The Ghosts of Melbrew
Book 1 of 12 in the Multimagical Series by Lillian R.S.
Masterlist
Chapter 2 - "Foreign Roads"
4,185 words
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Continue reading below the cut, and enjoy! <3
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After getting over my shock of being pushed I got up, brushing off my clothes, feeling a bit shaken and confused. I exited the school through the back doors of the science hallway, and made my way down the stretch of road that would lead me home. It was quiet, and lightly raining, the pins and needles type that you only slightly feel. Sort of like a mist. The sky and atmosphere was grey, and that comforted me. It was as if the world had grown calm and soft, the stillness in the air felt relaxing rather than creepy.
When I arrived home, I told my parents everything I learned that day, as well as the strange things that I felt. Minus the whole history club truth thing, of course. I promised I was trustworthy, and I was. It didn't even matter if I did tell them the truth of it though, they dismissed everything as typical boys trying to scare the new girl. I didn't really expect them to believe me, but I guess they were more so in disbelief of what I was told rather than me myself. I couldn't even argue with them because afterall, they could be right as far as I was concerned.
I walked up the stairs to my bedroom, creaking beneath my feet as the whole house seemed to do. In the hallway Benny was sat on his cat tree bed, greeting me with a "Purrp!" as he then rolled onto his side. I pet him for a few moments as he purred loudly as a motorboat, making biscuits in the air with his paws. He quickly jumped to the floor and followed me to my room as I turned the knob on my door.
I went to get changed into something more comfortable, even if it wasn't pajamas. There's just something not very nice about keeping on the same sweaty clothes that you've been wearing all day. I pulled the black and purple striped sweater off my body, feeling better afterwards. I know it's Autumn and it's chilly, but when you're not outside where it's actually cold the double layers can get quite hot. That's why I'll never understand parents bothering their kids about wearing a coat all the time. Do you think I'm gonna be outside all day or what?
I looked at myself in the mirror a bit, I'd only just gotten it the day before. A small painting-like mirror which hung on my wall that I got at a local thrift store not far from the house. I ran my hands down my face, that Kimi girl calling me freckle face was certainly a new one. I chuckled thinking back to her bluntness.
Benny jumped up onto my bed, and then onto the window sill as he looked outside. My window faced out towards the farm across the street, and out to the left was a tree. I noticed his tail begin to swish back and forth in a hunting motion, he was probably looking at a bird. I would sure hope so considering he seemed to be looking at nothing.
Everything was just so strange, I know I'm a broken record, but I just haven't been able to shake it from my mind since we got there. I plopped down on my bed with a sigh, and looked randomly around my room. The dust had been cleaned of the floors and I've fixed up the peeling wallpaper a bit, wanting to completely replace it eventually. I got a dresser moved in, a TV stand, and the few other furniture we bought from the store. We pretty much left everything behind. It was ironically cheaper to buy all new furniture than it was to bring it with us. I didn't get it, but whatever. My parents didn't wanna hire a moving company because it would be too expensive.
I went and took off my knee-length brown boots. I was left in my long sleeve turtleneck, my leggings, and my socks, which were all black. Wow, at my old middle school I'd definitely get called to the guidance office for that. The guidance counselor once told me to stop wearing black because it apparently meant I was depressed, I mean, did she expect me to be cured of my non-existent depression if I stopped wearing black, or something?
I pulled my hair out of its low ponytail and bushed it for a bit. I was always surprised how tangled it managed to get in the span of one day, especially because I often never let it down. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, so I just continued to sit in my room, and thunk for a little while. Usually I would do homework, but I got all of it done in school. I decided to listen to some music and read until I got bored.
At five, I decided I would go out and look around for however long I felt like. It would be good to get to know the town and where things are located. I put on a pair of black boots and decided to head out, keeping my hair down, which I rarely do. I don't like it all in my face most times, but I put on a headband to help with that.
Before I left I took a bag and a pocket knife with me, because I certainly wasn't going to walk around alone in a town like this unarmed. Might just be paranoia, but it's better to be safe than sorry, especially as a teenage girl. When I was ready I told my parents I was going to look around for a bit. Before I was able to close the front door, Benny darted outside in a flash. I suppose he's fine as long as he's with me, he did always like to follow me around when I was outside. I was just a bit concerned about the wildlife here, as this place was much more rural than our previous home.
I stepped down off the porch and walked down the stone pathway to the road. Benny eagerly followed me with a little jog. For being an older cat, he sure was agile. I took in a deep breath, breathing in the cold, misty air, the Autumn wind blowing lightly.
