What happens at night

Part 3: Reunion

We load my stuff into the cab of her black, Chevy Silverado and jump in. She sighs and turns the ignition looking at me, She reaches over and twirls my long hair. "Wow. Your hair is so dark and long, your so beautiful!" She says genuinely then in almost a mumble "You look so much like your daddy" my smile faltered but I faked through it as she pulled out. My dad? I have my dads eyes... But that's where the resemblance stops. My hair is several shades darker than his and I get my high cheekbones and big almond eyes from my mom, making me resemble aunt L herself taking in the fact that they are sisters. "It's about and hour into town and 10 minutes past that" we're pretty remote" I nod, knew it stuck in the middle of nowhere. We drive for almost an hour and I finally look up from my downloaded book on my phone. "So. Stacey home?" I cross my fingers. My Aunt grimaces and makes a dreadful noise "I'm afraid so, she's with me this year" she looks over "I know you guys aren't exactly the best of friends but it can't be too bad" I grunt in half agreement and sigh defeated. Stacey hates me, absolutely despises me. Do I really have to sit through a year of avoiding getting choked on my sleep? She's always hated me, even when we were small and I always tried to be nice but when she locked me in the basement during a thunder storm with a crazy cat that's where I draw the line. I shake my head, ok Ivy give her the benefit of the doubt , she could be different, that little voice in my head protests. But the other little voice, the one that's usually right? It's laughing. "Also your gonna gonna be on your own at home until Thursday. I have to leave on business until then, I leave after your introduced to the house. " . I wonder if she cares if I tie her daughter up in the basement, I mean I'll feed her and everything. I sigh, probably  not. I look out the windows seeing rock cliffs with forest atop, At least this place as pretty.  I trail my finger in swirling motions on the window after fogging it up. The trees peal away and start thinning out miles upon miles later and small little older building start to dot the hilly area. I  sit up and look around, I can literally almost see the edges of this little town considering it's all surrounded by a wall of mountains everywhere. In a space of 10 minutes we have already made it out of town and the trees start appearing again. "Was that our town?" I say looking over and she nods. "Yep. Charming isn't she." I nod none too enthusiastic. "Um. Then why didn't we go to the house" I question. "Oh! We don't live IN town, we live outside of town surrounding it. Infact I think there is only two people that actually live in town." I nod. Ok then. We don't actually live in town, that's great! That sarcastic little voice says. A racing chill crawls up and down my spine and I sit straight up looking around. What the hell is that! I close all my air vents and still feel chills pricking my neck, I squirm uncomfortably. "Aunt L you feel that? It got so cold, I've got chills on my neck." She looks over slowly, "No I don't. What do you feel sweetheart?" She asks watching me carefully. "I promise I'm not sick!" I reassure her, interpreting her alarmed look. She nods, "it's just like...chills or maybe a spidery feeling racing up and down my spine and it kinda pricks a bit?" I explain my best. "Oh it's probably nothing" She says and turns back to the road. A few more minutes later it disappears as quick as it came and I sag with relief. We pull into a circular gravel driveway and slowly roll up to the house. I gape as we pull up, it was a big White House with seemingly three Floors. Bay windows on the front side of the house for second and third floors with balconys hanging off the side of the house, on on each side. One on the third and one on the third opposite side. It looked like an older house "How old is this house?" My aunt chuckles a bit "Your great grandfather built it." She says smiling proudly. "He built this himself?" I ask incredulous "Well with some help of...associates you could say" I shake my head "Just wow". "Why don't you grab your carry on out of the back and head in I'll be right behind you" I nod and open my door, sliding out of the truck my feet hitting the rocks hard. The sun hits my skin and quickly starts warming away the chill the trucks AC gave me. I shut the door and head towards the porch which appears to be a partial wrap around, gravel crunches under my feet and I look back to the truck seeing Aunt L on the phone within. I bound up the porch steps and stop at the door looking around first, I notice all sides of the house have about 50ft of yard before woods start the driveway cutting through at least half a mile of it to get to the road that got us here. I turn back around and take a deep breathe before turning the knob and walking in. Wow, it may look old on the outside but on the inside you could never tell. It seemed to have a theme of blacks and whites with greys. There is two archways on the back wall of the house and they have labels above them in old metal plating labeling as 2nd and 3rd floor. Black furniture and white walls make a modern, classy look. My stomach rumbles and I look for a label that says kitchen, nothing. I frown and walk in a sleek black western style saloon door to my left. Bingo! I found the kitchen, I do a mental fist pump. The decor in here is yet again extravagant, black cabinets and black marble countertops containing little lavender and gold flecks. I whistle and walk over to the fridge opening it, examining it's contents. I reach for a water bottle and almost drop it, that prickling chill