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The Quiet Heights | Chapter 1

You Are Now Entering The Quiet Heights

River West moves into a new neighborhood full of unexplainable things, and now she can't leave. Her only option is to try and solve the mystery that is The Quiet Heights, with its strange residents, friendly witches, an ominous all-knowing Library and a creepy Neighborhood Advisory Council that may or may not be behind most of the things going wrong. *** River hadn't left her apartment in a week. Ever since she moved here.

Well, not really – she still needed food and her dog still needed daily walks, so it would be more correct to say that she hadn’t left her neighborhood for a week. With the almost-constant rain outside, it was quite easy to hole up in the apartment anyway. And with the heartbreak River was still nursing, spending days in complete solitude seemed like the only logical decision, so she chose to stick by it.

It was getting harder and harder to drag herself outside with every passing day. If it weren’t for her dog, she probably wouldn’t get out of bed at all, but Mouse has been getting restless as he usually does before his evening walk, and the contents of her fridge could use an upgrade. With a quiet groan, she stood up from the couch, put her laptop away, grabbed her coat and Mouse’s leash, and they were off.

The outside greeted her with crisp air and, of course, rain. Not the cozy kind, either; this one was tiny needles hitting the skin in the most unpleasant of ways and painting the streets in dull, washed-out gray. River tugged on her hood and scowled as she let Mouse drag her to the walkway behind the small apartment building. The convenience store was a short walk across it, and, after letting Mouse do his business and run around, she took the familiar route to the one-storeyed building.

The bell chimed as River walked in, Mouse trotting in tow. Lately, this and the interactions with the store owner have been the highlights of her days. Not that she was complaining, really. She didn’t know her name, but the woman behind the counter was always friendly in a non-talkative way - the best kind of friendly there was. On top of that, she allowed animals inside the store, so River didn’t have to agonize over the ethics of leaving your dog tied up alone outside.

Upon River’s entrance, the shop owner greeted her with the usual kind smile. If it seemed a little tight-lipped today, River didn’t pay too much attention. Everyone’s dealing with their own things in their own way.

The shopping process was barely a process, with her already knowing what she needed. There was some leftover ham and cheese in the fridge, so she grabbed a jar of pickles and some sliced bread. Making sandwiches was technically cooking, right?

“Running on a tight schedule?” the owner asked as River approached the counter. She could only give her a confused frown. Perhaps it wasn’t too noticeable, but greasy hair in an unkempt ponytail and sweatpants with ugg boots she only bought because of the low effort they required when putting them on didn’t exactly scream in a hurry.

“Not really, no,” she slowly replied, mostly to be polite. “Uh, how much is it?”

“That’ll be two-fifty,” the owner told her, distracted. Now River was beginning to realize she seemed off . Frazzled. “Just put it on the counter, I gotta close up.”

River’s frown deepened. Close up? It was barely seven pm and they were usually open well into midnight. Maybe she had an event to attend. A birthday, or a baby shower. Normal human things for people with a social circle they weren’t actively avoiding. “Okay.”

Now - when she said she needed to close up, RIver thought she meant she had to finish up some last-minute things before actually physically closing the door. But, as River fished for some change in her pockets, the owner ran to the door and began locking up. Three big locks for the barred door, and a satisfying click of the lock for the second regular metal door. Come to think about, did convenience stores in quiet remote neighborhoods really need that level of security? On the other hand, if you’ve ever been robbed at a gunpoint, you can never have enough doors, River reasoned. She didn’t know the woman’s life story enough to be questioning things.

The owner interrupted her inner musings with an impatient glance. “You done?”

“Uh. How am I supposed to leave?” The words felt clumsy on her tongue – that was the longest and the most eloquent sentence she’d said in a week. To another human, no less.

She huffed. “Back door,” duh was seemingly at the tip of her tongue.

River glanced at Mouse, who only blinked back. “Right.” She wasn’t even aware the store had a backdoor, but tonight was apparently the night of firsts.

The owner, clearly fed up with River’s penchant for silent life contemplation, blew out an impatient sigh and all but shoved her towards the theoretical exit. “There,” she gestured. And, as if to further demonstrate its existence, the backdoor opened, revealing a mildly disheveled short woman in an honest-to-God traveling cloak. “Thank Goddess,” the woman uttered and darted further inside the store, paying little attention to the three of them.

Mouse let out a tiny confused whine. River silently agreed.

