I watched as the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania flew past the window of the cab I was currently sitting in. I was deep in thought, thinking about how I would cope with living in a place like this. It was strange, moving from the hustle and bustle of the city to a rural, open place like this, but I was in desperate need of a fresh start. Nothing was going right for me where I was. I hope that moving here would change that.
I felt the car lurch to a halt, and the taxi driver informed me that we were here. I looked out the window again for a moment, taking in the old, two story house I would be living in from now on. It was practically falling apart, admittedly. The paint was peeling off of the siding, the window frames were barely still hanging on the hinges, and the house just had an overall "creepy" factor to it.
Nevertheless, I stepped out of the taxi, pulling my bags out of the trunk and paying the driver before he pulled away. I stood at the end of the driveway, looking up at the house for a while. There were a few other houses in the neighborhood, but other than that there was nothing but open grass and woods. I sighed, realizing that everyone else's home looked like it came straight out of a magazine compared to mine. I could always do some work on it, fix it up a bit. I think I would have to, to be completely honest. It really did look like shit.
I sighed, picking up my bags and lugging them towards the looming house. I pushed open the door with my foot, the creaking of the hinges echoing through the empty house as I stepped in. It had a musty, old smell to it, and my nose immediately wrinkled up. I stepped around the open floors, silently praying that the inside looked better than the outside. I hurried upstairs, peaking in all the rooms and bathrooms, and I did a small victory dance as I realized that the inside didn't look half bad.
After the initial excitement died down, I heard the moving truck pull up outside. I sighed, running a hand through my hair before bounding down the stairs and outside onto my front porch to greet the movers. They directed me to the back of a large truck, opening the huge door to reveal all my old furniture and belongings from my previous apartment. I nodded, beginning to help them unload all of my stuff and telling them the room in which it belonged. Neighbors stepped out of their houses, looking at what was happening, and I politely waved. They waved back, and I saw one older looking woman coming down my driveway.
She spoke up as soon as she got to me. "Good morning, dear, my name is Evelyn, I live in the house next to yours." She said as she gestured to the house beside mine. I smiled, holding out my hand for her to shake. She returned the gesture as I introduced myself. She smiled, crossing her arms over her chest and observing the movers hauling my stuff into the house.
"I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood. It's generally a really great place to be, and I think you'll like it here." She gave me a comforting pat on the back as I threw her a warm smile. Suddenly, there were loud hollers and yells coming from the far side of the neighborhood, and we both turned our heads to see six men, dressed from head to toe in black attire, come walking out of the woods. They were all laughing rather loudly at the tallest of the group, clearly at something he had just said or done. All I could think about was how were they not suffocating while wearing all black in the ninety degree summer weather.
I saw the other neighbors scoff, rolling their eyes before going inside, some gathering their children before retreating into their homes. Evelyn sneered at the group, clearly irritated by their presence. I raised an eyebrow at her, and she coughed before speaking up, turning back to me. "Those boys are no good," she spoke in a hushed tone. I couldn't help but glance at them, seeing as they were getting closer and closer to my driveway. "They live in the last house in the neighborhood," she spoke again, drawing my attention away from the hollering boys. "They throw wild parties, and they're constantly causing mayhem, when they're even here. They disrespect everyone, and they have no sense of right and wrong." She sighed in annoyance, turning back to look at the boys. Which I now noticed, to my dismay, were stumbling down our driveway towards us.
"What do you boys want?" Evelyn spat, causing the guys to just laugh. She rolled her eyes, turning back to me.
"Aw, don't be like that, Ev," the one with large gauges and snakebites spoke up. "We just wanna welcome the pretty lady to the neighborhood, that's all."
I blushed at his compliment, and I looked over at him to see him give me a quick wink. I looked down to the ground quickly, doing anything to avoid their curious gazes.
I heard Evelyn sigh. "I'll be off, Ella. I've got the grand kids coming over in a little while. Call me if you need anything, and don't let these boys give you any trouble." I saw the men try to smother their giggles and hide their smiles as she turned to walk away. I silently begged her not to go, not to leave me with these men, but she kept walking. Great.
"So, you're the new kid on the block, huh?" The one who winked at me asked, a large grin plastered on his face. I nodded slightly, unable to form words as I collapsed under the pressure of their curious glances. He cleared his throat before he spoke again.
"Well, I'm Josh, but call me Balz." He held out his hand for me to shake, and I took it. "Ella. Ella Gray." I managed to say, putting a smile on my face. The shortest one in the group grinned. "Beautiful name for a beautiful girl." He spoke, making me blush again. He laughed, making the others laugh too. Once it died down, they all introduced themselves. The shortest one spoke first.
"I'm Ricky, that's Balz, as you already know, the giraffe is Chris, the quiet one is Ryan, the even quieter one is Devin, but we call him Ghost, and last but not least, that's Brandon." He introduced everyone as he went down the line, and we all traded polite smiles and waves. We stood there making small talk for a while, and I noticed Ricky's gaze landed on me more than a couple of times. His eyes were full of curiosity and intensity as they raked over my body, and I folded my arms in front of me out of insecurity. I heard Ricky chuckle from the side.
"Don't listen to what the neighbors tell you," Chris spoke up, bringing my attention back to the conversation. "We're cool guys. We just like to have fun." He wiggled his eyebrows, causing me to laugh slightly before the movers came to inform me that everything had been moved in. I thanked them before they hopped in the moving truck and pulled out of my driveway, disappearing down the road. I sighed, turning towards the guys.
"Well, I guess I'll see you guys later. Stop by anytime." I said after waving to them all, slowly turning away.
"Oh, trust me, we'll be seeing you." I heard Josh mumble before turning and walking away, followed by the rest of the guys. Ricky stood, watching me intently before finally walking away with the rest of them, turning his head every once in a while to look back at me. Josh's comment kind of weirded me out, since I didn't think I was supposed to hear it, but I shrugged it off as I walked into my house. Since it was nearly dark outside, I decided to call it a night. Moving had taken even longer than I had expected, and I was exhausted. It didn't seem like that much work.
I turned off all of the lights, collapsing onto a stray couch, considering my bed hadn't been set up yet. I drifted off to a peaceful sleep, thinking about why Ricky was looking at me like that.
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Hey! Thanks for reading my story! I hope to be adding new chapters every day, and I hope you like it. Again, thank you for reading!
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