Category : Stories

Sub Category : N/A

Leo moved to the town in early October. Escaping his last home and his last relationship was very important to him. There were memories of that old place that he wanted to leave behind. If all went well, he’d be able to settle in right away. He was hoping that he could make some friends by Thanksgiving and maybe get invited to dinner. Typical small town stuff. 

He had moved into a rather large rundown Victorian style house. A few bushes were sprinkled about the front yard. It was clearly not well taken care of, but it still held together well. A large birch tree spiraled and wove over the house, challenging it. The house seemed to rise to the challenge, to grow in competition with the tree. The locals said the house was haunted. But he didn’t subscribe to that sort of superstitious bullshit, and it was cheap. Leo was hoping to spend a little money fixing it up, and then live in it comfortably for a few years. 

His neighbors seemed nice enough even if they were a little strange. Well, all except the Smiths. They had that “Classic, All American” vibe to them. Which is to say working class mom and dad with 3 children and a minivan. Dad regularly commits domestic violence, mom drinks herself to sleep each night, kids live in constant fear; a classic American family. The oldest child was of greatest interest to Leo. He was the strange one. He slicked his hair back and wore a beat-up black, leather jacket all day, everyday. It felt like he trying very very hard to join the Outsiders or emulate Jim Stark. Even his attitude felt ripped right out of Grease. He was a “broody badboy” who drove around the city in a sportscar. Leo had no idea where he had gotten the money for that. The only times he wasn’t scowling or complaining was when he was with his girl, and even then his smiling silence felt forced.


To the right of Leo’s house were the Temple’s. They were probably the strangest of the bunch. . There were three of them, and they lived in a poly-amorous relationship. Which is to say all three of them were in love. Leo was generally open-minded, but this felt weird to him. Mark Temple was a man of science. Leo was consistently woken up by strange explosions and maniacal laughter from the attic James Temple spent a lot of time walking and pacing through the town. He seemed to be looking for something but Leo wasn’t sure what it was he was looking for. He wasn’t sure that James knew either. Steven Temple was rarely home, he basically lived at the local pub. If he wasn’t drunk, it was because he was asleep and even then he was probably still drunk.


The rest of the town seemed eerily distant. It seemed like everyone knew each other but no one knew anything about each other. It felt like they were living in their own individual worlds, and maybe this was why Leo’s Thanksgiving day dreams didn’t come true. Everyone in town was too busy with their own business to worry about welcoming the newcomer. He understood it, he didn’t like it, but he understood it. With that in mind, Leo started off towards the store to buy his Thanksgiving feast. 

Leo didn’t much care for turkey. He didn’t care for meat at all actually. He preferred starches and fruits. So, on this particular lonely Thanksgiving night, Leo was at the supermarket buying cranberries, Doritos, a 2 liter of Coke, cashews, and an Italian baguette. Many others might consider this a meager, ridiculous meal for Thanksgiving, but Leo, Leo was in fucking heaven. As he was leaving the supermarket with his treasure trove of morsels, he noticed two young women holding hands and talking.


It took him a second to realize that they were holding hands  because the two were a couple. He kicked himself for not realizing it earlier, smiled at the two and then continued walking towards his car. As he did, he noticed a car speeding through the parking lot at a dangerously fast speed. The two women had separated briefly so that one could put away the shopping cart and one could finish putting groceries into the car. The car zoomed towards the woman with the shopping cart. She just walked across the parking lot, completely oblivious of the impending danger. Just as she was to be smashed by the car, Leo grabbed her and pulled her away. Whoever was driving the car didn’t stop and continued speeding toward their destination. Leo raised his hand to flip off the driver. But when he looked again the car was gone, almost as if it had disappeared. Putting the thought out of his head he looked over at the girl to make sure she was okay. She promised him again and again that she was. Leo asked the girl her name.


“Amy”


The word was quickly echoed by her girlfriend who dashed across the road, leaving the doors of her Subaru wide open. She rushed into Amy’s arms and pulled her very close.

When the two seemed calm, Leo walked over to the two girls, and introduced himself.


“I’m Leo. Are you sure you’re okay?”


“Yes, yes, thank you,” Amy responded.


Amy’s girlfriend smiled at Leo, “Hi, I’m Jenny. I’m so sorry but we can’t stick around now. But if you’d like to drop by tomorrow evening, we’d love to have you over. It’s the least we can do.”


Leo nodded, stunned, “Yeah, of course, that sounds great. 6 oclock?”


Jenny smiled again then she nodded as well, “Yeah that will work. Here’s our address. Thanks again.”


Leo stood there, shell-shocked as the two got into their car and left. Leo smiled, a big stupid smile. He had been invited to dinner. He was going to enjoy dinner with two new friends. Perhaps he’d be able to make it in this town after all.


It was at this point that Leo heard the voice.