by R. L. Weeks
“Hey,” a boy’s voice greeted me from above.
I lifted my head slightly and saw black boots. My eyes traveled up a little more, and I noticed the dark-wash skinny jeans with the rip in the knee. My mind slowed as my heart raced. It was the boy from earlier. Oh my God, I thought as my breath hitched and my mouth went dry.
“Uh, hello?” he asked again with a hint of amusement in his tone.
“Hi,” I squeaked.
Oh my God.
“Mind if I sit?” he asked but was already nearly on the ground before I could even nod.
He smelled like soap and citrus. I gulped when his shoulder brushed mine as he situated himself cross-legged next to me so our knees touched slightly.
I sat up straighter and wiped my sweaty palms on my lap, thankful I had worn jeans.
“Is today your first day?”
He was so casual, talking to me as though it were perfectly normal for the most handsome man I had ever seen to be speaking to someone like me.
“No,” I answered too quickly.
He smiled wide and leaned his shoulder into mine slightly. “Don’t be nervous. It’s my first day too.” He winked.
The blood had been pounding through my heart rushed to my face all at once, and I knew I was as red as a tomato. I looked down and let my long brown hair fall into my face. “Monday actually. Just getting registered today… I think, anyways.”
“You mean, I’m going to have to suffer through classes all day today and tomorrow as the only new kid? That hardly seems fair, don’t you think?”
I looked back up at him and offered a small smile. “Sorry?” I asked and gave a little shrug.
“My name’s Tommy. What’s yours?”
“Jackson.”
“That’s a beautiful name.” His compliment came with a smile. “What brings you to Ridgeview? Where are you from?”
I paused, unsure of whether I should tell him the truth. I bit my lip and looked at my feet again. I decided on the condensed version.
“Moved here to be with family. Two days ago. All the way from New York.”
“Wow, that’s like, all the way across the country,” he mused.
“Yep. Sure is.” I sighed, feeling the miles between me and my old life.
The door to the school flew open and Pierce popped outside. Tommy turned his attention to my sister immediately, and I frowned.
“Hey there,” he said in greeting.
“Hi.” She gave him a slight glance before locking her eyes back onto mine. “Time to go. We have a lot of work to do at the manor.”
“Ooooh a manor, huh? You live in the big house up on the hill?” Tommy asked my sister.
“Yeah, sure do,” I answered for her.
Tommy looked back at me and smiled. “I heard the manor is haunted.”
“Ghosts aren’t real,” Pierce quickly stated.
“You don’t believe?” he questioned her.
“She doesn’t, but I do!” I tried to draw his attention back toward me.
Tommy leaned in so my sister couldn’t hear him as she towered above us. Goose bumps flooded my skin as his lips grazed my earlobe to whisper into my ear. “Maybe she’s too scared.”
A smile twitched against my lips. Normally I would never let someone talk crap about my sister, but she wasn’t having even the slightest bit of fun, and she was totally cramping my style with Tommy. I hated having to compete with my sister for attention even though I loved her dearly.
“You should come by sometime this weekend and find out,” I whispered back.
I wasn’t sure where my boldness had come, from but a second after the words escaped my lips, Pierce was pulling my arms and yanking me up off the ground.
“Let’s go!”
She was impatient and getting irritated, but I got up and left with her anyway. I had a feeling I would see Tommy again sooner than Monday. Maybe Ridgeview wouldn’t be entirely terrible.
Chapter Seven
Pierce
Jackson walked alongside me with her head down and her hair in her face, but I could see the smile she was trying to hide nonetheless.
“So, what’s his name?”
“Who?” she asked, as though I could be talking about anyone and not the super cute boy who had been talking with my sister a few minutes ago.
“You know who.” I elbowed her in jest.
“Tommy,” she admitted.
“Cute name. What’s his deal?”
Jackson stopped walking and turned to face me.
“What do you mean ‘what’s his deal’?”
