Dear my esteemed and wonderful readers,
The first chapter of GRIM is finally here! Sorry it came late; it took more revision than I expected. But I hope you like it, and stay tuned for Friday, when chapter 2 will be posted!
Everything that we see is a
shadow cast by that which we do not see.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Virginia Star—August 5, 2013
GIRL
DISAPPEARS
FELLSMERE,
VIRGINIA—Sophia Lange, 16, was last seen on August 3, 2013. Her parents report
to not having made contact since July 30. Please contact the police immediately
if found.
More reports to
follow.
CHAPTER 1
B R O O K E
FELLSMERE,
VIRGINIA
AUGUST 5, 2013
6:37 P.M.
There
are places in the world that no one can see.
They are quiet,
untouched places, out of the ways of society, where only the birds make sound
and the trees whisper in the winds. Like stains on a carpet, they are always
there, but always go unnoticed.
Where
I was, I felt like I was in one of those places. It was a lonely dirt road in
the center of quiet Virginia, one that people rarely ever use and rarely ever
want to. It was nearing dusk, and the green trees were slowly transforming into
the autumn spectacle that would only last a few weeks. The sun was orange in
the sky, hanging low, setting a soft glow on the world. The road was twisty and
hilly, as it moved with the land and its obstacles.
My
jet-black Mustang didn’t ride smoothly. I wasn’t used to the jostling the road
brought to my seat, as I gripped the steering wheel comfortably. The car came
from my dad; he gave it to me when I was old enough and when he was getting a
new Porsche. I loved the vehicle; it was smooth, reliable, and sporty, but not
too showy, like an Apple computer.
I
rolled down my window to let some cool air in; the air was stuffy inside. The
ride was unusually painful; but I needed to find a back road to get to Sophia’s
house; her street was blocked off. I hadn’t heard from her in a few days, but I
needed to study for finals at school, and needed her to help me.
My
cell phone buzzed in the cup holder I had set it in. It was a black smart phone,
the latest version. The caller ID showed a picture of a redhead girl and read
“OLIVIA HART.”
“Hey
girl,” I said into the phone, as I held it up to my ear, “What’s up?”
“Nothing,”
she responded, “Hey, I was calling to ask: where the heck are you? I tried
looking for the trail of coffee you always leave but I couldn’t find it.”
“Ha-ha.
I’m out taking a back road to Sophia’s house; her street is blocked.”
“Creeper,”
she mocked, “Why do you need to get to her house?”
“Homework,”
I informed her. “And you’re one to talk, you just called me to find out where I
am.”
“Well,
I need to talk to you about something I saw in the newspaper this morning.” Her
tone was more somber.
“Just
hang on, I’ll call you back, gotta—”
I
was thrown out of my seat as my car veered off the road and slammed into a tree
front-first. My head hit something, the steering wheel probably, and then my
vision went awry.
“Hello?
Hello? Brooke, you ok?”
Those
were the last sounds I heard before passing out.
The
sounds of crickets chirping was the sound that woke me up.
My
senses had already returned, and my muscles were once again functional, so I
opened my eyes and found the stars peering down at me. It was a peaceful night
in August, but not in my thoughts, as I frantically tried to pull myself up and
find my phone.
My
parents would have been terrified at this point. But to make matters even more
disturbing, what if they weren’t? I suppose I never really did give them a set
time that I was going to return. But they at least would have called me. I
needed to find my phone.
When
my eyes rested on the car, my stomach sank and I gulped. It was demolished,
with the entire hood and front half of the vehicle smashed and the windshield
completely shattered. One of the tires was deflated, as well. I had wrecked my
first car.
I
knew that the phone couldn’t have been far away from the car, so that’s where I
searched first. I peeled the door backwards and it fell right off its hinges.
The inside looked no better than the outside, as the steering wheel was
missing, and the leather seats were torn and battered. Trying not grieve the
loss of my vehicle, I fumbled through the interior of the car, shoving
miscellaneous objects out of the way. There was no glow of a smart phone to be
seen.
As
I kept searching through the vehicle, my thoughts turned to the nighttime. If I
hadn’t found my way home or to Sophia’s house, then I would have had to spend
the night. And I have always been afraid of camping.
When
my hands found the glove compartment, I popped it open and grasped a
flashlight. A small, dinky one, just in case I might land in a situation like
this. I pressed the button on the butt of the handle and a glowing beam of
emanating white light shone through the night. My hand flew up over my eyes
until they had adjusted.
Back
outside of the car, I let my gaze wander the area, assuring that I was alone. I
don’t know what it is about darkness and forests that make the world so creepy.
The
phone was nowhere to be seen. Not on the path. Not in the car. Not next to the
car. Not in the grass. And thus, I resolved to try and reach Sophia’s house on
foot. It wasn’t too long of a walk.
