Ch. 1 - Welcome Home

Samantha set her small suitcase down on the uneven sidewalk and stared up at the house The place was huge! A bit on the run-down side but it looked somewhat clean, if not in good repair. She took in the peeling paint in the crevasses and gutters overflowing with the detritus of Fall. Maybe she could find out who took care of the yardwork and offer to help fix it up some. Who knows, maybe the old lady would knock a bit of her rent.

Still, the place felt creepy to her. Dark. It was a sunny day but the rays couldn't penetrate the gloom of all the trees around the property. Someone must like their privacy. She glanced around and noted a few rusty chairs scattered near the closest weeping willow. "Wonder when the last garden party was at this place." she mused.

With a sigh, she picked up her suitcase and walked up the stairs to the the massive wraparound porch. She wasn't quite sure if she should just walk in or knock. She was saved from wondering for too long when the front door jerked open and a wild-eyed man stepped up to the screen.

"Samantha?" he said.

"Sam, actually, but yes I'm Samantha. I was just wondering-"

"Little girls need to know their place. Do you know your place?" he asked, his hand tracing patterns on the screen.

"I'm sorry... what?"

He breathed an exasperated sigh, "Do. You. Know. Your. Place?" he said, slowly as if talking to a child.

"My place? You mean my apartment? No, I don't know where it is, I just got here."

A voice called out behind the man, "Max! You get away from the door there and quit scaring the new girl. Go on!" An elderly woman arrived at the door and shooed Max away. With a cheeky grin at Sam, he ambled away.

"I'm sorry about him dear. He got to the door before I realized you were here. You must be Samantha. Please, come inside and I'll show you around."

Samantha took a tentative step toward the door, hunched he shoulders and stepped inside.

"Please just set your things by the door here, we'll be by for them when I take you to your apartment. I'm Mrs. Gleason." She smiled at Sam who reached forward to shake the old lady's hand.

"It's very good of you to take me in so last minute Mrs. Gleason. Charlotte has said nothing but good things about you."

"Ohh my Charlotte is such a dear. How is she doing?"

"She's good. Doing fine." Samantha decided to keep the small talk to a minimum. She still felt weirded out by Max's appearance and was anxious to just get to her apartment and collapse.

"Well, let's take the grand tour shall we?" Mrs. Gleason led her down the main hallway towards the rear of the house.

"Back here is the kitchen area. Of course each apartment has it's own small kitchen area but should you ever have a need to store things in the larger fridge or use a bigger stove etcetera, then the main kitchen here is available for you. Just be sure to label your things."

"That's great, thanks." Sam said. She didn't think she would ever use them but it was nice, comforting even to know it's available.

"Also my rooms are just off the corridor there. If you need anything, feel free to drop by any time. I rarely get out much so I'm always in. Now, follow me."

She led Sam back down the hall and pointed to a door at the back of the main stairs.

"That leads to the basement apartment where Max lives. I know he seems a little odd but he mostly keeps to his rooms and if you should run into him, well, I'd do my best to just leave him be. He can be... strange." Mrs. Gleason frowned a little as she talked about Max, but quickly shook it off and smiled at Sam.

"There are five floors to the house. Now, I hope you don't mind stairs because the only open apartment I had left is on the top floor."

"I don't mind at all."

"Good good. There are two apartments on each floor, apart from the basement and first floor of course. You look a little tired though honey, so why don't we get your things and I'll show you your apartment. Maybe later you can come visit me down here and I'll fill you in on the other tenants."

"That sounds great. I am a little tired actually. Bus travel is definitely not my thing."

Smiling, Mrs. Gleason led Sam up each flight of stairs until the reach the 5th floor. Taking out a large keyring, she expertly sifted through keys and picked out Sam's. She opened the door and waved Sam in.

"I'll leave you here now hon. you rest up a while and when you're ready, come on back downstairs and I'll make you a nice cup of tea."

"Sounds great Mrs. G. Thanks again." Sam said, anxious for the older lady to leave.

She shut the door and turned around to take in the apartment.

"Home sweet home."

Ambition

So I had a dream last night... well more of a nightmare really and once it jolted me awake I spent an inordinate amount of time when I should have been sleeping trying to recall every detail of the bad dream because I thought it would make a good story.

Of course that could have been the wee hours rambling of a tired mind but in the cold light of day it still seems like it would make a good story.

So I need a place to write it. A place where I can have feedback (providing I can get people to come read along.) I'm an addicted blogger and while I know I could very well just write my little story in Word, I think it would be more fun to have a place where I write stories and people can come read the latest chapters.

Hey it works for fanficcers :)

Anyway, a little about me... I'm something of a writer, meaning I take writing seriously and harbor dreams of one day being published in something other than my local newspaper. By day though I am an editor for the web at said local paper and I spend far too much time online.

I have another writing blog here that I use to bounce ideas around and I will still use it as such, but this blog is where you come for the stories. I like to tell stories and to entertain so I hope you dig what I'm churning out here.

SO stop by later on for the first chapter from my nightmare and if you like what you read, come on back for updates. Don't forget to use the handy RSS feed if you want a faster way to check for updates.

Thanks!