Volume 3

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The darkness had evaded the figure in my lap. My body refused to move. I wasn't sure if maybe something in the figure's eyes had cast some type of mesmerizing glare at me. No...maybe it was my own fear that made me not want to move. I didn't know what the case was, but I knew my life in danger. That part was clear enough.

The figure looked at me ready to move in.

" Teddy! TEDDY!"

Someone had come home. I couldn't tell if it was Carter or my dad. A lot of the times they sounded almost identical. Someone was in downstairs somewhere. The figure in my lap started to advance to me. It may have been more eager now. The fact that someone was in the house may have caused the figure to need to act now.

I did what I could.

I closed my eyes.

I continued to pray as I closed my eyes. I felt the hand on my face. It was cold. It was so fucking cold. This thing couldn't be something of this world. It couldn't be something living. It wouldn't have been so cold.

Then it removed it hand and when it touched me again it was warm.

Then the touch got harder.

The touch became forceful, grabbing me and violently shaking me!
"Teddy!"

I opened my eyes to see my dad standing there in front of me. I looked around. Carter was with him. The lights had turned on.

I didn't even notice what the hell was happening.

Where had the creature gone?

I couldn't have been imagining it. No...my window was open. A gust flew in it. My window wasn't opened before. Or maybe it was. Maybe I was dreaming the whole time. No. That was impossible. I knew dream from reality. Or did I?
"Teddy you left the door open," Dad said, "God knows what could have happened. You have to start being more careful."

"Dad..." I started off...

Carter cut me off, "Dad stop being so hard on him. We live in the country. Everyone damn near knows everyone. Who is going to rob us? Besides what will they get...a couple bibles? Hell they might rob us and get some holy water if they are lucky."

"Carter..."

How do I start to tell them? How do I tell them something was in my room? Or maybe something MAY have been in my room. What if they asked me what it was?

The lady that died was in my room.

That sounded freaking crazy. Dead people DON'T come back to life. They would look at me like I was crazy. Dad would send me to boarding school. Maybe it was the fact that they were mad about something that happened before they came here, but they seemed on edge.

"Damn it Jr." Dad said getting up away from me and getting in Carter's face, "I'm the father here. Need I remind you of all those missing people?"

"Those people are missing because they probably ran away from Hoax," Carter said crossing his arms and shaking his head, "Why don't you tell that to the lackluster search squad."
"And what about wild animals. They could have just wandered in here."

"Something did."

They both looked at me when I spoke. I knew why they looked at me. My voice sounded really shaky. My nerves were still on end. It felt like I could still feel the eerie eyes on me.

"What?" Dad asked me.

Carter butt in just as quick as he did, "Something came in here."
"I think. I'm not sure...I...um...god...um...nevermind."

I had to think about what I was saying. It wasn't making sense. Something...some dead woman walked into my room without me noticing. She hid in the shadows of my room and she climbed onto my bed with me. She laid her head on my lap. Then she touched me and she was gone as soon as I closed my eyes for just a good minute.

Dad jumped right back onto Carter, "Jr. you are getting a little too unruly. You know that. You and I are going to have a little talk. I want to see you downstairs in my study."

Carter rolled his eyes after Dad walked out the room, "Here we go again. One more lecture from Dad about respect. But hey, Teddy are you really ok? Did something come in here or not?"

"I don't know. I think. I don't know."

He laughed, "When you figure it out. Let me know. Ok?"

I nodded. The rest of the night I slept with my lights on and door open. I looked outside the window and didn't see anyone.

Still I had this eerie feeling that someone was watching me...waiting me for to shut the lights off again. That old lady was just looking for the right opportunity to finish what she started.

The next few days I didn't say much to anyone except Nooks for that matter. I talked to Nooks because she barely asked me what was wrong. She knew I was the emotional type. When something was bothering me, I just seemed to board up.

Every five minutes Carter was asking me what was wrong though. I didn't get it. I was trying my best to avoid him because I just didn't want to talk about it.

HE hadn't been coming to school either.

People in Hoax didn't believe in the unnatural. Carter would have told me I was crazy. He would have laughed at me or something. I saw a dead woman.

