The Longest Weekend

Chapter 1: Missing Kitties, Good Boys, and Mother's Love

The drive only lasted about an hour but from the way it felt it almost seemed like days had passed in that car. By the time we arrived at my aunt’s house the sun had already set and without a word my caretaker ushered me out of the car and handed me my suitcase from the trunk before peeling off over the horizon. I made my way to the front door and my two knocks were answered by my aunt Jodie, we had no blood relation but she was a close friend of my mother, she was also the only person who would take me in. About a week or so ago my parents and I had been in a car accident, although I was left miraculously unharmed both of my parents died upon impact and so I was left without anywhere to go. The caretakers contacted everyone from grandparents to long-distance cousins and nobody wanted me, some even flat out didn’t pick up the phone. Even Jodie was reluctant but due to her recently converting to christianity she was convinced that taking in a lonely child was something you can deem as virtuous. She showed me to my room which looked to be a slightly larger walk in closet that had a window and not much else. There wasn’t even a bed, just a sleeping bag. Jodie said that the mattress she ordered for me was taking a long time to come in so I’d have to sleep on the sleeping bag in the meantime. Before I departed from the hospital the doctors told me that due to the shock and trauma my memory might have some lapses but with proper therapy it’d be something I could easily overcome. That first night was agonizingly long, there was a deafening silence that creeped throughout the entire house. My parents and I initially lived in the city so I had grown accustomed to the symphony of cars and trains passing by as I fell asleep, but in this suburb you’d be lucky to find a cricket willing to make a peep. Somehow I eventually did fall asleep only and when I woke up in the morning my back was in knots and I struggled to get up on my feet before brushing my teeth and making my way to the kitchen. Ever since the accident my appetite has fluctuated, some days I couldn’t eat a morsel of food, but on other days I couldn’t stop eating and nothing could satisfy my monstrous appetite, this was one of those latter days. When I entered the kitchen I found a sticky note placed on the door of the fridge, the note read;

“I had to go into work and won’t be back until later, there isn’t much but you can help yourself.”

She was right, there wasn’t much in the fridge, however the cabinets were even more barren. Finally I came across a box of macaroni and cheese and decided to make do. Once I finished eating and after washing what I used, I decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood to get used to my new environment. The town Jodie lived in was called Earcreek and it was the embodiment of the word “unassuming” as there wasn’t much to do. A small suburban town populated by people who were either apathetic to live there or desperately seeking a way to escape and never look back. My walk wouldn’t be entirely useless though as I stumbled across a telephone pole that was covered in missing pet posters, there were so many posters covering the pole it almost looked like a fake tree. There was something else on the pole, hanging from a loose nail was a collar, that collar had a nametag on it that read

“Squeaky, if found please return to 8282 Cruban St.” and one of those missing pet posters was for a little kitten named Squeaky, who even had the same address. At that moment I didn’t know what to do and after a few seconds I decided to head over to the address and wash my hands of the whole thing. It took a few minutes but eventually I found the address and approached the front door. I felt unsure about knocking but eventually brought my fist to the front door, however before I could knock the door opened revealing a tall man bathed in sorrow. My words didn’t exactly come out clear but eventually I mumbled enough to tell the man that I had found his kitten’s collar and where I found it. His voice was raspy due to what I assume was from intense periods of crying, he thanked me for the information and closed the door. I think he tried to keep it a secret from me but I could hear him cry from behind the door. I never had a pet so I couldn’t even imagine the pain of losing something you had grown so attached to. That’s when I realized, there were so many missing pet posters on that telephone pole, all of those people must also be suffering. Then I started to wonder about what exactly was the cause for so many missing pets, I know sometimes they can just run away. My cousin once had a cat who’d disappear for years at a time only to come back and act as if nothing happened, but this was something else it seemed less like these animals were vanishing and more like someone, or something, was taking them. Eventually I decided to return to Jodie’s and when I got back to the house I realized that Jodie didn’t give me a key and I just happened to have locked the door before heading out. Now I was stuck until Jodie got back later so I simply continued to walk around. This time I came across the local high school, Earcreek East High, and despite the rest of the town looking quite retro this building looked downright archaic. I was unsure if it even was a school or just a castle where local vampires lived. As I continued staring at the school I didn’t notice someone creeping up behind me until they placed their hand on my shoulder. I frantically turned around only to find a guy who looked to be around my age, he apologized for startling me and introduced himself as Michael. I gave him my name and we talked for a bit. When I told him that I was new to town and that I’d be enrolling in that school he laughed and said that the school sucked but he’d look out for me since the other kids love taking advantage of “the fresh meat”.