The Darkness Within (2 page)

Welcome Wagon

"Those smell amazing," I praised, staring at the plate full of chocolate chip cookies. The smell was so aromatic that my mouth began to water. I reached for a cookie but was shot down instantly when my mom slapped my hand away. Her eyebrows pulled down in a frown, and she waged her finger at me like I was a disobedient puppy.

"Those are for the neighbors," she said firmly.

Pouting, I crossed my arms over my chest. "Seriously? It's just one cookie. They won't even notice."

Mom shook her head no, her mouth taut. "Seriously. If you want a cookie we can bake more later. Come on," she said, picking up the plate from the kitchen island and exiting the room. I followed her down the main hallway and toward the front door.

"Hold on, let me look in the mirror really quick," I said as I ran into the hall bathroom. I flipped the lights on and came to a stop in front of the mirror, staring at my reflection beneath the bright, globe light bulbs. My dark hair hung over my shoulders in thick curls and my brown eyes looked tired, even with the mascara coating my lashes. I pulled my Chapstick out of my pocket and rolled a thin layer onto my lips. Rubbing it in, I pocketed my trustee Chapstick before smoothing my eyebrows down.

Out in the hallway Mom said, "Come on, Claire. I want the cookies to still be warm. You look fine."

With a sigh and a light eye roll, I turned the light off and exited the bathroom. "What if they have a hot son who's my age? I have to make a good first impression."

Mom laughed, shaking her head. "Fair enough." Then she nudged her head in the direction of the front door. "Grab that for me?"

"Sure," I answered, going to pull it open. She exited first, leaving me to follow her as we made our way down the sidewalk and toward the little, shack-like house I spent most of my life trying to stay away from. It felt strange that it was our destination now.

The grass in the front yard was overgrown and weedy. In some spots the grass was so tall it came up past my knees. Along the sidewalk that led up to the rickety looking front porch, the grass hung over and met in the middle. It was as if Mom and I were trekking through the jungle just to welcome this freaky new family into the neighborhood. When we got to the front door, I reached out and grabbed a hold of the wooden doorknocker. I knocked twice before letting go and stepping back.

There was the sound of scuffling for a moment before a man’s voice yelled, "Coming!"

Next to me, Mom smiled hard and held the cookies up higher. When the front door was pulled open, Mom yelled, "Welcome to the neighborhood!" She held the plate of cookies out toward the man who answered the door and smiled brightly.

My eyes widened as I took him in. He had a deep olive complexion and dark hair, which was styled neatly. His jawline was strong and chiseled, and his nose was straight and firm. He looked to be about forty or so from the creases in his face and the shadow of a beard that covered his chin. Either way, there was no denying how attractive he was. There was also no doubt that my mom noticed as well.

The man smiled as he looked from my mom to me, then back to my mom. "Wow, thank you," he said, taking the plate. He turned slightly and set the cookies inside, probably on a table just out of view. When he turned back he held his hand out to my mom and said, "I'm David. David Greer." He shook Mom's hand.

"Hi David, it’s nice to meet you. I'm Jasmine Anderson, and this is my daughter, Claire.” Mom gestured to herself, before placing her hand on my shoulder. “We live in the house next door." She pointed to the right at our house, which seemed to tower over David's even from where we were standing.

David looked over at the house and his smile seemed to falter for a second before it returned full force.

I wrung my hands and shifted from one leg to the other as an awkward silence fell over us.

Mom stared at David with a strange smile on her face. The way she was smiling and batting her eyes made it look like she had gas, or something caught in her eye. Maybe it was both. Either way, the look on her face was only serving to make me feel more awkward as I stood there wringing my hands together behind my back. David looked like he didn’t know what to say either as his eyes flitted back and forth between Mom and me. When his gaze lingered on me, I shifted uncomfortably. Beneath his trim eyebrows were two of the darkest eyes I’d ever seen. They were so black that I could hardly detect a pupil. Not only were his eyes black, but he also had a heavy stare to match. When he finally looked away from me, I felt relieved, like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

I knitted my hands together and focused my eyes on David. “What made you buy this house?” I asked in an attempt to end the awkward silence. My gaze flickered toward the overgrown lawn, and then at the rusty, rickety looking chain-link fence that blocked off his backyard and separated his yard from ours. When it returned to David, he was staring at me with a raised eyebrow.

My mom on the other hand frowned and gave me a shocked look. She couldn’t believe I’d just asked that. “Claire,” she said in a warning tone, giving me a pointed look.