“I mean, like, what did you find out about him? Is he a senior like you?”
I had always been protective of my sister, but with Mom and Dad gone and Vera not really the nurturing type, I had to step up and be there for Jackson way more than ever before—even if she hated it.
“I talked to him for like two minutes before you interrupted us, so I don’t know what ‘his deal’ is.” Jackson rolled her eyes and stomped up the sidewalk like a four-year-old.
I rolled my eyes at her from behind her back, then jogged a few steps to catch up. “I’m not in school with you anymore, so I just want to make sure you’re making good friends is all. Don’t be mad.”
Her long brown hair whipped across my face as she whirled around. “I don’t need you to help me pick friends, Pierce. Okay? I don’t even want to be here. So can you just not with the whole trying-to-be-my-mom thing? Seriously,” she snapped and turned around without letting me get a word in or defend myself.
I sighed and hung back a few steps. Her words stung, but I had gotten into similar fights with Mom about helicopter-parenting me when I was Jackson’s age. The last big fight Mom and I had gotten into was over a graduation party I’d wanted to attend. I was a senior at the time, and the boy who invited me was in college. Mom said it was a bad idea and I told her I hated her. The memory jabbed at my heart, and my eyes brimmed with tears.
We were almost to the hill, but Jackson was almost a whole block ahead of me now and wasn’t slowing down. She obviously knew where she was going and didn’t need me to walk her home, and I desperately wanted to sit. A bus stop bench was a few feet ahead, so I jogged toward it and slumped heavily onto the cold, black metal. I wiped tears from my eyes, then hung my head and groaned into my hands. This was never going to get any easier.
I jerked my head up when I heard footsteps approaching. I glanced down the sidewalk, past the cookie-cutter, little white houses lining the street and drew in a sharp breath. The man from yesterday who had been playing guitar on the park bench was making a beeline for me, and the grin he had plastered across his face made my heart quicken and my palms sweat.
His guitar was slung over his shoulder, and his black leather jacket hung open, so I could see a tiny bit of skin just above his tight black motocross-style pants and crisp white T-shirt. I swallowed hard. His aura was magnetic. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, and I felt my face flushing as I stared at him
“Hey there!” he called with a wave.
All I could muster in response was a small wave, to which he smirked knowingly. The tall, dark, and handsome stranger was accustomed to girls melting in front of him it seemed.
“I’m Axel,” he said as he smoothly slid onto the bench next to me and let his knee rest lightly against mine.
The gentle touch against our denim-covered legs sent butterflies flooding my stomach. Never in my life had I developed such strong feelings for a guy immediately upon meeting him. I didn’t believe in love or lust at first sight. Most guys I met utterly bored me, but the chemistry I was feeling now, for Axel, was nothing shy of exhilarating.
“Hey,” I managed to squeak out.
Axel rubbed his hand across his jaw and looked at me, waiting for me to say something else, but I had no idea what to say to the beautiful man. “Are you gonna tell me your name, Little Red?”
Axel’s smooth voice sent shivers down my spine and goose bumps down my arms. His thin lips spl
ayed into a wide smile as I looked him dead in the eyes.
“Very original,” I playfully sneered.
This wasn’t the first time someone had made a Little Red Riding Hood joke toward me because of my hair color, and it sure wasn’t going to be the last. Something about the way Axel had said it made me like the nickname though. Still, I wasn’t going to let him know that.
“Well, why don’t you tell me what your name is then?” he asked as his eyes trailed down my long red hair and he licked his lips as though he could see right through the thin sweater I wore.
I crossed my arms over my chest, and his eyes flicked up to mine. His cool, gray eyes were hypnotic, and the lights and darks of the grays made his irises look like swirling storm clouds. My lips parted, and every single part of myself wanted him to lean down and kiss me. Instead, he cleared his throat and cocked an eyebrow at me.
“S-sorry. Um, my name is Pierce,” I stammered.
“Pierce,” he repeated.
“Yup.”
