Souls Of The Innocent

Chapter one: The new neighbor

" Amber!", her mother's voice accompanied by a loud knock on her bedroom door pierced her slumbering mind.

Her eyelids flickered and then opened . She squinted her eyes and yawned as she stretched her arms.Amber squeezed her eyes shut one more time and opened them again as she adjusted them to greet the sun rays which had penetrated through the cracks in the curtains in her bedroom. Her lungs expanded as she took in a deep breath and she stretched out her arms again almost knocking her alarm clock off the table . She laid there staring blankly at the white ceiling which she had decorated with star shaped stickers which glows in the dark. Her mother shouted her name again and she growled, she needed some time to shed the sleep from her brain and to welcome the new day with a smile. But, instead of her waking up with a smile , her mother was rushing her to welcome the new day with a grumpy attitude. It wasn't like she wanted to get out of bed, but she had no choice, it was Monday morning which meant a brand new school week. Amber yawned as she turned to take a peek at the clock on her bedside table and when she caught sight of what time it was, she quickly pulled the cover off her and jumped out of bed.

" Who needs an alarm clock when you have mum!", she mumbled to herself,

Amber rubbed the remainder of sleep from her eyes as she made her way towards the bedroom door.

" Amber!", her mother shouted again.

" I'm awake!", she shouted back.

That was their morning routine. Her mother would be shouting everybody's name, the smell of toasted bread and coffee brewing would fill the entire house. Nora, her little sister would be taking forever in the bathroom and their constant bickering would start the instant they will greet each other. It was like they were acting in a movie which was on repeat, the only thing that changes were the dates and the days of the week, the rest remained the same. Friday was surely her favorite day of the week. Her favorite line would be "Friday feels like heaven". She was the type of teenager who didn't like to explore the fashion world, go shopping, or hang out with what she would call toxic friends. At 18 years old and her last year in High School, Amber was different from the other girls who were the same age as her, she always says that she has priorities. Her top priority was to finish high school with good grades so that she could get into a good college, away from her small home town so that she could have her total freedom. She was happy living with her parents, but she believes that at one point in your life as a teenager who is slowly approaching adulthood, there comes a time to start letting go and learn to be independent.

" Mum! Nora is taking forever in the bathroom!", Amber shouted as she banged on the bathroom door for the third time.

Amber leaned her head against the bathroom door and her eyes automatically closed. The door suddenly opened and she nearly stumbled over. Nora walked out in a tight pair of jeans and a crop top. She had styled her long light brown hair in a sleek ponytail and had applied pink gloss to her lips and mascara on her eyelashes. She was surely not looking fourteen years old and was not dressed appropriately for school.

" Where do you think you are going looking like that?!", Amber asked as she looked at her fourteen-year-old sister from head to toe.

" School.. I have a reputation to keep ", her sister replied pouting her glossy lips.

Nora placed her hands on her hips giving her the mind your business look and Amber shook her head.

" Dressed like that?! Wait till mum sees you!", Amber said with a soft chuckle as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Amber walked up to the bathroom mirror, using the back of her hand she wiped the mist from the rectangular frameless mirror and stared at her reflection. Her long dark brown hair was all messy and she looked like she had been fighting in her sleep. She turned on the tap and splashed some of the cold water on her face and neck, she brushed her teeth, walked over to the shower, and turned on the shower knob. Amber simply enjoyed the warmth of the water on her skin, the one thing that would wake her entire body in the morning. She grabbed her towel and as she started to dry herself, she felt a coldness all around the bathroom. It felt like one of those breeze on a cold winter day that gives you the chills, but they were in the middle of Spring so it was impossible for her to feel cold like that. Amber glanced at her reflection in the mirror, her eyes widened as she noticed that frost was flowing from her mouth and nose as she breathed. A feeling of dread crept up her entire body, she grabbed on to the edge of the white ceramic wash-hand basin, she took in a deep breath to steady herself so that she could think straight as she glanced around the bathroom. The windows were not opened, so where could the cold air be coming from? Amber squeezed her eyes shut as she grabbed on tightly to her towel around her and counted up to three in her head before she opened her eyes again, only to find that whatever was going on a little while ago had completely disappeared, everything was back to normal. She hurried out of the bathroom, her heart still pounding as she made way towards her bedroom. That was one of the weirdest things that she had ever experienced in her home , something that she couldn't rationally explain which scared the hell out of her. It was like her sanity was being tested by something that was beyond her comprehension.

" There must be a reasonable explanation for whatever was going on back there...... so I'm keeping it to myself, I don't want to sound like a lunatic telling people I was breathing out frost in the middle of Spring inside my bathroom! ", Amber softly said as she leaned her back against the closed bedroom door.

She quickly styled her hair in a messy low bun, got dressed in her usual school outfit, jeans and a T-shirt, which would be usually black with some quote written on the back and always one size bigger than she was. She grabbed her black baseball cap and pulled it over her head. As she was about to grab her books from her study table, her eyes caught sight of a moving truck parked outside the house across the road from her home. It had been months since someone had moved into that house. The last family who stayed there packed up and left in a hurry after one week, saying that the house was hunted and the previous family simply left in the middle of the night without saying goodbye to anyone and Amber wondered how long would this family stay this time. But, she didn't believe in ghost stories, she had been living in New Dale all those years and had never seen any ghostly apparition or heard any ghost stories or hunted houses apart from that one. Who believes in ghosts anyway? Curiosity got the best of her, she walked towards the windows and slowly drew back a corner of the curtain and took a peek outside. Amber saw some men moving what looked like wooden chests from the truck into the old house and she leaned closer towards the windows and glanced around the house to see if she could catch a glimpse of their new neighbor. The sound of her sister's voice from behind her startled her making her hit her forehead against the window.

