G1+Group+3

Group Members: Neal, Eric S., Alex Cooper

As the ramshackle, paint chipped, white family van pulled into the driveway of 550 West LaFayette, a chill came over Chris. The dark brick house shadowed over the car like a bus over a bike. He stared at the house for what seemed to be eternity, just waiting to wake up from this terrible dream. Chris was pretty mature for an eight year old; he was always with his mom or alone, having no one to talk to. “Chris get your bags out of the car. We don’t have all day,” yelled his mother. “mhmm” whispered Chris.
 * The Tormentor In The Sinister Hours of Darkness**

Chris didn’t like to talk a lot any more; he used to talk more than any one before his father had gone back to war for his 2nd deployment. Once his father left, Chris's mother could not afford their old house in Chicago. His mother had been able to get a job as an accountant at the city bank and was able to afford an old mansion in downtown Detroit in the town of Dearborn. It was an old rundown mansion, so it was pretty cheap, cheaper than any of their other options. The neighborhood was nice enough, but there was something that bothered him about their mansion. "Chris, come in and unpack your bags; There is a lot to do," exclaimed his mother. "Alright I'll be right out," said Chris barely loud enough for him to hear himself. He got out of the car and walked up into his new house with his bags. As Chris was unpacking his bags in his room and he remembered the past years, all the fears of living in this new place couldn't leave his mind. No longer did he have a best friend that he could tell everything like he had in Chicago. He had to start from scratch again, and this scared him. Finally Chris remembered that he was still unpacking his bags and he realized that while lost in his thoughts, he was just throwing the clothes on the floor. He put his clothes away properly and went downstairs. “Chris, the air conditioning is a little bit old and loud, but I don't think it will be a problem," yet Chris wasn’t listening. He was too busy gazing outside, lost in deep thought of his old house and memories. Because of his family's situation basic things were necessary, such his families small TV with only 4 channels. His mom started to cook dinner at this point; she was making pizza, Chris’s favorite food. After dinner he turned on all the lights as he made his way down the hall to his bedroom. Later, he would turn off all the lights except for the little night light that he kept plugged in near his bed. He had had that light for as long as he could remember. He had always been afraid of the dark because he thought it was he had been afraid that his father may never come back home from his duty.

As he thought of his dad never returning from home he remembered a dream from a couple of weeks ago. He remembered the dream so well, he thought there was something trying to separate his family, something so strong that not even metal chains could withstand. Maybe it was a creature he imagined, but he couldn't be quite sure. He lay on his bed thinking until his mom called him in to the kitchen for dinner. It was approaching midnight now, and Chris was still unable to fall asleep. He lay motionless for moments. He finally got up to get some leftover pizza, for he was hungry. He felt that replenishing his hunger would help get the thoughts of his father off his mind. Like the thought of his father never coming back and the monster taking him away. He ate his pizza and went upstairs into his room. He tip-toed into the room, halfway to his bed. Chris heard a deafening cry and stood motionless in the middle of his room. It was 1:00a.m. by now and he could feel the soft moonlight beating on his back. He heard a roar coming from behind him. He tried to not make any movement, but his body was shaken with fear. He heard the noise again and leaped under his covers, knowing that this noise was a product of a truly brutal soul, so dilapidated; it had to cry out angrily as a plea for help. He felt his body shake his bed, creaking from old age. Once he stopped shaking, he fell into a deep sleep for the two hours left of the night.

It was Chris’s first day at his new school. His mom was pulling into the carpool lane in the front of the building. He thought back to the time when the bullies at his old school had tormented him. He was petrified of the thought of even bigger bullies at his new school. “Honey, we are here” said his mom. “You're gonna have a great time”. “Yea,” mumbled Chris as he was stepping out of the car. He walked to the front doors of his new school, head down, trying not to be seen. He went to room 546 and sat at the back of his room. He saw the kids around him seeing their friends again and telling stories from the summer. He missed Melton Wang, his only friend from his old school. Melton could relate to Chris, and Chris could be himself around Melton. But Melton was 280 miles away, with no one to hang out with. Chris couldn’t think about anything but his old home and how much he wanted to be there. “We have a new student in the class, kids; I would like you to meet Chris Dartin.”

