Great Oaks

Chapter One

Leaving home wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Maybe it would have been more difficult if I had a bigger family- more people to miss. I only had my grandma and she was far from weepy.

Not that she was cold, either. She just wasn't like that. Yes, she was stern and strict but that was because she cared. "You deserve the best out of life and the only way to get that is through discipline."

Don't get me wrong, she also valued fun. Every birthday I had we would travel somewhere new. I never wanted for anything. She wanted me to be well-versed in the world. My grandma is my best friend.

So it should have been harder for me to leave, right?

I suppose everyone reaches a point where they're ready to venture out on their own. I lived without answers for so long that it became unbearable.

And so, my grandma referred me to this small town in Massachusetts.

"The folks in that town can teach you more about ... this thing than I ever could."

This thing. That was what she called it. The thing I had to hide from all my friends, coworkers, and teachers. Grandma said I inherited it from her mother.

I always had the ability to make things happen. I would say things, and they would come to fruition. I could start fires with just a look. When I got too angry or upset, things would fly off the walls. Trees were stripped of their leaves. So on and so forth.

For the last twenty-five years, I've learned to manage. But managing can only go so far. With every year I get older, the more it feels like I'm losing control. Like I'm a pot about to boil over any minute.

When I shared these feelings with Grandma, that was when she told me about Great Oaks. A small town in Massachusetts that she'd spent some time in as a child. It was supposedly a safe haven for people like me. Where someone could teach me how to utilize this ... thing.

The entrance to the town was not easy to find. It wasn't accessible from any GPS system. Apparently that was by design as a means to protect the citizens from people that may seek to persecute them.

Recalling historic events such as the Salem witch trials, I supposed the caution was warranted.

I drove down a winding road that was shrouded by huge trees. The note Grandma gave me showed that the entrance would only be visible to someone like me. She said it would be a mile past a statue of an old man, which I passed only seconds ago.

Then I saw it. A rustic sign next to where the trees opened up.

Great Oaks Welcomes You!

I couldn't help but smile as I passed the pumpkin-shaped sign. And in front of me, down the winding road was what appeared to be a humble village.

Grandma described it as quaint and charming. "A little too small of a town for my taste."

But as I got closer, something in my chest swelled. It was beyond excitement and anxiety of being somewhere new. This felt different. Like everything was about to change.

Valerie, my roommate-to-be, gave me specific directions to the apartment complex via email. I held said printed out instructions in my hand as I drove, scanning them over before I kept driving. As I entered town, I could see eyes on me. I suppose my yellow Volkswagen Beetle wasn't exactly blending in. But like Grandma said, this was a small town. And people tended to notice unfamiliar faces and cars in places like these.

I couldn't resist the temptation to peer out my windows, gawking at the picturesque setting. Trees were evenly spaced apart on the bricked sidewalks. And while the street I was driving on was standard asphalt, it seemed that most of the other side roads were made of some sort of cobblestone.