Southern Secrets: Southern Secrets, #1

Prologue

Ihave had the same nightmare for the past ten years of my life. I can never tell it’s actually the nightmare until it’s over. It always starts and ends the same way. In the beginning, it’s a cold and rainy night. Cliché, I know. All I have on is a pair of shorts that are hanging low at my waist. As I start looking around for something that may strike me as familiar, I notice a crying toddler sitting in the street, only about ten feet away from where I stand. I yell out, Hey! Are you okay? Where are your parents? The little boy ignores me and continues to cry out, Mommy, Daddy, where are you? Man, where in the hell am I? Why is this boy sitting here, alone? Where are his parents?

After a few minutes of pure confusion and blurred vision, I finally get my eyes to focus on my surroundings. To the left of me, there are a bunch of brick houses that look as if they have been abandoned for at least ten years. When I turn to the right, all I can see behind the boy is a forest of trees that are so dark, they easily define the color black. As I stared blankly into the dark forest I suddenly hear, BANG! BANG! The kid sitting in the street yells out, Mommy, Daddy, please come get me! I'm scared! What in God’s name was that? The banging noise sounds like two speeding trains are repeatedly running into each other. After a couple of seconds, the loud train-like noise blares from the darkness again. BANG! BANG! I run over to the crying boy so I can comfort him, and before I can stand directly in front of him, I jump back, in horror. What in the hell? The boy who has been sitting in the street, barefoot and crying, is me?

BANG! BANG! I jerk my head towards the forest and notice different brightly colored lights shooting out of the darkness towards the sky. The little boy continues his cry, Mommy, Daddy, please hurry. I’m scared! As I watch the lights in awe, a voice I can never forget screams out, Mason! Mason, baby, go hide in one of those houses, now! Mommy and Daddy are okay. Without hesitating, I sprint towards the forest, Mom, is that you? Where are you? Please God, please let my mom be okay, I beg you! Behind me, the boy cries out again, But momma, please, I want to come with y’all! BANG! BANG! What in the hell could be making that loud of a noise?

Before I can stop myself from running into the forest my mom screams out, Mason Connor, do as I say! Go inside one of those houses and be very quiet. I promise you, we'll be right there. I do as she tells me, turning around to run towards the abandoned homes.

After a few failed attempts to get into any of the houses, I finally get the door wedged open to a huge, two-story home at the end of the street. Where in the hell do I hide? What am I hiding from? As I walk into the living area of the house, a sudden wall of stench hits me. What in the hell is that smell? The only way I can describe the horrific smell is by saying that it’s kind of like the people who lived there never took out their garbage. As I make my way through the living area, I notice I’m shadowing the toddler boy’s every step in the house. I stand still for a minute, still frightened, and then the blinding lights from the forest reappear. BANG! BANG! What kind of freaking spotlights are those people out there using?

I whip my head around as a door behind me squeaks open, and I see little Mason sneaking his way into a closet. I hold my breath as I run towards him, and as I close the closet door, bright lights flood the house again. Oh lord, please protect me. Protect us. The kid next to me cries in a low voice, Mommy, Daddy, I love you. After staring at the toddler version of myself for what seems to be an eternity, my parents’ screaming voices from outside yell out, Please, we don't know anything! We won’t tell anyone you're here! For God's sake, our little boy is at home, waiting for us. We will-- BANG! BANG! Without questioning what I’ve just heard, my youthful self and I dart out of the closet and then quickly out of the abandoned house. When I get on the front porch I see them--my parents.

God, why are they laying on the street? With my heart beating out of my chest I run towards them, screaming out, Mom, Dad, I'm over here!. As I get closer to my parents, who were laying on the road, my feet seem to stop by themselves. Oh, my God. Is that--is that blood? No! It can’t be. I finally hover over them, my mommy and daddy; I look down at them and then –, Good Morning Midway! It’s a beautiful 80 degrees and it’s back to school for the little ones today... Dammit, this can’t be happening to me, again! Mom, Dad, I love you.

Chapter I

Mason! Mason Connor Fitzgerald! If I have to march on up there with my bad hip, just to get you out of bed, you are going to wish you were havin’ one of those nightmares, you hear me, boy? I rolled my eyes, Yes ma'am, I’m up! I'll be down in just a bit. Crap! I overslept again, and now I’m going to be late for breakfast. Maw is gonna kill me.

