A New Post! Chapter 6 Continued...My First Week of School...The demons that follow us... (Chapter 7 is in the works and almost done!...)

The first few days of 4^th grade were pretty uneventful. I started getting my first assignments right away as I had a little catching up to do. I started to get familiar with the students in my class. And as usual there were some strange kids in this class. There was this girl that sat to my right. She had glasses and long hair. She seemed pretty smart. And there was this strange kid named Frank who sat off to the side. He had a strange nasally voice and he was always raising his hand with numerous questions. Many of the kids seemed to know him from other classes as they almost always let out a big groan when he raised his hand. And then I noticed behind Emily was that kid that I saw hanging out with her in the neighborhood that day I saw them on their bikes. He was the tall kid. Now that I saw him closer I noticed he had Red hair. His name was Eric. He was tall and had a big warm smile and freckles on his cheeks. His eyes were a brilliant green color. There were a couple kids from my neighborhood in the class, Frank the strange kid being one of them and George was another. I sure hoped they were cool with me and maybe, just maybe I could make a friend or two? Mrs. Willard was a really nice teacher. She seemed to really care about teaching, which was nice. I always loved school. My favorite subject was math. At the end of the week I was so excited that it was Friday! I was collecting my things out of my locker which I shared with George when I heard Emily’s voice behind me, she was standing next to Eric.. So Eric, do you want to hang out this weekend and maybe go bike riding to the park? Yeah, I guess, what else is there to do around here… What about you George? George was standing next to me waiting to get his stuff next. George looked at her and kind of gave a lopsided shrug of the left shoulder. “I guess so”, said George. George was a shorter kid with a stocky build and blond hair with striking blue eyes. I was a little taller than George and had a slim build with brown hair like my mom and my eyes were brown like hers. “So John…” said Emily with a long pause in-between… “Do you want to hang out with us after school? I looked up at her from inside the locker. Me? Hang out? Of course hang out John. I was caught a little off guard as I didn’t really know these two kids she was with at all? They could be crazy! Or worse yet! They could be into sports of something and I knew I could not handle sports! I don’t even know how to hold a football let alone throw one! I had a bike, but I wasn’t that good at riding it yet. All kinds of thoughts were racing in my head in what seemed to me were like nano seconds. Emily obviously was growing inpatient as she asked me again. Well John are you going to answer me? Do you want to come riding with us? Before I could think more about it I said… “Sure.” Oh god, I said sure? Couldn’t I come up with a better thing to say than that! I imagine Eric and George are thinking that this is some loser standing in front of them… “Well okay”. Said Emily. Let’s meet at my house after we drop our school stuff. So we went our separate ways. I walked to my aunt and uncle’s house which wasn’t too far. Each step I took I was thinking to myself… Well now what? I hope I don’t crash my bike that would be really embarrassing… At least I did practice some over the summer. I dropped my stuff off at the house and asked my aunt if it was okay if I rode my bike with Emily and a couple of her friends. She said okay, but be back by dinner time. So off I went to Emily’s house.

As I approached the house I saw Emily, George, and Eric sitting on their bikes in front of Emily’s house. I rode up to them and Emily turned and noticed me. Hi John. Hi Emily, I said. I discovered that Emily was the leader of this pack and had a plan in store for us. And I believe they knew exactly where we were going. But I did not have a clue? So Eric, George, should we give John any warning or should we tell him where we’re going? “No way”, said Eric. “Let him find out right George?” George just kind of looked back and forth at Emily and Eric and said, well I don’t care, whatever, he’s going to find out eventually isn’t he? With that they told me to follow them. I thought we were going to the park, but I was wrong, so very wrong...

They took off fast peddling like mad and it was all I could do to keep up. They bounced up and down the curbs, zipping around parked cars. Their bikes would cross paths with each other and look like they were about to collide, and then at the last second they would miss and continue down the street. It was like watching a ballet with dancers moving with great precision and grace, each move choreographed. I was just happy to keep the bike pretty straight and keep up with them.

