Shadow Heights

by E. N. Goeking

  Trying to distract myself from panicked thoughts, I looked out the window at my surroundings, trying to get a sense of the place and hoping for any sign that I had made the right decision. It was kept up nicely; professional landscaping could be seen all around from the neatly-trimmed lawns to the countless trees. It was hard to find a spot of land without something colorful planted in it. The trees were in glistening shades of green and the flowers were blossoming in such vibrancy that it sent my eyes into a frenzy.

  As much as I had hoped the town would live up to its title and all of its mystery, I found myself deceived by the utter normalness that could be seen everywhere. Middle-aged men were out mowing their lawns and children were playing in sprinklers trying to cool off from the stifling heat. Young boys were helping frail old ladies cross the street and politely waving away traffic but there was not one sign of danger or disarray in this cramped little town.

  Would I ever get used to this change, this strangely average place, or would I die from boredom before the first week had passed? Sure I could have stayed back home in Cherry Ridge with my friends and gone to college with them, continued doing the same things day in and day out, but I was craving a change—whatever it might be—despite the distance it would put on our friendships. As they say, college is the time when high school friendships come to a close and I had to face that that part of my life was over even if I didn't want it to be. In my heart, I knew this was my only chance of getting out of the city, to start over, to try something new and if I didn't take this opportunity, I'd never get that second chance.

  Even though I was excited about this new adventure and ready to pack up and leave, my sister Caylie felt very differently about this change. Unlike me, she wasn't given the option to choose. She had made it perfectly clear from the beginning that she never wanted to leave Cherry Ridge and had been holding a grudge against my dad ever since. He was the reason we were moving after all. Back home she was a head cheerleader and girlfriend of the prom king, adored by all in her social circle but here, in a town without all the perks, she was nothing and that frightened her more than death. She was just another nameless blonde in a sea of pretty girls and she despised the idea of being ordinary. The last thing she wanted was to start over.

  I suppose there was one other thing that tempted me to move here. Our new house. Actually, it was the clincher that brought it all together. It was an elegant Victorian home, three stories high if including the attic, with a wrap-around porch in the front and a long private driveway that was gated from the rest of the neighborhood. It was three times the size of our old house, which was your basic home with two stories and a small front porch—a detached garage alongside it, but this house was truly majestic.

  When we pulled into the driveway a week before, I still couldn’t believe this place was real. I knew we couldn’t afford it, not on my parents’ salaries, and secretly wondered what strings my dad had to pull to get us in here. He insisted that it was all taken care of by the city but I knew there had to be something he wasn't telling me. Nothing is ever free in this country. I knew my dad was brilliant with numbers but still, I wondered why they would sell this historical property to a no-name family like the Hunters. We weren’t rich and definitely didn’t come from noble blood.

  The house originally belonged to the Laenzar family, who were the founders of Shadow Heights and were involved in the design plans of the township every step of the way. I found it slightly arrogant and unnecessary that every major building or park in the town was named after a Laenzar. Where did they get the egos? No one was that important.

  According to the realtor, only those of the Laenzar bloodline had ever lived here and the house had been vacant for the last ten years. While everyone brushed off this tid-bit of information as insignificant, I couldn’t help but wonder why no one had lived here in so long and why we were being allowed to shack up inside for free. There had to be a catch.

  When I had a moment alone with her, I inquired why the house had been left vacant for so long and she privately admitted that some awful things happened in the manor but before she could go into the details, my parents were ready to sign. So in the meantime, I had to fill in the gaps with my own imagination—however far it took me.

  While our parents were busy signing their lives away, Caylie and I checked out the upstairs to find which bedrooms we wanted. She chose the largest bedroom of all four and I took the smallest, which was near the end of the hallway secluded from all the others. It had dark green walls and speckles of gray in the carpeting and I chose it since green had always been my favorite color. She announced her choice at the top of her lungs, leaning over the banister and nearly falling over it. I laughed privately to myself but then my attention was suddenly drawn to the door in front of me, and I wondered why I hadn't noticed it before.

