ISABELLA'S VIEW:

After the bell rings for the last period of the day, it is a big relief and everyone hollers out in excitement as they run out of the buildings and fly out of the gates like there is no tomorrow. I walk out of the classroom slowly, taking my time as I grab my books from my locker. Mark offers to let me borrow his books so I could write down and keep up with what's been happening in the classes. 

As I exit the gates, I begin to make my own way to the bus stop when suddenly someone yells out, "OI ISABELLA WAIT UP." 

All the students stare at me with an upside-down stare. As I turn around, I see Mark coming up to me. "Your mum picking you or... ?" he asks.

I just look at him shaking my head replying, "No, just going to catch the bus, why?"

"Come, my brother's picking me up. We'll drop you off since you're just next door," Mark continues as I just nod, walking with him across the road over to the car park, waiting for his brother to arrive. 

We didn't have to wait long before a black mustang pulls up in front of us, windows rolled down to reveal Mark's older brother. 

"You both gonna get in or should I just ditch you both to walk home on your own hey?" he urges rudely.

Mark and I hurry over and hop into the car before he speeds off. 

"Hey!" I screech as I hurry to get my seat belt on.

"Vamp is a lunatic driver. I drive as well but nothing like my brother," Mark warns, winking at me.  

"So you both are crazy drivers... I'm amazed your cars ain't trashed yet," I joke. 

"We're crazy but not crazy enough to have accidents," Mark tells me with a laugh.

His brother is focused on the road infront of him making sharp turns left and right. Mark and I sway left and right against the movements. Vamp is wearing sunglasses and driving in the shaded roads and not the sunny parts of the roads.

 Odd.

"HEY! Two other human beings here in the car with you if you don't mind. I don't want to fly out of the car if you do an emergency stop, mister," I claimed loudly directing it to Vamp.

"Yea, yea I know," Vamp says bluntly, his hazel eyes fixed on the road ahead of him, not budging an eye.

He reaches beside him and turns the radio on, the song 'heathens' blaring as he drives down the road, making another sharp right turn only barely missing an upcoming silver Toyota. 

I scream immediately, the other car beeping their horn loudly for about a minute, sparking a "Fuck off" response from Vamp. Mark and I chuckled a bit at his reaction. 

"I don't wanna die back here mister," I say, directing it at Vamp. Daredevil much? 

As we drive down the street, Vamp pulls up into the driveway, parking the car as Mark and I get out. I walk over to my house, dragging my school bag on the ground with me.

"Bye gentlemen," I yell out as I open the door and get inside.

Man, I love this house. It took a while but I love it. It's so much bigger than our old one. White walls, massive rooms. Wooden floors, four bedrooms. Everything is beautiful. Especially the backyard, beautiful sunlight hitting the lush green grass, flowers along the fence line.

"I'm home," I yell as soon as I enter the house and make my way over to the staircase.

"Good afternoon sweetheart, how was school?" Mum sings from the kitchen.

"Awesome!" I yell out as I walk up the long, windy staircase and walk about three doors down to reach my room. As I enter my room, I put my things down, place books on the study desk, and hang my school bag on the hook behind the door. I go into the walk-in wardrobe and look through the clothes I have. After a small while of deciding, I pick out a casual shirt and some joggers, laying them on the bed as I go over closing the blinds and curtains of my room so I can change. I hang my uniform up, putting on the joggers and shirt and open up the curtain again. 

I sit on the study desk and get started on the homework. I summarise the work from Mark's books. 

I know it is lazy of me to summarise but it is the only way to do it, given the time frame. 

As I am doing my homework, I could hear the front door open then slam shut. Dad's voice comes from downstairs. 

"I'm home," he states.

I yell down, "Hey Dad," as I continue with my work. 

Dad works so much I miss him. Wish he didn't have to work so much. 

As I finish up on summarising, I close the workbooks and separate them. A pile of my books and a pile of Mark's school books. 

I pick the pile of Mark's books up, walking out of my room and down the stairs with the pile clutched in my hands tightly ensuring none of them gets loose. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, I come face-to-face with my father. My father is a tall man, tan skin, stubble on his chin, blue eyes with brown-blonde hair with a semi-muscular physique.

"Hi sweetheart, how was school?" dad asks with a sincere smile on his face

"Was good... Great," I answer. "How was work?"