The continued on for a number of blocks as we wound our way through the neighborhood towards town… As we got closer we took a left on this small road that led to this older neighborhood down bu the river. They told me it was called Peaceful Valley. We started driving down the streets and I noticed how different these houses were from the one I lived in. They were very old, and a number of them were run down. We continued into the neighborhood until we stopped at this one lone house on a large fenced lot. We pulled up our bikes in front of this old house. “So why did we stop here?” I asked. Eric looked and me and said. “Do you really want to know?”. “Yes”.  George, meanwhile, was looking nervously around. “Just tell him Eric”, He said, “And then we can get out of here.”, “Well this is the house of a serial killer.” “What are you talking about?” I said. “You do know what a serial killer is don’t you?” “Yes, of course I do.” Emily was getting annoyed.“Knock it off Eric, just tell him what happened.” “Well, around three years ago there were a bunch of kids that went missing over a span of around 2-3 years, mostly around our age I guess, and the whole town was upset. The police department was trying to figure out what was happening to these kids. They found the bodies of a couple of the kids down in the river, their bodies had washed down stream and were found by some bums. At first they thought the bums were involved, but they were later let go. They helped the police track down the killer. It took them 3 years to solve it. My mom & dad told me not to go out after dark and to always stay with friends. That is why we always hang out together. I was standing there in shock. I stared at the house. Other than being run down, it didn’t look much different than any other house in the neighborhood, except that a killer that lived there. I felt a knot in my stomach like someone had punched me in the gut. I thought I was going to throw up… “God you guys, you really don’t want to quit talking about this?” Was George’s reply. It was an especially sensitive subject for him as he had a close call with a stranger about 1 1/2 years ago and he told his parents about it. The scary thing is the stranger matched the description of the killer from pictures of him in the paper. So naturally he was a little spooked. He was riding his bike alone down by the river. He was taking a different route then normal back to his house from school and he almost rode right into this man who was walking down by the river… He swerved to miss him, but the man turned around and tried to take a swipe at him and then shook his fist at him and told him to watch were the hell you are going! He didn’t know what he was doing down by the river… After that he always rode with friends and took a different way.

Emily also said she had noticed him up in their neighborhood. She said when she went to the park with her parents she would sometimes see him at the park just sitting on a bench watching the kids play on the swings. No one was with him, he just sat there, staring and smiling. It really gave her the creeps and her parents even asked him to move on as the children were uncomfortable with him there. He complied and smiled and left.

Eric never had the chance to meet the man, but what he had to say sent chills to my bones. He was quiet when he told me, his voice softened… John, sometimes life can change so quick! He stared off to the side… One of those kids that got killed. It was my little sister Sarah. She was one of the ones they found in the river… I remember that day about two years ago. I was at a friend’s house and my little sister was home with my mom. Dad was at work. My sister was too young to go to school yet so she was playing in the yard, my mom said she just took her eyes off her for just a second to answer the phone, There yard was fenced, but he must have been watching the house and when she was alone he reached over the fence and grabbed her. She was playing with our puppy outside. By the time my mom came out she was gone.. I will never forget her screaming in the neighborhood. They didn’t find her body for about 2 weeks. I had always wished I had been there and maybe I could have prevented it from happening. His eyes welled up with tears, but he stood straight and strong. I swear someday I’m gonna be a cop and catch people like that. Emily went over and put her hand on Eric’s shoulder. “I’m okay Em.” “It’s just hard sometimes.” Eric got off his bike and went over to the yard and found a rock and he pitched it with all his might at the house… Not satisfied—he picked up another even bigger rock and broke a window… It was like he was trying to get rid of something, maybe the hurt inside that he couldn't get out... The feeling that maybe things could have been different--if only... We each went over picked up a rock and threw it at the house… It was a simple gesture of defiance. Some type of closure for a terrible thing, a terrible awful thing that no child should go through or family for that matter…

We walked into the yard and looked around… I finally got up the courage to ask… Are there still kids missing? Yeah, said George. They never found the rest of them. They even dug up the yard and looked in the house. They say the ghosts of the missing children haunt this old house. I looked at them with bewilderment? Haunted? How do you know? Just come out here at night some time… Can we go home now? Cried George in his best whiney voice… Yes, let’s get the hell out of here was Emily’s response… With that we got back on our bikes and went back to Emily’s house…

 

Chapter 6 Attending a new school. They should have warning signs posted!---Here is the beginning of Chapter 6 as promised. I am working on more as we speak. As usual you can look at the older posts to read the book from the beginning. On my original draft I am re-working the grammar on it. This version posted is before the grammar is corrected so you are seeing the first draft.

Chapter 6        Attending a new school. They should have warning signs posted!