  It was different than all the others. It was clearly crafted by hand, appearing worn and faded unlike the rest which all had been fully restored. I ran my hand over the frame, feeling a multitude of engravings within the wood and I wondered why of all the things in the house, they neglected to finish this door. I looked closer, inspecting the details and saw that they were symbols of an ancient text I had never seen before.

  I took a step back and the whole image came into view. There wasn’t a single spot that didn’t have an engraving, an etched line, or swirled shape; none of which were random and it looked to be coded. This door must have meant something to someone at one time, why else would they have spent so much time creating it? I reached for the knob and my parents called me from down below. I swallowed hard and my hand dropped to my side.

  The hallway grew cold and dark as the light from the sun hid itself behind the clouds. A stream of wind blew past my ear and I yelped, turning around with frantic eyes. I swallowed hard and hurried to join them downstairs, ignoring my uneasy tension.

  When we arrived at the house on moving day and stepped out of the car, the heat hit me like an explosive blast. I could already feel the sweat rising to the surface of all my pores and I thought about jumping back inside for one last moment of cool air. I was still feeling uncomfortable being in this house as we ascended the long stone staircase leading to the front doors. It was as if this house was alive and its windows were the eyes to its soul and they were watching me.

  Before going inside, my dad stopped us all. I could tell he was getting emotional by this whole experience and in proper Hunter fashion, he gave a little speech.

  “Well...this is it girls. Now I know this has all happened so fast but I appreciate how accommodating you've all been,” I shot my sister a glance and thought, what a joke, “this is a place where we can really make it this time and give you girls the life we've always wanted for you. A place to start over and make new friends.” He turned and fumbled with the keys, trying to unlock the front door. “Is there anything you two want to say before we go inside?”

  My sister stepped forward, “Yeah. There's plenty I want to say.” I grabbed hold of her arm and held her back. Our eyes met and I shook my head at her. I didn't want her ruining this moment for our dad. It wasn't the right time to be selfish. Much to my surprise, she kept her mouth shut. He turned to look and waited for her to finish. I decided to finish for her.

  “So what's this place's real story? I don't quite buy what the realtor said.” I knew there had to be some reason why it was vacant.

  “Well...,” my dad started but was interrupted by a loud yawn coming from my sister's mouth. We all turned to look at her and she pretended that she didn’t notice. I groveled privately with a heavy sigh and he continued. “All I know honey is that this house was built in the late 1800's by the very founder of this town. I believe his name was Aleister. His family has lived here for generations but apparently they turned it over to the city a little over a decade ago. They no longer wanted it so it’s been uninhabited for quite some time.” I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. I knew he was hiding something. I could read it off him.

  His
face was flush and overheated, more-so than the rest of us, tiny droplets of sweat dripping down his cheeks like water on an icicle, all meeting at the bottom of his chin. The enormous drop of water was bobbing up and down with every movement he made and I kept hoping he would reach up and wipe it off before it made a big splash on someone.

  His short blonde hair twisted around his ears as a lively breeze ventured in from off the lake that chilled me to the bone. “Now listen,” he braced his hands on my shoulders, “there's nothing to worry about. Sure it's an old house but everyone I've met so far assures me that this house is in tip-top shape and the Laenzar family has approved us to occupy their home.” Like that makes a difference. “Granted I haven't met any of them yet but I'm sure they're good people if they've done so many things for this town. I mean just look at the community they've built. It's astounding.”

  “Okay, Dad. We get it. You're blown away. I'm just not buying it,” I scoffed.

  “Well, I tell you what. I’m supposed to be meeting with a Mr. J. Laenzar later this week to wrap up the closure. If the right moment comes up, I'll be sure to ask him about the house to set your mind at ease. In fact, he’s around your age Mina. Maybe I’ll have to introduce the two of you. It would be good for you to make a new friend here.”