“What?” I questioned, widening my eyes. “I was just asking.”

David broke the tension with a chuckle. “It’s fine. I just thought it was a,” he grappled for a word to describe the house.

“Fixer-upper?” I offered, inputting my mom’s words from the morning.

David laughed again and nodded. “Exactly.”

I raised an eyebrow at my mom, who rolled her eyes back.

“Sometimes, the idea of fixing something and making it your own can be intriguing,” Mom said, her gaze roaming over the house.

“Just like a woman, intrigued by the idea of fixing things,” David joked, laughing lightly.

I furrowed my eyebrows, not seeing the humor in his words. My mom narrowed her eyes for a second and then let out an awkward sounding, forced laugh. I don’t think David noticed, but I picked up on it. Her real laugh was light and airy, whereas this one was heavy and loud.

“Does that make you a woman then?” I asked, giving David a mock innocent look.

He shrugged, and smirked. “It’s no secret that I have a feminine side.”

“Your wife must appreciate that,” my mom said, her gaze going to David’s ring finger, which had a gold wedding band on it.

At the mention of the ring, David looked down at his hand and began to twist his ring around his finger repeatedly. It was a little oversized and the ring seemed outdated. David seemed to grow more reserved as he stared down at it. “I’m not married. Not anymore at least.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Mom replied. She lowered her eyes slightly, most likely feeling bad for asking.”

I shifted my weight again. “So, it’s just you here?”

David shook his head no. “No, my daughter is here too. Against her will or so she keeps telling me.”

“She didn’t want to move?” Mom asked.

Shocker, I thought, my gaze automatically shifting back to the house.

David scoffed. “That’s an understatement. You know how teenagers are. Moving away was the end of her life.”

Mom placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently as she said, “Oh, I know all too well about how dramatic teenagers can be. I was one at one point.”

“Couldn’t have been that long ago either with how young you look,” David commented, winking flirtatiously.

I almost gagged.

Mom giggled. She tilted her head down, covering her mouth with her hand to hide the blush that tinted her cheeks red. “Thank you.”

David smiled, then leaned into his house and produced a cookie. He held it up and said, “No, thank you. For the cookies and the warm welcome.”

Mom smiled. “Well, we’ll let you get back to unpacking and moving in.”

David nodded and waved. He stepped inside of his house and watched as we turned to head back to our house. As we walked down the sidewalk to the street, I felt the heavy weight of a stare. Looking over my shoulder, I met David’s gaze and a shiver went down my spine. His eyes were hard and there wasn’t even a hint of a smile on his face anymore. His expression was blank of all emotion, and after seeing his face I turned back to face forward. Once again I felt uncomfortable under his gaze.

When we reached the street, I heard the front door close, and I risked another glance at the house. One of the curtains in the front window was pulled aside, and an ominous feeling settled over me as I realized David was watching us from inside his house.

Rattling Suspicion

“How hot is he, on a scale from one to ten?” Adriana asked, her brown eyes squinted slightly in thought. Her dark hair was straightened and hung to just above her shoulders. In the bright sunlight the pink stripe in her hair seemed lighter than usual.

I scrunched my nose up at her question, not wanting to continue this conversation. I made the mistake of telling her my mom thought David was hot and now she wouldn’t drop it. We’d been having the same discussion since we first started walking home from school and now we were nearing my house, a few blocks away, and were still on the same topic. “He’s cute for an older guy, but I don’t know, something about him is a little unsettling. He gives me the creeps.”

Adrianna scoffed. “So, what, you’re afraid of hot, older guys now?” She raised one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows and gave me a dubious look.

“No, but I’m not into guys who are old enough to be my father. Besides, he’s probably older than my mom. That’s gross.”

“Then why does he give you the creeps?” she asked, repeating my words and staring at me sideways.

I shrugged, not really sure what it was about him that made me uneasy. I just knew there was something. “I don’t know. He stared at me. It was weird.”

Adrianna rolled her eyes, tucking the pink hair, which was bouncing in her face as she walked, behind her ear. “
Yeah
, because that’s a good reason to think someone is creepy.” The sarcasm in her tone was hard to miss.

I raised an eyebrow at her and frowned. She, of all people, was the last person who could patronize me about thinking someone was a little strange. “Oh, so the fact that Ben stares at from across the cafeteria
isn’t
why you think he’s weird?” I questioned, watching her expression change in a matter of seconds.

Adrianna shrugged, glancing down at her feet. “Ben is different. I can’t explain it. He just makes me feel nervous sometimes,” she murmured.

