*****

In a mundane Monday life, you follow a mundane Monday routine. For the teacher’s lounge posse, once it’s time to clock out, they would typically regroup at the Everoak to see their only other friends, the Fays, and to gnash on their usual pre-dinner eggs. Vivian and Patrick would typically greet each other with “’Sup Doc” to avoid remembering each other’s names. Dawn would typically bring everyone’s favorite egg platters over and pull up a chair at the end of the table while they let another one of their employees run the bar. Morgan would always pop in fashionably late after mingling with Plainwooders outside of the group and doing her own recreations. Eileen would sit a hair’s distance away from Vivian, bouncing her leg and constantly feeling the need to hold or fidget with something.

Today, the whole routine went as expected, except Eileen was sitting still.

Several minutes passed before Patrick said, “Alright, spit it out.”

Eileen drooled out a clump of egg and cocked her head.

“What’s on your mind?”

 “Nothing, I’m just thinking. I need some quiet for a bit.” Eileen breathed in, took a sip from her water, and said while gulping, “Vivi, what does zhuh daytestay ma poo ten da vee mean?”

Vivian turned her head and raised an eyebrow. Yes, she knew a bit of French, but Eileen would never be curious about it if she didn’t have a motive. She inhaled, sighed, and returned her straight, curious face. “Um, ‘déteste’ means ‘hate,’ and ‘vie’ means ‘life.’”

“ ’Kay.” Eileen flipped through her notebook and continued. “You ever been to New Jersey? Did some research on it; apparently a devil lives there.”

“What got you into researching the States?”

“Oh, I’m just super excited to get to know my new neighbor is all. French-speaking New Jerseyan, gotta love that.”

“Did Natalie say that?!”

“Say what?”

“She hated her life?”

“Yeah, it’s New Jersey; you’re missing the point though. All places to come, all roads to choose, all houses to pick, and she chooses the one specifically next to mine. We have more vacant houses here than occupied ones, and that’s not even counting the ones on Riverside. Why haunt me? I don’t sin that much.”

“Okay, pardon me for prying,” Patrick pried, “but you were the one who told her that all those myths about your house and all that are bogus. Why are you suddenly bothered someone’s living next to you?”

“Because it happened.”

Dingle-ding, chimed the doorbell in harmony with Natalie Aureole’s faint “Hey guys.” She softly waved and shuffled up to the coffee table, hoping to have seen Morgan there as well. “You mind if I join you?”

Eileen choked when she saw her neighbor follow her for the third time in a row. Minor chills ran through her bones. She tried to regain her cool in saying, “Please,” she pulled out a seat for her. “How was the rest of your day, Natalie?”

Her eye contact was minimal. “Fine. Boring. Lunch was pretty exciting though.” She pulled up her own seat next to Patrick. She pointed to Vivian and Dawn, “Nice to see you two again. Vivian and Dawn, right?”

“Right right!” said Vivian. “How’s life in Plainwood so far? Tell us all about it!”

“I don’t know, I’m still adjusting. Still got some lag and stuff.”

“Oh, that’ll be gone in no time,” Vivian said with a reassuring grin and a hand movement only describable with the term pshaw. “I want you to have the best experience here. Try and stick with us and just be careful here as a newbie—living in Riverside especially. People can be weird, and relentless even.”

An eavesdropper from across the lobby called, “Yo, says the one who literally erases spiritism for a living!”

“Yo, peanut gallery, if it weren’t for my family, you’d all be dead by forty!” she cried back, a glob of decaf splashing her face. She returned to her original position and continued talking to Natalie. “I wouldn’t trade this place for the world though. And you’re adjusting well?”

“Yeah. I sort of got to meet my other neighbor. Matt is his name?”

“You met Matthew freaking Kennett—god, stay like two car-lengths away from that psycho. Dude has the physical and emotional structure of a scarecrow—” Vivian shut up at the vibration of Eileen’s stomping foot and a sincere whisper-yell. “I mean, he means well, that’s all I’m gonna say. Are you comfortable? Dawn can get you another pillow if you need it. Hungry? We have candy, chips, eggs, sandwiches, anything you want.”

Anything she could want. The options were infinite, but the choice was humble. If there was one snack she would always go for, it would be a banana nut muffin. The sweet, potassium-rich flavor would always flood her mind with the most pleasant memories from Jersey. Memories that were far and few in between but would always make those burning red emotional scars seem to fade away behind a thick layer of rose-colored glass.

Dawn took the order, went across the lobby, and dragged over a comfortable beanbag chair—the VIP chair, as they’d call it. Then they went over to the corner concession stand and pulled a huge Kendell-brand muffin. They gently placed it in front of Natalie and smiled again. “On the house. Comfort is the Everoak’s number one priority. And you of all people need it. You need anything, just let me know. Neighbors gotta stick together.”

“Always,” said Vivian. “You have no idea how lonely it gets on Riverside.”

This was a turning point. A bit of muffin in her mouth, the leathery cushions of the beanbag slowly encasing and caressing every aching muscle, a bunch of people around her talking to her. Natalie could get used to this. It seemed almost too good to be true, but she of course couldn’t prevent herself from keeping her head up and growing an involuntary wide smile.

“Is that a real thing?” Natalie asked. “Are people really that close here?”

Vivian laughed, “We’re covered by mountains, and the rest of the world doesn’t even know we exist; it’s not like we have a lot of options. But that just makes it even more special! Everyone knows each other; we’re like one big family here!”

Natalie released even more of her tension as if being swallowed by the rest of the bean bag. “That’s awesome! I’m gonna love it here!”

Is what she said under the horrifying pressure of being adopted under a huge family of people constantly looking over everyone else.