The only one I could think about that would probably believe me is someone who I didn't know. I kept thinking about War. He wouldn't understand that. I kept thinking about me. Maybe he would listen to me. He seemed to be into stuff like that. He believed it.

Or maybe I just wanted an excuse to talk to him again.

He hadn't been to school though. He had been gone for a few days and he was the only thing keeping me off my mind from fear. He was the only other thing I could think about. Maybe it was calming me down. I wasn't sure.

I just went through the school days, almost like a ghost. I was almost like a spirit my damn self.

Before I knew it was the weekend and I had just gotten off school. I watched in the distance as the Valeries paced around looking for a new another victim.

Nooks was with Little Jo Germany who was such a big goody two. He was definitely the biggest snitch I'd ever seen in my life. He was the kind of guy who would tell the janitor if you pissed in the back of the school...at night...when there was no bathroom around. Their parents were good friends so they were kind of forced to be friends. By the look on her face I knew damn well she didn't want to be there.

"You going to wait for Nooks?"

I turned around to see my brother standing there.

"Nawl."

"So why didn't you come to the car. I was waiting for you," he explained.

"I just need some time...to myself. I think I'm going to walk home," I explained.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yeah."

He looked worried. I knew my brother. For some reason he felt like he had to know everything about me. He felt like he had to know where I was and what I was doing. He had to know where I was going. He felt like that was his job. I guess it was because of how Dad made it seem for so long.

"You aren't going to chill with the Valeries right?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes, "No...Jr. I got this. Go do your thing. Don't you have a date with Fancy Peters?"

Fancy Peters was this country girl that he'd had a crush on for the longest time. In the big city she would be a five but out here she was definitely a 9. We all had country accents born from the old Southern Baptist Bible Belt, but her accent was so deep that she wouldn't make it anywhere but in Hoax. I didn't like her. She was another one who like Augustine War but he wouldn't give her the time of day. I think she was the first one who liked him actually.

"If you don't want me to go out with Fancy Peters I won't," Carter Jr. said, "You are family. I think maybe it is about time we spent some time together."

"Later. Ok? I have to do something."

He crossed his arms but nodded. Then he walked away. He didn't say bye or anything. I knew Carter's mouth was really vicious and usually instead of cursing or anything he'd try to walk away when he got upset.

I knew not to stop him. Dad didn't though. That was when they started their multiple arguments.

I started to walk though. I had to escape from Nooks and Little Jo though. I think they were trying to make their way to the river where most of the high school students hung out on Friday nights. Knowing my brother he'd probably head over there as well.

I made my way down the street to the forked road that led close to the cemetery. It was the same place I saw the hooded lady the day before.

I looked around for her.

No one.

I stared down the street to that was close to the cemetery. I wasn't scared of the cemetery. That isn't what shook me up. It was the road itself that seemed weird. As I started to make my way down the road, I noticed all the houses were kind of broken down and abandoned. No one really lived in this part of the town because it was so close to the cemetery.

I started to make my way towards the street. A crow was in the distance. It circled around once and then came back and landed in a tree.

It looked down at me almost like Carter would saying, "Why the fuck are you coming down here?"

The sun was setting too. The sky was a reddish orange.

Night was coming soon.

I thought about turning back. I even stopped walking in the way I was going, but then I saw the house. It was at the end of the street. At first it didn't seem much but there seemed something almost pulling me towards it. I made my way closer and closer towards the house. My entire body seemed governed as though being called towards the house.

There was crackling in the wind.

The crow beat its feathers against the trees making this clashing noise.

Silence.

Where was everyone at? I looked around. My eyes wandered from left to right wondering where everyone had gone in the town. Why was it so damn quiet?

Why didn't I hear anything at all?

I had managed to walk close to the house. I knew the street was cut off by the cemetery to the left. The street was a dead end road and at the end of the road it was Mrs. Devro's house. I knew not a lot of people came around this way, but I didn't know it was this isolated. How could you manage to be isolated in an isolated town?

The house seemed so alive. I was so moved by it...so entranced.

