The Other Side Of The River

CHAPTER I: Those Bright Blue Eyes, and That Yellow Gloom

Narrator
Stories of love, stories of mystery, stories of hate, stories of faith, destiny; just words for the ones that are blind , but for the ones that look and see; every story, is, in even the smallest sentence, real. This story that I’m about to share with you, is in every way, real. A written reflection of reality, of my fears, and my demons, my real demons.

Eliza
It was a cold and rainy night, even though it was summer, I was in the car with my parents. I had my headphones on, because I didn’t wanted to listen to anything else, but my mother touched my leg, so I knew I needed to take my headphones off.” Yeah mom? “I want you to go to sleep as soon as we get there, ok? Tomorrow is your first day and I don’t want you up late” I just nodded, but really I just wanted to go out and find a place to stay, somewhere that wasn't the house, since we left our home, without my concern, I don't want to be near them a lot. On the way here, I saw an abandoned garage, maybe I could use that place to sleep.

Alex
That day, I was in a booth, at Nicky’s, I was always there, sometimes with the football team, sometimes with my parents, sometimes with my friends, but sometimes I am by my own, eating a burger and drinking coffee; Only me, a spotify playlist, and every word that passed through my head and into my laptop.

Eliza
We passed by a restaurant called Nicky’s, I didn’t had diner, so I was hungry. “Mom, can I come to this dinner to eat before I go to sleep?” I asked, she nodded. When we started moving, I saw through a window of the dinner. There, sitting in a booth illuminated by neon light, sat a boy with messy hair, using a jacket of what seemed a jacket from the town’s school football team, and I was going to talk to him as soon as I got there. After 3 minutes or so, I was in front of the house, the trucks were behind us, I grabbed my stuff from the truck, and went inside, I went upstairs running, trying not to trip with all of the things that I was carrying, and picked up a room, I put all my things on the bed and went running to the dinner.

Alex
I was still typing on my computer, I heard some voices on the other side of Nicky’s, I didn’t pay much attention to them, and I continued typing, I saw how a girl I’ve never seen entered and saw Scott and Violet on another table, two guys from our school, they are my friends, Scott is captain of the football team, and Violet is a cheerleader, I'm also part of the team, we go to parties of the team like every week, but still sometimes I like to pass time all by myself, like right now. I immediately turned to see the girl again, she was wearing converse, with a pair of light blue jeans and a plain white shirt, almost completely covered by a black jacket. Then she went up to me. “Shit!” I thought, I really wanted to be alone and write about my summer” Hey, can I sit?” She asked me, I limit myself to only nod, when she sat down, I saw the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen.

Eliza
It was a little bit awkward, because he didn’t speak, so I took the first step. “Hi, I’m Elizabeth, you can call me Eliza, I am new in town” I said, trying to free him out of the computer screen. ”I can tell, considering that everyone in the town comes here to eat, and I have never seen your face here.” He said, I blushed, it was awkward, He smiled.”Hi, I’m Alex, welcome to the most boring town in America.” He said, still smiling, without even seeing me, or anything else, just the computer, I smiled, genuinely.

Alex
I didn't wanted to talk to her, I just wanted to write by my own. -Can you just leave me alone- I said to myself. ” What are you writing?” She asked to me. ”A story” I answered, trying to keep all my attention to the computer screen, to be as cold as my heart would let me so that somehow she would get the message of wanting to be alone.

Eliza
“Can I read? “I said. ”Yeah, sure” I sat down next to him and started reading.

Alex
I felt a little bit bad for being that mean, so I tried to know her a little. “And, who are your parents??” I said, trying not to make it so awkward, I saw how she stopped reading and looked at the table. “Foster-parents, actually, Shelly and Frederick Brooks” she said to me. I felt a pain on my heart. “OH, I’m sorry to hear that, what happened to them?” I said, watching my fingers as I played with them, knowing I made a terrible mistake.