I nodded slowly, not understanding her reservations about Ben. Ben Rollins was two years older than us and still in our same grade. He had a huge crush on Adrianna and everyone knew it. He didn’t do much to hide it either. Ben was a nice enough guy, who never did or said anything that made me think otherwise. He liked to hang around Adrianna and I at school, flirting shamelessly with her. Sure, it could get annoying at times, but it was harmless. Secretly I think Adrianna enjoyed the attention, but as soon as Ben would leave she would sigh in relief. I didn’t get it.

“Well, that’s the same way I feel about David so far. He stared at me and I got weirded out. That’s the best I can explain it,” I replied, changing the subject and hoping her mood would return to normal. “You’ll see,” I assured her, picking up my speed a little.

Adrianna grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. “
You’ll see
?” she questioned, repeating my words, all thoughts of Ben being cast aside. “Wait, are you implying I’ll get to meet him?” Her eyes were wide with excitement.

I furrowed my eyebrows at her question. “
Yeah
, he’s my neighbor for goodness sake. I wouldn’t be surprised if you talked to him on more than one occasion considering how often you’re at my house.”

Adrianna squealed, clapping her hands and bouncing up and down on her toes. “Awesome. Now I really hope he’s hot or all this excitement will go to waste.”

I rolled my eyes as we began walking again. She acted like she didn’t even notice. When we finally got close to my house, I saw David and my mom standing in his rock driveway near the U-Haul truck.

“Here’s your chance to meet the man of the hour,” I mumbled as we got to the end of David’s driveway, making sure to only be loud enough for her to hear me.

Adrianna looked giddy.

I ignored the bad vibes I got from the house and walked up the short driveway to meet Mom and David. “Hey,” I said, gaining their attention.

Their heads turned and David fixed his eyes on me, a slow smile crossing onto his lips. My mom on the other hand smiled instantly. “Hey, sweetheart. Hi Adrianna, dear. How was school?”

“Good,” we answered simultaneously.

Next to me, Adrianna bumped her arm against mine. Judging from the way she was batting her eyelashes and twisting her pink lock of hair around her finger, she definitely agreed with my mom that David was attractive. 

“What are you two doing?” I asked, ignoring Adrianna and the goofy grin painted on her face.

Mom and David shared a look.

“Your kind mother offered to help me unload the rest of my boxes from the truck and place them in the foyer,” David answered. His voice sounded upbeat, but his eyes remained hard. They didn’t seem to hold any emotion. That, I realized, was what made me feel so unnerved around him.

“Well, you two have fun with that,” I said, beginning to back away slowly. When Adrianna didn’t join me, I grabbed her arm and ever so subtly yanked her backwards. “I have a
ton
of homework to get done.”

“I should be getting home too. I promised my mom I’d help her move the furniture around in the living room,” Adrianna said, catching on to what I was trying to do. “Nice seeing you, Mrs. Anderson,” she said to my mom. Then she looked at David and added, “Nice meeting you.”

David nodded, smiling politely. “Nice to meet you too. Do you live far?”

Adrianna shook her head no, hooking her thumb over her shoulder to point in the general direction of her house. “I’m just the next block over.”

David’s smile grew.

“We should go,” I said, turning quickly, and trying to steer Adrianna away. The last thing I wanted to do right now was get roped into helping him move in.

“Whoa, not so fast, Claire. There are only a few boxes left. You can help us,” Mom said, causing me to stop in my tracks.

I nearly groaned. I was so close to escaping. Not only did I not want to help, but I also didn’t want to go inside of his house. The same house which had been the source of many nightmares and sleepless nights when I was younger. My shoulders sagged as I realized there was no way I was getting out of helping without looking rude, so I turned back and forced a smile. Though it probably looked more like a grimace than anything else.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Claire,” Adrianna said, waving goodbye. I didn’t miss the smug look on her face. She knew I didn’t want to help. That girl could read me like a book.

“See you, Ade.”

I watched longingly as she headed down the street until my mom cleared her throat. I looked toward her to see her holding out a box for me to carry in. Once I took it, she placed another much smaller box on top.

“Just in the foyer is fine,” David said as I turned toward the house. “The house is a mess. I haven’t gotten a chance to unpack anything yet,” he explained.

I nodded. He didn’t have to tell me twice. If it were an option, I’d leave the boxes on his dilapidated front porch.

“We created piles in the foyer based on the labels on the boxes, so just set the box with the others that have the same label,” Mom explained.