“Liana!” The shop owner cried out, completely appalled. “It’s late!”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry!” came from somewhere between the aisles, a bit muffled and genuinely apologetic. The woman reemerged shortly after, clutching five packs of salt to her chest. “Nana’s a little sick,” she breathlessly informed the agitated shop owner as she dumped her bounty on the counter. “I just got back, and --”

“Jesus, Liana, just take it and get out,” the shop owner exclaimed, rubbing her temple. “And you - you’re still here, seriously? Both of you go, now. ”

“I - okay,” River muttered, not too thrilled about being yelled at for no apparent good reason. She tugged on Mouse’s leash and hurried outside, nearly colliding with the other woman - Liana - in the doorway.

“You mind?” the woman huffed, before pushing past her.

“Not at all,” River said to her retreating back. Had interpersonal communication really changed that much in a week, or was she missing something? Clearly, she was. Or maybe that was the Quiet Heights way - treat your neighbor as rudely as humanly possible.

At least it was no longer raining and they could walk back in relative peace. It was getting a little foggy, but River quite liked the fog. Maybe she’d even take the long way home.

“Good lord,” the shop owner grunted behind her back. “Liana!”

The cloaked figure, already a good few feet away, stopped. River could only look between the two. “Judy?” Liana called back, uncertain.

Well. Now River knew the shop owner’s name, which was already past the comfortable relationship level she wanted to have with the woman.

“You wanna make sure this one gets home?”

It took River a tad longer than she’d like to admit to realize she was the this one in question. Just as she was about to point out that this one was a grown woman perfectly capable of finding her way to her apartment, Liana spoke, after a tense beat.

“There’s still time.” And with that, she turned and walked away, surprisingly fast for someone of her stature.

River glanced at Judy. Judy shook her head, expression caught between concerned and impatient. In the end, the impatience won out, it seemed. “Run home, kid. Hope I see you tomorrow. Just…” she hesitated, as she grasped the door handle, and shook her head again. “Go straight home, and don’t leave till morning.”

“I wasn’t -- going to,” River told the already closed door.

As far as social interactions went, that one wasn’t great. Not that she’d call it disastrous - and she considered herself to be a bit of an expert on those. It was just… honestly, it was simply outside of any frame of reference she had. An overall bizarre experience she would not want to repeat. It was high time she followed Judy’s advice and went straight home, anyway. Even without the rain it wasn’t exactly summer out.

The fog seemingly thickened as River turned and headed in the general direction of her apartment building - or, at least, what she hoped to be the general direction of her apartment building, at that point. Mouse, not usually one for swiftly returning back home, was way ahead of her, tugging on the leash almost as forcefully as he did when he had to pee particularly badly. At first, River figured that was the case, but he didn’t stop to sniff at the ground or the trees. He simply pressed on forward, as if he was determined to end up back at the apartment as soon as possible.

Really, that should have been her first clue. But then, River never claimed to be particularly aware of her surroundings.

She frowned when her dog was all but sprinting towards their building, inches from suffocating himself with his collar. “Mouse,” she called out harshly, and came to a stop. He only whined in response, and didn’t abandon his attempts. “Stay. Hey - stay. ”

Now, Mouse was a great dog. River would go as far as calling him the perfect dog, and sure, she might be biased, but she wasn’t that far off, either. He was patient, friendly, and quiet. He rarely demanded attention but absolutely loved it when he got it, he sensed every change in her mood and always tried to cheer her up, and he was an extremely well-behaved dog that followed every rule and command out of an enormous amount of love he had for her in his little fluffy body. Any command, he followed. Even when he smelled chicken and ran to the kitchen to try and beg a piece out, only to be met with a firm “ bed ” - he’d just sigh and trot to the other room without a fuss. That was how serious Mouse was about being a good dog.

So, needless to say, having to not only repeat a command, but watch Mouse actively disobey it both times was nothing short of a shock. River froze, briefly, in disbelief. Mouse did nothing of the sort. He wheezed, and dug into the mushy ground with all paws, and tugged with all of his medium-sized-dog might. Forward. Forcing River to take an ill-fated step towards the hidden slick puddle. That was how River found herself on her back, staring up at the silhouettes of the tree branches less and less visible through the rapidly setting fog. It reminded her of being in a sauna, almost. Last time she’d been to one, she was a teenager, and her cousin poured way too much water on the hot stones, and they almost suffocated, and the air was boiling with heat.

Now, the air was sharp with cold, and her body groaned with protest at the impact of the fall. She winced as she sat up, slowly, praying that nothing was broken. Thankfully, she seemed to be in one piece. And Mouse was sure in for a stern scolding. As soon as she found him, of course.

