The Coven

Chapter 1

She jumped to her feet and began waving her arms like a mad woman, though the four ways of her car were on she had no idea if they would notice as she really couldn’t tell if the lights could be seen from the road.

The car must have noticed her because it pulled over, father off from the side as her car and a tall and dark figure emerged from the drivers side.

“Thank god someone stopped!” She said over the sound of the still falling rain, “My car is stuck! I need help getting it out!”

The figure, whose face she could not see looked over her shoulder and nodded one, it was a man she could tell by the stature of the body, a tall man, he towered over her small frame. “Get in.” He said motioning to her car with a tilt of his head, his voice was young, he was probably not much older than her.

She nodded her head and carefully climbed back into the front seat, the car lurched but the man had his hands on the back. He motioned for her to go, she pressed on the gas and the car moved to the side, the wheels trying to gain traction.

She pressed harder until the car was trying to go over eighty miles per hour, she could hear the guy yelling from behind her. With one final press of the gas the car bolted up the slight hill and was back on the road.

Quickly stopping she hoped out of the car to thank the man, he was heading back to his own car, “Wait!” She called running after him, waving her arms like the mad woman she must look like, “Wait, thank you! Thank you so much!”

He nodded his head once, “Not a problem.” The lightening struck the sky, illuminating the woods and her saviours face. She gasped. He was gorgeous with a mop of dark curls clinging to his pale face, his eyes bright with colour, his thin lips looked delectable. And she was right, he was her age, or not much older.

She realized she was starting at him, shaking her head she quickly thought of something to say, “I’m going to Willow Creek but have no idea how to get there, do you know?” Please say yes, please say yes.

He nodded once, “It’s fifteen miles up the road, take a left after the black rocks from there it’s your first right after the giant willow tree.”

He better have been joking because he did not give her any names of streets or signs to follow, just landmarks and mundane ones at that. Rocks and trees? Really? Was this Willow Creek so small that they couldn’t put up signs and directions on how to find them?

“I’m going there, you can follow me.” He said turning back to his car. Lilly wanted to ask him his name but he had already slammed the door. She quickly got back into her car and follow the boy down the winding roads. Thank god he was going where she was because she did not see black rocks, and she had no idea which willow tree he was talking about but eventually she came upon a large sign that said: Willow Creek. Est. 1693, Pop 4 500.

As Lilly pulled into the town she picked up her directions. She needed to find Main street...and lo and behold the first road in the town was main street! She drove down looking for number 666, creepy. The boy that saved her was still in front of her, though quickly he pulled to the left down Willow Road.

She found 662, then 664, pulling off to the side of the street she parked in front of 666 and looked at her destination. Willow Creek Books the sign read. Why was she pointed in the direction of a book store? Shrugging she got out of her car and peered into the dark window, no one home.

She looked up to the second floor, the curtain was swaying as though someone had been looking out of it. She took a step back hoping they would see her but the lights in the bookstore turned on and she could see a figure walking in the window, quickly opening the creaking door.

“Lilly?” The voice asked, when she nodded the boy stepped aside and let her in. She looked around, rows upon rows of books lines the walls and the shelves in the middle of the store. Some of them she could see were new, others were so old they were bound with leather covers and looked as delicate as porcelain.

The boy stood in front of her, smiling, he was young maybe around twenty with brown hair, blue eyes and thick horn rimmed glasses across his face. He was wearing a plaid shirt and simple jeans, he held out his hand to her, “I’m Sean Essex,” He said in a pleasent tone, “I was your mothers nephew.”

Nephew? Meaning this Sean Essex was her cousin? She lightly shook his hand and smiled the only smile she could come up with, it must have looked more like a scowl because Sean coughed awkwardly and shifted in his shoes, “I am truly sorry about your mother.”

She shrugged, “Not my mother really.”

He nodded his head several times, shifting awkwardly again though this time he truly did look upset. Lilly thought she must remember to speak kindly about the woman when she was here, Sean had probably loved his Aunt and was mourning her loss.

“Sean, I’m sorry, about your loss of her.”

He smiled at her and motioned to follow him, they walked through the store, she stopped to look at some of the books on their way into the backroom where an old winding staircase way. They climbed it and above the store was a small apartment.

The walls were a mute blue just as the walls downstairs, the floor and well used dark hard wood. The windows were covered with lace curtains and the furniture was all made of ark oak with pale green cushions on them.

“Your mother’s room was the first on the left,” Sean said pointing with one finger down a small hallway, “The bathroom is across the hall and my room is at the end of the hallway.” He smiled at her though it faded when he saw her frown, “I’m sorry if it’s too difficult to sleep in...Norah’s room you can take mine or the couch? Though I did clean it and change the seats today.”

“It’s fine, thanks.” She said smiling at the boy, her cousin.

Stepping into the bathroom she looked at herself in the mirror, she looked horrible right now. Her blonde hair was in tangles on her head, and her makeup was running down her face and into her blue eyes, her clothes were clinging to her body and she was completely covered in mud.

Sean must have known she was going to want to shower and had left a towel hanging on the door knob outside. She looked into the main room of the apartment but he was not there, his bedroom door was closed.

Before showing she sent a quick message to her dad that she was there and safe and would call him in the morning.

The water took some time to heat up but when it did it felt like heaven. The liquid was washing away any sign of her horrible night, the dirt, the grime, the tears. Though there was one part of her night she could not get out of her head, and that was the boy who helped her out of the ditch and lead her into town.

She wanted to find him again, to say thank you one more time, and look into the gorgeous eyes of his.