Stranger Nights

Chapter 4

At this point you are probably wondering why they are not in school. Well, there is a perfectly good explanation for that. When the sun vanished and God's Republic formed, school carried on like it would in your time, but soon the crop fields started to grow bigger and there was a higher demand for a bigger work force. The government then decided to cut the amount of time a child went to school down. Instead of being in school until you were seventeen, you were now only in school until the age of fourteen.

That is why Henry, Freddy, and Charlotte were walking around Roanoke and not in school learning about the brain.

Charlotte had just finished putting her white leg warmers and army boots on when her father and Henry's Uncle came in. Charlotte and her father hadn't been on good relations and no one could remember when they had been. Charlotte had tried to get closer to her father, but her father didn't try getting closer to her. Most people thought it was because he resented Charlotte for killing her mother. Henry thought it was because every time Luke looked into his daughters emerald green eye's he saw his wife and that made him sad. Charlotte over time stopped trying to figure out why and gave up.

Charlotte quickly put on her plaid red coat and yellow scarf and left the house.

That is why Henry, Freddy, and Charlotte were walking around with nothing to do because they didn't have enough time to think about it.

Charlotte was walking in front of Freddy and Henry who were walking side by side.

"Hey I know a place we can go." Freddy said. Henry's eye's lit up at the idea of a new place.

"Where?" Henry asked, curiosity bubbling inside of him.

"I don't want to tell you just yet, but the place is just a couple minutes from Sallie Patterson's house." Freddy said quietly. "Will your girlfriend be okay with it?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Henry said blushing to the tip of his ears, "She's my cousin!"

The odd sense of relief Freddy felt scared him.

"Whatever." was all he could say before running up ahead of Charlotte.

He led them through the town before taking a left and walking past Sallie Patterson's house. Then they stood in front of a old abandoned house. It was one of the bigger houses that use to belong to one of the elders before he died. Freddy turned to the cousins behind him.

"Listen, before we go in, I have to say this because your curious," Freddy said pointing to Henry and then pointing to Charlotte said, "And your Ms. Mysterious. Stay close to me. Don't wander off and don't look anyone in the eye. Got it?"

Henry nodded vigorously, while Charlotte just muttered an okay. He looked at them for a second like he was already drawing a missing persons poster.

"Alright then." and with that he opened the door.

The first thing Henry noticed was that he had never seen any of those people in church, which made him anxious. The second thing he noticed was that most of those people were smoking something that made his eye's water and that made him scared. The third thing he noticed was that no one there was judging anyone else, that made him happy.Henry was hit with so many emotions at once that his heart was racing and his fingers twitched at his side's.

"What are you doing here?" A voice yelled over the crowd. A girl in a hijab pushed through the crowd and stood in front of Freddy who smirked.

"Why wouldn't I be here?" he said stuffing his hand into his pockets.

"I kicked you out!" The girl yelled.

"Its not my fault the guy punched me!" Freddy yelled back.