  I politely nodded with a smile to please him though I doubted he would be someone I wanted to meet. I’m sure he was just another stuck up rich kid that I would have nothing in common with.

  I gazed across our lawn, staring farther ahead in the distance at the walls of blackened stone that enclosed this small town. I suddenly realized why they named it Shadow Heights. Like a giant mountain range, it blocked out all other possible entryways into town and its towering stature cast a great shadow upon all of the Heights. A forest of green sat in front of it, surrounding an expansive lake that flowed for miles. The sun was settling overhead, shining down at just the right angle that it shined reflectively off the trees, brightening everything to a fluorescent shade, painting its colorful reflection upon the water’s surface.

  “We better get a move on. We're wasting day light,” he shouted. We stepped inside and the door clanged shut behind us like an iron dungeon. It shook me to the core, feeling more like a prisoner in this place without ever a chance for escaping.

  This house was more like an antique museum rather than a home. It was bold, stylish, and built for royalty. Each room was even bigger than the next and I thought the whole place was a little pretentious. The floors were dark red like merlot and were polished to a shiny finish. I was afraid to move freely in this place, that I would slip or leave a scratch on the surface.

  The hallway echoed with the sound of our voices, which seemed to carry all the way up to the cathedral ceilings soaring overhead. There was an outpouring of light seeping through the windows that laid warmth upon my skin and highlighted every detail in the room.

  All of the rooms had been newly remodeled to seem more modern and though the walls and rooms were bare, I knew this house would be screaming “Diane” soon enough so I tried not to worry. A truck blasting its horn outside alerted us that the moving men were here with our things and while my parents hurried out to greet them, Caylie and I stayed inside for a moment. She sauntered over to the window and peeped out. I looked her over, always hating how she chose to dress.

  She was wearing the usual short, slightly torn, jean shorts and a spaghetti strap top which did little to cover her. I wouldn’t be caught dead in such an outfit and rarely stepped out of the house with any of my skin showing. Caylie had always been the typical girl you’d see emulated on TV as the girl of choice but I, on the other hand, considered myself an individual, however strange I might appear to the normal ones. She had shoulder-length blonde hair with highlights scattered throughout while mine was longer and in the shade of golden brown. Standing at 5’7”, she towered over me like a sprouting tree and I could never quite catch up. I didn’t even make it to the five foot mark and was always hiding in her shadow even though I was older than her by two years. My parents would always tell me I would get a growth spurt but they were wrong. I don’t imagine a lot of people shoot up in inches after adulthood.

  I figured what Caylie took up in height, I made up with intelligence. Plus, as an added bonus, she weighed 110 pounds. I weighed 160, which isn’t obese but I wasn’t considered thin in today’s popular definition of the word. I tried not to worry about the way I looked as hard as that is to do sometimes but it still ate at me whenever I'd catch a guy looking at her without giving me a second glance. But I did have daunting curves that seemed to attract enough guys to satisfy.

  Chapter Three

  A few hours and six strained muscles later we finally had everything moved in. My dad tipped the moving men a generous amount and sent them on their way. I had just plopped myself down on the couch to relax my feet when he came in asking for a favor. Before I could refuse, he tricked me into picking up some pizzas downtown and insisted that I take Caylie with me. Instead of listening to me complain about it for fifteen minutes, he slipped me an extra ten and I rushed to my feet. I could never turn down free money. He pulled me into a hug and I took notice of the expansion of gray along the edges of his hair and the forming lines around his eyes. When did he start getting so old? He had always looked so young, younger than most of the other dads his age. It made me wonder about my own condition. How long would it be before I had those laugh lines and indents on my forehead?

