Elliot Arthur Cross - Tanglewood Road

Tanglewood Road

By Elliot Arthur Cross

Published by Queerteen Press

Visit queerteen-press.com for more information.

Copyright 2013 Elliot Arthur Cross

ISBN 9781611529050

Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the authors imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America. Queerteen Press is an imprint of JMS Books LLC.

* * * *

Tanglewood Road

By Elliot Arthur Cross

Chapter 1

Sixteen year old Cody Langdon pulled a chair from the kitchen up to the bay windows in his living room. He angled himself so he wasnt too visible from the street as he began his stakeout of the neighbors house at four in the afternoon.

He had a six-pack of soda within arms reach and his laptop open so he could surf the net while his eyes darted up every so often to make sure he didnt miss a gray sedan pulling into the driveway on the other side of the suburban street. The house looked similar to most of the others in their Southwest Floridian homeone story, garage on either end, palm trees in the well-mowed lawn. He spent over an hour on movie news message boards, having little to do three weeks before school started in a new city where he knew absolutely no one. He finished his third soda as he watched out the windows, but the sedan never showed. He expected it any minute, but the street remained perfectly calm until his mom arrived near six.

Hey, not playing video games? his mom asked.

Huh? Oh, no, working on something, Cody replied, his eyes still on the empty driveway.

Whats that? She looked pleased that he wasnt moping around like usual when she got home. She kicked her high heels off and gave her son a hug.

The cable guy got me thinking yesterday. We moved in, what, eight days ago? And I havent seen a single person outside yet.

So what? People dont roam around like they do in Michigan. Its a hundred degrees out.

I get that, but people mow their lawns

Which I need you to do this week.

check the mail, walk the dog, enter and leave their houses, Cody said. I havent seen a living soul in the entire neighborhood. Have you?

Sure, she said. I mean, I must have seen somebody.

Think about it, Cody pressured her, his eyes flicking back to the window. Can you remember actually seeing anyone on this street?

I guess not. She shook her head. Did you take your medication today?

This isntyes, Mom, I remembered. And I spent twenty minutes on the phone with the doctors office transferring my script.

Thank you. I would have done it when I had a chance.

Youre already stressed out enough. And itd probably be too late.

A backhanded complimenthow sweet of my child.

I need to go to the bathroom. Can you watch out the window for me?

Looking for what exactly? She asked as she eyed the empty soda cans on the tiled floor.

The neighbors car is gone every day when I wake up, and its back in the driveway every afternoon. So someone must get in and drive it, right? I want to see who that is. Thats all.

Cody scrambled into the bathroom, ignoring his mothers confused look. He relieved himself and washed his hands as quickly as he could, then hurried back to the living room.

His mom stood in the kitchen, pulling a package out of the freezer, her back to the bay windows.

Mom!

What? Im keeping an ear out. Its fine.

Cody approached his chair to resume his stakeout when he spotted the gray sedan already parked in the driveway. No one was in sight.

Damn it, the cars back already.

Sorry.

This is really important, Mom. God! Cody slumped in his chair and closed his laptop. His whole plan had been ruined because the neighbor got back the one second he wasnt looking. There was nothing left to do but skulk back into his room and watch a movie. He always planned better with a scary movie on in the background. He figured the car outside was always gone when he woke up, so he had another chance to catch the owner leaving.

He came out for dinner and scooped up a bowl of cheesy macaroni and a salad while his mom laughed on the phone with his dad. He ate in his room and returned to his movies. Hed barely unpacked, leaving the square room cluttered with clothes on the floor and boxes in the closet.

After his mom went to bed, Cody put the first DVD of his favorite show, Random Reasoning, into his laptop and resumed his stakeout. Online, he pulled up a map of Tanglewood Road. The wide street snaked, forming an S between a park and a road leading back to the nearest main street. He zoomed in on the image and counted forty-two houses. Not counting their own home, or those that were second houses currently unoccupied, or the few for sale, there were still over thirty houses that should be full of families coming and going. Yet he saw no traces of life.

The hours ticked by as he went on to the second and then third DVDs of his show and through most of the soda in the kitchen. He frequently flicked his eyes up from the screen to check out the sedan. The summer night was lit by streetlights and a nearly full moon, but nothing stirred outside save for the occasional car passing.

The last thing Cody remembered before passing out was checking the timefive of six.

You slept out here all night? his mom asked as she shook him awake.

I fell asleep watching DVDs, he replied groggily. What time is it?

Six ten. Im going to hop in the shower and then head to work.

Cody turned to the window. The gray sedan was gone.

* * * *

With his mom at work, Cody faced another lonesome day in the new house. Since theyd moved into the foreclosure last week, hed had precious little contact with anyone. He spent most of his time cleaning up and rearranging furniture to his moms satisfaction. He also battled the endless stream of miniscule ants that paraded into the house via any crack they found. Theyd quickly learned that all food lived in the refrigerator.

Besides the ants, Cody dealt with cockroaches and the occasional spider the size of his fist. Lizards appeared in the dozens on their patio around the screened-in pool where Cody dipped his legs into the refreshing water and watched the stillness of the neighborhood behind his new home. When theyd arrived in the middle of the night the week before, theyd discovered the pools water was a thick mossy color. Seven days later, it was finally clean enough to enjoy.

Cody stared at his reflection in the surface of the water. His straight black hair was combed over one side of his face. The strip he recently dyed yellow covered one narrow eyebrow, the one he wanted a piercing through. He had asked for that for his birthday four months ago, but then the incident happened and everything took a back seat.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead, thankful to feel something, and thought about how it was all his fault. His parents were practically saints to deal with all the stuff he put them through. Life was normal and everyone was happy, and then he noticed Brad looking at him after gym class.