AspieUtah wrote:
EzraS wrote:
...I just wanted to be honest and up front....
I believe you will be an even greater writer than you are already. Have you tried fiction?
I started writing a story, like a small book, about a kid with autism, but also supernatural/paranormal stuff going on....but did not get very far with it. It is based loosely on the small costal city I moved to a year and half ago.
I have not read it in a while and if I start now will probably want to make a zillion changes and corrections.
Seth came out of his dream. Something about climbing along the top of a cinder block wall. His dreams rarely made sense and he barely remembered any details.
Even though Seth was awake now, he kept his eyes closed. It was the third day in the back seat of the family sedan. Seth's parents, Jason and Sarah were in
the front seats. Jason was driving and Sarah was reading. The inside of Seth's eye lids had a reddish tint, sunlight was beaming through the window onto his face. He turned
his face away from it. He could smell the bag of Cheetos on the seat next to him. It made his stomach rumble. They were on the highway, headed north. Moving to
a coastal town in the Pacific Northwest called Evansport. They were moving there from Henderson, Nevada where
Seth had lived most of his life. He opened his eyes slowly, because sunlight hurt his eyes. Just at that moment a cloud blocked the sun and Seth was grateful. He turned
his head, looked out the window and saw a wall of immensely tall evergreens gliding past him. Seth stretched and groaned.
"Almost finally there, son" Jason said looking at him in the rear view mirror.
Jason took the exit that appeared a few minutes later. The elevated off ramp curved to the left, walled in by tall Douglas firs, maples and cedars. Suddenly the
trees gave way to a breathtaking view of the ocean bay hemmed in by far off islands. Sarah took Jason's right hand into hers and squeezed it.
Off to their right Evansport lay sprawled out. The off ramp let them onto Broad Street, one of the three main drags of the Evansport peninsula. The GPS lady told
Jason to take a left turn on Cedar Drive and then a right turn at 27th Street.
A few seconds later the GPS lady cheerfully informed them that they had arrived at their destination. A two story house with wooden siding painted dove gray with white
windowsills and shutters, loomed above them on a steep incline. About twenty five mossy stone stairs lead up to the front porch. This house, like all the houses around it
was old. Much different from the cookie cutter mission style home built in the 90's they had owned in Nevada. Just then a green Jeep Cherokee approached them from behind
and the middle aged blonde woman driving tooted the horn and waved as she drove past and parked in front of them on the narrow tree lined street.
"That's Mrs. McReady, the Realtor" Jason told Sarah.
Jason got out of the car stiff legged, while Sarah also got out and opened the back door to help Seth get out.
Seth's legs felt wobbly beneath him and Sarah put her hands under his arms to help steady him.
"This is my wife Sarah and our son Seth" Jason said introducing them.
Sarah shook Deloris McReady's extended hand and exchanged greetings with her.
"And who do we have here?" Deloris asked as she reached her hand out to Seth.
Seth pulled sharply away from her.
"He's a bit shy" Sarah explained somewhat apologetically.
In fact Seth was autistic and hated to be touched by anyone except his parents and a few family members.
"And how old are you, Seth, about ten?" Deloris asked.
Seth didn't reply or even look up at her.
"He's 12 actually" Jason informed her.
Deloris regarded the boy before her. He was small and skinny with pale skin and tussled dark hair. Put some round glasses on him and he could almost pass for
Harry Potter, Deloris thought. He was clearly withdrawn and had a certain awkwardness about him. Deloris wondered what his problem was and hoped he did not have
any behavior issues that would be a problem for the neighbors. He seemed quiet enough though. Too quiet as a matter of fact.
Deloris McReady led them up the rough hewn steps which had some sort of old pipework as a banister. Seth struggled up them, still being steadied by his mother.
They all reached the large porch and after a few seconds of fubling with keys, were let inside. The first thing that struck Seth was the smell of the place. It
smelled old. I was a deep woody kind of smell that was mostly pleasent and slightly musty. It was as if the house was saying to him, "I have been around a long
long time, waiting for you". This was unlike any house that Seth had see, except maybe in a movie. It reminded him some of Bilbo's Hobbit Hole, the way it was
depicted in the movie. Both the celing walls had dark wooden beams. The doors were all the same dark wood and beveled with old fashned door knobs and skeleton
key holes. The floors were also all wood, but of mixed shades lighter than the rest of the woodwork. The living room had a large bay window. a large built in bookcase
and an enourmous rustic looking stone fireplace. There was a short staircase as well, the steps and banister also done up in dark brown wood. While Jason and Sarah
were downstairs going over things with the real estate lady, Seth climbed up the stairs, which creaked slightly. The upstairs hallway had four doors. He already knew
the door at the end of the hallway to his right, was to his new bedroom. He reached out to the old tarnished round brass doorknob, and received a small static shock.
He drew his hand back quickly and for a second, it was as if the house was laughing at him "ha ha gotcha!". It did not seem evil though, but rather cheery as if happy
to have Seth as a new occupant. Maybe houses, especially really old houses, get lonely Seth pondered. He tried the knob again, twisted it and swang the door open.
He was amazed at its size. It was at least twice the size of his old room and that had been pretty big by his reconing. The left wall was slanted as was the roof
and the celing was very high where it met up with the stright wall on the right. It was retangular and at the far end was a large retangular window. he walked up
to it, looked out and was rewarded with an amazing view of trees and other greenery along with bits of neighboring rooftops and chemneys showing through open patches.
11 Feb 2016, 12:50 pm
