My latest novel, Newcomers, is more of a psychological horror story than some of my most recent books have been. It tells the story of young 16-year-old Rose and her family as they move from Chicago to Bloomfield Valley in Colorado. Rose is not happy, despite not exactly having the best life in Chicago, she is just of the age where such a change is dramatic and devastating.
As soon as they arrive in the picturesque town, Rose feels something is off. Their house is great, the people seem nice, but she feels something is off. Everyone keeps telling her she is just being difficult, but as she continues to investigate, to know the town, her dread over some long hidden secret behind this town grows.
The following excerpt is from the beginning of the novel not long after they move in and Rose finally settles in her new room. This truly begins here sense that something is wrong here and maybe she's not crazy.
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The rest of the day went much the same. More boxes, more unboxing. Rose finished her room and was satisfied with how it looked for the moment, then she went down and helped her mother unpack the kitchen, then the den area where all of the families’ books would reside in giant shelves along the wall. While she did that her mother and father set up the flatscreen, got the WiFi up and running and made sure there would be entertainment for the family that night.
By the time this was all done, it was getting dark outside. Rose actually felt a desire to ride her bike and explore things, but she was also sore and bone tired. Tim had already passed out on the sofa in front of the TV with cartoons casting bright colors across the room.
“OK, I am done,” she said. “I need to get to sleep.”
“Good night, Rose.” Her mom came and kissed her on the forehead. There was a time when Rose would have protested, but she was too tired and welcomed it.
“Good night, sweetie. Thanks for not being a total pill the rest of the day,” her father just had to get a jibe in there before waving to her.
“Cute one, dad.”
Rose trudged up the narrow, but steep, stairs with her eyes half-closed. It was amazing that she already had the feel of the stairs to walk up them without looking. Then she made the hard right then another and was soon inside her bedroom. Still half-conscious, she took off the sweaty clothes she had been wearing all day and got into shorts and a T-shirt. Then she crawled into her bed. It welcomed her in a way she had not thought possible. How was it possible to be this bone tired?
She pulled the covers up and rolled to the side to stare out her window just beside the bed. From here, she could see across the street and there was another house, even bigger than this one, and another one next to it, but not stacked right on top of each other like it had been in Chicago. As she was about to close her eyes, something flashed in the darkness and her eyes snapped open.
“Huh?” she whispered.
It was not in the house across the street, but beside it. The front of the house, since there were very few streetlights in this part of the world, was already in dark shadows, but the trees also cast even darker shadows on the side of the house. Something had flashed at her there. A few possibilities flashed into her mind from a simple reflection off glass or someone perhaps wearing glasses catching the streetlights.
Rose sat up in bed and moved the light curtain across her window and leaned close to the glass. She could not penetrate the shadows to see if there was a person. What could it have been? Her brain ran in a million different ways and places, but none of them made sense.
Then something flashed again.
It was so quick, but she definitely saw it. Rose gasped. No, no, this was not something sinister. This was her brain playing tricks on her. There was a logical explanation for this.
Despite this, she could not help but notice the weird reflection was high enough off the ground to be something held by an adult. Once that thought entered her brain, it was hard to shake the thought. Someone holding something to their face?
“Binoculars?” she asked the empty room and then shuddered.
No, no, no, she thought. Nope, this is not happening. I am imagining things. I just need to roll over and go to sleep. I do not need this and will not talk about this.
Before she rolled over and peered at the window once more. Now she saw nothing and she started to roll over, but just as she did she paused. Did she just see something move? A shadow? If so, there was nothing there now. Rose closed the curtains tight and as close together as she could, rolled over, pulled up her covers and eventually managed to fall asleep.
******** What follows is Rose digging deeper into the town's history. She finds a locked room in the library, and more and more residents of Bloomfield Valley acting strangely. Plus, the issues with her neighbor only get stranger.
Newcomers is here October 31. You can pre-order the Kindle edition now!
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