  I lit a cigarette on the way to the pizza place, rolling all of the windows down so my parents wouldn’t suspect a thing. They both knew I smoked of course but made it perfectly clear that they didn't approve. My dad didn’t mind so much, insisting that it was a normal adolescent thing to do that he even did at my age but he was convinced I’d grow out of it like he did. Not yet I hadn't and I didn't see myself quitting anytime soon. There was too much stress on girls my age to be a certain way and this was my only outlet I had to release my frustrations.

  The downtown of Shadow Heights was built on a one-way system, like most cities, so it took a few extra minutes to find a parking spot and it was nowhere near the entrance to Luigi's Pizzeria. I pulled into an empty space near the end of the block and we both stepped out.

  We received quite a few looks from the locals who could spot an outsider ten feet away, and I stared at the ground like a coward, hoping they would all go away. Caylie walked ahead of me, her nose pointed toward the sky like she was strutting the catwalk but I knew she didn't have enough grace to be a model. I hid myself in her shadow, hoping to go unnoticed, when a wandering breeze shook the hair from my eyes. The warmness of the sun was stolen with its movement and I enjoyed the temporary break from its heat. But then an eerie calm sauntered in and I realized in that sudden stillness that someone was watching me.

  My eyes drifted upward toward a peculiar stranger who didn't seem to fit in with the culture of people moving around him and his interest in me suddenly fell away.

  He had a unique yet peculiar beauty with long flowing dark hair and pale milky white skin. He was out of my league for sure, but I couldn’t help staring at him. His hair was the color of the night sky and he cloaked himself in all black attire. We both stuck out like sore thumbs in the sea of pastels. Enshrouded in so much black, I wondered if he was even real or just a mirage from the sun because no one else even seemed to notice him.

  To me, however, he was captivating in every sense of the word and gazing upon his beauty made my world stand still like my mind was drifting on a cloud. He was the type of guy I had long dreamed of finding but never imagined existed. His fair skin was a great contrast to his dark hair and clothing that I could make out the details of his form like a past memory.

  I watched as the people surrounding him kept their distance, stepping out of his way like servants would to royalty, or avoided him altogether—scurrying away like ants. I, on the other hand, found myself gazing upon this mystery, unable to look away and unwilling to veer from our crossing paths. />
  As if sensing my unwavering attention, his bright blue eyes found their way to mine once again and silence fell upon me. The hammering beat of my heart was all my mind could hear while the blur of objects shuffled past me. Buh buh...buh buh. An incredible tingle swelled in the center of my chest that tickled my insides. Its heated bliss thrilled the rest of me as it drifted further down my body, inch by inch, and I nearly lost my breath as he drew nearer.

  Everything disappeared in a quick blaze of light, and all of my senses ceased to function. I could no longer smell the food coming from restaurant kitchens or the exhaust from nearby cars, nor could I hear the laughter of children that had just run by me. It was just me and this stranger in a very surreal world where nothing else existed except for our awareness of each other. A nothingness that was like being swept up into a dream, though there was no real sense to describe it. Where did everything go? What is this place? Had we met before?

  Then suddenly as if he heard the thoughts of my mind, his eyes broke from mine and the noises of traffic and footsteps returned. The hordes of people walking nearby had materialized again and I was wondering where I had just been. I quickly lost him in the bustle of the group but I couldn’t help but wonder who he was.

  I peered behind my shoulder to catch another glimpse of this mystery but he was walking too far ahead of the herd to be seen—misplaced in the crowd. Where did he go so quickly? Was he even real? I wiped away the sweat seeping from my forehead and hurried to catch up with my sister, who was holding a door open a few feet away.

  The smell of Italian herbs filled my nose and I suddenly felt ravished. The restaurant was swamped with teenagers munching on slices of pizza and sipping on Cokes, not one empty seat in the house. Caylie and I walked through the restaurant and I felt like I was in an old western movie when all of the noise fell to silence and everyone turned their attention to us as we walked past their tables. It was a little awkward to say the least. What is wrong with everybody? Have they never seen a stranger before?