Breaking The Silence

P

Pendulum Ghost

Guest
Original poster
Breaking the Silence
Intro: The Welcoming Party
​
August 12th,

It is the final hours of summer vacation, with school is set to begin at 8 a.m the next morning. The area is permeated with the smell of a barbeque. It is just another uneventful day, there is alot of chatting and laughter coming from the backyard of a house that hasn't been lived in for years. The teenagers are laughing and being youthful of course as they drink away their last day of freedom.

But on this day a moving van and one car pulls up out front. The house itself is a two story with a basement. Aside from the paint starting to peel off, the house has no structural flaws. Sure the roof is in urgent need of new shingles but it has stood strong against the elements. The kids are unaware of what is taking place in front as they have music being loudly play from one of their cars parked in the alley.
 
Nik climbed out of the car that he'd just parked and turned off in the driveway. His mother had backed the moving van into the driveway so that they could unload it more easily, and he walked around to the back of it to open it up. They weren't too concerned with getting everything unloaded that day, but he decided to start grabbing some boxes anyway. Most of their blankets and linens were packed away in boxes; where as most of their clothes were in duffle bags and other such things. They had brought their own furniture from the old house, but he just wasn't sure he was up to moving the big stuff so soon.

The sound of music coming from somewhere nearby had him looking around, but when he didn't immediately spot the source he just figured it was coming from someone's back yard. He picked up a box and headed to the front door; which his mother had thoughtfully unlocked already. "Hey, Niki," his mom called to him as he placed the first box against one wall in the livingroom. "Yeah?" he called back to her. "I was thinking we could put off moving some of this stuff for a little while until we get something to eat and maybe some water or something," she said as she approached the front door. "Yeah, that might not be a bad idea," he said with a slight frown. Despite the fact that the sound was a bit dulled due to the walls of the house, for some reason the noise seemed a bit louder in here. Nik strolled through the living room area to where the back door of the house was and peered through the window.
 
The inside of the house felt congested and arid. The whole house needed to be ventilated out. Outside it was a cool 65 degrees with a light breeze. Out in their untamed backyard there were teenagers about the same age as Nik talking away and drinking.

They were totally oblivious that they were being watched from inside the house. There were lawn chairs and pickups trucks in the alley with their tailgates down. It seemed like any other teenage barbeque, all together there was probably more than dozen outside. The music slightly echoed in the empty house.

Beer cans and bottles littered the backyard. Two many for just this cookout. A gate barely remained attached to what was left of a picket fence, which only had chips of white paint remaining on the wood.
 
Nik gave an exasperated sigh when he saw the extent of what was outside. As if they didn't have enough crap to deal with moving in to a new house, but now they had to chase kids out of their back yard and clean up the mess that they'd made of it. Not that he was much older than the kids back there at the moment, but he wasn't always the typical teenager. "Oh my," his mother said as she peered over his shoulder. "I got it, mom," he assured her gently as he forced the back door open. It wasn't an easy thing to do, and it seemed like that was going to be another thing for him to do at some point, but he managed to get it open none-the-less.

"Hey!" he shouted at the group of kids gathered in his new back yard. He was really hopeful that this wouldn't escalate into a physical fight, especially considering the number of them versus just one of him. He strolled through the back yard, careful of where he stepped because their truck tires had left ruts in the ground, and the last thing he needed was a twisted ankle while he was trying to run people off. He wasn't sure if his presence was going to be enough to make them scatter, so he prepared himself to say something; though he really wasn't sure what he might say.
 
When the back door opened just about everyone turned their head. Like a herd of deer they watched Nik with blank expressions. The skinny boy cooking was lost singing the lyrics to the song currently playing. It was only when Nik spoke that he turned and jumped.

A beefy kid stepped away from his girl he was all over only only to be pulled on by the same girl. "Who are you?" He asked his voice was deep and spoke as if he was someone of authority. The rest looked on as the girl something whispered in the boy's ear.
 