"Yeah, good thanks sweetie," he replies.

"Why do you need to work such long hours dad? Mum and I miss you," I state as the books in my hands now bare their weight becoming heavy as hell.

"It's just how my workplace work's sweetheart. I can't control when they need me in," he replies, a gentle smile on his face as he plants a kiss on my forehead. "What are those in your hand sweetheart?" He asks, eyeing what I have in my hands.

"Not much dad, just some of my friend's school books that they let me borrow to catch up on. I was about to go return these to them," I state, looking up at him and adjust the books in my hand, trying to not show dad how heavy they really are.

"Ok sweetheart, you go do just that," Dad says, smiling as he moves out of my way so I can get past him. 

"Isabella?!" mums voice hollers from the kitchen.

"YES?!" I yell out irritated. 

What now? Why the hell can't anyone in this house wait till I drop these damn books off to Mark's before calling me or talking to me? they're bloody heavy.

"I invited the family next door for dinner so you know," she yells out from the kitchen.

"Ok mum, awesome. Anything else or can I go drop these off?!" 

"Nothing else sweetheart, you can go" mum states from the kitchen. 

I walk over to the door fidgeting with the books freeing up my hand to turn the knob of the door, finally managing to open the door enough for me to get out, using my foot to close the door behind me. I have to readjust my hands quite a few times on my way over to Mark's place since the books were heavy as.  As I was walking next door I look at their house. 

Man, it looks like one of those houses you read about in scary books or see in scary films. Looks like one of the haunted castles or something. 

The gates are one of those mansion gates. A very tall gate and white stones followed by a pathway you can walk on. The house itself is dark and mysterious looking. 

I open the gate and enter, walking down the gravel pathway reaching the massive door and knocking on it, still struggling with the books and waiting for someone to answer. 

I lift my knee resting the books on my knee as I waited also to help me get a better grip of these damn books. I didn't have to wait longer than two minutes for a lady with long black hair, snow-white skin just like Mark's skin, red eyes too, a soft pink blush on her cheeks, dressed stylish but very beautiful opening the door.

"Can I help you?" the lady questions in a polite tone.

"Hi, I live next door. Um... Mark let me borrow these books to study so I'm just here to return them" I reply, trying to be polite and not too rude as I spoke.

"Come in young lady, I insist, I can call Mark down and we can talk, I'm his mother by the way," she informs.

I introduce myself to the woman and also try to insist it would be rude of me to come in but she wouldn't back down so I agree in the end. 

As I enter the house, it was way bigger then it looked on the outside. The lounge area is huge. The colours inside of the house consisted of mostly black with some reds, soft pinks, baby blues here and there. It looks very beautiful on the inside as opposed to outside. 

"You have a beautiful home," I tell the lady.

"Thank you," she says gratefully. 

I sit down on the sofa as the lady walks out of the lounge to call Mark, as I look around I could see a lot of paintings on the walls and a few photographs of their family especially on the mantelpiece but it was all placed so nicely and neatly with precision.

"Nice to see you again," a voice came from behind me, making me nearly jump from the chair, throwing the books. I then realise it is only Mark and his mother soon walks into the room, sitting across the sofa from me. 

"Yes, you too. Here are your books. Thanks for letting me use them as a reference," I tell him smiling.

"Anytime," he says, taking them from me. "So mum tells me your mum invited us over, that's nice of her."

"Yep that's my mum for you," I say with a laugh as I stand up. "I better head home, don't want to worry my parents." 

"Ok, thanks for stopping by Isabella, I'll see you later then," Mark speaks in a sort of cheerful tone as he walks with me over to the front door, opening it for me.

 "See you," I say as I exit the house, walking back over to my place. 

I walk down the hallway and make my way to the kitchen where mum is. I watch as she cooks and prepares for dinner.

"They'll be here in 30 minutes so we have to get the house ready before they arrive," mum says to me as she chops up some tomatoes, zucchini and other sorts of fruits and veggies. 

I nod, walking over offering to help her with the cooking. 

Mum always makes cooking with her fun, especially with her small gesture and jokes when I'm cooking with her. Mum always blasts music on and dances around the kitchen. 

I help mum chop and cube up the various food items as she cooks and stirs the meals that were in the pots. 

Cooking with mum made those thirty minutes fly by so quick. The doorbell rings making me jump, looking over at mum as I ask her, "They're here already? Where did the time go?" 