“Fuck,” she grunted, no longer caring about any potential injuries as she hurriedly stood up and helplessly clenched her empty, leash-less hand. “Mouse! Mouse! ” She whipped around, eyes wide, as she struggled to see the four-legged shape through the fog she now absolutely despised. Most likely, he ran to their building, but River no longer had any idea which way was which. She could be facing the building, or she could be facing the convenience store, she could be facing the direction that Liana woman went in - it was all the same to her now. Just the tree-shaped shadows floating through the fucking Milky Way, along with her.

River took a couple of shuddering breaths, trying to calm herself down in the face of an impending panic attack. It was, after all, just a weather condition. No matter how bad it got, she was in the middle of a quiet, well-populated neighborhood, surrounded by buildings and people and civilization. Which - speaking of civilization, River thought sheepishly and reached for her phone. Maybe the flashlight could help with the mist. Or was it mist when you could actually see through it?

River filed that unhelpful thought for later and turned the flashlight on. It did zero for visibility, but somehow, she still felt a little safer. Someone ahead clearly had the same idea, because she could make out a couple of tiny lights dancing in the distance. Relief flooded through her at the sight. They could help her find Mouse, or at the very least point her to her building. “Hey, guys!” She yelled at them, waving her phone and walking towards their lights. “I think I’m lost. Well, I definitely am,” she let them know, with a short laugh.

The lights bopped a little in place, as if whoever was holding them was gesturing while speaking to each other. It suddenly occurred to River, then, that she might not be perceived as a friendly neighbor of a non-dangerous kind. She certainly gave off weird, might-be-crazy vibes to herself at the moment. But she also needed help, and rather badly at this point. Wherever he was, Mouse was probably absolutely terrified without his human.

That thought gave her strength and speed, and she practically ran towards the strangers with their weirdly dancing flashlights. “I’m really sorry if I startled you - I just, I’m new here, I moved in last week.” She was about to say even more in her sudden stream of consciousness. That she was disoriented, and confused, and scared, however silly that might seem to her unknown neighbors. Or that she was so worried and anxious about Mouse she had an acute stomach ache. Or that she had no idea fogs could even get that bad in populated areas, and this had to be some kind of a phenomenon and shouldn’t it be documented by some weather agency? She had a lot to share with the hopefully friendly strangers, which, in hindsight, probably would have made the interaction awkward for everyone involved.

In a way, the fact that there was no one to tell all of that to was a blessing in disguise.

River slowly realized the absence of anything but the lights as she came within six feet of them. And there they were, the lights. With no people attached to them. Just two round spheres suspended in the air, a touch bigger than a tennis ball. At first, River thought them to be some sort of forgotten, malfunctioning Christmas lights, but she couldn’t see any strings they could be attached to.

Ball lightning, she came to the next logical conclusion. River read somewhere that those usually appeared during a thunderstorm, but nature was weird, ball lightning was hardly explained as it was, and with delayed fear River also remembered that the glowing orbs were highly unpredictable and dangerous.

As if hearing her thoughts, one of the spheres bobbed in place before leisurely floating towards her. It didn’t really look like lightning. More of an LED bulb. A clean, cold white reminiscent of offices and hospitals. Now that River thought more about it - could ball lightning even be that perfect round shape and perfect bright color?

And were they all that dangerous, really? When was the last time ball lightning - if that thing even was the matter in question - killed anyone?

River took a step closer as soft, silky thoughts flowed through her mind. She slowly cocked her head to the right, studying the orb, and gasped when the orb seemingly did the same, dipping in the air as it followed her head movement. What if it was… intelligent? What if--

A sharp, enraged bark cut through the mental mist River didn’t realize she was in. She wasn’t given an appropriate amount of time to react, however, because the next moment she found herself on her back for the second time that night, a petite body sprawled across her.

“Mother fucker, ” the body groaned in a familiar voice. River hadn’t heard it that pained before - only annoyed with her general existence. “Get up, goddammit, get the fuck up!”

Like that. It did come with a new flavor of panicked this time. And incessant angry barking in the background.

River blinked. “Liana?” She asked, just to be sure.

The body growled in frustration, but didn’t stop trying to tug River to her feet. Which was ambitious, to say the least, given River’s height and general uncooperation. “Get up ,” she practically snarled. Over her shoulder, River watched her sweet, well-mannered dog spray spit as he barked at the increasingly frantic glowing orbs.

“Mouse,” she mumbled, and got up.

“Fucking finally, ” Liana breathed out. She still did not stop tugging on River’s hand. Now, she was directing them away from the lights.

No, River thought with sudden despair. She couldn’t just leave them - she couldn’t…

A loud slap resonated through the fog, the entire left side of River’s face was on fire, and Liana briefly looked satisfied. “Get moving,” she instructed. River allowed herself to be led away, mostly out of sheer shock. Mouse was already in front of them, sprinting away, his tail tucked between his legs.