Nik rolled his eyes and stopped to stand with his arms crossed over his chest. "I live here, and as far as I'm concerned, that's all you need to know about who I am," he said. "Look. I'm not here to be a dick, but your music is loud, this isn't public property anymore, and you've left a hell of a mess for us to clean up already. Just escort yourselves off my property before I have to call the authorities," he said, offering them an easy opening to leave. He had a cellphone in his pocket and would use it to call the police if it turned out to be necessary.

Nik's mom wasn't a confrontational person most of the time, but the moment her son had stepped outside to confront such a large group of people she'd run to the moving van and grabbed the 12 guage her father and brothers had insisted she buy before moving such a long distance away. Now she stood near the backdoor, holding on to the shot gun and waiting just in case things got out of hand. She had no intentions of actually shooting one of the kids, but she knew that most people would take off running at the mere sound of a shotgun being pumped.
 
The stocky boy smiled, as did the rest of them. "He isn't from around here." He called out turning his head then coming back to face him. His girl tugged at his arm. He looked at her then everyone's glaze was upon Nik's mom who was carrying a shotgun.

"You think our...." "Greg shut the fuck up!" The girl spoke with a threatening tone. Her eyes glanced over at Nic, before turning back the aggressive kid. Greg turned and eyed her once more before putting his arms up. "Yeah ok fine, we're gone." He stepped back towards the alley and everyone followed suit not so much as a glance at Nik or his mom followed their retreat. They said nothing more, no apology not a word. Within 10 minutes the grill and everyone was gone from their backyard.
 
Nik didn't even realize that his mother was visible and he tensed when the one who had asked who he was appeared to be ready to start something. However something made the guy stop and decide it really wasn't worth it, and within a matter of moments the back yard was cleared of the teenagers. He sighed as he looked around at the mess that they had left and ran a hand through his short hair. Sometimes he really hated teenagers, but then, he really couldn't say much, since he was still a teen himself.

Nik's mom relaxed only once the teenagers had cleared out of the back yard and she carefully placed the shotgun on a kitchen counter before she called out to her son. "Niky, come on inside," was all she said as she waited for him to return inside. "Let's go get something to eat; we'll lock the house up and find something to temporarily fix the gate for the night," she assured him with a gentle smile. He nodded and gave her a quick hug before closing and locking the back door. They left through the front and his mom locked that door with the only key to the house. They got in the car that Nik had driven all the way here and headed in to the actual town to find something to eat and perhaps a hardware store.
 
The town of Paracrisis had a population of over ten thousand people. For being an isolated town it was well off. There wasn't any of the known chain businesses here. Because everything was run by the residents.

The scenery was beautiful, trees managed to find their way on to mostly every lawn and patch of ground in town. Because of this wildlife like deer were frequently seen in town as they made their way to the dense forests out of city limits. This was a place that seemed to be cut off from the rest of the world, it was alien compared to the nearest population center.
 
They found a little mom and pop type of restaurant to stop at and get something to eat for the night, deciding that groceries could wait until the next day. Nik parked the car and shut it off while they climbed out and locked the doors. He held the door to the restaurant open for his mother and it only took a moment or two of waiting before they were seated with menus. After a few moments debate they both ordered their food for the evening and handed their menus back to the waitress.

The time spent waiting for their meals was uneventful at best, but they managed to keep up a steady flow of small talk between the two of them. Mostly they were discussing what Nik would do in his senior year and what colleges he might look in to applying to before the year was over. There was a part of him that was uncertain he wanted to go off to college immediately, but he was still considering applying to colleges none-the-less. Their food arrived without too much of a wait and rather than continue the flow of small talk they both became silent as they ate their food.

Soon their food was finished and they paid the bill, leaving a decent tip for their waitress, and they left the restaurant, heading back to the house. They arrived back at the house and riffled through a few boxes until they both found sufficient pillows and blankets for the night. Fortunately Nik's mother had had the fore-thought to have the water and electric turned on to the place before they arrived. He really didn't care for the idea of not being able to take a shower before his first day at a new school. Not long after finding pillows and blankets they bid eachother good night and settled in to at least try to get some sleep.
 
