It all started during a cold night in January. 

We’d been driving for at least 8 hours. Most of the time, I liked being in a moving vehicle. it relaxed me. But at this very moment, I was so….tired. 

Pines, pines, and pines again. A whole damn forest of giant Christmas trees surrounded us. 

We didn’t even put a foot in town, yet I already missed California so much. It was cool out here! I had friends, a school not too lame with a nice swimming club, My academics even started improving… I mean, they needed anyway to if I wanted that sports scholarship, but still. 

I often wondered why my mother had to find a job in the middle of fucking nowhere. Well, there were pines I guess. 

Maybe should I say in the middle of fucking pines instead.

I knew I was an ass for thinking that. Mum had been searching for a better-paying job for almost two years. In the meantime, she worked her ass off in the diner near our previous house just to pay our bills and my school fees. 

 The day she received the call, mom was hysteric. When I came home, she jumped straight into my face screaming :

- « That’s it, honey ! We’re gonna be okay from now on ! »

I...Think she spoke in my name a bit too soon. But she better not learn it.

My thoughts suddenly got interrupted by a big ass noise. The car stopped, and I heard my mother yell.

- « FUCK. »

- « What’s happening ? »

- « I think the motor’s dead. »

- « For real ? We’re in the middle of fucking…Pines. »

And obviously, it was pouring rain. Wonderful. Just wonderful. 

- « ...Well. Better go get the tow truck. »

- «You’re not checking the hood? »

- « I won’t see a thing with that rain. » Mom then grasped her handbag left on the back seat and started scouring inside. « Great. My battery’s dead too. Elias dear, do you have yours on you? »

- « I nuked it last week. Remember the grounding? »

- «Magnificient. Ok, so what do we do now? »

- « You’re the adult ! » 

She replaced her phone before looking at the landscape through the window, searching for an idea. I took the initiative to search in my own head. I wasn’t the most astucious young lad, but do we ever know ?

We were on the side of the road, right near the damn pines forest. A huge one. A few minutes before being abruptly stopped, we saw the city welcome sign, meaning we couldn’t be THAT far away from town. If the weather hadn’t been that shitty, we would’ve already left on foot looking after some townspeople. But in those conditions, it wasn’t possible.

- « Maybe we should try it tough... » I thought.

I expressed said thoughts to my mother.

- « We could go search for houses? The city might not be that far away. We can get a little wet. »

 

 - « Hum...Yeah. I don’t know what else could be done. The raincoats are in the trunk. Let’s go get them, honey. »

We left the inside of the car for the freezing outside. I expected the rain to turn into snow at any given moment. We were right in the middle of the winter, after all.

Once we were fully equipped, we kept going down the road on our own feet. Thankfully, the wind was on our backs, making it easier for us to proceed. 

We then walked for a good ten minutes without seeing anything but those godamn pines. At some point, I figured it would probably be better to go back and spend the night inside the car. The traffic was non-existent tonight. It lowered the possibility for us to meet with some crazy trucker or serial killer, even though there was always some kind of risk. At least, the road would be much safer in a few hours when the sun comes back.

As I was about to expose my opinion to mum, I saw her stop all of the sudden and start to make signs with her hands. It puzzled me, and I turned around to check where she was looking. 

There was someone in front of us. 

For a few seconds, I felt quite relieved, before quickly changing my mind again. What the hell were they doing here at this hour ? We were past midnight ! Well, it was Saturday night, so it would have been kinda normal in the city, but here ? Did they come here to admire the pines while enjoying the weather ? No fucking way. And my naive mother out here making big signs with her arms ! 

« Hey ! Come here, mister Killer ! We’re riiiight here ! »

I mean, I adore my mother. But let’s just say intellect was a recessive gene in our family. And we were no damn exception. 

- « Mom ! Stop ! It might be dangerous or something ! »

- « Dangerous, uh ? »

- « Ah. Fuck. »

While I was taking offense at their presence, the stranger kept walking and was now right in front of us. 

I took a look at him. They seemed to be a male, my age. Maybe a bit younger ? The other also seemed possible. It was the kind of goth kid you’d see in any bad sitcom. Jet dark hair, not natural for sure, a piercing on their lip, Black clothes under a black coat...Also, the kind of guy you’d see in those edgy horror movies were satanists sacrifice young virgins or something. Well, at least they couldn’t do that with either of us. 

Oblivious to my judgmental thoughts, mom and them had already started talking without me paying attention. I only focused on them when she called me out :

- « Hey Elias you coming ? » 

- « Uh ? Where ? Shouldn’t we go back to the car ? »

- « No, no, the young men here said he lives not far from here. He’ll guide us to his house so we can make a call ! Isn’t that sweet ? »

- « Oh...Yeah, I guess...»

I followed them without saying a word. But I didn’t think any less.

As we proceeded forward, our new companions decided to chit-chat with me. 

- « You truly were out of luck on this one ! Having your car letting you down in the middle of a winter storm ! Thankfully my grandparent's house isn’t that far away. We should get there soon enough... »

He seemed more sympathetic and talkative than your typical goth. In a way, it felt a bit reassuring. But at this point, I was still full of prejudice toward his fashion sense.