Everyone looked in the back of the room and saw a little face barely over top his backpack. Chris was completely freaked out. But to his surprise it seemed that no one really cared and just turned back around without saying anything. The first few hours were going pretty well for him so far, because he didn't have to worry about any bullies, but he didn't like the fact that he hadn’t talked to anyone yet. It was recess now; he was the last one out of the room and outside. He went down to the playground and sat on the far swing away from most kids. A small thin boy from the monkey bars walked over to him “What are you doing here all by yourself?” Chris slowly looked up at him “Nothing” he mumbled. "You can play with me if you want” the little boy said. There was silence between them “Well, what do you want to play?” said Chris very quietly. “Well… how about hide and go seek?” said the boy. This was Chris’s favorite game. He remembered playing it with Melton Wang. “OK. You can hide first,” said Chris said with a little more confidence this time. As they were playing Chris started feeling the sensation of having a friend like Melton Wang again. “What is your name?” Chris asked finally. “Topaz Jones,” said Topaz. “Cool! I used to have a friend just like you,” said Chris . “Yeah, well my dad got a new job last year, so we moved here. It was really hard for me to adjust, but I've gotten used to it, ” explained Topaz “Really? I’m a lot like you then,” said Chris. Chris gestured Topaz to come with him. Topaz followed him willingly. Chris lowered his voice, “There has been a very loud and scary noise coming from my closet and I was wondering if you knew what it was.” “Really?, That sounds scary,” muttered Topaz. “I think you should open the closet and find out what the problem really is.” “How about you come over tonight to my new house for a sleepover” suggested Chris “Ok, Let me ask my mom to see if I can come over tonight.” Said Topaz “Ok, children time to go back inside for centers” called the teacher. The two new buddies walked back inside for centers blissfully.

The rest of the day flew by for Chris, all he could think about was his potential sleepover with Topaz. He wondered how he was going to catch this monster. He couldn't think of think how he would escape from the monster if he ever found it. He couldn't put his new friend in danger, and he couldn't tell anyone in his family anything about the monster.

He got home after school and awaited the call from Topaz. He hoped that Topaz could come over; he needed someone to talk to other than his mom. He got up from the couch where he was sitting and moved into the kitchen to get food. As soon as he opened the pantry he knew how he was going to stop the monster.

He was going to have to set a trap outside of his closet, so when the monster come out he could capture it before it hurt him. He knew how to as well. He was going to use chocolate syrup from the fridge and lay it on the floor in front of the closet. The monster would trip on the syrup and then he was going to have to throw over a blanket over the monster before it gets back up. He would get Topaz to bring over his air soft gun that he said he had at recess and they would temporarily stun the beast. Chris started to grin, and walked up to his room to make a sketch of the plan.

Topaz finally called at six, in just enough time to eat dinner with Chris. When Topaz arrived, Chris told him about the plan immediately. After dinner they walked upstairs into Chris's room. Chris told Topaz that you can only hear the monster in the early hours of the morning. They decided to take shifts sleeping: Chris will sleep two hours and Topaz will sleep two hours until 1:00 in the morning.

It was Chris's shift at 12:30 am. He knew that he would have to wake Topaz soon to set the trap. Chris sat in the silent room until 12:45 and then woke up Topaz. They had to work fast to get the trap down and the blanket set in the right place. They heard the first cry at 1:03; their bodies stood side by side like stones. Chris stood in front of the puddle of chocolete syrup and kicked the door open. He could feel a gush of air sprint out of the closet and he jumped back as far as he could. He saw Topaz in the back of the room and told him to throw him the blanket. He saw a shadow in the closet start to move. His body tensed to the point that he fell onto the floor. He shuffled his body behind his bed and threw the blanket into the closet. There was a moment of silence. " Don't shoot; just turn on the lights. I think we caught it," Chris whispered to Topaz. Topaz slowly inched to the light switch and turned it on. Chris jumped over the bed and maneuvered to the closet. He took off the blanket and shrieked.

He had anticipated a monster to jumping out at him, yet all he saw was an air vent hissing from the air escaping from the dirt on top of the vent. The room behind him disappeared, and all he could see was darkness. It seemed like there was a dim light coming through the darkness. The light got stronger and stronger until he was able to see his room again.

A moment of relief grew upon Chris, he had finally realized that there was no real monster to fear, it was only an air vent. He also realized that since there was no monster his parents were safe. "That was crazy weird man" Said Chris "Yeah, at least you don't have to worry about any monster" said Topaz "Yea, I feel better now that I don't have to worry about anything." said Chris full of relief. "I think we should go to sleep now that we have solved the problem" said Topaz tiredly. "Yeah, that sound good, thanks for the help Topaz" said Chris, but Topaz was already asleep. Chris jumped under the covers of his bed and had the best sleep he had ever had.