Chapter Three
1
Much to Ivan’s pleasure, he discovered that the Dyebukos had traveled around quite a lot, living in Minnesota, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and even Alaska. He heard many stories about moving and learned a lot about the seven different states they previously lived in. He also learned that Latianna was very tired of moving and had begged her parents for years to settle down. That was what they were hoping to do: settle down in Riverwolf Pass.
To his dismay, Ivan did not get to see the rest of the house. He was a bit disappointed, but understood. The upstairs must be a wreck. After all, they had just moved in and had obviously spent the majority of their time organizing the downstairs – seeing as it was clean as a whistle. He wondered how long it'd taken them and why he had not seen them in town or at the mansion before. Then, he just figured that they must be fast movers – from what he understood they did it a lot.
Ivan wished he could stay and talk longer; they were all getting along so well. But, at nine-forty-five he announced that he must leave, seeing as he had to be back by ten sharp. The Dyebukos understood and showed him out.
“That was,” Mrs. Dyebuko paused, searching her mind for the right words.
“Unexpected,” Mr. Dyebuko finished for his wife.
“Well, I thought it was nice,” Latianna stated. “He was a nice boy, welcoming us. I liked him.”
Mr. and Mrs. Dyebuko exchanged looks. They saw the look in their daughter’s eyes and knew instantly what was to become of this Ivan boy. They took Latianna into the study, and spent the rest of the night talking. Mr. and Mrs. Dyebuko had a very long talk with their daughter, one that resulted in tears; pain – both physical and emotional - yelling, and finally an understanding and agreement.
2
“Ivan, you'd better hurry or you'll be late for school!” his mother called from the kitchen. Ivan was scurrying around his room, frantically searching for his homework. A Stephen King book hit the floor with a heavy thud as he cleared his desk so he could open it and find his history report. He glanced down at the book just as his mother walked in his room.
“Ivan Harvey! What is that?” she roared, her eyes flaring. Ivan couldn't think fast enough. If he said the wrong thing, he could be in more trouble than ever before. But if he said the right thing, it could get him out of a week of misery.
“Uh, well, it's really, you know...” Ivan stammered, his throat closing up.
“You got an A+!” his mother exclaimed, walking over to his dresser and picking up last week's history assignment, beaming at her son. As she glanced over it, he scooted the Stephen King book underneath his backpack.
“Yeah, well, it's not that big of a deal.”
“Yes it is! This is wonderful! Ivan I'm so proud of you!” she exclaimed, giving him a huge hug. “Now hurry up, you wouldn't want to be late,” she added before walking out of his room. Ivan plopped down on his bed and released a sigh of relief. He pulled his backpack toward him and picked up the Stephen King book titled Needful Things. He opened it and a library receipt fell out. Taking note that it was overdue, Ivan decided to make a quick stop at the library after school. He stuffed the book in his backpack and romped down the stairs.
3
At seven-thirty in the morning, there was a car driving up the driveway to the Old Lovehart Mansion. The car was old, small, and blue. It was the car belonging to Mrs. Thelma Garder. She and her daughter sat in the two front seats; the brochures rested on Thelma's lap and Dorothy held a plate full of the freshly baked cookies she made last night in her hands. They pulled in and took notice of a parked car. It was black, had excessively dark windows, the license plate was from West Virginia. Thelma noticed that it had expired last month. Surely, no one in their right mind would drive a car with an expired tag across state lines. They probably had it towed. Perhaps it was broken down and the man of the house was fixing it up again. But, if that was the case, where was the car they drove now?
After the windy drive Thelma and Dorothy had just made, with the intensity of the day hanging low in the atmosphere, they got out of the car and anxiously approached the house; both had feelings of great anticipation. Dorothy, didn't know why, but wanted several times to turn around when they were walking up to the front door. It was fear of her mother ridiculing her that made her keep walking forward. Why hadn't these people been seen in town? She hoped they weren't recluses.
They reached the door and knocked sharply, three times. Dorothy swore she heard a clattering from upstairs. When she mentioned this later, her mother admitted to being too absorbed in the excitement of newcomers to notice any noise that may have taken place in the huge mansion. They stood there for a minute before knocking one more time. Latianna promptly answered.
“Hi, my name is Thelma and this is my daughter, Dorothy. We’ve come to welcome you into the neighborhood,” Thelma said, smiling as Dorothy handed Latianna the cookies.
“Why thank you! My name is Latianna. It's so nice of you to welcome us into the neighborhood like this. I do believe that I will like it in this town very much,” Latianna said graciously, taking the cookies in her hands.
“Are your parents home?” Dorothy asked, peering inside the house.
“No ma’am, they have gone to get the last of the things from our old house. We got here and realized that the movers had forgotten at least a dozen of our boxes! They shan’t be home until tomorrow evening,” Latianna said. Thelma frowned, wondering who still used the word “shan't” anymore... she found it rather old-fashioned and inappropriate for this day and age.
“Isn’t it a little odd to be left here alone overnight?” Thelma pried.
“Well, ma’am, I am sixteen. In November, I'll turn seventeen. I've stayed at home alone before. I’ll be fine.”
“Oh, well at least it isn’t a new thing,” Dorothy said, nodding her head. “Should I expect to see you in school next week?” It was more a demand than a question. Latianna smiled.
“I don't believe you will,”
“Of course, you'll need time to settle down in your new home. The week after then?” Thelma asked, her heart thudding at the – what seemed like a long – wait for the answer to the question.
“I'm afraid you don't understand,” Latianna said, looking a tad bit disappointed. “I've graduated early.”
“Oh,” Thelma said, smiling her famous fake smile. “I see... well you will be enrolling in our community college.” Again it was a demand and not a question.
“Yes ma'am,” Latianna said, not sounding very convincing.