It was getting close to the end of Summer and Uncle George had already gone back to work after taking an extended vacation… Aunt Ida said it was time for us to go get registered for school. She taught at nearby Roosevelt elementary where she taught 3^rd grade. We headed out the door and down the street to the school. I was real nervous… I didn’t know anyone there? “I don’t know anyone there Aunt Ida.” I said nervously… “Don’t worry John, you will be fine.” She said. “Besides, it is the same school Emily goes to and a number of other children in the neighborhood go there too…” That didn’t reassure me much. There could be a whole lot of crazy going on in that school for all I knew… But it did make me feel better knowing that Emily went to that school and she didn’t seem too bad… For a girl anyway… “Aunt Ida.” I said; “Will Emily be in my class?” She said, “Unfortunately John she is in 4^th grade since she is a year older than you, or almost a year older I should say she will be in a different class.” Great I thought… I could be stuck in some class with some real weirdos… I am going to stick out like a sore thumb! I was not a kid who liked all the normal stuff kids like. I preferred to read, and I loved to do school work, and I didn’t like sports like football or baseball or things like that. After we talked for a while before I knew it we were approaching the school. The school looked like my school I remembered in Seattle, but a little more old looking. It was all brick with a small entry way in the front. My school was newer and more modern.  We made our way inside. the front. It was pretty small compared to the school I went to and it was really old looking inside. Kind of like the house that my aunt and uncle lived in. In a way I kind of liked that. I could almost feel all the students walking the halls and imagined it filled with students when school started. For now it was pretty empty except for a small line of people wating to register their kids for school. Since my aunt was a teacher there I was able to get in before the crowds started showing up just before school started. We went to the office and got the registration forms. As my aunt was filling them out I wandered through the school. There was wood everywhere. The floors, the stairs, wood trim around the doors and the doors were a solid wood and were really heavy… I started peering inside one of the classrooms down the hall… “Well hello there?” “Who may I ask are you?”said this young woman in a nice pretty floral dress. “I’m John, I am going to school here in September.” I said. “Well nice to meet your John, I’m Mrs. Willard. I teach 4^th grade here.” “Oh, well it is nice to meet you too.” “I wish you were my teacher.” I said. “Oh well John I’m sure I will be seeing you around.” She said. And with that I left and went exploring the halls some more. The halls were filled with pictures here and there on the walls of art projects and various picture of students and teachers. As I walked down the hall I could feel the old floor creak and moan with each step and the sound echoed in the long hallways. The walls were tall and I felt dwarfed in size in comparison. I felt a little bit like an alien visiting another world like watching episodes of the Old Outer Limits television show… The beginning of each episode always scared me, but I still watched it because I found it exciting. There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission and so on… I think that is why I preferred westerns. But I still did like a good scare off and on…  Aunt Ida came down the hall and found me looking in another classroom… She happened to come up behind me and startled me a little. “Hi John.” She said. I jumped a little and turned quickly around like I thought I might be in trouble. “Well.” She said. “Did you happen to look at the name on the top of the door to this room? “No.” I said. Then I looked up and it said. Mrs. Ida Johnson, Third Grade. “Oh, this is your room?” I said. “Yes it is John.” “Maybe you will end up in my class?”  I was hoping I would. I liked my aunt a lot! She was pretty cool as far as aunts went. We headed back to the house.

The first day of school was unnerving for me. My aunt and uncle had shopped for school clothes ahead of time and got me all ready. I had my school box and book bag all ready. Uncle George let me use one of his cigar boxes for my school pencils, etc. for my desk.My aunt and uncle escorted me in to my first day. I hated how the other students stared at me. The other kids had their parents bring them to school and their parents were much younger than my aunt and uncle were. I was feeling really self consious when Emily spotted me down the hall… She came skipping up to see me… “Hi John.” “Your first day at Rooselevelt huh?” she said. “Well you will get used to it.” “The teachers here are really nice!” Emily said. “Thanks Emily.” I said. And she skipped on down the hall her pigtails bouncing along with each skip. My aunt and uncle escorted me to my classroom and it was my aunt’s classroom. What a relief, I thought. I settled down into my seat that had my name on the desk and got ready for my first lesson.

The first few couple weeks of school went pretty uneventful. Except that my aunt was surprised to find out that I really understood most or all of the concepts taught in third grade. In fact! She was so impressed with my skills that she recommended to the school principal that I be moved to 4^th grade. I was not too surprised. School had always been pretty easy for me. I often got bored in school so my mom would get me books out of the library to read and would give me extra school lessons at home. My mom went to college herself and graduated with honors. Unfortunately she met my father and she fell in love, or so she used to tell me, and then she quit her career goals to be a mom. So I guess she tried to focus much of that onto me.

So I was moved to 4^th grade. I was the youngest 4^th grader in the class. I was a little bit scared of what the other students would think, but as I entered the classroom I saw sitting in the front row was Emily and she was smiling at me. And at the head of the class was Mrs. Willard. She said; “Well John, it looks like you will be in my class afterall.” She smiled at me and showed me where my seat was and it was right next to Emily’s seat. Well what do you know… Maybe there is hope for this group of weirdos. Or maybe they weren’t so weird afterall? Maybe I might be okay…One could only hope?

