actually wanted it to.