Clearclay Park

Chapter 1 Cody Langdon sucked in a deep breath. He had to start his morning gym class playing baseball of all things. He wasn’t thrilled about taking gym, but the first few days of the school year consisted of exercising activities and personal training. He wasn’t an athletic guy. He couldn’t muster any interest in organized sports, and gym still reminded him of the time he kissed a classmate in the locker room a year ago. Brad. A couple of guys had walked in, and suddenly Cody’s life took a nosedive. There were shoves in the hallway, snickers in class, and graffiti on his locker. Even the geeky kid whose locker was next to his made gay jokes to the nerds. Cody could only put up with it for a few weeks before he tried to kill himself. His dad had saved him, and the family moved out of Michigan to start over. But the locker rooms on the east coast were the same as in the Great Lakes State. They smelled of musk and sweat. Water drops drizzled down drains and boys bragged to each other about their s****l conquests. The Florida sun beat down on the students and teacher, a thirty-something with a stocky figure. Unlike most of Cody’s classmates, the aloof boy wore black shorts and a sweaty dark T-shirt. His straight black hair was matted down across his forehead, the tips hanging just past his eyebrows as he watched the batter, Zack Jenner, swing. Cody had a bad feeling. Zack was a six foot, strapping all-American type. Popular, hot, and smart. In the first few days of school, Cody tried to find fault with the guy, but he couldn’t. He respected teachers, answered questions, didn’t pick on the nerds, and looked like a marble sculpture of a Roman god. Zack connected with the ball, sending it high in a wide arc. He flashed a grin and let the wooden bat fall from his hands to the mound of tightly packed earth. “s**t,” Cody muttered as the ball sailed toward his position in outfield. He’d hoped he could just stand out there, feet planted on the short grass, and occasionally clap when something benefited his team. “It’s all you, Cody!” one of his teammates shouted. Great. He hadn’t learned all of their names yet, but he didn’t want to let them down. Zack tore off from home plate and sailed to first base while Cody backed up, head high, eye on the ball. He shook his head and held his glove up in front of him. The baseball fell right into Cody’s glove and bounced out again. Cody stumbled for the ball and scooped it up as Zack continued toward second base. “Come on, come on!” someone shouted. Cody sighed and lobbed the ball toward second. The baseman hopped towards it and barely caught the ball. He returned to second base as Zack smiled and waved toward Cody. “I owe you one,” Zack called out. It wasn’t a mean-spirited comment, but fun-loving. Cody couldn’t even let himself hate the guy a little. Cody sensed the grumbling from his teammates and returned to the middle of left field. The game continued on until the end of class. Mr. Gorski blew the whistle that always hung around his thick neck and told the students to hit the showers. Cody shuffled toward the boys’ locker room with half the class while the girls went to their own. “Hold up one sec, Cody,” Mr. Gorski said. Cody sighed and hung back, letting his teacher approach him. Mr. Gorski was a thirty-year old, good looking guy with black hair and a broad chest. If Cody didn’t have a quasi-boyfriend, which he considered a miracle, he probably would have had a crush on his teacher. “What’s up?” Cody asked. “You seemed a little distracted today,” Mr. Gorski said. “Everything all right, Cody?” “Yes.” Don’t tell him you spend the entire class in your head. Or right now. Get out of your head. “You like it here?” “Sure.” Cody wasn’t sure where “here” referred to, but he figured he should reassure the man. “You know,” Mr. Gorski said, “one word answers tend to give the opposite impression.” He folded his arms and affected a pleasant smile. Cody silently thanked the gods that he had a guy in his life to keep him from falling over his teacher. “You know about Tanglewood Road, huh?” Cody asked. “Uh, yeah. Pretty heavy stuff.” Mr. Gorski shuffled his feet. By “heavy stuff,” he meant that the dozens of people who lived on the road Cody and his parents moved to were all found butchered a few weeks before by a demon called Tanglewood. He still didn’t know why it happened, hoping the monster had more of a reason to kill dozens of people than that they lived on a street carrying his name. Cody discovered Tanglewood was targeting them, so he snapped and tried to burn down his own house to force his parents to move. He kept his little arson act a secret, blaming the killer for that. The official story was that a madman was behind it all, and had even struck a neighborhood a few hours’ drive away two years before. Cody helped get the previous survivor, Adam Monroe, out of a mental hospital, and the two started unofficially dating. Cody was never sure who knew what, so he tended to go with, “Yes, everything’s fine.” “Can I be honest with you?” Cody asked, feeling incredibly awkward. “Of course. You can trust me, Cody.” Mr. Gorski looked genuinely concerned. It made it harder to lie, so Cody decided to give him a version of the truth. “This may come off as a surprise, but I’m not really a sporty guy,” Cody said. “I’m more of a ‘sit in my room playing role-playing games and watching sci-fi shows guy’, you know? Much less of ‘everyone get together to score points with balls.’ I know that’s lame. Sorry.” “It’s all right,” Mr. Gorski said. “Math isn’t for everyone. Sci-fi isn’t for everyone. Neither is gym. What’s your favorite sci-fi show?” “I love Random Reasoning,” Cody said. “That show’s awesome. Look, I’m not going to pester you any longer, I just wanted to make sure you’re doing all right. If you have any problems, you can come talk to me anytime, all right?” “‘Kay.” “All right, hit the showers.” Mr. Gorski nodded toward the side door into the building. Cody decided to give it a show so he ignored the heat and his own physical limitations and jogged inside. Cody wondered how his gym teacher would have responded if he started talking about demons. He’d thought he was losing his mind before he met the Demonic Survivors Support Group and he learned that there were plenty of other people who had suffered at the hands, or tentacles, of paranormal entities. The guys had already changed and were in the small shower stalls by the time Cody stripped out of his black shorts and shirt. It was always easier hanging off by himself when others his age stripped, and while no one would admit it, they all compared their bodies. He hung his towel up outside a vacant shower and walked in, his sweaty feet padding softly against the gray tiled floor. Everyone was gone by the time Cody turned the shower off and toweled dry. He slipped into clean clothes and grabbed his bookbag, mentally preparing for the math test he had later that day. Something squeaked from the other side of the locker room. Cody froze―wasn’t he alone? “Hello?” Cody asked. The squeak sounded again. Cody shook his head. Why couldn’t anything be simple? He prayed he wouldn’t round the corner of lockers and find Tanglewood’s tentacles reaching out for him. Cody pressed forward, his head craning back and forth as he passed each row of metallic lockers. He reached the end and found Zack Jenner bent down, tying his brand name sneakers. “Hey, what’s up?” Zack asked, an innocent look plastered on his picturesque face, his shaggy brown hair slicked from the shower against his smooth forehead. “Didn’t know anyone was still in here,” Cody said. “Did you hear me?” “Sorry, spacing out I guess. Did you need something?” Zack finished with his shoelaces and stood up, smiling wider. Cody spun around, picked his backpack up, and left the locker room. He paused outside the door and listened. He heard Zack’s voice, but it was too muffled to make out what he said. Cody scampered away from the locker room and toward his next period, Study Hall. He navigated the hallways, which he slowly grew accustomed to, and ignored the few gapes and points directed his way. He wouldn’t call himself a local celebrity, more of a curiosity. The guy who nearly got butchered. Study Hall consisted of two dozen bored teenagers crammed in a classroom while an elderly teacher caught up with his paperwork at the front of the room. The first day of class he explained that he didn’t care what the kids did as long as they didn’t get into any trouble the forty-five minutes they were assigned to him. Besides that, he wouldn’t bother them if they didn’t bother him. Cody spent most of his time doing whatever homework he could so he would have more free time with Adam. He opened his bag, took out his science book, and found the current assignment. Just as he finished reading the first page, he felt a light tap on his right shoulder. It felt like a human finger, and not tentacles, so he looked up. “Hello,” a guy his age said, standing slightly too close for comfort. Cody had seen him before, but he didn’t know where. He looked lean in his checkered button-up shirt and khakis that didn’t quite seem to fit. He forced his pouty lips into a smile and said, “My name’s Hayden. You’re one of those homosexuals, right?” “Ugh.” Cody rolled his head back and closed his eyes. I so do not need this s**t. “Is that offensive?” Hayden asked as he pulled up a chair next to Cody. “I can never keep up with current nomenclature. I know ‘friend of Dorothy’ is outdated.” “‘Homosexual’ isn’t offensive,” Cody said. “Unless you’re talking to a closet case muscle head or something.” “Gotcha. Thanks. It’s not offensive that I don’t think you’re a muscle head, right?” “Just means you’re observant. Why do you want to know?” Cody asked. He made sure not to answer Hayden until he understood his intentions. If this was a pick-up, it was the worst he’d ever heard of. “We have economics together―” “Oh yeah, you’re the guy in the front row who answers all the questions,” Cody said, remembering where he knew Hayden from. “Right. And I noticed that you may be a homosexual from your body language, attire, and speech.” “You don’t have a lot of friends, huh?” Cody asked. “And slight cattiness,” Hayden added. “You know how I said you weren’t offensive before? You’re getting there.” “Oh.” Hayden looked down, embarrassed. “I’m sorry. Let me explain―” “Please don’t get sidetracked further,” Cody said, trying to follow the stranger’s train of thought. “I live with my grandparents on a frugal budget,” Hayden said, seemingly getting even further off topic. “I’m sorry about your parents,” Cody said, assuming they had died. “They’re having a wonderful time in South America,” Hayden explained. “They’re geologists. I see them in the summer. Anyway, my grandparents and I are on a bit of a fixed budget. I need a haircut, and I refuse to pay twenty dollars for such a simple task. Grandmother used to do it for me, but her hands get shakier by the day. I ended up needing stitches the last time, which ironically cost more than twenty dollars.” Cody bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing. He suspected Hayden was a theater geek or something putting him on, but he didn’t see the point in the charade. “You’re for real, aren’t you?” “Yes. And I’ll pay you three dollars if you’ll cut my hair. Win-win.” “I should be offended that you assumed I’m gay, and that meant I can cut hair,” Cody stated with a grin, “but I actually do cut my own. Yeah, I’ll help you out, man, and you can even save your three bucks.” “Great. I’m free every day after school.” “That’s surprising.” Cody shook his head. Had he really made his first friend at school? And was it really this weirdo?