“Okay,” I replied, trying to hide the nervous feeling that washed over me at the thought of going inside of the house I spent so many years avoiding. I held the box firmly against my chest as I slowly made my way to the house. The porch steps creaked as I climbed them, gripping the box a little tighter as I entered. The front door was propped open by one of the many boxes that littered the foyer. I looked around the small entrance seeing two openings on each side of me, as well as a hallway that most likely led to the bedrooms. The opening to the left of me showed a quaint living room, while the one on my right went to the kitchen area. The space in the living room area was open and filled with boxes. Other than two couches in the living room and a table in the kitchen, there was hardly any furniture inside yet. Turning toward the living room, I stepped over a box and looked down to search for the labels on the ones in my arms. The word photography was written on the big box in neat, blocky handwriting, while the small box had no label. I scanned the other piles, looking for a match for the larger box, but found nothing.

The sound of footsteps approaching brought my attention to the doorway. David came in carrying a large box in his arms. His eyes flitted toward me before he stepped over a discarded box and walked into the kitchen to set down the one he was carrying.

Hesitantly, I followed him, holding the boxes out to him as I asked, “What do I do with these two?”

David’s trim eyebrows lowered as he looked down at the boxes. At the sight of them, the corners of his mouth twitched upward in a small smile. “Oh, those belong in their own piles. You can just give them to me.” He leaned over and took the boxes out of my arms. “I like to take photos sometimes. It’s sort of a hobby. I have a makeshift darkroom downstairs. Tell your mom I’ll be back up in a second. I’m going to take this one down.” He placed the smaller box on the counter and then hugged the other box to his chest and walked over to a door right off of the kitchen.

“Okay,” I responded, turning and heading out to grab another box. I passed my mom coming in on my way out. When I got to the truck I was grateful to see that it was nearly unloaded. I grabbed another box and headed back inside, passing my mom again.

Once again, the label on my box said photography, but this time the box was flat and rectangular. Since it was labeled the same as the others, I headed into the kitchen, going toward the basement door David had disappeared through. Not wanting to go down, I leaned over to set the box on the ground near the door. Just as I placed it on the ground, I heard a strange sound. I froze on the spot. It sounded odd, like chains were rattling. The sound was there for only a second before it stopped. I shook the box in my hands, listening to see if that was where the sound had come from, but there was nothing, so I put it back on the ground by the door. Then the sound came again, and this time I listened intently to try and pinpoint where it was coming from. A chill went down my spine when I realized it was coming from the basement. I began to back away from the door just as it opened and David emerged. The sound had stopped, but I couldn’t fight the overwhelming curiosity that filled me. I tried to subtly peek down the stairs before the door closed, but the basement was too dark to see anything. All I could see were cement steps descending into the black void below.

David narrowed his hard eyes at me. “I was organizing some items downstairs,” he offered, obviously aware that I’d heard the strange noise coming from down there and was giving me a reason for it. He twisted his ring around his finger slowly, not taking his eyes off of me.

I nodded, chewing my lip during the awkward silence that stretched between us for a moment, then pointed at the flat box I had just placed on the ground. “This one is labeled photography too.” I stepped toward the box again, leaning down to pick it up. “Can I see your photography?” I asked, beginning to pull back one side to open it.

“No!” he snapped, grabbing the box away from me. “They’re light sensitive. They haven’t been developed yet,” he explained, looking frazzled as he closed the box back.

“Okay, sorry,” I apologized. Then, feeling like I’d done something wrong, I turned and walked back toward the foyer, not wanting to be anywhere near David or the basement any longer. I didn’t even want to be in the house. I hadn’t even wanted to help in the first place. The sound of David’s footsteps followed me.

When I reached the foyer, standing near the front door, I asked, “Where’s your daughter?”

David smiled, his lips pressed together in a tight line. He looked angry. “Out making friends hopefully. It’s hard to be uprooted.”

“I bet,” I replied, staring him in his eyes. “I can show her around. Introduce her to some people,” I offered, trying to be nice. I had a feeling I’d already screwed up and he didn’t like me. For some reason, I wanted him to like me even though he made me feel uncomfortable. I always wanted adults to like me.

David twisted the gold wedding band around his finger some more. His smile grew, but his eyes remained cold. “I’ll let her know. She might just take you up on that offer.”

“I hope so,” I said, before I turned and headed back outside to grab another box. I felt the burn of his gaze on my back and the nagging feeling in my gut that something was wrong, but I ignored them both. He was probably hiding something, but really who wasn’t these days? I was just being paranoid.