Where the Moon will Shine

Chapter 13

To my surprise, a boy who looked only slightly older than me answered the door.

"Hello?" His voice was deeper than I'd expected, but not in a bad way.

"Uh, hi. My name is Rachel."

He nodded at me in response. He had dark brown, curly hair that looked unnaturally soft. It took everything in me not to reach up to him and feel it. How does he have better hair than me?

"So the power went out, and I'm babysitting... Please excuse my appearance." He looked me up and down and a shiver ran through me. Feeling suddenly self conscious, I continued, "Anyways, I'm babysitting like I said, and for some reason they don't have any flashlights. So I was just wondering-"

"Say no more." He began to walk back in his house when he turned around. The boy ran his hands through his luscious hair and leaned against a wall. He sighed and looked like he was contemplating something. "You can come in if you want."

There was absolutely no way I was entering that death trap.

"Oh, that's alright. I'm kind of in a hurry actually." I tried to smile at him, but he just raised his eyebrows.

"Two flashlights coming right up then." He closed the door slightly, probably to block out the rain, and came back a few minutes later with a variety of flashlights in his hands.

"I wasn't sure what kind you'd like." He looked genuinely concerned, which surprised me. I laughed, "Oh no, don't worry about it. Thank you so much!"

"Of course," He met my eyes, expressionless. His eyes were a deep shade of green, way darker than Oliver's. They reminded me of a forest, but within their depth I could feel somberness. I broke eye contact, remembering Anika.

"I guess I'll see you around then," I half smiled.

"Yeah." He hesitated for a moment, then closed the door.

I turned around, stunned. I was definitely not expecting someone that young to live there. In my head, I pictured some kind of grumpy old man owning that house. Maybe even a few ghosts, but definitely not him.

I closed my eyes and braced myself for the pouring rain again. I ran as fast as I could back to Anika's house, still thinking about my interaction with... him.

He hadn't told me his name. Why? And why didn't he smile at all? I grew kind of concerned with what was going on inside of that house. I had to know more.

Before I knew it, I was standing outside of Anika's house again. I swung open the door and slammed it shut. Running upstairs, I switched on all the flashlights.

"Anika? I'm back! I have lights!"

As I approached the top of the stairs, I tried desperately to remember which room was hers. Each step creaked as I ran up them.

The upstairs was even creepier than the downstairs. Everything was made out of wood so dark that it looked black. There were creepy portraits hung on the walls of circuses and clowns. What the hell is wrong with these people, I thought.

I walked steadily down the narrow hallway. Why was Anika so freaked out about the lights going out? It wasn't like it was much darker than before anyways...

"Anika?" I called again. I heard footsteps behind me and I sighed from relief.

"Here, your neighbors-" When I turned around I realized that there was no one standing behind me. I could feel my heart racing.

I was certain that someone was behind me. They had to be. I wasn't crazy.

"Rachel?" I turned around once again facing my original direction. Anika was standing right in front of me. It was probably just her footsteps that I heard before.

"Anika, hi. I got you your light."

"What do you mean?"

"The lights, I got the lights." She couldn't have possibly forgotten.

"Rachel the lights went back on a while ago. Are you alright?" I looked around me and saw that she was right. The lights did go back on, how didn't I notice that when I walked in?

"Oh," I breathed.

"I think my mom's gonna be home soon. I should probably go and lay in my bed."

"Okay," I mumbled. I stood there breathlessly confused.

Then I heard knocking. Anika's mom was finally home. I checked the time on my phone, 1:03AM. She was nearly two hours late...

I rushed down the stairs and opened the door.

"Hi Rachel! How was your night with Anika?"

"Fine," I muttered. She smiled at me, satisfied.

"Alright, well, have a good night!" She shifted her way past me, clearly forgetting something.

"Wait, not to be rude or anything, but um... money?"

"Oh why, yes of course. I didn't think you spent that fifty dollars I gave you so soon." I could detect a trace of annoyance in her tone. "Here," she said, handing me fifteen dollars.

For being two hours late, I would have thought I'd earn a little more than that... Whatever. I shuffled out the door with a silent goodbye. Why did she seem upset with me? I was the one who gave up my night to watch her creepy little girl while she went out and partied for all I knew. I am SO over this ratchet neighborhood.

Then something dawned on me. My mom.

She was probably worried sick about me. I checked my phone again and there were several missed calls. How did I not notice that before?

"Oh, shit, I'm gonna be in so much trouble," I whispered under my breath. I tried calling her, but I wasn't getting service. "Ugh!" I grunted.

I would have to walk home, or at least somewhere I could get service. Maybe I could go back inside Anika's house, they seemed to have some internet at least. I knocked on the door, no, I pounded on the door.

I waited and waited, but no response.

"Seriously?!" I shouted, though the sounds of the storm concealed my voice.

There was no way I'd be able to walk home with me not having any sense of direction. I rubbed my temples hoping that a plausible solution would come to me. I sighed again then walked out into the pouring rain. I kept fiddling with my phone trying to get a connection, then it went black. My phone had died.

"Are you kidding me?!" I cursed at the top of my lungs. I could feel tears starting to form, then falling down my cheeks.

I absolutely loathed that neighborhood. I hated myself for even agreeing to go there. I felt like everything in the world was going wrong for me, and I hated it. I hated the world.

I stumbled out into the road and found myself crossing the street. I was out of options. I doubted highly that I would be able to find anybody else's house, so there I was limping over to the Victorian. I must have hurt my ankle because it hurt to put pressure on.

I finally made my way over to the porch of the creepy mansion, and then knocked much louder than I intended.

The dark haired boy was probably sleeping. I felt stupid for even knocking, and I didn't want to be rude by waking him up. I was about to turn around and walk back out into the rain when the door slowly creaked open.