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16 YEARS AGO
"WATCH YOUR STEP." Gorgeous swirls of colors — light and dark — had been painted upon a sturdy hill just past the Sullivan estate, the dirt path twisting and turning through an array of green vines and tall trees. The sky was moving rapidly as the sun pushed away the previous night's storm, fluffy clouds paying no shield to the heat that beat down on the children's shoulders as they raced up the path, determined to win sibling-rivalry. Being the oldest and nearly three-feet taller than Vada, meant that Victor had a sure chance of winning, per usual, but he was calmer that day; slower.
He held a notebook in his hands, which was filled with the messy knowings of a sixteen-year-old boy, pen ink being the only way he knew how to cope with his feelings. His knuckles ached from the punch he'd thrown at Alex Bones only hours before, but he'd done enough scrubbing to wash away the visual remains of a bloody nose, leaving him with nothing but the painful reminder of his actions. His father had always told him that violence wasn't the answer, but when Alex's bitter words slipped out the way they did, Victor wanted nothing more than to see him fall victim to his own karma.
"Hurry up," Vada's rain boots stamped in the drying mud as she whined, the pink leather already being coated with a thick layer of brown, earning a playful eye roll from her brother. As much as she wanted to run ahead and finally claim the title as the fastest sibling, the ghost stories she'd heard about the woods kept her from going anywhere out of Victor's sight. For, with her own stomach grumbling, she could become a poltergeist's lunch at any given moment. And, given what her mother called skin as pale as salt, she was sure she'd be quite tasty.
