Vanessa, Tommy, and Mary all grew up in the small town, but Poe, he was the outsider. The son of the English Professor, and he didn't fit in. Tight jeans, his dark hair always hung in his face. When he pushed his hair back, his eyes were the shade o...
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Poe couldn't believe he would let him leave until he stood at the gate looking back at the house. In the window a shadow of the man that scared and intrigued the young boy. If what he saw was true, no, none of that was true. He had to have drugged him, but how? Whatever loomed inside of this old house was pure evil and Poe feared those doors opening and sucking him back inside forever.
Darkness hovered over the boy as he took the lonely walk home. Vanessa, who was his ride, was long gone. Shuffling his feet along the sidewalk, walking took every bit of his physical energy. Whatever happened back there fucked with his mind in ways that he never thought possible. At one point he swore that in the shadows of an old weeping willow he saw the man who for a moment tortured his mind with sickness and pain.
"Leave me the fuck alone. Fuck you," Poe screamed at the tree. Nothing moved, not even a leaf on the 100-year-old willow.
A slow-moving car crept down the street, stopping as it reached the boy. The windows tinted black, it slowly followed in an ominous prowl. Matching him inch for inch, the car stayed silent except for a gentle purr of the engine. It was a new model SUV. One of those undercover cop cars, or someone hiding. Either way, it seemed focused on Poe and every move he made. Tucking his hands into his pockets deep, he put his head down and walked at a new rate of speed. He wanted to get home where all of this would go away. In the safe confines of his family home.
Beep, beep
Walking into a crosswalk, Poe jumped as a car skidded to a stop. Waving his hand out the window, the driver didn't hold back on the boy.
"Get your head out of your fucking ass, idiot. Next time I'll run over you," screamed the driver.
Stuck like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, all the color drained from Poe's face. He was shocked back into reality, putting his head back down and taking off into a sprint. The car still followed; the inhabitants hidden from the outside world. Whoever, or whatever was in the car was following close behind the 17-year-old. Out of breath, Poe stopped just as the car did. He was too tired to play the game any longer. If it was Silas, he lied about letting him go. Walking to the car, Poe used both his fists to pound on the passenger side window of the car. He was going to end it one way or another. Only stopping when the window rolled down.
"What the fuck are you doing, man?" Vanessa laughed.
"You bitch. Why the fuck are you following me?" Poe demanded but relaxed the moment he knew it was his friends.
"Get in the car, bitch," Tommy laughed, leaning back in the driver's seat.
No wonder Poe didn't know the car. Tommy's dad was some FBI dude, and he must be driving his father's car. Yanking the backdoor open, he slipped inside of the spacious SUV, looking around for anything cop related. For the first time in hours, he let the tension slip from his shoulders, leaning back into the leather seats. He wouldn't tell them, but whatever happened back there still gnawed at his neck. He could smell copper, but this time it wasn't his own. It was a mixture of all the others in the car, and one of them smelled just like Silas. That same sweet aroma.
"What the hell happened to you back there?" Vanessa asked, turning in her seat to look at the boy.
Still shaken, Poe shook his head from side to side, muttering softly, "Nothing. Just some druggie looking for a fix. I got out right after you did."
Lying was easy, but he could tell by the look on Vanessa face that she didn't believe a word he was saying. She rolled her eyes and put her focus back on the road in front of them. Looking from Tommy to Vanessa, Poe suddenly realized that someone was missing. Mary was with them earlier, but she wasn't in the car with those two.
"Where's Mary?" he asked.
Laughing, Tommy watched in the rearview mirror as he spoke. "She had to go for a while. Her mommy demanded she come home," both laughing this time.
Rubbing his hand over his nose, Poe couldn't shake that smell. A strong smell of copper flowed through the car, burning his nose as it did. Turning and looking in the far back, he didn't find anything, but for fucks sake, it smelled like Silas.
"What the fuck is that smell," he said, covering his nose and mouth with the palm of his hand.
"Smell? What smell?" Vanessa asked, lifting her arm, and sniffing her pits. "Maybe you shit your pants back there in the house," she teased.