I could still feel the little raindrops from earlier stabbing my face in an ever so graceful manner. It was now the evening, which means the more minutes that ticked by, the darker it got. It actually wasn't a bad town, just a little bit off-putting and in need of a few slight touch ups. I wasn't someone who liked really fancy things, so the old feel of the town was actually something I really liked.
I felt like some kind of edge lord wearing all black, but it didn't feel too out of place here in a town like this. The only thing that was missing was a black cat, though alas, Benny was a fat, brown, green-eyed tabby. He reminded me a lot of a dog in a cat's body as he followed behind me, staying close to the side of the road. He'd occasionally stop and sniff random smells before trotting back up to me.
The sky was still grey, and it seemed like the weather didn't really change much, but I had expected a lot of rain since before we moved here. Everything was totally quiet except for the occasional wind and the barely audible tapping of the raindrops that slowly got thicker. Another dog-like trait about old Benny boy is that he doesn't care about getting wet. Silliest cat ever, I tell you.
I was walking down the road from my house to the school. The street was lined with houses, and trees stood tall behind them. My house was located on the practically abandoned side of town. I don't mean that in a bad way, though. Sure, some houses looked decrepit and run down, but most of them were normal old houses for sale. Here on the Northernmost side of town "For Sale" signs were in practically every front yard. It was the side that an old mansion and cemetery were on, so I guess that could be a factor as to why. No one wants to live up here, but they are cheaper, so that's a plus.
It was strangely calming, though, but I've said that a lot. It just is. Being around all these empty houses, a town devoid of people. I approached the cutoff at the Melbrew River, which cut through the town, separating the void north from the middle and south parts. I stood on the bridge for a while as I looked out to the flowing water beneath me.
There was something that I loved about the water. The smell, the feeling, the emotion. The smell of rain, autumn, and cold air. It was great. I had a feeling it would be hard to walk to school without getting distracted by the bridge. I could sit on it for hours, and Benny agreed as he jumped up on the ledge with me to get some pets.
Once crossing the bridge you've got more residential houses, and locally owned shops, and businesses. Things immediately began to feel more lively than they did up by my house. Children yelled in the distance, and inside some houses I could hear people's TVs playing. Lights lit up the insides, and some people even sat on their porches, reading a book or drinking their evening tea. Completely different from the dark and empty part my house was in.
On this side of town, Halloween themed flags waved outside the houses, while others had pumpkins, scarecrows, and more seasonal decorations. I saw a black cat in the window of one house, and waved to him, telling Benny he has a friend in the window.
Instead of continuing down the road that would lead to school, I decided to take a right. It was a residential road with houses on both sides. On the corner of the street at the other side, there was an ice cream shop and a diner. I decided to head down a side street that led into the woods, at the most Southwestern part of town.
The side streets in the town were made of gravel, and fully surrounded by woods. From what I could tell, houses were scarce, but the ones that were there looked incredibly creepy. These little shelters built into the forest, with moss and vines growing up the sides. There was a no outlet sign at the entrance, so I was curious what was at the end.
As I walked down the road, I began to hear voices in the distance. Benny seemed to be on alert at the sound of people, refusing to follow me any further. The voices became more and more clear the closer I got. When I could finally make out their conversation, I recognized the voices as the people I met earlier that day.
"Oh, come on, Kimi!" I heard Cameron say loudly in the distance as I continued to get closer still, "It's not like I spilled every single illegal thing we've ever done to her!"
"You still told a girl you just met that the history club isn't a real history club! It's supposed to be a club just for us, everyone else is going to get faked! And if you don't care about that, then you should at least consider that if she tells anyone about it you could get him fired!" Kimi's whiney voice yelled.
"Mr. Marshall didn't have a problem with it, Kimi, it's not that deep. In fact, he even told me to tell her about it himself. We didn't even say anything bad, we just said we're going to look over the paranormal conspiracy stuff that happens, and the Humphrey family murder, and last time I checked the Humphrey family counts as history. Also, you'd have to be braindead to not know about either of those things and still live in this town. Do you think we're idiots?" I heard Dominik say.
"You can't just tell a complete stranger who just moved here all of these things! They can't tell them, right, Kai?"
The road was curvy, so I stayed out of sight between the tall, thin trees. I could see them as I peered around a corner. Kai simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "She seemed trustworthy enough."
"Trustworthy enough?!" Kimi sounded shocked and angry, "How can you stand there and just say she looked trustworthy enough?! Just looked like it, slightly? Are you people just that careless? I know Cameron is but I expected better of you two because you two aren't supposed to be fucking idiots!"