I didn't hear the soft, soft cackling noise behind me. The cold chill up my spine came too late!
It wasn't until I saw the shadow that I screamed. I called out almost in a cold way.

"Shhh..."

A hand was over my mouth. I struggled. It wasn't a hard hand though. I noticed as I struggled that it wasn't really struggling with me back. Instead it was holding me almost with no sense of struggle at all.

"Didn't I tell you about the dark?"

I turned to see War. God...I breathed in a sigh of relief. A part of me still felt a little worried though. Though it was someone familiar, I still was shook up. War was fucking beautiful there though, as he had his hand over my mouth.

I backed up realizing how close he was. He had been really close actually. He wasn't backing up either now that I noticed him.

"Are you following me?"

We were extremely close but for some reason it didn't make him as nervous as it did me. He seemed completely talking to me sat a range so close that I could feel his warm breath and smell the masculine smelling oil flavors that he had soaking all over him.

"No...I told you. I live near Mrs. Devro's old place. I live just down the street," he stated, "Look at it? Isn't it weird in there?"

"It's fucking eerie."

Even though it wasn't completely dark outside, the darkness seemed to be even darker in that house. There was something up with it. I didn't tell which part of the house had burnt down. All it just looked old but still put together. The house was painted a dark mustard colored yellow, but it seemed to be covered by this green grown that was climbing all over it.

"Eerie isn't the word," War stated shaking his head, "Me and my roommates, we stand out here all the time and just look at it. Sometime you can see a woman standing there...right there..."

He pointed at a window in the house.

The window was the window of the attic. I could barely see that far up because we were still a little far away from the house too. I could only see something like a light in the window. I wasn't even sure if it was a light or just some sort of reflection.

"You do that for fun?" I asked him.

"Nothing else to do."

"And wait hold on. You have roommates? You don't live with your parents?"

War shook his head. He had the cutest smile when he did smile and he did happen to be smiling at this moment.

"I am ... kind of a ward of the state," he continued shaking his head, "My roommates are all my foster brothers. My foster parent takes a lot of kids in you know."

"Oh...I am kind of familiar with the foster system. When I was young, I used to go to a lot of foster homes, until I was finally adopted."

"You are an orphan too?"

I nodded.

"Cool...cool...so nice to know we have that in common," he said giving me a half smile with one side of his face rising up a little bit in a really cute, homely way, "Oh shit watch out."

He had came towards me. I held my breath. I didn't know why. I didn't know what the fuck I was expecting. Maybe it was more what the fuck I was hoping for.

All I remember was holding my breath as I saw Augustine War take a step toward me. He smelled like such natural oils. Everything about him seemed so natural and organic. You probably would never smell anything commercial processed on him. That is probably why his skin was so beautiful. It was always flawless. He was a cover model and he didn't even know it.

His hand came up to my face and he brushed my neck. It was slow...sensual. I felt the tingle go up my entire fucking body.

Then I exhaled.

"Mosquito..." he stated crossing his arms, "Those damn bloodsuckers are everywhere this season."

"Oh...thanks."

He laughed a little bit, not stepping back from me still, "Do I make you uncomfortable, Teddy?"

He seemed to be having a good time by the way he was smiling. He knew so damn well that he made me nervous. God, I was trying to engrave all these memories in my head for later. I had masturbated to War more times than I would like to admit.

"No..." I lied, turning around.
I took a step back.

Just as I took a step back he leaned his head in as though wanting to address me. He seemed very intimate when he talked. I knew it wasn't just with me though. Even with teachers. Even with people he didn't know. He spoke to them very closely. He spoke to them very intimately.

He was the kind of guy that got so close that made you wonder if your breath smelled ok. He had got so close that you couldn't look him straight in his eyes because it would be awkward.

But he didn't care. He looked you right in your eyes.

"Really? No?" he stated shaking his head, "So why do you do that thing?"

"What thing?"

"Your tongue clicks in the back of your mouth," he stated shaking his head, "Everytime you are nervous it happened. I noticed the first month I came to school. Dean Corrigan stopped you in the hall and it clicked. It's the strangest sound."

The way he looked at me was as though he was studying me, digging through me.

"You noticed me?"

