Never Look Back_(2)

Introduction



“I heard someone moved into the mansion,” Little Jeremy said with a matter of fact tone. His adolescent voice was strong with confidence and his chest held high as he spoke.

“Liar,” Porter snapped back instantly. That was impossible, everyone knew that house was haunted.

The two were 7 years old at the time, and their imaginations were constantly working up stories. A lot of their stories centered on the mysterious mansion that lay on the top of the mountainy terrain that surrounded their Colorado town. The two were convinced it was haunted, so the prospect that someone inhabited it was incomprehensible.

“No,” Jeremy shook his head vivaciously, “It’s true Porter, I swear.”

Porter, who was a handsome young boy with brown hair spiked up in the front, furrowed his eyebrows, “Well, prove it.”

“How?” Jeremy asked.

“We’ll go see for ourselves,” Porter bravely announced.

“You’re crazy.”

“Baby,” Porter smirked.

Jeremy’s young pride was now at stake, “Fine, we’ll go right now if you’re so great.”

“Fine,” Porter got up and began to walk in the direction of the mansion.

The two both secretly felt uneasy as they made their way to the path.







It was early in the morning before school, their town was relatively small, so the school was in walking distance. But as the two trekked further into the wilderness uncertainty began to grasp both of their hearts.

“Porter,” Jeremy got his attention as they crunched on fallen leaves, “Maybe we should head back… We’ll be late for class.”

“No, we gotta solve this,” Porter responded, he pretended he was a detective as he picked up the pace.

Nonadmittedly, Jeremy did not know for sure if there was anyone moved in, and was getting uneasy as they progressed. To be fair, the setting was unnerving. The trees towered over the boys and barely any morning sunlight was able to break through the leaves.

“We’re almost there come on,” Porter began to jog, and Jeremy followed right behind him.

Porter was much too filled with adrenaline to hear the noises up ahead. The noises were subtle, just ruffling of leaves and what not, but they were noticeable to Jeremy, who was on edge. He stopped dead in his tracks.

Porter continued for a few seconds before noticing his friend had trailed off. “What’s wrong?” He turned to look at Jeremy.

“I think…” Jeremy said, his voice shaking with nervousness.

“Huh?” Porter looked confused.

Just then the leaves where Jeremy had previously heard the noises began to physically ruffle. He gasped, Porter was surprised at the look of immense fear in his face. Porter began to ask what was wrong, but as he did so Jeremy turned and took off running.

“Where are you going?!” Porter immediately yelled after Jeremy, who was sprinting as fast as he could in the other direction.

“Chicken!” Porter yelled, now aggravated. He was still determined to make it to the mansion. Porter was odd like that, he lacked the fear that most would possess when it came to adventures and travels. He turned to continue.

That’s when he noticed the leaves rustling.

“Hello?” he began to feel an inordinate amount of fear creep into his heart, he felt himself take a step backwards.

He swallowed as the force, whatever it was, began to come closer and closer. For some odd reason, despite being scared to death, he didn’t run. Porter felt the strange urge to stay where he was, and face the monster. He put on a brave face and got in a fighting stance. In actuality, the 7 year old looked quite ridiculous, standing alone in the forest gearing up to fight. But in his mind however, Porter was a great warrior who was about to take on a truly evil force.

The seconds seemed prolonged, he felt every heartbeat that pounded mercilessly against his chest and experienced every bead of sweat that dripped down his body.
He held his breath as something began to climb out of the bush.

Out of the bush came a girl. She was no older than him and just a bit shorter. This mysterious girl stumbled out with a few grunts of aggravated displeasure. She looked up to see Porter, the two locked eyes and he eased up. She smiled.

Just as Porter eased up, he began to get tense once he made eye contact. She was the prettiest girl he has ever laid eyes upon.

“Oh,” The girl yipped, “Hi there.” She had jet black hair that was pulled back in a ponytail, and was wearing a beautiful red dress, that was beginning to get dirty from the nature she was trekking through.

He swallowed, then tried to greet her, but it only came out as a inaudible whisper. Her eyes. They were bright blue and he couldn’t look away.

She made an adorable grin as she patiently waited for him to collect himself and respond. “Who are you?” Porter asked.

“I’m Alice,” she smiled.

“I’m Porter,” after he said this the two stared at each other for a few seconds. Porter didn’t seem completely convinced she was a normal girl, and not some kind of monster.

“My family and I just moved in up there,” she pointed into the trees.

“The haunted mansion?!” he said in disbelief, surprised that Jeremy wasn’t lying.

“Well it doesn’t seem haunted to me,” Alice grabbed her dress and looked down at the ground with a smile.

Porter, not wanting to scare the pretty new girl too much, shut up about the topic. “Do you go to Jefferson?” She asked nervously.

“Yeah of course, there’s only one school,” he responded.

“Can you show me how to get there… I’m lost,” she admitted.

“That’s okay, it’s scary out here anyway. Follow me!” He turned and the two walked together down the path.

“I was lost, not scared,” she corrected as they walked to the heart of the town.

“Yeah right,” he laughed, “You should meet my friend Jeremy. He thought you were a monster and ran!”

“Left you all alone?”

“Yup.”

“I wouldn’t do that. Friends gotta stick with each other no matter how scary the monster.”





Years pass





It wasn’t long after they met when Porter began noticing the bruises. They were small at first, just some bumps and discoloration on her arms. But as the years went by they got worse and worse. Rarely did she get bruised on visible places, but every so often she met up with him in the morning with a black eye or red marks on her neck. Porter never asked. He was so young at first and didn’t understand, but he did notice. He remembered one instance when she brought him up to her house, they were about 9 at the time, and for some reason, Alice refused to go swimming with him. After a few hours of bothering her, she finally agreed, in which case Porter found out why she was so hesitant.

When she came out in her swimsuit the poor young girl had lashes and bruises all up her back and on her ribs. Porter remembered looking at her up and down, and then willing himself not to act abnormal.