Esterville (Book 1)

Chapter 4: Exorcism

After a long walk, Oliver and Amelia approached a cream-colored house; It has a light brown roof, clear windows, and a white concrete driveway.

  Surrounding the house is a shaven green lawn with bushes, filled with white blossomed flowers.

Believe it or not, this is Oliver's home; with the money saved from babysitting, Caitlin bought a house in a place called Esterville.

What is Esterville, you ask?

Esterville is the only town in Chicago that has a low crime rate. However, sources claim that Esterville has supernatural citings: like vampires, ghosts, demons, werewolves, and so on.

While most people turn a blind eye to myths, Oliver Harper doesn't.

Blessed with a power of sixth sense, Oliver can see supernatural ghosts and other beings.

Let's just say he had it for a very long time.

Oliver didn't know how, or where he got it, but he knows that his power should be contained.

  After school, Oliver would run to his house and read books on mythology, spells, and rituals.

He would stare at the pages, until his mother finds him sleeping in his bedroom, with a book filled with ancient languages.

"Oliver," his mother would sigh. "don't you get tired of reading them?"

Oliver didn't answer, only gathering piles of withered pages, and letters.

Sometimes, Oliver walk around the Esterville cemetery, hoping to see ghosts roaming around their gravestones, but so far he hasn't seen anything yet. 

Shoes slapped against the pavement, as Oliver and Amelia approach the glass door.

"Seems like your mum isn't here again." sighed Amelia sadly, staring at the empty driveway.

Oliver nods in agreement.

Long hours at the Esterville Bookstore can be a bitch, but when you have a son, whose interests scare the living hell out of people, Caitlin Harper didn't have much of a choice.

Thirty-two years old, compassionate, and single, Caitlin Harper worked in the bookstore for nearly sixteen years.

She had golden blond hair, brown eyes, and freckles. Like Oliver, her outfit consisted of hoodies, t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers.

Though Caitlin had a kind personality, she is mysterious, for she never tells Oliver about her father or any of his relatives.

Whenever he asks her about his family, Caitlin changes the subject.

"Mom, can you tell me about Dad?"

"Honey, help me set the table."

"Mom, can you tell me about Grandma?"

"Did you do your homework?"

"Mom, did you have any brothers or sisters when you were little?"

"Oliver, eat your spinach."

There were times that Oliver had given up asking her questions.

He thought about running up to his room, and cry for hours.

Oliver never understood his mother's secrets, but he knows that it's painful to talk about it.

To this day, Oliver stopped asking about his father; though Oliver tries to picture what he looked like.

Did he have brown hair?

Did he have green eyes or even freckles?

And most importantly: does his father ever think of them?