Chapter 2. Neighbor

The first day of summer was slammin’. We talked. We ate Cheez Balls and Oreo O’s until none of us could take another bite. We watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the twin’s living room. It was everything a summer should be. And the best part was we could do it all over again today.

I was up before the alarm clock beeped at 5. I didn’t even know why I set it on. Useless piece of something, something.

Killing the flashlight, I threw the covers from me and stretched. Ooh, yeah! Got to exercise those arms. I wanted them longer than Spencer’s so he wouldn’t tease me anymore. He always teased me with the smallest things.

After rolling from the bed, I took my Archie comics and slid them inside the drawer. If dad finds them when he peeks in my room, he’d know that I was up at 3 o’clock reading. I wasn’t even allowed to get up at 5. But you know, life.

I exited the room and stopped at the hallway. Like yesterday, dad’s door was closed, the lights shut off. Coast was clear.

Smiling wickedly to myself, I crept to the stairs and took one step at a time. The middle step creaked. I paused for a second before continuing down. Easy does it. Almost there.

I raised my hands in victory when my sneakers hit the bottom. “Yesssss,” I whispered in the dark. “Who’s your bad beeotch? Who’s the shit?”

“I hope it’s not you,” dad’s voice boomed from the kitchen. The light flickered open.

My feet were glued to the floor as I looked for him. Bertha always said that dad’s face was rugged, with a squarish jaw and deep set eyes. To me he’d always been dad. Except today, he was dad minus the smile. He was leaning against the fridge, watching me.

“You’re awake?”

He uncrossed his arm and tilted his head to the chair. “Sit down, Destiny.”

My hands were beginning to numb as I walked to the table. The chair grated on the carpet as I pulled it back. I sat with a heavy thump and turned to him. “Are you going to slap me?”

He snorted.

“Seriously, dad.”

“You’ve been watching too much TV.” He straightened, then went to the counter where the coffee maker was. His yellow mug was next to it already. All he had to do was pour himself a cup. “Want some?” he asked before sipping.

“Nope. Ester said caffeine makes your heart beat fast.”

“Oh?”

My legs dangled on the chair. I swayed them forward and backward when I nodded. “Yep. She said it’s called palpitation. Basically, you drink coffee, you palpitate, then you die.”

He sputtered on his drink.

I waited for him to stop cursing under his breath. He then grabbed a tissue from the counter, wiped the coffee from his jaw, and tossed the crumpled piece in the open trash bin.

He put the cup down before turning back to me. His jaw was blotchy. “Maybe you should watch TV instead,” he said.

I shrugged. “Okay. If you insist.”

Dad sighed and ran a hand through his light red hair. “Your mom said this might happen.”

“What might happen?”

“You being a brat.”

“She’s a keeper. That one.” I sat on my hands, trying not to feel sorry for myself. Wouldn’t it be great if mom was here?

Dad must be thinking the same thing because he looked sad for a moment before clearing his throat. “Maybe I should ground you.”

“No way!” I blurted. “Are you trippin’?”

He looked pointedly at the window. “It’s still dark. You shouldn’t be up.”

“It’s summer!”

“You’re ten.”

“At least I’m not doing drugs!”

“Try that and you’ll be wishing you were grounded instead.”

I jutted my chin and fumed quietly at him. Wasn’t he always the one to tell me that he and mom did stuff when they were young too? Poser.

After a minute of silence, dad said, “Okay, I’m not grounding you.”

“Sounds suspicious.”

“I’m serious.”

“But what?”

He scratched his chin while considering. “Have you heard about the Morgan’s?”

“I might. I might not.” I was still mad at him for being mad at me.

He dropped his hand. “They’re an old family who used to live in the mansion to our left. They’re coming back.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I know you kids can be a bit nosey, and the Morgan’s have always been busy people. I don’t want you stirring trouble where it’s not needed.”

“Hey! That’s Spencer, not me. Don’t generalize us.”

“Either way, I want you to steer clear from there.”

I thought about it while staring at the window. Outside, it was beginning to get lighter. The twins wouldn’t forgive me if I was late.

“Deal,” I said. “Can I go now?”

“Not until the first rays.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Dad, it’s Bear Creek. There’s no serial killer here.”

“That you know of,” he pointed out.

I gave him a disbelieving stare. “That’s so mean. You grew up with these people like I grew up with Spencer and Ester.”

The corner of his lips lifted into a twisted smile. It was straight out of Hellraiser. “You’re wrong,” he murmured. “The friends I grew up with are no longer here. I ate them.”

I jumped from the chair before he got any ideas. “Stop scaring me like I’m nine,” I said. “That won’t work on me anymore.”

He clapped his hands slowly. “Well done. She’s ten now. She’s ready to pay her bills.”

“Ew!”

He laughed. “Remember that when you want to be a brat. Be back by lunch. Invite the twins over.” He shooed me away with a hand.

I dropped by Bertha’s Bakery before going to the twin’s. Dad let me take ten bucks from the jar on my way out, so my pocket was heavy with coins when I left the bakery. My arms were loaded with bread too.