Mimaw is my momma's mom. I moved to Midway to live with her a little after my sixth birthday, right after my parents were killed in Dallas. Now, thinking about it, I never really found out what exactly happened to them. The one time I tried to ask Mimaw about it, she just gave me the look and said, Mason, I don’t know why your parents were murdered, and I don’t know who did it, but I do know those damned Dallas detectives claim they don’t have any leads or evidence. Only the Lord Almighty knows, and he will deliver the final judgment for their murderers. When she told me that, I knew not to ask for any more information. Maw is kind of like a Chihuahua: she’s got a small bark and body, with a big bite. She is the leader of our town’s church council. And as she says, Everyone who is someone in this town wants to be on the council. It’s funny how we’re taught that politics and religion are to be kept separate, because in this small town, the church council is the group of people who make the big decisions, not our appointed Mayor.

RING! RING! What the? Who would be calling me this early? A guy’s voice came through the headset, Mase, you up, man? Are you ready to kick some butt this year, or what? I should have known it'd be Tyler. I hear there's a new girl in town, and Dave tells me she is smokin’ hot! To be fair, Tyler thinks every girl in town is ‘smoking hot’ and he also knows that not one of them would give him the time of day. I laughed, Yeah, man, I'm ready for school, I guess. And technically, isn't every freshman considered a new girl? But, whatever, man, it's not even eight in the goddamned morning. What in the hell is your problem, calling me this early? For god's sakes, I haven't even brushed my teeth yet!

Tyler let out a little laugh, Dude, you know technicalities and I don't get along well with each other, so don't hate the player, hate the game.

He’s right; everyone who knows Tyler also knows that although he may be able to hold a steady 3.9 GPA, he definitely has no kind of common sense. He went on with his rambling, I went for a morning jog because I have to get ready to kick some butt on the field for football tryouts this week. So, sweetheart, get that morning crust and bad attitude rinsed off. I'll be over in thirty minutes! Tyler trying out for a sport? With strong sarcasm in my voice I said, That has to be a joke.

You see, Tyler is about 120 pounds and on a good day, he's probably pushing 5’10. He has dirty blonde hair, green eyes, and freckles that stand out worse than chicken pox on his pale face. Because he has been my best friend since I moved to Midway, I know that Ty trying out for any type of physical sport is totally outrageous. Tyler let out a long sigh, Like I said, don't hate the player, hate the game. I’m on my way.

Tyler always told people that we automatically had a friendship at first sight type of relationship. I say it was more of a friendship at no one else likes you, so you can sit with me kind of connection. Maw says we get along so well because I am like the Yin to his crazy Yang. Even though Maw loves Tyler as if he were one of her own, she hasn’t ever been too fond of his family. They have never been churchgoers, and I can remember one Christmas, Maw invited Ty over to open gifts, and Ty’s mom, Mrs. Madison, called to respectfully decline, saying, I'm sorry, Ms. Fitzgerald, but my family does not recognize Christmas as a holiday.

Maw never mentioned it to Tyler and me, but when Mr. and Mrs. Adams came over for Bible study, I constantly heard them rambling on about how Tyler’s family must be attending the Church of Lilith since they refused to step in our town’s church. The crazy rumors went on for quite some time, especially when were in the 5th grade. Mrs. Madison pulled Tyler out of school for two weeks after I asked him to be my partner on a religious study project. After that incident, I knew that the talk of church or religion was out of the question when it came to the Madisons.

As I grew older, I also realized that the Church of Lilith was just something Mr. and Mrs. Adams made up to make Tyler's family look crazy. I knew the Madisons weren't literally crazy, because when I stayed the night with them, Mr. and Mrs. Madison were always nice to me. Mrs. Madison would stay up all night, telling Ty and me scary stories, while their maids baked us all sorts of fine desserts. Mr. Madison rarely left his office, but when he did, we knew better than to go inside. That was the one room, other than their bedroom, that was completely off limits. Ty told me his dad was some kind of lawyer and his mom was a housewife who did not believe in house chores, and that really did grind Maw's gears.

I made my way downstairs and saw Mimaw standing over the stove. She looked up at me, Bout’ time you got down here, boy, I was ‘bout to send the damn Sheriff's department to look for ya'! Let me guess, you forgot to set that darn alarm clock I bought you? Clearly, Mimaw is pissed at me for oversleeping on the first day of school. I set the alarm, but last night I had a pretty bad nightmare. I guess I rolled over and hit the snooze button or somethin'.

Maw looked at me up and down, Well, it looks like we're gonna have to say an extra prayer for you this weekend down at the church. I'll talk with Mr. and Mrs. Adams to see what type of prayer we could use to get rid of them night scares you're still having. I've suffered from nightmares for most of my life, but Maw continues to think all I need is a little prayer, and not a therapist. I shrugged, "Sounds good, Maw -- oh, I almost forgot to tell you, Tyler is on his way.