"Of course," he stated shaking his head and finally looking away, "Not that many people in this school. Of course, you'd probably assume that to notice that I must have been paying close attention."

I nodded.

"Yeah."

"Well can I be honest with you..."

"Sure?"

"Well..." he said but then all of a sudden stopped talking. Something had caught his attention.

At first it looked like he was just staring down the street at nothing, but almost just as he looked down the street a car came rolling up. No...it didn't really go rolling up...the car came speeding up the street.

It seemed like it was going to way too fast. I started to run to get out of the way, but War stayed there. He stood right in front of me and the car and for some odd reason I felt like I was safe right there more then I would be if I ran to the sidewalk.

I don't know if I could have been delusional or maybe it was just my hormones causing me to stick around by him.

"It's not slowing down!" I yelled.

It was a cue for us to run away, but he just stood there. He didn't seem worried about the car but he didn't seem too excited about it coming either. His face had this reluctance to it that I didn't quite understand.

The car sped straight up to us up the street.

It rolled right up to him!

It RAN right up to War...almost hitting him but managing to stop by a matter of a few inches. I couldn't fucking believe it. War just stood there unamused by the entire situation.

"Goddam daredevils..." he stated.

The black reversed to the side of the road and parked on the side of the street. It was an Audi, which was definitely a pretty decent car for the small beat up town of Hoax. It was however an older version. All the windows were tinted black.

The passenger door opened and out came this extremely tall guy. He was white and his face looked like someone had just probably ripped it off some ad somewhere. He didn't give me any attention. Hell he didn't pay War any attention either.

He got out of the car and he just walked away.

Out the backseat came another guy, not as tall as the first but almost nearly as handsome. He was black with a dark chocolate tone. He didn't have black hair like you would expect from a dark chocolate brother, but instead his hair was like a reddish color. He seemed definitely a lot nicer as he gave me a smile and actually approached War and I.

The driver however came out of the car as well. I guess that was the last guy who was in the car because he locked it. The driver was fucking striking just like the other two. He seemed more like War's complexion except his eyes weren't dark like War's. His eyes were actually a beautiful shade of brown. He was skinny, very lean and not muscular at all like the other two. His face was beautiful and he had something like a very low Mohawk going.

It seemed like someone was playing some sick joke or something on me. I didn't know it was even possible for 3 hot guys to know each other AT all. I thought the only cute guys in Hoax were my brother and Augustine War. Every other guy was just plain average or ok with some type of potential.

And they're complexions were beautiful, almost like a rainbow. Dark, brown and white guys with beautiful faces.

" I don't even want to know," the driver said.

"I do," the dark one stated walking up to both of us with his hand stretched out.

He actually walked right past War and up to me. I figured he had to know him or somehow he was just incredibly rude. He walked up to me and smiled. His hand shook mine at the moment. His hand had a tight cold grasp on mine.

I felt uncomfortable by it. I didn't know what it was. It scared me...

Something was different about this beautiful man.

"Do I make you nervous?" the dark skin guy asked.

It was the same thing that War asked. I looked over at War trying to wonder if these guys used the same social dictionary or something.

When I looked over at War I could just see how annoyed he looked. His patience seemed to be very thin at this point.

"Get him the fuck out of here," War stated.

It was obvious he was talking to the other guy...the passenger who was his same skin tone. The other guy didn't move however when War spoke to him. He just stood there crossing his arms and staring at the dark skin man.

"Augustine are you upset at me?" the dark skin boy stated, "I'll walk away...wouldn't want to upset the big baby now would I?"

He shot a dead look at Augustine. It was something that I was used to really. It was something actually rather frightening. Augustine's face wrinkled up though. I could tell he was irritated if not completely angry.

What was going on? Who were these guys?
Why was Augustine so mad that the boy just walked up and introduced himself?

Augustine looked over at the dark skinned boy, "You done saying what you need to say pest?"

The brown skinned boy with the Mohawk shook his head, "You've outdone yourself Augustine. What do you do now? Sit in the dark with kids. I mean look at this kid. How old is he? 15? You just sit around in at night and have quality conversations."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

It was no need to for the boy to get like that. He called me 15 as though I didn't have facial hair. He was calling me a kid as though I wasn't just as tall as Augustine.