" Mum said to hurry", Nora said with a laugh.

"Gosh! Why did you have to creep in like that!", Amber rubbed her forehead as she grabbed her school bag and her books.

" Well serves you right to be spying on our new neighbor", Nora said as she approached the windows and drew open the curtain wider to have a better look, and then she suddenly turned around and looked at Amber with her eyes tight and worried.

" What's wrong?!", Amber asked with wide eyes as she tried to look over her sister's shoulder. She didn't like the worried look on her sister's face.

" OMG, Josh Carter just went by with his dad and he glanced towards the house and probably he saw me! How do I look?", Nora asked as she hurried out to check herself in her bedroom mirror.

" OMG, I thought you had seen a ghost or an alien... you are such a drama Queen Nora Jones!", Amber shouted.

" Not drama Queen honey, I'm prom Queen remember", Nora shouted back and Amber had to smile.

Her sister had been watching too many teen movies and it was catching up with her. As Amber turned to close the curtains, she noticed that a woman with long black hair was standing on the porch of the old house looking directly at her. For some reason, that woman gave her the chills and goosebumps prickled across her arms and her neck, she quickly closed the curtains and walked out of her bedroom and hurried downstairs.

" Amber doesn't forget Nora has ballet classes today and Ben please don't forget to pick up the dry cleaning since I'll be late. I have an important meeting with a client, hopefully, we can close the deal today", her mum said crossing her fingers.

Her mother had just been made head agent in the Real Estate company which she had been working for, for many years and now she wanted to prove to her boss that she deserved that post and she even brought her management skills at home.

" You'll be fine love", her father said as he walked in and kissed her mother on the lips.

" Gross!", Nora said as she grabbed the cereal box from Amber's hand.

" Can you wait for your turn!", Amber growled as she looked at her little sister pouring her milk in her cereal bowl.

" Didn't look like you were hungry", Nora mumbled as she put a spoonful of cereal in her mouth.

" Would you two please stop bickering. Hurry before the school bus gets here”, their mother scolded them as she grabbed her handbag and looked at her watch.

" Honey.. make sure the two ladies are out of this house in five minutes . I love you guys and wish me luck".

Nora and Amber both kissed their mother goodbye and wished her the best of luck.

" Something that I was forgetting, Nora Jones ..", their mother paused in the doorway and turned around.

" Quickly go upstairs and change that top, Howard make sure the little lady gets changed before walking out of this house”, her mother told their father with a serious tone and then walked out .

Amber let out a chuckle and Nora pulled her tongue at her sister and hurried upstairs to change.Her sister thought that their mother would be in a hurry and wouldn’t notice her outfit.

" Dad, do you know who moved in the house from across the road?", Amber asked her father.

He put down his newspaper , looked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

"No clue sweetheart, I saw the truck parked there early this morning”, her father answered as he got back to reading the newspaper.

Who would want to move in that creepy house anyway, Amber wondered as she gulped down a glass of orange juice. An article on the back of the newspaper caught Amber's attention and she silently read it;

" A frantic search is still underway for the missing 13 -year- old girl from the small town, Snowflakes. Lisa disappeared mysteriously during the weekend of the first week of March. If anyone has seen Lisa Martin please ...."

She couldn't finish reading the article or take a good look at the attached pictures of the missing girl, as the sound of the bus honking loudly outside interrupted her reading.

" Nora!", Amber shouted.

" Gosh I'm not deaf Amber!", Nora said walking up behind her.

After saying goodbye to their father, Amber and Nora hurried outside to catch the school bus. The bus driver was a grumpy middle aged man , he didn't like to wait for anyone and if you were late getting on the bus ,don’t you dare say good morning to him.

" Do you have to always dress up like that?! You seriously need a makeover!", her sister said as they approached the school bus.

" For the hundredth time ..there is nothing wrong with my outfit!", Amber groaned.

" Well, there is no way that Nathan Holmes will notice you in those!", Nora said with a cheeky smile and then ran towards the bus.

Amber was taken by surprise by her sister's statement and she wondered how she knew about her crush on Nathan Holmes since she had never told a soul about that!

That little ., I'm going to kill her! She read my old diary! I should have thrown it away!...Amber growled as she ran after her sister and got on the bus and the bus driver rolled his eyes as if her presence annoyed him.

She couldn't get a seat next to Nora as her sister quickly sat next to her best friend Eva who was also Nathan’s little sister .Nora looked at her with a smirk and she playfully poked her tongue out at her. I'll catch you after school, it seems like you have forgotten that we live in the same house.. she thought as she looked at her sister with a slight smirk on her face. Amber sat down in a window seat at the back of the school bus and she put her headphones over her cap and pressed play her favorite playlist. As the bus slowed down to pick up the kids from next door who were late like usual, she wiped her hands on the window for her to take a good look at the creepy old house across the road. At first, she couldn't see anyone, and then she noticed a woman with long black hair was approaching the windows staring directly at the school bus and a young girl with curly ginger hair stood next to her with her head bowed. Suddenly the young girl looked straight at her and Amber swore that she could see right through what used to be her eyes.

She put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from shouting as a shiver ran down her spine and her heart started to race. She quickly pulled her cap down over her face and bowed her head praying for that dreadful image to be erased from her mind.

I'm seeing things ... must be the lack of sleep plus I have to stop reading those creepy books at night, Amber said to herself as she turned the volume on her phone up, hoping that the loud sound of the electric guitar would block out the world around her and forget about those weird things that she had been experiencing since this morning.

Could the day get any weirder? Amber silently said to herself.