CHAPTER1

It was a beautiful, rainy day. The storm clouds loomed over the sky like a protective blanket. Nothing could make Bri feel better. She got out of bed and stretched. Her window was open a crack and she felt a small cool breeze blow in. “That feels great”, she said as she made her way downstairs. She could hear her brother already watching television in the living room. In the kitchen she grabbed a glass and poured herself a cup of orange juice. Her mother walked in and smiled at her as she grabbed her purse off of the kitchen counter. “I’ll be home a little late today so I’ll need you to heat up the left overs for your brother.” “No problem. We’ll probably just eat out. I’m thinking of taking him to the mall or something with Angie.” “That’s fine with me, just as long as you have him home by eight.” Her mother said goodbye and left to work. Bri was now left in charge of her eleven year old brother. She always watched him on Saturdays and it was no problem for her. Her mom was always home by seven so if she wanted to go out with her friends afterwards, she could. Other than that, she had a great relationship with him. He was very quiet and calm. Every sister’s dream. She went out to the living room and sat down on the opposite coach. Dylan glanced over at her and threw a cookie her way. “Hey! Don’t you think it’s too early for cookies?”, she asked while eating it. “No”, he said turning his attention back to the program he was watching. “Not this again”, Bri muttered, seeing that he was watching the same ghost story show he watched everyday. “It’s interesting to people that are open minded Bri”, Dylan said sarcastically. “I am very open minded. I’m just sick and tired of the same show. Didn’t we see this one last week?” He nodded. “They repeat every episode three times just incase you miss something. Believe it or not people like that because this show is so interesting it’s like you see it for the first time every time. There are a lot of informative parts that people need to jot down as well.” Dylan spoke as if he was a senior in high school instead of a sixth grader. “Well, it’s not remotely interesting to me”, Bri said, as she got up to go get ready. She heard Dylan call her a chicken as she walked up the stairs. Laughing to herself, she jumped into the shower and began to think. Her brother Derek had died four years ago in the next town over, so things of the spiritual nature always frightened her a bit. She was twelve when it happened and very close to him. Dylan was seven so it didn’t affect him as much because he hardly got to know him. No one could figure out what Derek was doing in that town when the fatal accident had occurred. Bri thought it was weird that she knew nothing of why he went to that town. She thought she knew everything about him. She let the thought of her brother disappear so she could get on with her day. After getting ready she grabbed the phone and called her best friend Angie. “Hello, Angie. What are you up to today?”, she asked. “Nothing much. I’m still in bed. This rain is bringing me down.” “No way! Get up and get that hot boyfriend of yours to bring you to my house.” Angie laughed at the way Bri referred to Mike as “hot”. Mike was very good looking but it depended on if you thought a bookworm was hot. “Mikey has to take an assignment over to Damary’s house then he’s coming over here.” Damarys was a great friend of theirs. There was obviously a lot of trust within their group because not many people they knew would let the boyfriend bring another girl something. “Well, tell him to bring you here when he gets there. I want to take Dylan to the mall. Get him out of here and away from that television. He keeps watching that ghost show and it drives me crazy.” “Fine. I’ll have Mikey drive us to the mall but don’t get mad if he wants to stay and hang out. He needs “Angie time”. “Deal, besides, he could stay with Dylan if anything.” The girls agreed to be ready by one so that meant that Bri had almost two hours left. She went back downstairs to tell Dylan to get ready. As she entered the living room, a chill went down her spine. “Let’s talk about town number one. This town is well known to people everywhere for having something a little off about it. There isn’t much to say and there isn’t much evidence to give but what people do know about it is enough to keep them away from it. Here’s town number one, Death Ridge”, the announcer on the show said. Death Ridge, that’s where Derek died, Bri thought before shutting the television off.