It was a truly bizarre experience - slowly coming to it as she ran as fast as she could, clasping the hand of a near-stranger. The partying in the past was probably the closest thing to what she was currently going through. Seeing the world in brief flashes of consciousness while being dragged to a cab or a bathroom.

It wasn’t fun then, and it wasn’t fun now. River shook her head and, with a stubborn scowl, dug her heels in the ground, coming to an abrupt stop. The movement - or, rather, the stopping of any movement - yanked Liana back, and they collided for the second time. River was fast enough to catch her, purely on instinct, and at least everyone stayed upright.

Some were less thrilled about it than the others.

“You’re a freaking brick wall, you know that?” Liana informed her. “Also - what the fuck? Do you have a death wish or something, why are you stopping?”

River was surprised enough to let her know that she did, actually. All of the therapists she saw, however briefly, deducted that within the first couple of sessions. But that was very much not the point. “Why are we running?”

“Are you fucking - okay. Okay,” she watched as Liana closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said for the third time, not sounding like it in the slightest. Her eyes fluttered open, almost sparkling in the dark. Gray, River noted for the first time. And, apparently, almost silver when angry. “Look at your dog.”

River did. But mostly because she wanted to, she told herself. Mouse greeted her with his tail still tucked firmly between his legs and his little face absolutely miserable.

“Is he normally like that?” Liana asked next to her, quietly.

“No,” River shook her head, blinking. “No, it’s…”

“And was that, back there, normal?”

The orbs floated to the front of her mind, peacefully bobbing in and out of darkness. “No,” River said again, trying to swallow the overwhelming anxiety down. “No, fuck - it wasn’t. What the hell was that?”

“Oh for fuck’s… Look at me ,” cold, slender fingers grasped her chin, and River found herself staring down, into the silver. “Do I seem normal?”

A sharp jab to her ribs let her know she took longer than Liana considered to be polite, and she nodded. “Yeah. I think so. Yeah.”

“Amazing,” Liana deadpanned. “So could you trust me for a minute longer and just move ?” She must have read something on River’s face, then, because she sighed and spoke softer. “I will explain everything, I promise, but it will have to be later because we’re so out of time, River.”

Right on cue, Mouse let out a howl he had never let out before, and River finally reasoned that even if she didn’t trust the woman she met approximately half an hour ago, at the very least she trusted her dog.

So she grabbed his leash, and they ran.

***

“Huh. Guess it’s relatively safe to stay in the fog as long as it’s still quiet,” Liana mused to herself as she locked the door with practiced ease.

“ Still quiet ,” River repeated after her. “You make it sound like it’s gonna be very not quiet very soon.”

“Wow, she can speak in full sentences,” Liana told Mouse, surprise all over her face.

“Hilarious.”

“It’s a gift.”

“I was promised an explanation.”

One dark eyebrow rises at her. “Great social skills.” She glanced at Mouse. “Is Mommy always this grumpy around people who just saved her life?”

The dog didn’t have an answer to that.

“We need salt,” Liana announced.

“Right. Of course we do.” River let her pass and then followed her to the kitchen. “For the door and the windows, right? So we’re dealing with demons, it’s - there’s something demonic out there?”

“Didn’t peg you for a Catholic,” her guest threw over her shoulder. “And no, it’s not demons. At least, not the kind you’re thinking of. Salt has a wider range than that.”

“Good to know,” River muttered, not sure if she meant it.

***

They settled in the living room after spilling a line of salt in front of every possible entrance and double-checking the door. First thing Liana did was close the heavy curtains. “Thank Goddess Rose had some sense,” she noticed dryly. At River’s uncomprehending glance, she elaborated: “Rose lived here before you.”

“Oh.” She blinked. “How do you know it wasn’t me who put the curtains up?”

“Was it?”

River huffed at Liana’s pointed gaze. “...No.”

“Alright. Please don’t look out the window.”

“I was not going to.” River thought of something else, then. “What happened to Rose?”

“She died,” Liana let her know shortly. She was tilting her head to the right, seemingly listening for something. River didn’t think she wanted to know what it was she was looking for.

“Did…” She licked her lips, quickly, and struggled not to glance at the window, “did this kill her?”

“What?” Liana barely glanced at her as she kept intently listening for something. “No, she was like ninety-something, she died in her sleep.”

“Why did you come back for me?” River didn’t mean for the question to get out, but it did anyway.

