Lexicon

Chapter 1

   Mom's grey, four door SUV speed down the road. It was the final day to move everything to our new house. Our previous landlord ousted us from the old one due to constantly having late rent fees. We were a whole year behind. My mom worked three jobs nonstop, but it was futile. The income didn't stand a chance against the debts. It simply wasn't enough.

Her eyes met mine over the surface of the rear-view mirror. She saw me--Xavier Rossi-- focusing all my attention to my music and old friends' drawings. She had an idea of what I might have been feeling and attempted her best to get my attention. Instead of nudging my leg like I would've expected, she called my phone, canceling out the music.

"Hello, is Xavier there?" Mom asked with a smirking look.

"It'd be kinda hard to not be here, since I'm behind you," I replied.

She hung up her phone to communicate verbally. "How are you holding back there, buddy?"

"Could be better. The fact that we just got kicked and we have to move into one of dad's old homes... could be worse."

Mom looks at me through the mirror and sighs justly. "Perhaps it's for the best. Maybe a little change is all we need."

"But why a farm out of all places?" I question as I looked out the window, trying to not fix my mind my on my mother's words.

She exhaled her guilt and continued driving. While looking at the meadows sitting under the rain, dancing at the wind, I couldn't help but to think of dad, the city, and my friends. It was all I had, being extorted.

Our rent money mainly came from my father's side. It helped us manage well enough. Mom usually helped, but her job was mainly to keep the home in check and bringing food to the table, not to mention her jobs didn't pay as much. By the time my dad disappeared is when the family really went downhill. Everything got dark and harder to deal with when he left. As time passed by, I came to the conclusion that my mother had gotten a divorce. When it was confirmed, I was disappointed in myself and laid victim to whatever problems my mom and dad must have had. I didn't even get a good last look at him. I felt like a fatherless baby, never able to see or know his birth father.

A couple of hours later, mom stared at me through the rear-view mirror again and pulled over to a gas station. The rain hadn't ceased one bit. "I'm gonna get some gas, Xavier. How about you go into the store and grab a snack? We'll be home in a while," she says, and hands me a crumpled, ten-dollar bill. I didn't say anything back. My fingers wrapped around the money before I walked towards the small building. I slid in my headphones back on, blowing my ears with the loudness of the music coming from them. As I entered the gas station, my eyes targeted anything that could sustain me for the hours left on the road that wasn't worth more than what I could pay for.

As my eyes get attached to pringles, I bring them to the cashier for a purchase along with some Pepsi, as I wait for the purchase, I couldn't help but hear a voice over my music. As I put it to a mute, I hear a lady and a toddler, complaining about something, I try my best to hear, but they are doing there best to conceal whatever situation they may have caused.

"I'm not seeing any suspicious activity out of the normal, nor am I seeing any anomalies..."

"It's best to keep a good eye on anything.......... if anyone finds out........ then.... and they will be able to summon absolute power..."

There was chatter in the background. A bunch of nerds arguing, probably looking forward to beating their eighteen year-old colleague in DND. I made my purchase as soon as possible and headed back to the car.

As the distance between me and the car decreased, a tall and dark figure bumped into me, forcing my back to collide with the ground. The mysterious person with a large and tight trench coat stared down at me. I glanced back into its black, blank face.

"Ummmm... hello, may I help you?" I said to him, hoping for an answer, but all he does is stare deeply into my face, not saying a single word.

Just then, the two that were in the store walked out, forcing the tall dark figure to head into the darkness, masked by the rain, and fade into its nothingness. As confused as I was, I decided to tell myself that it was nothing, accepting what had just happened. I walked back to the car, where my mother waited for me, then continued to drive home.

"Where am I?" I looked around to see only snow and blood where I was standing, all around and about. It was hard to keep myself on my feet. They tumbled. I collapsed into the comfort of the cold snow and began to shiver.

"What happened... my head hurts a lot," I said as my eyes closed, almost automatically. Before they were entire sealed, I could see a glowing blue light approaching me. It spoke. But death was knocking on my door, and before I knew it, I was back in the car, covered in crumbs and drool.

"Gaaah... my head. How long was I out?" I asked while checking my surroundings. Everything was normal, everything except the fact that I blacked out while eating pringles.

"I hope you had a good rest, because we are almost home, and we'll be busy unpacking." Mom said with an enthusiastic tone. Although, I was not happy about it in the slightest.

She pulled up into our new neighborhood, and to my surprise, it wasn't as lively as I expected it to be. Especially for a neighborhood with other farms and laborers. I expected to see some livestock or at least a chicken running around, but I could say at the most that this place is completely empty. There are autumn leaves everywhere. They filled a pond, making it dangerous for anything that believed it to be part of the ground. I could estimate that this place has been empty for a few years at most. It disturbed me to know how empty everything here was. With any luck, no loose psychopath would run into it.

"Isn't this place so peaceful?" My mom commented at its scenery.

"It's too quiet and gives me the creeps. There isn't anyone here," I responded.

"I'm sure we will encounter someone," she said as the dirt road dove into a corridor of autumn trees to a old house waiting at the end. Despite how old the house was, it was in mid-condition and it seemed to be somewhat fine to live in.