Clouds had already begun to move in by the time Nik and his mom left the restaurant. Aside from the looks they received at the restaurant, nothing else happened. It was only after midnight that rain began to fall which was followed by the sounds of rumbling thunder.

Like usual random lights outside seemed to react to the thunder. But this was normal around here. A porchlight would react while someone's car lights would flicker. This was just the true way of things. It was at random of what lights would react. Only with loud clasps of thunder would it become easily noticeable.

The storm continued until almost dawn. Before it began to dry away.
 
((Sorry the post took so long. Things got pretty busy on my end.))

Nik layed down in the corner of the living room area that he'd chosen for himself that night. They'd decided to put off picking bedrooms and what not until they had the time to bring furniture and personal items into the house. He had one arm tucked underneath of his head and ontop of his pillow as he layed there, with his eyes still open, starring up at the ceiling. It was times like this; late at night and in new situations, that he found himself missing his father the most. Even though quite a period had passed since his father's death, he still missed the man. Often times he would find himself doing things the way his father used to without even realizing what he was doing. There were times when it was still painful to think about the loss of his father, especially those times that he caught himself doing things without realizing it. He had, however, been told that while the pain would lessen it would never truly go away, and he was definitely beginning to see that.

He slept fitfully that night, between the storm and dreams of his father and other people dying, it just wasn't a good night for him. He'd finally dozed with no occurance of dreams shortly before his mother woke him to get ready for his first day of school. Needless to say he was miserable when he woke up, but his attitude did change a bit once he got a shower and fresh change of clothes. A knot had formed in his stomach from the moment he woke up, and he knew that it was going to be a long day full of nerves and trying to force himself to memorize things around those nerves. Once he was fully dressed; including socks and shoes, he grabbed his bag and bade his mother good-bye. She said she was planning on going back to sleep, but he knew that she'd slept as fitfully as he had that night, and that the chances were she would spend most of the day bringing in the smaller items off the moving van to keep herself busy. The house hadn't seemed daunting when they'd arrived during the daylight hours, but at night there was definitely a creep factor about it. However; that was likely due to the fact that it was old and large, and most houses bearing those qualities had a creep factor to them; especially at night.
 
(no worries, I have been busy myself)

Though the storms had passed it remained cloudy. The excess rain water was still running down the streets in some places. The air smelt of rain, which was being carried in by a cold breeze. Cars passed the house sloshing water behind their back tires. In the alleyway two houses down there was a black sedan parked with the engine off. The windows were just as dark as the paint job making it impossible to tell if it was empty or not.

In the front parked down the street was another black dark tinted sedan, the driver door was open, but from this distance it was to hard to tell if someone was sitting inside or if it was vacant. There came a knock on the door, standing outside was a guy dressed in a black trench coat he was clean shaved and was currently putting his glasses away in his pocket.
 
Nik had just turned the door knob to open it and leave the house when a knock sounded. His eyes narrowed a bit as he pulled the door open and it revealed a man in a black trench coat. Oh yeah, 'cause that wasn't in the least bit suspicious. It was all he could do not to roll his eyes at the cliche that the man standing on the other side of the front door posed. His mother walked up behind him. "Niky? What's wrong?" she asked, but paused once she was close enough to spot the man.

She pushed her son to one side and stepped into the doorway, her arms folded across her chest. To look at her, one would think that Maria was the stereotypical weak woman. However, with all the things that she's gone through recently, she'd become a lot stronger than one might think. "Can I help you?" she asked the man standing on the other side of her front door, her eyes narrowing slightly.
 
"Hello ma'am," he held up an FBI identification card. "I'm with the good guys. I was just checking vacant homes looking for someone of interest. This house I was told was empty, has been for years." His eyes met Nik's and he glance back to his mother with a seemingly bored expression.
 
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