Liana glanced at her. “Your dog was running around alone.” She picked at an invisible string on her sleeve and didn’t look River in the eye as she spoke next. “Honestly, I didn’t think there was much to come back for.”

River was just about to feel indignant when the real meaning of Liana’s words hit her. “Oh. You mean like…”

“Yeah, thought we’d have to come back and bury you in the morning. If there was anything left to bury.”

“You mean I would’ve been, what? Dissolved? Dusted?” She swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. That had to have been unpleasant - being reduced to particles.

Her guest shrugged. “I don’t really know,” she admitted, and it looked like it pained her a great deal. “Sometimes people just... don’t come back. Val - she was Rose’s older sister.”

“Rose -- oh, the woman who lived here before me.”

“Yes, great listening skills,” Liana snapped, before quickly closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “I - sorry. I tend to… do that. This is a high pressure situation.”

“I gathered,” River deadpanned.

“Yeah. So.” She took another breath and continued. “Val just walked out there one time. The last time we ever saw her, obviously. She was calling for James - he was her husband of forty or so years. Then the fog set in, I shut the blinds, and next morning, she was gone. No body, no… remains or anything.”

River decidedly did not like the word remains. “Well, thank you for coming back,” she told Liana, earnestly. “I know I mentioned my death wish, but that’s not how I imagined I’d go out.”

“Stop,” Liana snapped. She sighed when River shot her a startled look. “Sorry, I just mean - you shouldn’t bring up something like that. That thing out there can get in your head. You’ve seen it yourself.”

“Right. Sorry.” She wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for, but Liana seemed to accept it anyway as she nodded.

For a moment, no one spoke. Liana carefully listened for something, and River just tried to keep it together and not freak out. On autopilot, she scratched at Mouse’s ears and played with his fur. The dog, it seemed, merely tolerated her touches, as if also craving some sense of normalcy as he curled up next to her, tense and anxious.

She tried to focus on her breathing, but that just made her breathe faster, so she let her mind wander in the past. That, however, dredged up memories and feelings she was not ready to go through on her best days - much less during the night of supernatural horrors. Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes and forced herself to think of her perfect day. She was definitely going to have one after they made it out alive. First, she’d take a long walk with Mouse. Then they’d have breakfast - she’d even cook like she used to before, mushrooms and peppers sauteed in real butter, scrambled eggs and coffee and a perfect toast. And–

“ River? ”

“Hmm?” She shook her head and focused on Liana again, who was watching her, cautiously. “Sorry, I – zone out, sometimes, it’s… What did you say?”

“I said nothing,” Liana replied, and she looked darkly concerned as she slowly stood up. “Okay. You need to listen to me—”

“ —River .” That wasn’t Liana’s voice. It wasn’t her calling River now, and it wasn’t her calling before, since the sound came from the side of the window.

“River!”

She knew that voice. River knew that voice very well. She heard that voice almost every day for the past couple of years; heard it laugh at her jokes, heard it mock people they didn’t like, heard it ask her if she were okay, heard it shaky in-between crying hiccups as she called her in the middle of another panic attack.

She’d been dreaming of that voice for several months now, and every time she woke up, she wished she didn’t, because in the dreams, she was still there. Still alive.

“River?! River, I’m scared! What’s going on?!” came from outside the window again, and River’s heart, frozen up until now, just about burst out of her chest.

“ River. ” She blinked and looked back at her barely-invited guest. Liana was studying her with cautious eyes, as if trying to read her mind. “River, whatever it is you’re hearing right now, it’s not real. It is not real ,” she repeated, slowly.

“I…”

“River!” And just like that, it broke her. Because it’s been months, and it was so sudden and so fucking unfair and she’d been slowly falling apart ever since she got that call - a fucking phone call, can you believe that? A phone call one morning to find out your best friend, basically your little sister is dead, and—

“I’m sorry,” was all River could mutter as she sprang to her feet and bulldozed past Liana to the window. Mouse's wounded yipp barely registered in her brain. “I just need to see – I’m sorry, I just need to see her, see if it’s her, I’m sor—”

Once again, Liana proved that women with slight frames could be incredibly strong in a surprising, agile way. She tackled River just as she was about to get a glimpse outside the window, and they tumbled to the floor right under the sill.

“Look at me. River, look at me.” Even in her half-dazed half-shocked state she could hear the desperation in Liana’s voice loud and clear. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you lost someone so important, but you have to believe me – it’s not them out there. They are in a much better place.”

“ River! ”

There were three things River remembered before sudden darkness: Liana’s wild, scared eyes, Mouse’s growls, and sharp pain in the back of her head. chapters 2, 3, 4 are already on patreon!

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