The junkshop’s rolling steel door was ajar. I took it as a signal to bend down and enter. Spencer was all over me in seconds.

“About time, G! Where have you been? We’ve been waiting for hours.” He’d drop the ‘dawg’ yesterday after hearing a new term on TV. He’d be calling me ‘G’ until he picked up another.

“Don’t believe him,” Ester said from her chair. She was at the middle of the junkshop already, reading a book. She turned a page. “Spencer stayed up past midnight watching X-files. He literally woke up a minute before you got here.”

I turned to Spencer with a smirk. He wasn’t looking fly now.

“That’s an exaggeration,” he said.

“Sorry, but I believe your sister more.” I gave him the bread. “From my dad. He says we should eat lunch at my place.”

Spencer made a face. “Can I pass?”

“Spence,” Ester warned.

Spencer took a bagel from the bag. “No offense, Des. But your dad and cooking?” He made another face.

I couldn’t blame him. Dad was notorious in the kitchen, and it wasn’t a compliment either. We basically lived on take outs.

“I’ll come up with an excuse,” I promised.

Once we were all seated, Ester placed the book on her lap and gave us her attention. I checked the cover. She was reading a book about motorcycles.

“We’re going to build one someday,” Spencer boasted when he saw me looking.

“You’re ok with this?” I glanced at Ester. Their difference was night and day. Ordinarily, it was her job to stop her twin from getting in trouble. Ordinarily.

Her eyes flickered to the cover before going to me again. There was a small hesitation on her face. “It’s like inventing something,” she said. “Isn’t it?”

So that’s how Spencer got her to agree. Ester was a sucker for these things. I glowered at her twin. “You’re a bad influence.”

Spencer swallowed the bagel in his mouth to speak. “Don’t you want to ride with us? We’re going to build two. You can stay behind me.”

I tilted my head. “Is it pink?”

He scrunched his nose. “No. I want them blue.”

“Okay. I hate pink anyway.” I glanced at Ester. “No offense. Your braces look fly.”

“Whatever,” she said. Ester bent down and took something from under her chair. When she straightened, a shoebox was on her hands. “Let’s not waste time talking. Let’s do what we came here to do. Is everyone ready?”

“Always.” I elbowed Spencer. “Hurry up.”

He thumped his chest with his fist as he choked on the last bit of bagel. He swallowed it eventually and grinned. “I’ve been waiting for this all my life.”

Ester didn’t need more confirmations. She removed the lid of the shoebox and took a candle and matchbox. Afterwards, she took a stick and rubbed it against the igniter. Orange light flickered.

Spencer rubbed his hands when the candle was alive. “Who will do it first?” he said. “I vote for Destiny.”

My eyes widened. “No way. You’re the guy. You do it.”

Ester tilted the candle so the wax would drip away from her. “It won’t be that painful,” she said. “Just a couple of drops and each of us will get a scar to last us a lifetime. It’s like a friendship bracelet, only better.”

“Then you do it first,” I said. Whose crazy idea was this anyway?

“Girls. Girls,” Spencer said. “Don’t fight. You sound like chickens.”

His sister looked at him. “I vote for you to do it.”

He blanched. “You’re older than me for six minutes. Show me an example.”

Both of them bickered about who was going to do it first. Meanwhile, I was losing my nerve the more I stared at the wax. It looked painful. Painful times two. I gulped and reached a hand to Ester and Spencer without burning my fingers. “Can we. . . Can we like, just swear the oath without doing extras? Candle burns are overrated anyways. And, oh, dad will ground me.”

Spencer’s chuckle was shaky. “Yeah, Mr. Jones will totally ground you. We shouldn’t do it for Mr. Jones.” He glanced at his sister. “You don’t want Destiny to get grounded, right? It’s going to be just the two of us all summer. You don’t want that, right?”

Ester nodded stiffly. “I agree with both of you.” She lowered the candle to the ground and stuck its tail on one of the fresh waxes. The candle stayed put. “There you go,” she said. “Who volunteers to lead the oath?”

Now that the threat was away, Spencer confidently raised his hand. “I will.” He offered his left hand to his sister and the right one to me. I did the same with Ester until the three of us were interlocked in a super small circle. “Let’s begin,” he said. “So uhm. . .” He cleared his throat twice. “We are before this circle. It’s not a triangle of course. It’s a circle.”

“Can you give us the diameter?” I joked.

“Shhh,” Ester said. “It should be solemn, like what happened to Buffy last night when he banished his boyfriend Angel.”

“Sorry.”

“In this circle, there are three of us,” Spencer continued.

“Obviously,” I piped in, followed by a, “Sorry, Ester.”

Spencer sniffed and looked at the candle. His palm was getting sweaty on my wrist. “Whoever breaks the circle of friendship dies,” he said.

I gasped.

“Of loneliness,” he added. “Because let’s face it, I’m fly to be with.”