- « Yeah... » I just mumbled.

He didn’t catch on to my animosity. His stare was facing some kind of tall iron gate, surrounded by a slightly shorter wall made of old rocks. The kind you can see in cemeteries. Great.

- « There we are ! »

Mom looked as shocked as me.

- « I don’t see a house ? » She ended up answering.

As dumb as it was, I couldn’t help but think we had just fallen into his trap for a moment.

- « Y’a sure that’s where you live ? »

Far from looking disconcerted, The young man emitted small laughter.

- « Ahaha but of course sir ! What kind of question is that ? We just need to go right up the alley and we’ll end up here ! » He then pointed his index toward the golden plate of iron on the wall. 

- « Look. »

Indeed, the scripture clearly enounced : « Manoir de La Renoué »

- « That’s our family name. We are from France. »

 While he struggled to open the heavy grids, my mom commented enthusiastically : 

-”Oh, France ! Really ? That’s so nice ! Elias help him honey.”

I nodded silently before I started to push the bars. That guy must’ve lacked strength or been tired, ‘cause it took me seconds to succeed in my task. 

At least the dude felt a bit less worrying.

We passed through the bars and went inside the small forest. We were surrounded by the trees. Of course, we were walking on an old stone-paved path that made the walkway easier.

As we advanced, slow downed by the rain, I realized that neither me nor my mom had our IDs with us. It was the kind of shit that could get problematic any minute. So I pointed to her right away.

-”Oh. Oh you’re right ! We were in such a hurry...It flew past my mind !” She hit her forehead with the palm of her head.

-”I can’t keep you from going back on your tracks, But just so you both know we’re getting very near the house and my grandparents won’t inspect that. That and weather.”

Despite all the goodwill I tried to assemble, I couldn’t help but be wary of the guy. Well, he wouldn’t beat in a fight. And the more reasonable part of me understood he was probably just a goth kid sneaking out at night. But the situation was too much of a wrong place wrong time for me. I kinda felt like I was going to end the night in a demon’s stomach. Or something as dumb.

Clearly, I was friggin’ tired and the atmosphère, not the most enjoyable, didn’t help. 

So basically, I got really hung up on those papers. Of course, mom wanted to go dry up first so we wouldn’t catch a cold. And she was right. Neither of us wanted to spend our first week in town inside our beds. But I kept insisting. At some point, I decided to go by myself.

- « Oh come on sweetie it’s not a big deal. We’ll get them tomorrow. We don’t need to get them right now. »

- « What if some hillbilly passes by and one of his two brain cells makes him steal it ? Also, I’m positive we left the doors wide open. You got the keys at least? »

Taken aback by my reflection, She thrust her arms inside every single pocket she could find on her body. Finally, she surrendered to me.

- « Hum...»

- « See ? You go inside with him. You must be pretty tired and I can go back by myself. »

Before any of them could protest, I promptly turned towards the direction of the portal, Glad to have found an excuse to escape this oppressing situation for a bit. I had no idea why there was it felt so suffocating, But I just needed to go near something familiar, and at this point, the only thing I could think of was that shitty old car. Deep down, I knew count Dracula and his spooky manor weren’t really scaring me of. I was just so damn exhausted by the travel, and depressed by all the changes in my life.

I mean, I knew it was for the best. For real. I knew that mom needed that job. I knew that our lives would get better this way. But I was just about to turn eighteen. A fuckin’ kid. I’d just left my friends, some dating back from my childhood, the mobile home where I grew up….Heck, even that wheeled junk asshole didn’t hold up.

While I was busy brainstorming my life, I had come back to the road. The pine forest that surrounded it didn’t really help with camouflaging me from the torrents of water that ended up flowing right down on my head. As if it wasn’t annoying enough, I remembered my long hair would be hell to dry. I also thought about how Dracula looked like a wet goth puppy, and it made me laugh internally. I hoped for him his hair coloring was of good quality. 

Walking down the mud quickly got annoying, But at this point, the car wasn’t far from where I was.

- « Fuck. At least there are no lightning bolts. » I mumbled right before hearing rumblings. Yeah. Let’s not forget I was in a B series horror film. I had to be careful about what I said out loud or it would come back in my face.

Hurried by the flashes of lightning, I adjusted my pace. More out of consideration towards the possible danger rather than out of a sentiment of fear. Tough, you could say the whole situation was not an ideal one for relaxation.

Overall, the place was in a sorry state. The border of the path was shyly illuminated by old and rusty street lamps. You could barely see the entry of the woods. And to add insult to injury, the sky was pitch black, and you could barely see the canopy mixing up with it.

Luckily, I was a sportsman at heart, so going back and forth didn’t affect my stamina a lot. I just hoped that my mom, less into it, was warm and safe.

Immediately after I thought about this, I finally noticed our little car, proudly hanging out by the side of the road-and surprising nobody-the doors wide open. The keys were probably gently resting in the starter. 

I smiled seeing this. Another proof that we were a family of airheads.

Said smile died down real quick when I saw the black crouching on the roof of the car.