The Silent Hills

Ferya:

I never thought I'd see this day, I thought as I watched the road ahead of us. We where driving down a deserted stretch of highway somewhere just outside the small town of Winchester Arizona, the windows where rolled down letting the hot, dry air of early June in the southwest into the truck, a Fall Out Boy song was blasting from the radio, I had never understood this song before but now the lyrics had new meaning for me. I started to sing along as the old Chevy topped a hill next a sign that said Winchester Summit.

It was a miracle that the 'crap mobile' as we'd nick named it had made it across the county, especially pulling the u-haul trailer we'd rented to carry our pets and what stuff we'd decided to bring.

I watched the sunrise in the rear view mirror as the song came to an end and the Main Street of Winchester came into view.

The street was lined with business, a school, a hospital, fire house, and police station. As we went further up the street it turned into shops, and restraints, the road grew rougher and the forest closed in around the city.

We drove in till we saw a sign that read 'Grindstone Canyon Road' that was our turn off.

I was even more surprised when I saw the house. We'd been living in hospital rooms and no tell motels for the past year, so looking at the huge four story house in the woods we would be living in was a shocker.

We'd come to this small town to take care of my elderly grandma, I'd only met her a few times in my childhood and didn't remember her well.

I stared at the house and then glanced at my mom, she looked back at me and smiled. Just then the door slammed open and my aunt walked out, she trooped over to where my mom and I stood, and then pushed keys to the house and a binder into my moms hands, and said "she's all yours, don't expect to see much of me around here" and then stuck her nose in the air as she headed for a very fancy looking car that sat a crossed the round driveway under a car port.

After watching the cloud of dust left by the car fade, I picked up the keys. Hanging from the key ring was a rabbits foot, a pentagram charm, and a few other weird talismans along with about a dozen keys.

"Who needs this many locks?" I asked my mom, I was one of the most lock-obsessed people you could ever meet but even I didn't take it to the extreme my grandma seemed to.

"I wonder if they're all for the house?" My mom wondered aloud.

I shrugged and made my up to the gate, the yard was surrounded by a 6 foot tall hedge fence with a Roth iron gate that looked older then the hills.

The yard it's self was very well taken care of with neatly mowed grass, and perfectly placed flower beds. The soft grass led right up to the side of the house and the huge deck in front of it.

The deck was raised maybe four feet off the ground, and made from dark wood. The surface was covered with perfectly matched lawn furniture, the only thing out of place was again more weird talismans hanging from the roof and above the hardwood double doors.

I studied a wind chime that seemed to made out of something's bones, I reached my hand out to touch it but it creeped me out too much. I lowered my hand and looked out over the teared yard.

The door creaked open making and eerie sound, this place was going to take some getting use to. My grandma's wrinkled little face peered around the door as she smiled gently and said "come in and see the place."

We both fallowed her into the front room. It consisted of a couch, table, and rack to hang stuff on witch was mostly covered in keys. Did they have a lot of trouble with break-ins here? I wondered, trying to find an explanation for the dozen more setts of keys hanging on the wall.