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CHAPTER 1: This Place Isn't That Bad After All

As I stepped out of the car the cold morning breeze sent shivers up my spine. I rubbed my hands together to produce some heat but it wasn’t enough, I was almost freezing.

I looked over our new neighborhood which looked normal, very normal actually. Almost all the houses looked the same, concrete walls painted with shades of yellow, lawns with beautiful flowers, and all of them showed no sign of people inside. I could hear the rustling of leaves and the chirping of birds, it was very silent and creepy unlike the town I grew up from.

We moved to Philadelphia because my father had been offered a better job there, it paid triple the amount my father used to get when we were in Florida. I really missed its beaches and hated it when I was told we were moving to Philadelphia.

It’s not the same you know, I have to make new friends at my new school.

All the houses seemed pretty normal except for the one creepy house in front of us, I looked at the house we were supposed to be moving in. It looked new for a house that was built many years ago. It has a porch and a terrace above it. The door was made of oak with large intricate patterns etched in it. There were also some bird-like statues about the size of a normal bird, their wings spread out like they are flying.

In the farthest corner, I saw a trapdoor leading to what’s supposed to be the basement.

“Alvin,” Dad motioned to the car’s trunk, “can you give me a hand over here?”

I nodded.

“Look,” he handed me a really heavy box and I almost dropped it, “I know this must’ve been very hard for you, the new school and all, but just give it a chance and you might realize that you can have a better life here. Put this in the basement will you?”

I thought about it, would it really be the same?

I walked down the basement while carrying the stupidly heavy box. I could hear the wooden stairs creaking under my—and the box’s—weight. The basement smelled moldy and stale. I unloaded the box and headed for the light switch but it was broken so I had to use my phone’s flashlight to see the basement. The basement was seven-feet tall and has a very large space.

I saw a shelf with dusty old books in the far corner and what was supposed to be a desk beside it. The desk was small and fragile, and I don’t see a chair nearby. This creeped me out. I picked a dusty old book about three inches in width and blew the dust off it. The cover contains no title but has some sort of large symbol in it, I decided to place it back on the shelf.

Anyway, I got out of the basement and went to my new bedroom. It looked so much better than the basement, it looked really new, like it was only built months ago. The room smelled like acacia. The floor was shiny and made from oak wood.

There is something nice in this house after all.

I laid down on my bed and took my phone out of my pocket. I started reading myself my favorite e-book about vampires and werewolves. I have always been fascinated by the unnatural since I was nine, for six years I have read many books about folklore and mythology.

I wonder if there are really creatures such as vampires?

After I finished reading the book it was already noon so I decided to take a stroll in the city. I took the bus and went to the nearest commercial district.

It took a while to familiarize with the city. There were plenty of large buildings and stores.

I went inside the nearest store and found many odd looking things, I realized it was an antique shop. It seemed no one was inside the store, I could hear the bell ringing but other than that the store was very silent. Most items are just stocked on wooden shelves but there were also items inside display cases at the center of the store.

The counter looked new, like the ones in a supermarket. It had a display case in it with various antique jewelries I assumed were worth more than hundreds of dollars, maybe even thousands of dollars and no one appeared to be guarding the counter. Heck, I didn’t even see anyone guarding the store. I wondered why no one robbed the store, the robber would be an instant millionaire without even breaking a sweat.

“Have something caught your eye young lad?” A skinny old man with a wrinkly face and crooked nose who looked like he was in his late eighties suddenly appeared beside me. He was only five feet tall and has a very loose grayish skin. His beard was long, like the wizards in the movies.

“Nothing yet." There was something strange about the old man, not his scary face but something else made me feel uneasy. I noticed him staring at my amulet.

“That’s a nice amulet you have,” he said, his face came closer to my amulet, “how much for it?”

“It’s not for sale,” I shook my head, trying to hide my nervousness.

“Are you sure?” He paused, then finally took his face away from my amulet, which gave me a bit of relief, “I could give you a very good price for it.”

“Still not for sale,” I sighed, “it has some sentimental value, my grandfather gave it to me before he died.”

“Well I’m sorry about that, but if you ever change your mind you can always come back to my store,” he took a ring from one of the display cases, “but maybe I could interest you in buying some of my artifacts? How about this ring, it’s almost a thousand years old wore by an ancient bloodline of lords of a very powerful house in Ireland. It was said that they were also practicing shamanism to make their soldiers absorb the souls of their fallen comrades, gaining their strength in battle.”

“No thanks,” I raised my hands in front of me.

“You are the one missing out.” He smiled, showing his yellowish and rotten teeth, if there was any left.

“Good noon uncle Sneg,” the bell rang, a good looking man in his early twenties went inside the store, “I see you have already redecorated, not that it makes a lot of difference but at least it looks better now. The store was literally crawled by spiders.”

“Oh shut up, it wasn't that bad,” the old man went to the counter, “by the way I already got the artifact you’re looking for, it was delivered this morning.”

“Perfect timing, Delsaran needs it now,” he smiled.

The old man—who was supposedly called “Sneg”—took a key from the counter and opened the door behind him. He gestured for the other man to get inside.

“Feel free to browse the display lad.” Sneg told me while closing the door.

I visited the other fancy looking stores and attractions. They were all very crowded at this time so I didn’t actually see many things.

I decided to visit the museum, which contained many boring crap as you would expect from a museum, but one thing caught my attention.

In the far corner of the room I saw a weird-looking pendant inside a glass case, and it wasn't just the typical weird things you see, it was a one of kind odd-looking weirdo piece of crap. Well, it looked like crap but I looked at it anyway. It has some sort of sigil, a circle and a huge dot in the center with eight tridents sprouting from the center, etched on some sort of yellow stone, the chain holding the stone is made of what I assumed is gold.

I felt drawn to it and part of me urged me to take it.

“Hi,” a beautiful, pale-looking girl about my age appeared beside me. Her long hair was white as snow. She wore a sophisticated black and white dress complimenting her curves, and carried a black handbag. She was like one of those actresses seen on television. She smelled like a bouquet of flowers, “I see you’re interested in these kind of things too?”

I nodded, “I know a thing or two about folklore”

“Well that’s nice,” she smiled.

“By the way I’m Aemilia,” she placed her hand in front of her, “With ‘A’ before ‘emilia’.”

“Alvin” I reached out to shake her hand, which gave me a cool and breezy sensation, “nice to meet you”

She smiled, “nice to meet you too.”

We talked about folklore and myths for a few minutes, then she changed the conversation to more personal topics. She started telling me things about the city and her hobbies. I talked about my family moving here in this city and how I would like to meet new friends.

She looked at her phone from her handbag, “It seems like it’s already late so I got to go now. It was nice meeting you.”

“Wait, maybe we could go out sometime,” I asked, “you know, grab some lunch?”

“Sure,” she smiled, showing her sparkling teeth, “maybe Saturday?”

“Saturday it is,” I smiled back at her, “let’s meet at the nearby park.”

“Sure, bye.”

Soon I was left alone with a couple of strangers staring at the artifact behind me.