“Well then, Pierce, I think I’m still gonna call you Little Red. It suits you much better than Pierce.”
My parted lips now gaped open at his insult. I closed my mouth and slid over on the bench to put some distance between us.
“I didn’t mean to offend you. It was just my opinion.”
Axel half-smiled at me, and when I didn’t respond, he shrugged his shoulders and stood, slinging his guitar back over his shoulder.
“Fog’s coming in again,” he stated.
He was right. As I looked around, I saw the dense fog weaving its tentacles through the trees and creeping down the hills, making its way slowly into town. It was almost beautiful, but as the fog slinked between the houses and rolled toward us, all I could think about was how everything looked like it was being smothered or choked by the mist. I shivered, and not in a good way this time.
“Storm usually follows.”
I looked back at Axel. He stood with his hands in his pockets, and his disheveled black hair hung slightly in his face. He glanced up at the dense, fluffy white clouds floating above us, but I followed his glance over my head toward the hill. Dark-gray storm clouds hung low and dense on the hilltop where the manor was. The woods were dark, and the fog was covering most of the road all the way up. I’d never make it up the hill by myself.
“Shit! My sister is up on the hill right now. I doubt she’s made it all the way back up yet!” I panicked, thinking about Jackson getting caught in the storm by herself up on the hill and getting lost in the woods. It was possible she had already made it back home, but it was more likely she was trying to make her way back down to come get me when she saw the fog coming. Even when she was mad at me, my little sister would never abandon me. I suddenly felt guilty for letting her get so far ahead. If anything happened to her, it would be my fault.
“Hey, it’s okay. I know those woods like the back of my hand. I’ll go with you. If she was smart, she stayed on the road anyways. I’m sure everything is fine.” Axel was calm, and his smooth, melodic voice somehow managed to soothe me.
“Okay,” I said in agreement and followed him to the base of the hill.
I sucked in my breath. The fog was thick, almost to the tops of the trees, and it covered every square inch of the ground as though the earth had risen into the clouds. It was almost magical, and if I weren’t so worried about Jackson, I might actually have found the fairy-tale-like setting peaceful, but all I could think about was whether or not Jackson had made it home.
When we reached the edge of the road that led up into the hills, Axel held out his hand and looked over his shoulder at me. I gratefully took it and stepped up beside him. He winked at me and then took a step forward into the dark woods and suffocating fog. I followed him, not able to see anything in front of me except the spindly dark shadows the trees had become through the fog lens.
“You can feel the difference between the gravel road and the forest floor. Pay attention to what it feels like below your feet, and we can follow the road all the way up to the manor,” Axel instructed.
“How do you know the manor is at the end of the road?”
“Everyone here knows this road leads to the old woman’s manor.”
I couldn’t see his face anymore. The fog had closed the twelve-inch gap between our faces, but I still felt his hand firmly in mine. He squeezed my hand for reassurance, and I squeezed back. I didn’t know what I would have done if I had been caught on this road all by myself. I had never seen a storm come in this fast before, not even in New York on the harbor. The fog was thicker than any I had ever experienced, and the more steps we took up the hill, the more I began to feel like I couldn’t breathe.
“Jackson! Jackson, are you up here!?” I called into the dark woods.
I stopped and listened. Axel stood still beside me not making a sound, and everything else in the woods seemed to follow suit. There were no birds chirping, no squirrels dashing up trees. The hillside was eerily silent.
“Come on, Red, let’s keep going. I smell rain in the air.”
Axel was right, and the forest animals knew it too. They were all hiding and buckling down for the impeding storm.
“We can’t see anything. I really don’t want to keep going. Maybe we should wait for the rain to start. It’ll make the fog go down and then we’ll be able to see,” I suggested.
“Your sister might be up here on the hill alone,” Axel reminded me.
I was terrified for myself and my sister. I had always loved storms, but Jackson hated them, and whatever kind of storm was blowing in seemed menacing and dark, as though it were ushering in the four horsemen themselves. I shuddered but knew Axel was right. We had to get Jackson. “All right, let’s go.”