Working on Chapter 6.... After the tragic loss of his parents...John tries to adjust to his new life. He starts attending his new school and begins to make new friends, but life can throw a curve ball at you and can pull you into some interesting directions...

Will post the next chapter soon... On the home front...it is the beginning of school here and we are getting our son ready for school... School... Who can forget that first day in Middle school... Finding the right clothes to wear.... Don't want to dress like a nerd or dress like a jock... Somewhere in-between... Do I have all my school supplies... Where the heck are all my classes? Who am I sharing a locker with? A girl, god no! Geez! Is that a pimple? And on my first day! Hell no!

Yes, I am a working mom... The worst and best job in the world! Champion van driver... Scheduler... Able to leap small buildings in a single bound! Yup, that's Super Mom! You know you are out there! So here is to all of you... Those working mom's who toll away everyday... Give all of themselves to do what they can to take care of the kids, hubby, and whomever else may need help! All on an average of 3-4 hours of sleep a night... Never getting to eat a warm dinner as you almost always eat last.So here is to the start of another year of school with the kids! Good luck out there!

And of course we cannot forget our Super Dads either!  Here's to you too! You will make it!

Chapter 5 Enter Emily This is the beginning of chapter 5. If you want to read the beginning of the story just go to the older posts to Chapter 1 so you can follow along... I have let my friends and family know of what I am writing and shown them some drafts so that the content will be protected. But you may read it and share if you like. As long as you use my name as the author. And only my name. Thanks greatly!

Chapter 5  Enter Emily

            I was watching as my Aunt was in the garden and the blonde girl with pig tails and glasses walked up to my aunt and said; “Hi Mrs. Johnson.” “Well hello right back to you Emily.” She said;. “So do you want me to help you in the garden today?” “Well sure you can!” Aunt Ida said;. “Just let me get an extra pair of gloves and a shovel so you can help me weed. You know how much I enjoy your help.” Aunt Ida said with a smile. Aunt Ida wandered into the storage shed to fetch some gloves and left Emily standing at the fence. She was leaning onto the small picket fence, she had a piece of grass sticking out of her mouth  and she was wearing a funny straw hat. Kind of like what Huck Finn liked to wear. She was wearing shorts and a tank top and was wearing flip flop sandals. I was sitting nearby on the porch when she turned and noticed me… “Who are you?” “I have never seen you before have I?” I looked at her and shook my head no. “So do you live here now? “What is your name?” She started firing off several questions, but the only answer I seemed to come up with was “My name is John, John McMurphy.” “Oh, she said, McMurphy is an odd name, I never heard that name before?” Aunt Ida returned with the gloves and saw that Emily and I were talking a little. “Well John, come over and meet Emily proper.” “She was in my class last year.” I walked over with my hands in my pockets and stood next to the fence. That surrounded her garden. Emily by this time had went inside the gate and was given the gloves and shovel and was proceeding to weed in the flower bed. “So what have you too been talking about?” “Not much.” Said Emily. “He doesn’t talk much.” She was sitting on the ground with her legs straight out in front of her while she pulled some weeds that Aunt Ida had pointed out to her. “Do you want to help me pull weeds John?” Emily said; “It’s kind of fun especially when you can smell the flowers when you are up real close.” “Sure go ahead John, I could use all the help I can get. It seems I have gotten behind in my weeding.” “Here John, I happen to have an extra pair of gloves in my apron, You take them.” I took the gloves.  And came through the gate and knelt down in the grass. Being up so close to the roses you could really smell their heavy scent. It was like strong perfume. Like the kind my mother used to wear. “Here, I will show you what to do.” Said Emily. She took my hands and placed them in the dirt along with the shovel. “Here.” She said: “Place the shovel in the dirt under the weed and dig really hard then pull them out with your hands.” I tried it and it was very strange. I had never dug in the dirt before. It felt good! I liked sticking my hands in the cool dirt, getting my hands and knees all dirty. It was like I was getting all dirty and not getting in trouble for it. I found I was really comfortable around Emily. There was something about her I liked. Something pure, kind, and sweet. So there we were all three of us digging, and weeding. After a while aunt Ida asked if we would like some ice cold lemonade and cookies for all the hard work we were doing. “That sounds great! Mrs. Johnson.” Emily exclaimed. “Sounds good.” I said. Well both of you can take your gloves off and come with me to the house to wash your hands. We left our weeding tools behind and went into the house where Ida had already had some lemonade made and some fresh baked cookies. We went outside to the back patio in the cool shade of one of the old oak trees. I slumped down into one of the patio chairs and I drank the lemonade in big gulps, It was hot outside and the cold drink hit the spot. “It sure is nice when you come over to visit Emily.” “George and I haven’t seen much of you lately?” “Yes, I know.” She said. “I was gone on vacation with my parents and we just got back a couple days ago.” “Did you go on vacation with your parents John?” asked Emily. I looked down at the ground at my feet as I was eating one of the cookies and did not reply. Aunt Ida spoke up. “Emily, John has lost his parents in a terrible accident a month ago and it is a tough subject right now.” “We all are having a hard time with it still.” “Oh, I’m sorry Mrs. Johnson.” Emily said. “I didn’t mean to pry.” “That’s okay Emily, you didn’t know.” So we all three sat there in silence for a few minutes. “Emily spoke up first. “John, would you like to come to my house sometime?” “You could try my swing set or we could ride bikes?” John said; “I don’t know how to ride a bike.” “That’s okay I can teach you. I know how to ride really good!” “Well John.” Aunt Ida said; “It looks like that would be a nice idea.” “She probably knows much more about riding a bike than George and I do.” “We haven’t ridden a bike in years…” “So John, do you have a bike?” asked Emily. “I do, I stammered.” “Well great!” Emily said.