Eliza
“Well, my Dad, left when I was a baby, and my mom died when I was 2 years old, then this family adopted me, and I adopted their last name, Brooks.” I said, playing with my fingers.

Alex
I saw tears in her cheeks, she cleaned them, but started crying, then she hugged me. I hugged her back awkwardly, because we just met, but, I tried to comfort her,I saw the table on the other side of Nicky’s, I saw Scott waving at me and making a ‘perfect’ sign with his hands, as if I was about to hook up with her. I moved my head saying no.”C'mon man”I whispered, smiling.”what?” she said, sniffing her tears away.”Nothing”I answered, nervously. After a while she let go. “I’m sorry, I don’t talk about my parents that much, I don’t do it since I was 13.” She said, still sniffing the tears out of her face. “Its ok, I’m like that too” I said trying to comfort her a little bit”So, tell me about your parents”She said.
I smiled as I rolled my eyes.”C’mon!”She said, shaking my leg a little, I smiled. “Well, miraculously my parents are still together 20 years after graduation, that means today, and they also procreated a female, smarter and older version of me, called Rachel.” I said, I saw how she smiled, I chuckled. “So she is in senior year?” She answered. “Actually she is in junior of college” I said, she moved her head saying ‘ok’. “That's great!” She said. “Yeah it is” I answered, I looked at her face, and I saw those bright blue eyes that made me wonder about her past. For one moment, I think I saw a yellow glow on them, then I smiled.
“What?” She said as she looked at me and smiled“Are you going to eat something? “I asked, she nodded “Hey Brennen!, can I get some onion rings and two chocolate milkshakes please? “Right away Nich”I raised my eyebrow and point at her slightly with my head, pressing my teeth together, sending him a message of being careful. I turned back to her and smiled “Nich?”She answered, raising an eyebrow, I smiled and turned to see the floor.”Yeah that, my full name is Alexander Nicholas Harper” I said, then I once again turn to see my laptop and I continued typing.”Well, thats a hell of a name”she said, I just smiled”Mm-hmm”I answered.”Hey Alex!” Yelled Violet ”Hey” I yelled back.”This is going to be great”I whispered, uncomfortable.
I was blushed and uncomfortable, I waved my hand, and made our secret hand-shake with Scott. ”Hey Scott, hey Violet “I said”. “Hey” they both said “You must be Elizabeth, Hi, I’m Violet and these is Scott, we are good friends of Alex.” They sat down and Scott, Violet and Eliza started talking, laughing every once in a while, eating also, but I still continued typing. Eliza looked at me slightly. “That's enough” she said, smiling, she took my computer and closed it and put it on the side, I rest my head in my arms, angry. “Oh C'mon man! Talk to us! It's not bad for you to spend the last night of summer with your friends” Scott said, I turned to see the window and smiled, then rolled my eyes. “Fine” I said smiling. The moment I said that, a cold feeling went down my spine, something was wrong.

Narrator
In another part of Paradise, was Henry, walking alone in Black Log River, pretty obvious name, considering that in some point of the river lies an old black log, like a bridge that crosses from side to side of the river.

Henry
=What can I do, I’m hungry, but I don’t want to walk all the way to Nicky's=I said to myself. I saw back my shoulder, considering I'm a little paranoid, its a normal doing, always thinking there is someone following me. I felt the world going in slow motion as I tripped and fell to the ground. “Shit!” I yelled. On the floor, I saw a leg. “What the-” I asked, shivers went down my spine as I looked who was attached to the leg, the problem was, there was no one attached to it, it was just a leg.

Narrator
From all the stories that exist, from all the stories that this could've been, the reality within this story, was the rotten, and corrupt part of the secrets that started to rise, from beneath the town, and from the deepest parts of every mask that the people in this town buried, and the masks, that were just arriving to town as well. This story, is about how the arrival of the Devil’s Daughter, brought the Devil himself within her past.