A Short Story : A Story?

She was stupid she thought. If she had a modicum of sense she would have told someone, she thought as she went behind the motel, the moon was full and glishing, once upon a time such light meant no monsters should come to prey. The grass was flat and crystallized with ice. There motel had no noise apart from the whistling of the wind, leaves rustling as it passed through the trees.

*Slam*. The door shuts. The room was silent, you could hear a pin drop. Leah left and I heard the car start up. We’ve never gotten in a fight like this. Tears started streaming down my face. The tears started streaming down my face harder and harder by the second. AGHHHHH I screamed. I slowly got up from the table the chair squeaking making the same sound it made when Leah left. WOOSH. I think that was the fastest I’ve EVER turned around. I saw a small shadow. Nobody else was home. but there was still a shadow? I walked around the corner…nothing. I ran upstairs and WOOSH again. I checked my bedroom and Leah’s bedroom. There was nothing in there.

The sun was high in the sky, gleaming down on us. The air was breezy, but not cold. The day was ordinary, or so it seemed. But what was out of place? That would be my brother, the only person who could possibly get himself into such a situation, with his impossible ability to almost die, but just miss the mark. As he sat there on the ground with his back to us, legs sprawled out in front of him, we didn’t even realize that there was anything wrong. Hold on a second. Let’s rewind this just a little.

They were your ordinary suburban family; two lovely parents who had great jobs and two kids who were good at everything. This family was often one you dreamt of being a part of. Perfect family-perfect lifestyle. You could catch Olivia rolling her eyes at the sight of them. The Donahue parents had great jobs at OHSU as medical researchers, and they needed a babysitter every day after the kids got home from school. Olivia loved the kids, and soon enough she got a job as a babysitter. Though the job was fun, and she got a healthy pay; she was also excited for her babysitting job at the Donahues to expire. The Donahue family lived in a quaint suburb of Portland. The street felt airy and calm. The sunlight came through their front windows and made the house glow like a lightbulb. Everyone who lived there was friendly and inviting. Every summer weekend there would be block parties. Amidst a sea of playing children were parents relaxing with a cold beverage. How fun it would be to be apart of the fun. The Donahue’s enjoyed their compact backyard and their recurring games of badminton. They enjoyed their cozy home with a fireplace and rescue dog, Roxy. Not to mention, they each looked like carbon copies of each other. Olivia gawked to Benjamin every day whining, “How are they that perfect?” Benjamin always laughed at her comments, he enjoyed how real she

Speeding around the corner, I see the dilapidated house has taken one more step toward total ruin, the cemetery has a few new headstones, and Mamaw’s house looks exactly the same. The single story white brick house sits alone on the right side of Miller Road and the yard is alive with flowers, trees, and invisible-from-a-distance fire ant-piles. I pull in the driveway and park to the side of the house under the shade of the massive pecan tree. The crunch of squirrel-cracked shells sounds beneath my feet. I smile at the familiarity of it all as the storm door thunks shut behind me. My nose is assaulted by the smell of fresh biscuits and starched laundry. Bright light floods into the empty family room from the porch, and I know I am home.

Leaving the motel on Highway 74 around 3:00 o’clock, Marlene drove faster than usual to get home ahead of Jerry and Andrew. Smiling, her thought lingered on the last few hours spent with her lover. Pulling into the garage, Marlene parked her Mercedes, brushed her hair put on fresh lipstick, before going into the house, relieved she was home when her husband and father-in-law arrived. Wanting to surprise them, she went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, sat down at the counter and glanced through the mail.

All around me was darkness. Everywhere I looked, darkness. I heard nothing. But all of a sudden I heard my name. “Jacob, Jacob, JACOB!” I opened his eyes to find my brother shaking, and yelling at me. “What?” “Hi Jake!” He walks out of the room to go to the PlayBox. I looked at the ceiling to find the time, 8:51, and the date, August 10th 2035.

Nadia stretched lazily and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She threw her comforter off her bare legs and slowly climbed out of bed. She picked up her old clock, and as she read the time, she jumped in alarm and quickly headed to the shower.

Even though cuts were all over her arms she still always had the biggest grin on her face. Her eyes beamed with a mixture of blue and green as she said hi to everyone who passed her down the dark narrow hallway. She knew what to do, and where to go. She knew the drill. The drill of a mental hospital. Her name is Megan and she was my roommate at the hospital. She made things happy when things were sad. She would stay awake with me when I couldn’t sleep and talk about why I was in there; why I was staying there for seven days.

Snow was a blanket upon Atlas’ austere domain, almost blindingly glistening against the waning sun. The chilling breeze bit at cheeks and battered noses until they were tinged pink. Children wandered the streets with deftly-crafted snowballs and prepared for a winter’s war while adults huddled cozily inside by the crackling fire. The bitter, arctic season was upon them.

In the distance, an ominous building rose into the sky, blocking all sunlight. The sun had been beating down on us the whole trip, so the shade from the building felt nice. “Now that's more like it,” Hubert said. I gave a slight nod, and continued walking. Hubert put his hands behind his head, and walked a bit faster. Hubert was a tall, well rounded kid, with a great sense of humor. He was a kind guy, but something about him, gave me this odd feeling. We neared the building, becoming more and more anxious. A metal plate above the door became more visible spelling, Atai Products.

I followed Michael into the first room we saw in the upstairs hallway. As we walked closer, a threatening sight came into view. Gabby, looking more distressed and panicked than I had ever seen someone before, was tied to a chair with her hands behind her back and a gag wrapped around her mouth. Once I looked at her close enough, I could tell that she was trying to speak through the cloth. She then looked at Michael, her eyes begging for him to help.

On a casual day, on the first week of October, a twelve year old, going by the name of Joshua Stephenson, was getting kicked out of his home. Again. His 6th foster parent couple, angry and disappointed, discarded him after what happened at school.

“Ebenezer, you will cease your shoving!” Ma Oliver growled at her young son who was jostling through the breakfast line. He acquiesced with a bitter pout. Her wrath turned to her daughter, who withered under her hairy eyeball. “Deidre, if you even think you’re going out in that, you’ve got another thing coming.” That child jiggled away indignantly. Ma patted her youngest’s head, weary. The little one minded himself at the table, hunkered over his porridge bowl. “You keep eating your mash, Francis. There, there.” She pinched her lips together at the kitchen scene; four children to feed for free, another seven whom she charged for food. She was quite satisfied with the tidy profit she made here, and the children made for decent guests whenever they settled in her house. She wondered why she never expanded from here. (139)

The war was raging on. People fighting, animals ripping flesh, it just was never enough. The girl that was half vampire and half wolf was the cause of it all. I didn’t know it at the time, but I would soon be the end of it all as well.