is back sitting at the base of my skull and I shake my head-stupidly- hoping to dislodge it. I hear a barely perceptible creak and my eyes widen, there's something in here. I whirl around and fling my hand up just in time to smack it straight into a hard, solid object I identify as a skillet. And attached to it an arm, and to the arm I see a blue eyed, blonde haired pissed off, oh so lovely cousin of mine. "Stacey" I say acting nonchalant about the fact that she just tried to assault me with a frying pan. I wrap my fingers around the part of the handle I caught and with minimal effort wrench it from her hands, walking over to sit it on the counter gently. "What the hell! Don't just sneak on me like that!" I scoff. "Sneak up on you? I was getting a drink out of the fridge. You were the one sneaking. To bash me upside the head with a frying pan" I point out. "Yea. I know what I was doing." She looked none too happy that she missed. I roll my eyes, "Ok. Well I'm here now, take notice that you don't have to beat me with a frying pan every day" She makes a face and twitches to the doorway (yes she twitches, trying to move her butt) She smiles falsely and turns to me before she exits "Oh and by the way when Alex gets here tell him I'm in my room" with that she twitches out the door. I sigh and hear the front door swing open so I walk out greeting my Aunt. Sparing no time she bustles in "Ok your room is on the third floor, only real room up there so you should know which one it is. I gotta go... I'll see you at the end of the week. Does Stacey know your here?" I nod "Oh yea. She tried to assault me with cooking utensils" My aunt grimaces "The butcher knife again?" I gape a bit, I really hope she's joking. "Uh, no. A frying pan actually" She sighs "Ok. That's good, very good. I gotta go. See you" With that she walked out the door, got in her truck and with no hesitation sped off down the drive leaving me to fend for myself for a week. Woah, wait a week? She said three days at first now she says at the end of the week? Today's Saturday! I groan and look over to "my staircase". I head over and take them two at a time till I get to the stop not seeing anything but a single hallway with a door on the right at the end. Maybe the rest of it is  technically the attic or whatever. I reach for the knob and grab a key sticking out of it slipping it in my pocket. Mine anyways im guessing. I open the door and mentally applaud at the decor. The walls are aqua blue and all the furniture seems to be sleek black with silver accents, including a four poster bed that reaches the fairly high cieling, a big claw footed dresser and night stand, plus a big vanity in the corner. I nod appreciatively, can't wait until I get my posters in here. Plus my actual stuff, Yaknow my thingamabobs. A hollow sound chimes through out the house almost making me jump out of my skin. I sigh with relief, the doorbell. I fly out my door and down the stairs hollering "Cominggggg" I can hear music blaring from Stacey's room so I know I'm not bothering her by yelling. I fling open the door and come face to chest with someone. I raise my eyebrows and look up to see a boy with light brown hair and blue-ish hazel eyes.Wow, ok he's cute I recover quickly, at least I think I did. "I'm guessing your Alex?" It dawns on me. A slow smile spreads across his lips. "The one and only. And who might you be?" His gaze scans me up and down unashamedly, bringing an involuntary pinkness to my face. Alarms begin to sound in my head, it's a very important alarm almost all girls have one. Doesn't mean they listen though, my alarm my blaring "FUCKBOY ALERT FUCKBOY ALERT, I REPEAT SELF, FUCKBOY ALERT, ABORT ABORT, BEFORE ITS TOO LATE," I clear my throat deciding to listen to my alarm whereas it has never steered me wrong. I clear my throat and break the silence "I'm Ivy. Leanne is my aunt and Stacey is my cousin." No sooner I get it out he starts laughing "What?" I say a bit annoyed. "N-nothing. It's just that, Stace said she had a cousin coming but she talked about her like a pesky ten year old who wouldn't stay out of her stuff not a-" He breaks off and his gaze wanders my body again and I have to resist the urge to squirm under the scrutiny. "A girl her age" He finishes wisely although his eyes linger in certain areas. I nod, "Well Stacey's in her room, you no doubt know where that is" He gives me a wickedly suggestive smile and vanishes inside the house. I go to close the door and stop, stepping out onto the porch I look around at the surrounding woods. That strange sensation buzzed at the base of my neck yet again, I  roll my shoulders and tilt my head as I scan the area. It's like the creepy feeling you get when someone's watching you. I walk to the edge of the porch and look up at the sky already orange and pink being swallowed up by the black night. It got so late here so quickly...I shake my head and head back inside disregarding the prickling spot on my neck. I trudge upstairs suddenly dead beat tired. I have an excuse to go to sleep. Jet lag right? Is that an excuse I can use, I nod confirming that it is. I unzip my carry on and pull out a pair of sweats and a spandex tank-top changing into them. I walk over to the bathroom that adjoined to my room and brush my teeth effectively using up my energy. I shuffle over to my bed and crawl in after turning off the light, leaving me in darkness. Music still blasts from Stacey's room but it doesn't bother me, at least it's not silent. Sometimes silence is too loud and my thought overwhelm me. I close my eyes drifting off,  moments after I look out the window. What is that?The darkness pulls me under just seconds later.