by Tarisa Marie
I’m a terrible liar, so I’m not surprised when he doesn’t appear to believe me, one brow raising and then falling again, a smirk playing at his lips. This only aggravates me, as sexy as it may be. He knows it, too, I’m sure, how can’t he? I won’t give him the pleasure of knowing how I feel. He doesn’t need that confidence boost. He has enough as it is. “Are you training to be a navy seal? Do you normally run through that much untamed brush on your runs?”
Feeling like an idiot, I release his hand and step back before sighing. “No, I was reminiscing on childhood memories. I used to play in those trees a lot,” I admit truthfully.
“You should be careful. Many people have gone missing out there as you’re aware. I’d hate for something to happen to you.” His over concerned voice lightens his expression relaxes. “I’ve heard people say it’s aliens, sasquatch, you name it.”
I scrunch up my nose and shake my head. “My family has been here for generations. No one has ever reported seeing aliens or sasquatch.”
“No?” Kade looks both amused and surprised. What did they blame all the strange things on then?”
I think about this. “Coincidence,” I state plainly.
“Do you really believe it all to be coincidence?” he asks me, appearing to sincerely wonder how I feel about this.
I have to think about it. “I don’t know,” I answer finally, staring at the ground.
“Well, then how do you know it isn’t aliens or sasquatch?” He argues and then smirks again.
I can’t help but be enamored by his dimples, which normally I would find boyish cute at the very most, but on him they’re immensely attractive for reasons that I can’t even explain. Have you ever watched a show on television or walked through a mall and your eyes just land on someone for no apparent reason and you find yourself taken aback, attracted to them beyond what’s normal? That is what Kade is to me. I’m not saying that he wouldn’t be attractive to the average eye, but I’ve met a lot of men, and yet none I’ve been more attracted to than Kade. Where my aunt Betty can simply see past his looks and make a judgement on him based on his personality and her common sense, I can’t seem to get passed his fricking dimples which isn’t like me at all. I’m a fairly rational person or so I’d like to think.
“You’re looking me over as if I have two heads,” he says finally and his smirk fades into a grimace. “Do I have something on my face?”
I reassure him. “No, sorry. Just deep in thought.”
“Oh?” he encourages. “About?”
“Getting the hell out of here,” I admit, what’s it going to hurt? “I can’t wait to get back home to Seattle. It’s going to be a bigger task than I thought to get the house ready, which means that I’m going to be here longer than I expected. I’m just not too happy about it is all. I just want it sold and done with so I don’t have to deal with it anymore.”
“I’ll buy it,” he says quickly. “And I’ll buy it as it is. That’s what I came here to tell you.”
I cock a brow and can’t help but laugh. “You already live in this shit hole. You want to buy another property here?” I ask dubiously, struggling to keep my composure. Wow, I’m a great saleswoman.
He nods quickly without skipping a beat. “Yeah. It’s a good investment. There’s a lot of land tied to this property and the price of land only ever goes up.”
“No one will buy it from you. No one wants to live here,” I remind him even though it’s only hurting my chance of actually getting rid of this place.
“Yeah? Well I bought land here, your family did too. Like you said, it’s probably all just a coincidence all that strange stuff, so no one should be too worried about it.”
I can tell that he’s baiting me, challenging me to argue with him. “Do you really think its aliens or sasquatch?” I ask, wondering if this guy is insane or if he’s playing with me.
Kade scoffs. “Of course not. Now are you going to sell me this place or not?”
“If you want to buy it, then buy it, but you don’t even know what I’m asking for it yet or how rough the inside is. Do you have time to look around right now? Are there any inspectors you know of around here so you can make sure you’re not getting ripped off?”
Kade wets his bottom lip quickly. “No, I don’t need an inspection or a look inside. Let’s just sign the papers.”
“You don’t even know what I’m asking yet,” I remind him. Is he yanking my chain here? He wants to buy this place as is and without an inspection?
“Okay, well, what’re you asking for it?”
“Two hundred thousand for the shitty old house and the land around the house. That includes the field behind it that’s treed, rocky, and useless for farming as well as the quarter to the east and the quarter to the north.” I tell him, raising my asking price a few thousand.
Kade seems unperturbed. “Deal. I will take it. Get me the paperwork as soon as you can. You know, you could’ve gotten more out of me, right? It’s better to go high and negotiate from there.”
My mouth drops open. “Are you serious? You’ll take it for two hundred thousand? You’re not messing with me?”
“Like I said, the price of land only ever goes up. I plan to stay here, farm here. Your land is next to my land. It’s an investment.”
I look at him in disbelief. “You’re young. Can you even afford to buy this place?”
He laughs and cocks his head. “I have a lot of money, May.”
“How’s that? You look maybe twenty-five at the oldest.” I observe and cross my arms.
“Investments,” he answers with amusement. “Amongst other things.” He shifts his weight and fiddles with his keys in one hand.
“You don’t want me to clean it or paint or take our old stuff out?” I ask in bewilderment.
“Nope, take whatever you want to keep. Leave the rest.”
