ifty-grand saved up in the bank, nothing special for a house that size, but maybe if all of us came together, we would have a chance at buying it.
I locked my teeth in the apple and, with one hand, picked up the bag while the other scooped up my thermos filled with coffee, well, more creamer than coffee, but everyone had their vices, right?
“Let’s go,” I mumbled around the red apple between my lips, no doubt Ethan couldn’t understand a word coming out of my mouth, but he got the gist of what I meant since he kept walking out the door.
The day was beautiful, a bit of overcast, but I smelled it in the troublesome breeze that a storm was coming. The clouds slowly gathered, and the temperature was dropping. Snow would fall in the next day or so, and that usually meant a lot of car accidents.
I might be a busy man at the firehouse if the weather had anything to say about it.
I tossed my bag in the bed of the truck and climbed into the passenger seat. The diesel engine grumbled to life, a puff of black smoke ebbed and flowed out of the exhaust, and Ethan pulled out of the driveway, leaving my apartment behind as we drove down Ellicott St.
As I looked out the window, I noticed the leaves swaying from the wind blowing, and the slight overcast kept darkening the further we drove into town. My heart sped up as it always did when we passed the ranch style home on the right surrounded by pastures of land.
Luna’s parent’s house.
And there, in the front yard, was the old oak tree where I said I would always be there for her.
I broke my vow.
It wasn’t a real marriage, but as I grew up, my love for her grew while her hate for me bloomed. I should have protected her like I said I would.
Looked like no one was home, which wasn’t shocking since her mom worked at the hospital, and her dad retired from practicing law because he had cancer. It was terrible that James had Leukemia, but he was a strong man, and I knew he would beat it. What shocked me was that with the diagnosis, Luna hadn’t come home.
Why?
“Penny for your thoughts?” Ethan asked, taking a left on Jersey St.
“My thoughts are worth more than a penny,” I said, grinning when he slammed on the brakes to make me fall forward, but I had my seatbelt on.
“Your thoughts should be free,” he grumbled, and I punched him in the arm for insinuating I was dumb.
We were about to pass the Hampton mansion now. “Hey, pull over for a minute.”
“Easton, we—”
“Just for a minute, come on.” I loved it here. The pastures went on forever; the trees looked like they were by the thousands. I couldn’t wait for the leaves to turn in fall. Some were already fading from green to yellow, and in a few weeks, it would look like a wave of color. Ethan pulled the black Dodge truck over, and we dipped over the shallow ditch then pulled up on the dirt road that was the driveway. He stopped before hitting the rusted iron gated fence.
Two thick silver chains hung between the two gates to keep them locked and in place, and two stone statues of lions guarded each side. They were worn and cracked, clearly aged, and one looked damaged from being vandalized.
I opened up the door and climbed out, my boots hitting the red clay that made up the path, and the sun took that moment to burst through the clouds, shining a ray of light on the dilapidated mansion. The soles of my boots kicked up clouds of dirt as I strolled toward the old iron gate. I wrapped my hands around the slender bars, the rust scratching my palms, and I stared out between the metal, seeing the ashes of a beautiful mansion that stood there so long ago.
“I don’t know what your fascination is with this house,” Ethan said, kicking back and leaning against the front bumper of the truck. “It’s old, it needs to be torn down, and did you forget about the ghost of Glenn Hampton? This place looks creepy.”
“It does not. You’re being dramatic,” I said, and with every second I stared at the house, the more I wanted it.
“Right. It’s a story for a reason, Easton.”
“You’re going to tell me you believe in that crap?” I asked in disbelief, turning my head to look over my shoulder at him. He had his arms crossed over his chest, ankles crossed, and he was chewing on a long piece of wheat sticking straight out of his mouth. Ethan was never the type to believe in shit like that. This was the first I’d heard of it.
“No, but do I want to take a chance? Also, no. What is it about this place that you like so much?” he asked the questions I had been wondering for a few years now, and I still didn’t have a good answer. Something about it. I didn’t want to say the house ‘called’ to me, but I felt like it was meant to be mine. Something tugged me here; maybe it was because this mansion looked about how I felt on the inside.
And it had a lot of rebuilding to do.
“I don’t know. I just think it’s a shame a place like this is going to waste.” I wanted to tell Ethan that I thought we should buy it, but I wanted to talk to everyone about it when we were all together. And by Ethan’s reaction, the prospect didn’t seem too promising. “Well, let’s get going and price that lumber. I’m going to be late for work.”
“And it will be your fault. You’re the one that wanted to stop.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” I dragged my feet back to the truck, and when I opened the door to climb in the passenger seat, I lifted myself up by taking the step that jutted out from the side of the truck, then glanced back at the house.