"I don't know darling," mum replies but I was already running over towards the door, unlocking it and opening it with a smile over at the family on the other end of the door. 

"Welcome, welcome, come in, come in," I invite, giving them a brief hug as they enter. 

I am soon joined by mum. "Welcome, it's so lovely you all could join us. My husband will be down in a moment." 

 We lead them into the lounge and sit down, mum goes into the kitchen to finish off dinner as I stay with them. 

"Thank you for coming," I tell them, smiling politely.

"Thanks for the invite," Mark says, smiling. "So that's my mum, Mary," he introduces. "That's my dad, Drake, and as you know, my brother Vamp.." 

The man who was Mark's father had pale skin, a very handsome complexion, golden eyes, black hair, tall but had this sort of sexy look about him. 

"So how long have you all been living next door?" I ask curiously.

"We moved here about 25 years ago," Mary answers, smiling but with a look in her eyes that I couldn't place.

"That's a long time," I said amazed.

"Long before I was even born," Mark adds quickly.

"I've heard quite a few stories about this town. Always been wondering if it were true or not," I wondered curiously.

"The mysterious murders are true, they were left unsolved & marked off as 'closed cases,' due to the fact there was not enough evidence for any of the murders. It was believed that a wild animal had killed these men and women. We don't know how these people did get murdered but one thing is for sure... Whoever or whatever is it is still out there," Drake begins to explain. "As for the rumour that the people who live here are not human or even rumours that we are creatures is untrue. I mean, in the end of the day we bleed the same colour, breath the same air and such," he quickly added.

I nod, listening to what the man said as I then question, "those families would want some closure about their relatives or family members murders. Wouldn't be fair if there isn't enough evidence and having a case closed unsolved, would it?

"Sometimes it is for the best, freaky to know whatever or whoever it is, is still out there though," Mark spoke, smiling slightly.

"Yep that's true," I say with a smile.

"Evening everyone," Dad's voice came from the entrance of the living room as he heads over sitting next to me, introducing himself to the neighbours.

Not long after, mum enters the living room announcing that dinner was ready and we can sit at the dining room. 

Finally. I'm starving. 

We stand up and walk over to the dining room, sitting around the table. Mum, dad and I sitting on one side of the table, Mark, his mother and father sitting across from us, Mark's brother sitting on the end of the table. Mum had already set the table plates, knives, forks, spoons. A table running in the middle of the table along the length of the table, three vases of fresh roses placed neatly along the table. The food is placed also in the middle of the table, waiting for us to put it on our plates. 

"Hope no one has allergies," mum points out, looking around the table.

"Oh no no, just my son's don't eat garlic or onions but everything else is fine, thank you," Mary cautions, smiling.

"Smells amazing," Mark says also smiling. 

"No onion or garlic in the dishes," mum informs. "Thank you, Mark."

Mum had made a roast chicken. It was her secret recipe that no one knows. Lamb a couple of different ways, a few different salads, seafood salad and a normal fruit salad as well as seafood which all smelt great.

"Time to say grace," mum says with a smile. 

We joined hands closing our eyes as we say "Bless us, O'lord & these, thy gifts, which we are about to receive, thank you Lord for our food today and every day, through Christ, our Lord. Amen" opening our eyes whilst making the sign of the cross letting each other's hands go as we place food onto our plates and begin to eat. 

I seem to be the slowest eating person on the table, everyone else seems to be eating at a normal to fast pace while I'm here chewing slow. I hate being such a slow eater but then again don't want to make myself get sick from it. 

"Sorry my sister couldn't make it tonight, she got stuck doing some things at work covering for someone at the office," Mark says whilst we eat.

"That's ok," mum says politely. 

"Didn't know you had a sister Mark," I point out which causes him to nod and smile. 

During the meal, the adults spoke while Mark & I sit there silently as we eat. The adults obviously getting along. The men bonding over footy and sports, both mums bonding over cooking, shopping and such, talking and laughing. 

Once I have finished eating, I stood up taking my plate to the kitchen, sitting back down barely speaking, the adults still speaking and laughing while Mark and I stare at each other, Mark rolling his eyes.

A/N:

Hiya all, thank you for reading this chapter. Don't forget to vote & comment below.

What do you think so far?  What do you think will happen next?