Tanner and the Forgotten

Unexpected

"Ding Dong"

"Tanner! Would you get the door?! That will be the Smiths!" Mom yelled from the dining room, where she was perfecting the table settings.

"Yeah, sure!" I said. I sulked over to the door, put on my "hi I'm so glad you could make it" face and opened the door. I would love to know how long I stood there with my mouth hanging open. I thought that the people that mom invited would have been Jesper and his parents. Nope. Not at all. Just kidding. Instead, a girl of a bout 16 with long, fine features, was standing there. Her hair was long, wavy and dark brown. The most notable of her features was her black eyes. They were so black that I couldn't see her pupils. Behind her stood a sturdy man of about 45. He also had dark hair but his eyes were blue.

"You must be Tanner. I've heard a lot about you, although you're thinner than I thought you'd be." The big man was the first to say something.

"Well your not at all who I thought you'd be either," I said a bit indignantly. The big man laughed: a deep laugh at that.

"I see your fire never changed." He said. Something like mischief sparkled in his eyes.

"My fire-what?" I asked, completely confused.

"Nothing of importance. Now may we come in?" He asked, looking very amused.

"Oh, uh yeah sure," I said, stepping to the side and widening the door. He nodded to me and stepped inside, followed by the girl. They hung their coats on our coat hangar and made their way to the dining room. I was about to follow but this unexpected turn in events had me a bit rattled so when I shut the door, my hand had magnetized to the door. I couldn't let go of it. Raina gave one last look back for some reason and I had to awkwardly pass off standing in front of the the door while holding the handle as normal or something. She raised an eyebrow at me, but that was it. I looked at my hand helplessly. I had to calm down if I was ever going to get my hand off of the freaking door handle. I took a deep breath in, held it for a second, then let it out. I tried to release the door handle. Nothing. I tried again. Breath in, breath out, release. Nothing. Oh come on let go of me you stupid thing! I thought. There was an electrical jolt from the door and my hand practically flew away from the handle. I rubbed my numb hand gave the evil door handle a glare of death,then walked into the dinning room.

"Oh I'm so glad you could make it." Mom said with a smile the size of the Grand Canyon. The big man smiled and nodded to her as well. Mom stuck out her hand,

"I am Cheryl Lancaster, this is my son, Tanner, my daughter, Addison and my husband Carl," Another Grand Canyon smile.

"Nice to meet you, I am Ryan Smith and this is my daughter, Raina Smith,"The big man said, shaking my mothers extended hand. Everyone shook everyone else's hand as politeness dictated. Raina seemed to be amused by the whole situation but I couldn't figure out why.

"Tanner? would you be so kind as to go get the water pitcher from the kitchen?" Mom said. I nodded.

I was just about to enter the kitchen when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I jerked my head around and saw Raina staring at me like she was looking into my soul. Like she was ripping away any cover I had and leaving me bare and exposed. The air around me became cold and empty. Cold prickled at my fingers, and icy shards pierced my heart. Goose bumps ran down my arms and I shuddered, rubbing my hands over my biceps in an attempt to feel more protected. A band of frosty metal seemed to squeeze my brain. My vision flickered momentarily. She seemed to smirk slightly before looking away. Just like that, the feeling was gone. The heat flooded back into my cheeks and fingers and I felt mostly normal again. I still shuddered one last time once I was in the kitchen but I think that was just an after effect.

For the rest of the evening, I kept catching her staring at me or my sister. There wasn't any more traumatic experiences like i had in front of the kitchen, but the hair on the back of my neck would still raise once in a while. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was off about her and her dad. He seemed like a nice person, but something wasn't right. They sometimes said things that were a bit off.

After they had gone home and we had cleaned up dinner, I asked Addison to come to my room so I could tell her about what I had felt. I found out that she had experienced the same thing but earlier that day at school. I also found out that she had met Raina face to face and she didn't seem that scary. I'm not sure I care what Addison thinks. Raina is creepy and is possibly related to Satan. We speculated that Raina had some sort of power and that's what was affecting us, but we weren't sure what that power could be. That night, I tossed and turned, trying to piece Raina together. I didn't get anywhere in-case your wondering.