"God damn, Kimi, Calm do-" Dominik said.
"DON'T TELL ME TO BE CALM!" She screeched, practically echoing throught the forest. Everything went silent, but just for one second.
"It is not that deep, stop yelling!" Cameron yelled back.
"I'll stop yelling when you stop yelling!"
"What are you guys? Five?!" Dominik said.
"Do you wanna fight, little Miss throw hands?!" Cameron said, ignoring Dominik, putting up his fists in an exaggerated fighting pose.
"Don't fight my sister." Kai said, still monotone.
"Yes, I would love to fight!" Kimi yelled.
"No." Kai said.
"Then let's fucking fight!" Cameron yelled, punching his first into the palm of his hand.
"Let's not fucking fight." Kai said.
"Cameron, I think that would be assaulting a child." Dominik said, "Don't fight a 12-year-old girl!"
"You calling me a child?!" Kimi said.
"You literally are a child!" Dominik exclaimed, stretching his arms out in bewilderment.
"Yet I could probably still beat your dumbass."
I decided that I should probably step in and stop this, so I went around the corner and began walking towards them, "Um, excuse me, I hate to be of disturbance to this lovely conversation you seem to be having, but I presume that I'm the cause of all this?" I yelled loud enough for them to hear me.
"I will rip your face off, you overly-polite sack of–!" Kimi yelled very loudly, though Kai slapped his hand over her mouth last second before she could curse, looking and sounding constantly done with everyone's crap. I'm not even exaggerating. That man had a blank face 24/7 but in that face I saw an overworked 47 year old dad who's ready to go to the grave, but also doubles as an edgy teenage loner.
"You were the one that caused this, but that is okay, because Kimora is over dramatic and always wants to fight people for any reason that she can come up with. We are leaving now." He said, and began to walk away, pulling his little sister with him.
"LET GO OF ME I AM NOT FINISHED HERE!" Kimi yelled, trying to pull herself away from his grip.
"Well I am." He said, sounding tired.
They disappeared into the distance down the road I came from, and Dominik shook his head sadly, "That kid drives me insane. I sometimes wonder how Kai deals with that fiery ball of aggression. It's quite sad too because they both used to be so different."
"Sorry that you had to find us in the middle of an argument, dude. As you can probably tell, she wasn't too happy that we told you about some of our secret shit, even though we really didn't tell you about any of our secret shit. It was just that we have secret shit." Cameron said.
"Well, I'm sorry to have caused a conflict. I am interested in it, though." I said honestly.
Cameron waved his hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it, it's not you, it's Kimi. Honestly, you should feel honored, your first day at Melbrew and you managed to hit a gold mine of town information getting to know us!"
"Do you have some sort of ego, or something?"
"Yes." Dominik said, "Oh God, Yes."
"Hehe, I pride myself on my knowledge. You also can't lie that she's lucky enough to get this all on the first day, too. You're extremely easy to get along with, you know that, Emeline?"
"I've been told that before, yes. I'm not one for causing conflict, though I guess I managed to do just that. Why were you guys out here, anyway?"
"We were just hanging out, but then my dumbass started talking about you and Kimi got pissed at me as per usual." Cameron said. "Nothing new there."
A phone soon rang, and Dominik picked it up. He said a few yeahs and okays and shortly hung up. "That was my mom, she wants me home for dinner soon."
"Yeeeah, I guess I should be going, too," Cameron said, following alongside Dominik, "Muh mum's makin' potatoes. I love me some fuckin' potatoes. Catch you later, Emeline." He said, putting up finger guns. They walked off down the street together, farther into the woods.
I began to head back out, calling for Benny. He popped up out of the woods and ran up to me, hitting his head against my ankles. Once back out on the actual roads, I took a seat on the propped up sidewalk, giving Benny the pets and attention he wanted constantly.
Was Kimi really just an unnecessary ball of anger, or were they really doing some kind of shady stuff they shouldn't have told me about? Cameron did mention doing illegal things, but what could that possibly mean? What illegal things could you even do in a small town like this, especially if they're– as I assume– mystery related? What, did they rob a store for ghost hunting equipment, or something?
I began to walk home, taking a different route than the one I came from. My thoughts were running wild, I was certain there was something going on here, but what? According to Kimi it's something much deeper than I should know about, or be trusted with. Like, where am I right now? Gravity Falls if it was one more state north? Who's gonna be the demon to bring the apocalypse, and how long will it take? If you tell me twenty years from now I'm gonna be upset.