The dark skinned boy laughed at him, "Don't worry boy. We go at it all the time. For some reason we all just can't find a way to get along. What do you think it is?"

"I don't even know who you are."

The dark skinned boy laughed. Damn. I had to admit. They were all really sexy. Even the rude ass brown complexion guy was sexy. My dick was jumping around being around all these guys. I hadn't had these many hot guys talk to me at the same time period.

Augustine shook his head, "Are you done pest?"

The dark skinned boy nodded and took a step back, winking at Augustine, "Done."

The brown boy didn't seem done yet. As the dark boy walked away he stood there and looked over at me, "And I'm not. Who is this kid?"

"None of your business."

The brown skinned boy laughed, "I'm sure it is. It's so dark. Everyone's going in doors. Aren't you afraid of the dark little boy? Have you asked him yet, Augustine?"

"He's afraid, now leave us alone."

What the fuck were they talking about yet?"

The brown skin boy took a step closer to me, "No let him say it. I want him to say it."

"I said he's afraid," Augustine replied, "So are done..."

What the fuck was going on. The brown skin boy was looking at me with those solid light eyes. For a moment I could have sworn I saw a flicker in them. It was almost like a flash...like you get from a camera. I wasn't sure though.

The brown boy shook his head, "Ok. I was just letting him know. There are some scary things out at night. That lady is around. Have you seen a weird lady?"

"No," Augustine stated.

The brown skin boy shook his head, "I wasn't talking to you Augustine. I was asking your friend?"

His eyes were ripping through me. They were like claws. Talons. The way he fucking stared at me was too intense. It was almost like he wanted to charge at me right now. I felt so unsafe. I just wanted to go home more than ever. I never knew I could feel so uncomfortable in my own home.

My voice had gotten so low with fear that I could barely speak, "I've seen a lot of weird shit lately."

That definitely included him. The way he was looking at me freaked me out.

"Weird women...specifically?" he asked.

He wasn't letting this go. For a moment I could just remember the lady with the hood over her head. I just remembered Mrs. Devro. They were both weird. They were both two things that I couldn't understand. They were two things I couldn't put my finger on.

"I'm not afraid," I replied to them, crossing my arms, "It's just some weird stuff has been going on. Thanks for your concern. I'm cool though. As a matter of fact, I think my brother Carter is right down the block."

Hell I didn't know where my brother was. It was this brown skin boy that was making me nervous. I didn't like how he talked. It made me even more nervous that War had somehow faded into the shadow. It was almost like he was over the entire thing.

Who the fuck were these guys?

Why did my heart beat around them so fast? Why was I so nervous and scared? I just wanted to go home. There was a sick presence here that I didn't get.

"Carter? As in Carter Michaels?" the dark skin boy asked.

"You know my dad?"

All of a sudden the brown skin boy's face lost its sense of horrible wit. His face was just dry now. Even weirder was how the white boy had just came walking up out of thin air. I was sure that he had walked away and gone to do something. They were all standing there now looking at me in this weird way.

The white boy didn't stare like the others. He was there though. His presence seemed to linger on in a weird way.

War had moved his face close to me and whispered in a sharp steady tone, "Teddy, is your brother really down the hill? It's time you leave."

War had a worried look on his face. I could see it really. His look said everything but "Run for your life". I didn't understand it. Who were these guys and why did was War so afraid of me because of these guys.

"It was nice to meet you guys," I told the three there.

I started to turn around and leave. It was the only thing I could think to do but as I turned around to leave I felt the hand grab me.

I turned around to see the tall handsome white man grab my arm and twist it.
A surge of pain echoed throughout my body. I felt like I had just gotten the worst Indian burn ever. He had brought me to my goddam knees in pain.

My heart raced as I realized the threat that I had in my mind was actually real.

Who were these guys?

How did they know Augustine?

How did they know weird stuff had been going on around here?

How did they know who my Dadf?

As I squirmed in a remarkable pain that he inflicted on me which brought me to my knees, his voice was deeper than all the others, "You aren't going anywhere..."