            I didn’t know what to do next. This girl was sure bossy. But in a nice way. I didn’t want to say no, because I really did want to learn how to ride and since she was a little older than me she had been riding her bike for a while already. I wanted to ride a bike really bad! Emily asked my aunt if she could run home real quick and ask her mom and dad if she could get her bike and show me how to ride. My aunt and uncle said of course she could. And as quick as a wink she ran down the block her pig tails flopping as she was holding on to her hat you could hear the sound of her flip flops smacking the pavement as she ran. Smack!, Smack!, Smack!… Uncle George got the bike out of the garage and wiped it off until it was real shiny. It was a stingray with high handlebars and a long banana seat with a sissy bar in the back. Down the block appeared Emily fast approaching on her bike. I thought she was going to hit me when she hit the peddle break and screeched to a stop. “So, you ready John?” Emily smiled and gave a bit of a smirk. I said; “Okay, I guess so.” I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. But it sure sounded like fun to me! Anything to help keep my mind on something else.

            Emily directed me to the sidewalk in front of the house where she sat on her bike and demonstrated to me how to sit on the bike and how to work the brake pedal and how to steer. “Sit up straight like this, and push off on the pedals real hard and keep pedaling. Don’t quit pedaling or the bike will stop and you will fall right over.” She said; Aunt Ida and Uncle George were watching the scene from the porch smiling from ear to ear. “Like this.” I said. As I sat on the bike I tried to push off from the ground and tried to pedal. I fell over the first time and got a  little discouraged, but Emily kept encouraging me. “Don’t worry.” Emily said. “That happened to me lots of times before I got it right.” Time after time I kept trying. And again and again I kept falling. But each time I tried I got a little braver and stayed on a little longer. All the while Emily was riding beside me encouraging me. Finally on the tenth try I started to peddle my best and tried to steer straight when all of a sudden I was moving! I was riding! Emily said “That’s it John!” “You are doing it!” “I looked at the passing ground and kept peddling. I was a little wobbly, but I was moving. Then after a number of feet I stopped and fell to the side exhausted. Aunt Ida and Uncle George both were cheering on the sidelines and said “Bravo!” “Good job John!” I sat on the ground as Emily came up to me on her bike and said; “See.” “I said you could do it!” “After you fall a few times it gets easier.” “I fell a whole bunch before I could ride.” So we decided we had had enough excitement for the day and I needed to nurse a few bruises, but I didn’t let Emily know that because I was a boy and she was a girl. Well, you know what I mean… We walked the bikes up to the house and set them down and went inside.

            I could tell Emily had been in the house before because she headed straight for the library. It seemed she was quite a book worm. Aunt Ida said she was the brightest student in her class. I totally forgot about school? School was starting in a month and I wasn’t even sure of what school I was going to? “John.” Aunt Ida Said; “We are going to have to sign you up for school for the Fall.” “Would you like to go to school at the same school that Emily goes to?” “Sure, I guess?” “Well, it is the same school I teach at, so I will get you enrolled in a couple weeks. They will have an open house later this month.” Aunt Ida said. I wasn’t sure what to think. I knew I could not go back home to Seattle to go to school. But the few friends I had were over there. But Emily seemed pretty nice, for a girly anyway. So how bad could it be?