The Monster on the Hill

Chapter One

That Friday hadn't been particularly eventful. Miss Hollenbaker still spat too much when she addressed the class. The spelling words were too easy again, so I added my own to the back of my paper. Words I picked out of the 1978 SAT Prep Manual I'd found in the trash bin outside the library. Talula Martinez tried to trip me at recess but missed my ankle, but I smacked her in the head with my Gameboy. Miss Hollenbaker told me to apologize. I told her to stop spitting at me and left.

Just a typical Friday at Montery Elementary School.

It was my weekend with my dad and I wasn't in a rush to get to his house. Not because I didn't like my dad. I liked him well enough. But he never got home till late evenings on the weekends I was there. He'd asked mom more than once if he could swap the weekends to the ones he didn't work half the day so he had a chance to acknowledge my existence beyond the monthly child support he said was draining him dry and wasn't even spent on me like it should be. Mom always told him no because that would interrupt our plans.

We never had plans. Mom is just a bitch sometimes and like dad, I often wondered where those checks were going too. Something I added to my list of things to investigate.

So, anyway, I'd decided to take the long way, past the pond where old Mr. Cruton never let anyone fish. I liked the way the water sparkled like the reflection of golden tinsel when the light hit it just right. The pond, I mean, not the tinsel.Anyway, he said we couldn't fish in it. He never said anything about just sitting and watching the sparkles. Sometimes I would even sneak down at night and try to count the stars that shone back at the sky. Once I fell asleep though and my Mom called the police so ever since I stopped when I got tired and never got to finish.

It's fine though. It wasn't like it wasn't a goal or anything and my mom doesn't overreact to things all the time. No big deal. I was moving on past the pond when I heard yelling and laughing and both sounds were coming from Tyler Crant. I knew this for certain because Tyler was what my dad would call a 'loud mouth little fucker' and I had to listen to him all day at school. He was obnoxious and no matter what I threw at the back of his head, he would never shut up. Now, my dad also said that I had what he called a 'trash mouth,' but it was okay because I knew when to keep it shut for the most part. Tyler never did.

I walked around the too tall hedges that lined Old Hill House. The hedges just added fuel to the rumor that the place was haunted. I thought that was dumb. Ghosts didn't need to hide behind shrubbery. I liked the idea of a haunted house in little Montery, Indiana though so I never said anything.

"Hold him down." That was Tyler and I considered walking away and minding my business. That's what my mother always told me to do. Keep my head down and don't make trouble. I was in a trouble making kind of mood though and I also hated Tyler Crant with a passion, so I went barreling around those hedges ready to pick a fight.

I found him there with a couple of his friends. They were huddled around something on the ground, throwing rocks at it. I assumed it was a stray cat or dog. Tyler was the type to hold a magnifying glass over an ant just to watch it burn, so it made sense to me that he'd moved on to bigger critters.

"What do you have there?" I asked, heaving my messenger bag higher on my shoulder. The library books that overflowed from it always pulled the strap off my shoulder.

"Ya hear that, Monster, you're a what," Tyler laughed. "You're not even a who." He tossed another rock and I heard a grunt.

"Tyler, what are you doing?" I wasn't just being nosy at this point. I was worried.Nearly panicked when I heard that grunt because it sounded too much like a person. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just having some fun, Maddie. Why don't you mind your business for once and fuck off." Tyler turned back down toward whatever or whoever was on the ground in front of him, done with me. But I wasn't done with him.