The Hidden Diaries of Charleigh Blaue

Chapter 1: Vale

~Chapter 1: Vale~

Upon looking for Vale on a map, or GPS, you will not be successful. Vale is more or less, unheard of and invisible from the outside in. No, I'm not talking 'invisible' as in its directly in front of you and you see right through it. Suffice to say, this story lacks Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility. By "invisible", I meant that all you are capable of seeing is the dark entanglement of ancient trees; like a thousand gnarled hands reaching out to steal you forever.

After an exhausting flight, a taxi driver drove me out to the middle of nowhere. Nowhere, as in, a random circle of dark trees, eerily twisted and entwined upon a field of dry grass, not 20 meters from the sudden dead end the gravel road we were on had come to. I was convinced we were lost. But much to my dismay, the driver popped the trunk, looked back at me and told me to "Follow the pathway. Goodluck! That'll be 20 bucks."

As I watched the cab speed off into the seemingly endless horizon, I attempted to calm the nerves wracking my small body. Turning on my heels, I began the search for the "pathway" the driver had advised me to follow. Eventually, I found it: a small hole nestled within the web of trees, vines, and thorns. Lovely. I then made my way through, doing my best to avoid the menacing thorns. Once I reached the abrupt end of the "tunnel of thorns" as I call it, I found myself finally gazing at the sullen town before me; the town I had traveled thousands of miles to reach. At about the same time, I noticed a strange man wearing a classic black tux, staring me down as he held open the door of an old rusted black Cadillac, right where the path met a road.

That is how I, of the rare few, entered the town of Vale from the outside in. Lugging my bags along behind me, I remember hesitantly walking up to the strange man, my routine smile I had spent years perfecting plastered upon my face. He stood with an impossibly stiff posture, and gave off an aura of confidence and sophistication. As I got closer, I noticed that, although his pale features appeared quite young, his hazel eyes looked as if they belonged to an 80 year old Nam veteran.

Unsettled, my smile dropped just as he began to speak. "Yes, I was a soldier during the war in Vietnam." With eyes wide and mouth gaping, I grasped for something to say as he grinned down at me-at least I think it was a smile. It more closely resembled a grimace. To this day, I still don't know. "Haven't been the same since. Hello Miss. Leveske. I will be escorting you to the manor."

I turned my startled gaze upon the open door of the rusted car, avoiding his intense stare. "Uhm... Th-Thanks...?"

He smiled his distorted smile. "Hendrick Myles. But please, call me Rick."

I blinked under his gaze and slowly nodded as if in a trance. "Rick..." Feeling disoriented, I handed him my bags and got inside the Cadillac.

* * *

As Rick drove us through the town of Vale down the winding cobblestone streets, I noticed five things. First was the dogs. There were at least 10 of them, all sickeningly thin, their rib cages protruding sharply underneath their furless skin. They drug their ghoulish bodies through the thinly crowded streets, with their noses dragging the ground, as if they were in constant search of something. One looked up and glanced around with narrowed eyes until its gleaming yellow eyes met my own brown ones. I quickly looked away.

Second, was the people. There were so many for such a small town, all milling about happily. How they managed such good moods with the town's depressing architecture stumped me.

That was the third thing; the town's architecture and design. Every building seemed to either be tilting at an odd angle or crumbling at a dangerous degree, shingles dangling for dear life and wooden planks cracked so severely it was a miracle that the buildings were still standing. The town also seemed to be designed completely on a grey scale with the occasional burst of colour here and there, which highly complemented the dark, surrounding forest. Not that I'm being sarcastic or anything.

The fourth thing I noticed was the sudden feeling of being watched. Yeah, creepy feeling in creepy town, filled with creepy ddogs. Comforting right? Of course, on instinct, I whipped my head around to look out the rearview window, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. That was, until my eyes met a pair of pale blue orbs.

He was standing in the middle of the street, with one of those ghoulish dogs; but this one was different. Sure, it was still abnormally skinny and hairless, but something about its stance and the way it stared after the Cadillac I was in as if it wanted to chase me down, gave me the creeps.

I shifted my focus back onto the man, only to find him wearing a wide smile. A very gorgeous smile at that. Then he started laughing, like, a throw your head back kind of laugh. As he laughed, I watched as a few stray brown curls fell into his eyes, and vaguely wondered if they were soft. Not that that had mattered or anything. But there was something about him... It was so beautiful. Like someone from up above had blessed this town with an angel. I was so intently focused on the very out-of-place man, that I didn't notice we had stopped. That was, until Rick's voice broke my reverie.

"We're here Miss. Leveske."

Which brings me to the fifth thing; the manor. My first thought was small house my ass, because the place was huge. For starters, it was a chaotic mess of architecture. I don't know much about that stuff, but it doesn't take a genius to notice that the roof of the manor looked along the lines of medieval castle while the front arch looked like it came from a present day magazine. Of course, the place was a dark shade of grey, but it somehow managed to have a home-like feel to it. Not only that, but the whole place seemed to glow with an extraordinary light.

The manor was placed at the edge of the woods on a slight incline, and was surrounded by a black wrought iron fence. As we drove through the gate, Rick having punched in the passcode, I looked behind us to see the small town a good distance away. The man was gone.

"Don't."

Startled, I made eye contact with Rick through the adjustable mirror. "Pardon?"

He rolled his hazel eyes and sighed. "He is dangerous. You don't want to get involved with someone of his kind."

I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion. "But, how did you-"

"Mark my words Hazel Leveske. Do. Not. Try to meet that man."

Something in his eyes told me that I should listen, that that man was something beyond human comprehension. But, I couldn't shake his angelic face; his intense beauty.

Sighing, I gazed at the looming structure before me. "What have I gotten myself into?"

Although the question was rhetorical, Rick thought it nice to enlighten me.

"My dear, you've gotten yourself into the deepest of depths in all of Pennsylvania. Welcome... to Vale."