My
feet fell to the rhythm of the chirping crickets, as I slowly trekked the dark
forest path. The sounds of the wood increased in eeriness, changing from a
simple chirping bug to the hoot of an owl to the howl of a wolf to all three
combined. I began to glance over my shoulder every so often, as I was tired and
I was starting to see things out of the corner of my eye.
Tall
things. But they weren’t trees.
The
path inclined slightly downhill, and thankfully it did not run into the trees,
so the walk was fairly easy. If I could make it to Sophia’s house, I could
borrow her phone to call my parents.
My parents. What would they say if they
found that the Mustang and my phone were both broken, unable to be repaired?
Well, those things might not matter if they just know that I’m ok and unharmed.
The
trees seemed to watch me as I wandered aimlessly along the path. I noticed that
as I progressed, their limbs seemed to grow longer and more ominous, as if
reaching out to grab me.
It
took roughly thirty minutes or so until I reached the wall behind Sophia’s
house. Dark, green overgrowth hung over the sides, and there were scratches in
the crimson brick, as if there had been a struggle not long ago. I looked up at
the two-story house with white siding and noticed that every light was off
inside, and several windows were broken.
Something
was wrong, and there was only one way to find out what:
Go inside and search the house.
I wiped the sweat away from my
fingers and fought off the chills that were shooting down my spine. Holding my
flashlight at waist-height, I tried to keep my increasingly nervous hands from
shaking as I progressed forwards towards the house.
Sophia’s house was generally large,
with a brick wall surrounding the back yard that had absolutely nothing in it
but an old wooden swing that constantly creaked back and forth. The grass in
the back was tall and weedy, like fingers reaching up to grab my legs. The
brick wall was taller than me, which was pretty tall. The house had a wide back
deck and a basement underneath, which I had never been in.
I slowly walked across the back yard
towards the dark house, which loomed over me like a parent when scolding their
child. The swing in the corner of the yard was motionless. I could feel the air
grow slightly colder. My steps were silent as could be.
The flashlight quivered in my hand,
as my fingers began to get numb; I noticed that I had been gripping too hard.
Then a sound reached my ears, and I
jumped, whipping around and letting out a yelp. I heard the noise of a twig
crack behind me. There was nothing to be seen, except the swing was now rocking
back and forth, making an eerie creak.
Taking a deep breath to calm myself
and stepping forward, I turned back to the house and eventually found myself
standing on the back deck, staring through the glass doors in the rear wall of
the house. My flashlight shone through the panes to reveal a small kitchen,
with white tiling on the floors and a wooden table. On the table was a note,
with frantically-scribbled words on it.
I took a deep breath, and then
grabbed the door handle and drew it back. The glass door moved with ease.
Inside the house, I shone my light
all around the room. The kitchen was fairly normal, with just a wooden table
and a few black marble counters, along with a fridge, a phone, and a door leading
into the next room, which contained the staircase and foyer.
Quietly letting my flashlight wander
around the room, I noticed nothing unusual, just a regular kitchen. My fingers
eventually found themselves wrapped around the small yellow piece of torn
notebook paper. The letters, drawn rapidly on the page, read:
There
is a stranger at the door.
D0N’T
LET HIM IN.
Who?
I just stared at the paper for a moment.
Was Sophia robbed? Do I have the wrong house? Did someone here go insane?
Then another sound reached my ears,
one coming from the front of the house, one that only made my body freeze.
TAP.
TAP. TAP.
A faint noise from outside the front
door, like a quiet and discrete knock. I heard it again.
TAP.
TAP. TAP.
“Hello?” I said, softly, but my voice
sounds loud in the silent house.
TAP.
TAP. TAP.
Despite my curiosity, instinct told me
not to open the door. Instead, I ran over to the counter next to the fridge and
grabbed the home phone from its spot. I slipped it into my sweatshirt pocket
and then turned to leave.
Then my flashlight flickered,
briefly, stranding me for only a second in total darkness. And then, when my
light had returned to its original luminescence, I saw something sprawled all
over the wall with the glass door. One, single word, one that I do not think
had been there before.
R
U N
I did exactly what the message told
me to do. I rushed forward and slid the glass door rapidly open, charging out
into the backyard and sprinting towards the woods, not turning to look back,
not even bothering to wipe the sweat from my forehead. I did not stop until I
had passed the brick wall and had reached the gravel wooded path.
My gaze turned back towards the
house, and I watched it as a single, eerie white light came on in the uppermost
window. And in front of the light was the silhouette of something tall, thin,
and dark, and it was watching me. Terrified and hoping that I was only
dreaming, I spun on my heel and began to run off into the woods, trying to make
it back to my car.
And then when I looked back at the
house, the silhouette was gone.
c. Taylor Ward 2013. All rights reserved.
Intriguing!
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