Axel led the way. He didn’t hesitate or stumble at all. He navigated up the winding road, never stepping off the path as though driven by a sixth sense. We couldn’t see anything around us including each other, but I was happy to follow his lead. I trusted him.
We called out Jackson’s name as we traversed the hill, but there wasn’t any response. The longer the silence stretched on, the more I started to fear the worst. This hill was full of cliffs and ledges we could easily fall over since we weren’t watching where we were going. There was a ravine not far from Grandmother’s manor, yards behind the old cottage, that had frightened me when I was a little girl. I didn’t know what I would do if I lost my little sister. I would have nothing left at all.
“Well, look there,” Axel said.
I peered ahead and could see the fog starting to clear up ahead. The outlines of trees and the spire of the old mansion still looked like shadows, but at least we could see them now.
“Jackson!” I called again and broke free of Axel’s hand.
I ran up the road toward the manor. I knew it was straight ahead as soon as I could see the spire, and I was confident I could run straight onto the front porch. I sprinted as fast as I could with Axel right beside me. I glanced at him and he smiled. I tried to smile back but choked on the air I sucked in when I opened my mouth, and I bent over coughing.
Axel’s hand patted my back as I almost died of embarrassment. I caught my breath and stood, stepping away from his hand. I could feel the warmth of his palm where he had gently rubbed my back and tried to soothe my coughing.
“You okay?”
“Fine,” I assured him. “Let’s go.”
Rather than break into another run, I walked as quickly as I could without jogging, calling for my sister again. We were only a few feet from the porch now, so I directed my yelling toward the manor.
The door burst open, and Grandma Vera stepped out onto the porch.
“You get out of here!” she yelled angrily at us as we approached the front steps.
“Grandmother, it’s me, Pierce,” I reminded her.
“Why would you bring him here? Get away! Go!” Grandma shoved her cane toward the porch steps. I knew she couldn’t see us, but Axel didn’t, and he stepped backward with his hand
s up.
“Grandmother! Don’t be ridiculous. This man helped me get back home. There’s a terrible storm that’s going to start any minute,” I said, trying to warn her.
Thunder boomed overhead and startled the old woman.
“Get him out of here. His kind isn’t welcome here. Not in my house. We don’t deal with his kind anymore, Dana.”
My heart sank in my chest. She forgot my name. She was becoming senile. What did she mean by his kind?
“Axel, I am so sorry. My family is not racist. At least, me and my sister aren’t. She’s really old and losing her mind. Oh, God. I am so sorry.”
“It’s no problem. I’m used to people like her.”
His eyes were narrowed at my grandmother, and his lip was slightly curled as though he was growling at her. I swallowed hard, nervous the man I felt so strongly for might actually kill my grandmother. Vera’s eyes were trained in the direction where Axel stood with her shaking cane pointed at his chest. She looked like she was ready to fight back if she needed to, and the entire scene made me nauseated.
“I’m sorry, Axel. I need to make sure my sister is inside and safe. You should go. I’ll see you around, okay?” I stepped in front of my grandmother and gently pushed her shoulders to get her to take a step back toward the house.
“Yeah, sure. See you around, Little Red,” Axel said before he finally turned around and walked down the driveway that would turn into the hill road.
“Don’t you dare bring him to this house again.” Vera coughed every few words.
Her shoulders trembled under my hands as I guided her back into the house. The large wooden door slammed shut behind us, sending a shower of dust over our heads. I sighed and promised myself I would get Jackson to help me clean this place, starting tonight.
“Grandma, where’s my sister? Is she home?”
“She got home a long while ago.”
I breathed a sigh of relief at the same time my heart sank. Jackson had abandoned me after-all.
“But she left with a boy from school. I liked the one she brought. The one you brought is bad news though, Dana. Don’t you ever bring him here again.”