I can’t help but be skeptical. There’s no way that this guy wants to buy this shitty run-down property as it is whilst knowing all the shit that’s gone on around here. If he’s a smart investor with lots of money, as he wishes me to believe, then why in the hell would he want this place of all properties? It doesn’t make sense, but I could use this two hundred grand that I’m entitled to inherit if he’s willing to pay me it. I don’t even have to do any work. What do I have to lose? If the paperwork all goes through that easily then I’m rid of this place and the bad taste it leaves in my mouth, and I can go back home to my life.
I continue to stare at Kade gapingly and he continues to stare back me with his lips quirked.
“Are you a drug dealer?” I demand and point an accusatory finger at his chest. I can’t help it, it just slips out like some sort of word vomit.
A loud rumble of a laugh escapes him. “No, why would you think that?” He shakes his head as if he finds the mere thought ridiculous.
“Well!” I start. “You show up to my house in a suit, you really seem to think that something fishy is going on around here. For all I know, that something fishy is your family drug operation where you just kill people who get in the way or something like on those tv shows. You want to buy this crap property in the middle of nowhere, and you look like you’re barely an adult. A barely adult who seems to have way too much money to throw around. I bet if I walk down the driveway you’re driving a Mercedes or something stupid.”
He cocks a brow and winces. “It’s not a Mercedes. It’s a Lamborghini actually,” he corrects me.
I gape at him.
“I’m joking, May. Do you really think I’d drive a Lambo on these crappy gravel roads? It’d get destroyed. I drive an Escalade. It’s not even mine. It’s a company vehicle,” he explains quickly.
“And you do what for a job, besides deal drugs?” I ask him and rest my hand on my hip.
He hesitates. “I don’t sell drugs. I don’t grow nor make drugs. I don’t even do drugs. I work for a friend of my dad’s who is an investor amongst other things. A jack of all trades you might say.”
“We
ll, you’re going to get yourself fired if you have him invest in this shithole, you know. He clearly didn’t hire you for your common sense.” As soon as the words leave my mouth I wish I could pull them back. I want to get rid of this place, don’t I? Why would I encourage him not to buy it?
He sighs and shakes his head back and forth once before taking a step away from me. “You’re ridiculous, May Thomson.”
“I’m ridiculous?” I take a step towards him.
“Yes, you are.” He reaches into his suit jacket pocket and pulls out a business card before handing it to me. “Get the paperwork in order and then call me, and I’ll come sign it.”
I snatch the card from him and look at it. All it is is a piece of cardstock with a phone number written on it. How professional.
Just as he begins to turn away and head for his vehicle, I ask, “Hey, you know a lot of people around here, right?”
He stops and shrugs. “Yeah, you could say that I guess.”
“I was just in the trees behind the house and there was this little girl looking for her dog. Her name was Harriet I think. About eight years old. I was going to help her get home, but she was gone before I could. Like I looked away and then she wasn’t there. I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have any kids. I can’t even keep track of one girl in the middle of nowhere, imagine me in a mall.” How had I become so distracted by Kade that I forgot about the girl?
Kade’s brows furrow and he scratches his forearm as he repeats the name. “Harriet, you say?”
I nod.
“What was she wearing? Do you remember?”
“A pink dress. Her hair was brown and curly. Do you know her?” I ask hopefully. The least I could do is call her house and let her dad know she’s out wandering around.
He shakes his head. “No, and it’s quite a ways to the nearest farm. I can’t see why a young girl would be out here alone.”
If he doesn’t know her, why is he wondering what she’s wearing? Something occurs to me then. “Should I call the cops then? I’d hate for something to happen to her.”
Kade looks down at his shiny, black dress shoes and then shrugs. He bites his bottom lip for moment and then he takes a step closer to me. “May, this place isn’t what it seems. You need to leave here and never come back. No matter what. Nothing good happens to those who live around here. I know that; you know that. This place will have you go mad,” he says in a rush. “It makes people lose their minds. There wasn’t a girl in the trees. There’s no girl out here named Harriet. I would know.”
A pit falls in my stomach. “There must be. I saw her.” Even as I say this, I remember the way she just disappeared. Is it possible that this place does cause people to go mad? Murders, suicides, mental illness, it’s all a constant issue amongst this area’s residents and visitors. I wish that I could laugh at Kade’s seriousness and brush it off as him being the crazy one, but in truth, I’ve always thought the same thing. I’ve always known that something was off about this place. Everyone has. “If you’re so sure that this place makes people insane, then why do you live here?”
“So I can warn people like you to leave and never come back,” he answers playfully, lightning the mood. “You know, doing my part in society as good citizen.”
“You’re not afraid of going crazy?” I wonder, my eyes narrowing.
“If you already know the truth about this place, it won’t make you feel insane, it will just make you unable to sleep at night.”
A chill creeps up my spine. “And you know the truth about this place?” I ask carefully, gauging his reaction to my question. “What would that be?”
He nods once. “The truth would rock you to your very core and challenge all your beliefs irrevocably. Trust me when I say that you’re better off ignorant of it.”
We stare at each other for a moment, his eyes seeming to become multiple shades darker. Something in his words sends a seriously creeps me out. It’s as if a part of me believes his every word, like he’s only verifying what I already know, another part of me though, wonders if he’s insane, but does that not only further the proof that there is something exceptionally wrong about this place? I swallow hard.
