The Pale Boy

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

I stare out the car window, watching as rain drops form branches down the glass.  The streams wash out my view of the town and my breath steams up the window, creating a cloud to further obstruct my new home.

The new hope I had for this town was overwhelming. I kept trying to dispel the hope, except it refused to leave. It would dissipate for a few days and then suddenly it would reappear again. Frustrating wasn’t the right word, it was something stronger than that. I was torn in two directions, the safe normalcy I held two hundred miles away, and something new. After a month of sleepless nights though, I was here. In my new hometown.

My dad strays off the main strip of the town and takes a road that divides off. I rub the sleeve of my jacket against the window to clear away the steam, and an amused smile tugs at my lips as I see what's on the other side.

"Look Annabelle!” my mom cries, pointing to a truck just as it kicks mud while trying to get out of a rut, "I told you that we should have gotten that car with four wheel drive!"

I laugh at my mom and turn around in my seat to look back at the truck. It’s still struggling to get loose from the rut.

"Oh, dear, you're still going on about that," my dad says, shaking his head.

"Well, yes! A perfectly good, new car and she chooses that..."

I tune my parents out, and turn forward in my seat, watching the window wipers clear away dribbles of rain.

I had just gotten my dream car a few months ago, an old Volkswagen Beetle, and my mom refused to accept that that was the car I wanted. Until I got the car, she had bribed me with every other vehicle on Earth, and now she constantly complains about my choice.

We turn down another road, this one dirt and wooded highly with trees. Beyond the trees a lake peaks out, and I see a contrasting blob.

We continue down this road, cautiously dodging holes so that we don't end up like the truck before us. We move closer to the little contrasting blob, although it's not quite as small now.

"Dear," my dad says to my mom, "look for a driveway, there should be one coming up."