I was determined to find out what's going on, I'd just have to show Kimi that she could trust me. I've always been into mystery shows and books, but I guess I'm in one now? So, uh, that's cool. Fits the vibe.
As I headed up to the Northwest side of town, I got an eerie feeling. Not the same eerie feeling as before, one that was now making me genuinely unsettled. The same kind of feeling I got earlier that day when I was in Ms. Hogg's class. The sky grew darker as the day headed into later hours, making the scenery even worse than it would have already been in the daylight. It happened basically right as I stepped off of the bridge, a different one than the one I crossed to the east. Benny seemed to feel it to, and I watched as he ran off back home as fast as lightning.
I went and walked down mainstreet, which finally split two ways around an old looking park. To the left of me down Hill Street was a gas station store, and to my right down Park Street was more woods. In front of me though, was a park. It was extremely creepy and I really didn't want to be outside anymore, but I decided to walk through it anyway. It appears that I'm a dumb horror movie protagonist. Oh well.
It seemed to me like no one ever really went to that park anymore, as everything looked to be rather worn down and old. There were unkempt bushes and trees that were withering away and dying. The broken and rusted playground equipment was sure to have seen better days. One of the benches was just straight up split in half. In the center of the park was a stone well, and even when I shined my phone's flashlight down it, it still continued on into darkness.
I exited the park on the opposite side from which I entered, and I was now at the base of a hill, or a mountain, or whatever. The path in front of me to my right led into a graveyard, with the road following alongside it. I'm pretty sure following the graveyard to the right would lead me home, but I wanted to see if there was anything on this hill first, so I walked the road going left.
I walked down the road, and now on my left was the park, while my right was a hill covered in trees. After a little bit of walking I found a road going up it, but it curved a bit and I couldn't see through the grove. It was a very long driveway, and it was boarded up, no kidding. Giant boards were nailed to the trees, and very old caution tape was wrapped all around it. Okay, I'm so going up there.
I climbed up the hill in a struggle until I got to a point where I could slip by between two trees higher up. I made my way higher up, and there were loads of NO TRESPASSING signs stapled to the trees, as if the boarded up entrance and caution tape wasn't enough. I guess it really wasn't though, considering I was still walking up the path despite them. The gravel road went on and on, as it kept ascending upwards, making twists and turns.
Finally the road came to an end, and at the top of the hill I began to see a house, but the closer I got the less it looked like a house and the more it looked like a mansion. A big, giant mansion just sitting up here on a mountain in the middle of the woods with a gravel driveway. It had big brick walls going around it and a gated entrance made of fancy black bars. It looked very Victorian, except for the caution tape and no trespassing signs that made their way all the way up here. So this was the place I've heard about!
In front of it were three graves, which had names I didn't recognize. The last name seemed familiar though, and I was trying to remember if Cameron or Dominik might've said it earlier that day. I took out my phone flashlight and shined it around. I could see into the yard, it was big and overgrown with plants.
I looked down and noticed a little reflective glimmer from my flashlight. There looked to be a shiny gem object on the other side of the gates, which was luckily just within my reach! I picked it up, it was an old-looking, purple, amethyst necklace. I put it on since I didn't have any pockets, and decided to finally make my way back home. I was officially getting too many creeps, even for me.
The wind blew cold in the air. It felt like winter now, the way it nipped and stung my face. I started running down the gravel road, trying not to look at the tall trees to the sides of me. I had to use my phone as a flashlight, and I couldn't see three feet in front of me.
When I finally got of the large driveway at the base of the hill I could see again due to the streetlamps turning on. I slipped back out between the trees and stumbled down onto the road. Despite now being covered in mud, I breathed a sigh of relief to be out of the woods and into the open again. I started walking down the street to my house, with the cemetery to my left, and park to my right.
I began running, and slowed to a jog when my corner street house came into sight on my left. The cemetery and park were now behind me, and both to my left and right stood houses, all with their "For Sale" signs. The farm was in front of me, and my house stood to my left. It began fully raining now, and I quickly hopped up onto my porch, Benny running up and dashing inside when he heard me twist the doorknob.
When I got inside I felt so happy to feel the warmth. I went back to my bedroom, put on my pajamas, and collapsed in my bed, too exhausted to eat dinner. I felt so tired, but also so eager and intrigued. I had a feeling I was going to be good friends with these guys, I'll show that Kimi girl!
I went to sleep with thoughts of ghosts and murder mysteries running through my mind, Benny purring happily on my chest as the rain fell from the skies.
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