The three of us let go of each other at the same time. I wiped my wrist on my jeans to get rid of Spencer’s sweat. “I’m so glad that’s over,” I said.

“Me too,” Ester admitted.

“Me three.” Spencer got up. “Let’s play outside.”

Moving trucks passed just when we ducked out of the junkshop. Spencer, Ester, and I stood by the side, watching with awed faces. It wasn’t every day that we saw that at Bear Creek. People rarely moved in. They always moved out.

After the five trucks came another car. I haven’t seen it before. It was black, tinted, and so shiny that my reflection was caught on the door.

“Cha-ching!” Spencer said. He turned to us with a dopey smile. “I bet that’s the Morgan’s. Want to go by your house, G?”

“Dad said we shouldn’t stir trouble.”

“We’re not.” He took my arm and tugged me to the street. “We’re just giving Mr. Jones a surprise visit.”

We reached my part of the town in time for the black car to park in front of the mansion. I sucked in my breath and wiped my brows. We had to run all the way here.

“Look,” Ester said. The car doors were opening.

I forgot how to breathe as I stared. In a moment, a man got out from the front passenger seat. His hair was as bright as the sunshine, his beard the same golden color. He was wearing a navy-blue suit, with a red tie over his neck.

A door on the rear of the car opened next. The woman who stood from the seat was slender, had a darker color compared to the man, though not by much, and was wearing a white dress that hugged her body. She went to the man’s side, and together, they glanced at the mansion, their faces bright because of the sun.

The man said something, though I couldn’t hear it. Before long, the last door on the car opened. My brows raised when buckled boots stepped on the pavement. It was immediately followed by black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a girl whose hair was darker than charcoal. Nobody’s hair could be that dark. She must have dyed it.

“Is she the one you’re talking about?” I asked the twins.

“Uh-uh,” Spencer replied. “That kid looks older than us. Way older.” He jammed his thumbs in his jeans. “Maybe they have a second kid.”

Both of us grew silent as we took another look at the car. So far, the only door that wasn’t open was the driver’s.

“Pft,” Ester said. “No one’s coming out. The gossip was a miss.”

“You think so?” Spencer asked. His eyes were still on the car. Maybe he was really hoping that he’d get a guy friend today.

I clapped his back with a hand. “Sorry, G. Better luck next time.”

“Yeah,” he said, his shoulder’s falling. “What a bore.”

“What do you guys want to do now?” Ester said. With the three of us, she was always the quickest to recover.

“How about we play hide-and-seek?” I suggested.

Spencer’s eyes lit up. “Sure! Ester, you’re it.”

Before she could protest, Spencer and I scrambled away, laughing. There were so many places to go to. I chose the one that would take me back to their house. I left something by accident.

Ester hasn’t caught up when I entered their junkshop. The backpack was where I’d left it on the floor. I grabbed it and darted out again.

“Where to go?” I murmured. Ester could go to all hiding spots in minutes. All, that is, except for one. With a huff, I shouldered the backpack and went on my way.

Bear Creek was small. Not a day would go by when you wouldn’t bump onto someone you knew. But even if we didn’t have a lot of things that the city might have, we made up for other things. For example, our town was surrounded by lush trees. It was through those trees that my most favorite place in the world was located.

“I’m back,” I said to no one. I’ve finally reached my destination.

Everyone knew of the ruins in the woods. But not everyone would go near it. They said there were ghosts. They said there were creepy shadows. Personally, I blamed Boy and Girl. And if we were being honest, I could blame myself too.

I discovered this place by accident while playing hide-and-seek with the twins like today. I thought it was cool. Most of the walls have crumbled. The roof and ceiling were totally gone. The only structures that weren’t destroyed by time and storms were the big columns. My history teacher told me that when I asked her what happened here.

Because I thought it was a castle, I often went to play. Ester and Spencer didn’t want to go with me though. They wouldn’t admit it, but they were scared. Most of the residents of Bear Creek were.

To make it worse, I added to the whole scare factor. I didn’t normally stay here long. Just a couple of hours if I wanted a break from the twins. But I was so tired that day, I slept on the grass by accident. It was dark when I woke up. I rummaged through my backpack and quickly opened the flashlight. How would I know that a group of people were exploring nearby? How would I know that they’d jump in fright when they saw Boy and Girl’s shadows, maximized by the light? Since then, nobody dared going here. Nobody but me.

I walked through the ankle-length grass and stopped near the stone steps. I’ve hidden a blanket here somewhere, to make my stay comfortable.

I was reaching down to look for it when a twig snapped. My heart palpitated. Even if I didn’t drink dad’s coffee, maybe it had an effect on me.

Slowly, I turned my head over my shoulder. The beating of my heart became faster. A girl was standing in the distance, the most I could see was the blue dress that came to her knees.

“Hello,” she said.

My heart calmed down after I heard her voice. I couldn’t decide if she sounded more like a soft bell chime, or the first fall of snow. One of the few we’d ever had here.

I turned around and smiled. “Hello,” I said.

And that, Genesis, was the first day I ever saw you.