He begins to turn, his expression now stern and serious, but stops. “Take your things, leave here, and never come back. I will come by tomorrow morning to get everything in order with my newest purchase. Goodbye, May.”
I watch as he walks down the sidewalk through the trees to his car.
I don’t know how long I stand there before Aunt Betty opens the front door, shaking me from my daze. “May? Are you out here?”
Chapter 3
“May?” Aunt Betty attempts to grasp my attention as I day dream.
I drop my fork in surprise and it clatters to my plate.
“Are you alright?” she asks me, her brows furrowing. “You’ve been spacey all afternoon.” I have yet to tell her about my visit with Kade or our agreement.
“I’m sorry. This place is just getting to me I guess,” I mutter and stab at a boiled carrot with decade old salt and pepper sprinkled on it.
Her furrowed brow increases. “Your mother used to say that.”
“And then she went crazy,” I finish her unspoken thought.
Aunt Betty nibbles on her garlic toast. “I think it’s best we finish up here and leave. Your past here is too much. It would get to anyone.”
“Do you think that this place is the cause of all the stuff that happens here or do think that it’s the events that have happened here that lead to further events, like some sort of domino effect?”
My aunt takes a deep breath and finishes chewing and swallowing her mouthful of food slowly before answering. “I’ve never liked this place. I’ve only been here a handful of times. The first was when Daniel was born, the second when you were born, the third when he disappeared, and the fourth when your mother tried to kill you. From the very first time I came here, I thought something was off. I can’t explain it really. It’s just a feeling. A chill, something cold creeping up my spine every time we drive past town and into the country side nearing this area. Maybe it’s silly, but I can almost feel the crossing of a border somewhere between Sunnybrooke and here. A few miles out of town and I just get this feeling. I told my sister that—your grandma—once and she thought I was nuts. Well, until your mother told her all the weird stuff that had happened out here and that continued to happen. Your mother continued relaying the events of this place to her over the years and then she would relay it to me. I never understood why your parents never left, especially after your dad passed away and your brother went missing. Your mom had no reason to stay here really. Maybe she felt closer to them here. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand, but the day that I got the call about what happened between you and your mother... I swore I’d take you away from here and make sure you never came back. Yet here we are now. To answer your question, I’m not sure I believe in whatever it could be that would make this place so...deadly, but then I’m not sure I believe in such a coincidence either. Too much has happened around here to be coincidence. I wish I could think of a rational explanation for it all, but I can’t, no one can.”
She raises a good point. If there is something weird and unbelievable going on here, then what is it? What could it possibly be?
“Kade stopped in while you were napping. He’s an investor and he agreed to buy the place as it is. We just have to take what we want and go. He will deal with the rest. He will be here in the morning to sign papers and switch over utilities and stuff before we go.”
My aunt looks surprised but nods as if she’s more than ready to get the hell out of here. “Good. It’s not healthy for you to be here any longer than needed. What papers does he need to sign right now? Did he even come in to see the place?”
I shrug. “I don’t really know what is entailed in selling a house honestly. He seemed really intent on buying it as is. Maybe he’s planning to knock the place down.”
She seems a little skeptic
al. I am too. My aunt chuckles and nods. “We’ll have to call a real estate agent tonight then, because I’ve never sold a house either. My friend Cheryl sells houses. I’ll give her a call.”
After my aunt goes to bed rather early in the evening, I walk about the house, taking it all in for the last time. I think about taking pictures but decide against it. The memory of this place is enough. I grab a box and take a few photos from around the house and put them in it to take home with me. I also take a few knickknacks from my old bedroom to bring along with me, some old photo albums I found in the attic, and a quilt that my grandma made my dad when he was a kid. After my packing, I retreat to my old room and lay down in bed on top of the covers. I stare at the roof deep in thought.
I can’t wait to return home to my apartment and friends. I pull out my cellphone to check my messages, forgetting that out here in the middle of nowhere, there isn’t any cell service. I can’t help but wonder how Jane is doing back home in our apartment all alone, though I’m sure she’s not really all that lonely. I’m sure she’s had her boyfriend Darrel over the entire time I’ve been gone. He practically lives with us.
I close my eyes briefly, relaxing. It’s too early for me to be able to sleep and there’s too much on my mind to sleep anyhow. My thoughts keep going back to Harriet. Part of me feels beyond guilty for not reporting seeing her to the police, but another part of me is paranoid about what Kade said earlier.
A rush of air causes my hair to tickle my face and I open my eyes quickly, thinking that my aunt has woken up and just opened my door. My door is closed. I snap my head to the window. It, too, is closed. A prickling sensation hovers over my skin and my heart skips a beat. I watch as the long grey curtains in front of the window ruffle as if wind has swayed them. After a moment they go still. I leap up from bed, not sure what I’m about to do exactly. The soft breeze continues to move through the room only causing me to continuously become more shaken. I approach the window and check for a draft. Then the now familiar, annoying, loud thump causes my hair to stand on end. What is going on?