“I could take you to the college now... just so you can get an idea on what it's like there,” Thelma offered.
“My parents gave me strict orders to stay here, not go into town, and not let anyone in,” Latianna said with a yawn, she started to close the door a little. She was rather tired after that long talk with her parents last night. “I think it’s best if I didn’t. Now, if you will please excuse me, I have stuff that needs to get unpacked and organized,” Latianna said.
“Well...” Dorothy started but the door that slammed in her face cut her off.
“I say!” Thelma exclaimed, looking at her daughter with wide eyes. She put her head high and walked off the porch. Dorothy followed.
No words were spoken between them on the drive home. Thelma was only capable of thinking of all the gossip she would later spread about the new folks in town. How could Latianna's parents give her a hippie name like that? Whoever heard of Latianna as a name before? Latianna refusing to come to town, and then slamming the door in their faces! Priceless! And her parents leaving her all alone like that! What if she had a party? What if she had a party and there was drinking? How could they let their daughter run wild like that! Have they come here to corrupt this quaint little town? How dare them! And bring a sixteen-year-old slut along as well! She'd noticed a bruise on Latianna's left arm.
What if she was in one of those gangs that got in fights? Wait 'till sh
e told everybody the news! She felt a sparkle inside her and walked up her stairs with a skip in her step. The instant she was inside, she picked up the phone and dialed the first of the many numbers she would dial that day.
4
Ivan approached the school with heavy, slow, tired footsteps. He'd meant to get some sleep the night before, really he did. However, soon after arriving home from listening to the Dyebukos tell stories, tiredness was the last thing he felt. Therefore, he read. He read and then he lied in bed and thought to himself about Latianna.
“Yo, Ivan, you look tired, man,” his best pal Chad said, slapping him on the back as they walked into the school together.
“Yeah, I stayed up late reading,” Ivan explained, dropping his backpack beneath his school locker.
“You read another one of your ridiculous horror novels? Was this one about Vampires, Zombies, or Werewolves?” Chad asked, rolling his eyes.
“Make fun all you want, but I tell you what, if I ever meet a Vampire, Zombie or Werewolf, I’ll be the first in town to know it, and I’ll know how to kill them. Lord knows we wouldn't want a zombie outbreak in this town! I'm here to see to it that all those evil zoms are taken care of! And I mean permanently. And where will you be then? At my feet thanking me for saving your life, asking if there is anything you can do for Ivan the Great!”
“Oh yeah? Why don’t you just write a book about it?” Chad said with an eye roll and a laugh.
Chad and Ivan got their books and headed to the first class they had together while they talked about the new family in town. It wasn’t long before the word had gotten out all around the school that Ivan had engaged in conversation with the mysterious newcomers. Some kids believed it... some kids did not. But all kids, non-believers and believers alike, gathered around Ivan’s table at lunch, bombarding him with questions and pleas to hear all he knew about the new family that had moved to Riverwolf Pass seemingly overnight.
5
Ivan approached the library after school. He loved the old fashioned look it gave the town with its giant walls made of stone. He stopped to watch the butterflies play in the butterfly garden that sat on the library's lawn. He walked inside and saw Victoria reading on the bench. She immediately stood up to accost Ivan.
“So where is he?” she asked, hands on her hips, her eyes glaring at Ivan.
“Who?”
“Chad, silly! You know, the quarterback. Your best friend. Chad,” she said, rolling her eyes, her arms spread out desperately.
“Oh, I don't know,” Ivan stated, trying to inch his way past her, but she wouldn't allow it.
“Do you think he would go out for pizza sometime with me? It's just, I was free this weekend... well, what does he like to do? Maybe video games or something?” She continued to ramble on.
“Victoria, I'd love to keep talking, but I really have to find this book,” he lied, smiling through it. Victoria reluctantly let Ivan free, at which point Ivan went past the sliding doors and dropped the book into the book return slot and meandered towards the children's desk in hopes to find Mr. White. Sure enough, Mr. White was sitting there, thumbing through The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong.
“Hey, Mr. White,” Ivan said, grabbing a chair and plopping down next to him.
“Heyyyy, Ivan!” Mr. White exclaimed, setting the book down carefully. “We just got a new order of books in, care to look through them?”
“Any you'd recommend?”
“Well, I was just looking through this one,” Mr. White said, picking up The Summoning again. “It sounds like one you'd like.”
“I've already read it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was original and gripping, but it didn't give me the adrenaline rush I was hoping to get from it... it wasn't that scary, but it had an excellent storyline.”
“Well, I guess I'll have to check it out. We pre-ordered that new Stephen King book Under The Dome for you. It doesn't come out until November, but you'll be amongst the first to get it, I'm sure,” Mr. White said, setting down the book in his hands and typing something in the computer really quickly.
“Thanks,” Ivan exclaimed and started thinking about horror books. “I was actually hoping to find one today that I haven't read.”
“You got one yesterday, Ivan. You didn't read it already did you?” Ivan got a sheepish smile on his face and laughed.
“Well, kinda...” he said and Mr. White sarcastically shook his head at the boy.
“I just don't see how you keep this from your parents,”
“Actually, I had a close call today. The book was right under my mom's nose. Literally,”
“Geesh, Ivan, you should be a little more careful. I would hate to see you get in trouble for reading... and I'd hate to get in trouble myself for assisting you.”
“Oh don't worry, Mr. White, I wouldn't rat you out. Wild stallions couldn't drag it out of me,” Ivan promised, standing up and putting two fingers up to his forehead. “Scout's honor.” Mr. White laughed and stood up as well.
“Very well, Ivan, let's see if we can't find you a good read for tonight.” Mr. White put his arm around Ivan and they continued to chat about books, life, family, and authors as they walked toward the horror section of the library.