Eli's Town

  Copyright 2015 Amy Cross

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, entities and places are either products of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual people, businesses, entities or events is entirely coincidental.

  Kindle edition

  Dark Season Books

  First published: October 2015

  “Someone really should go check on Eli...”

  Every year, someone from the Denton family travels to the town of Tulepa, to check on weird old uncle Eli. This time around it's Holly's turn to make the journey, but when she arrives she discovers that not only is Eli apparently missing, but the locals appear to be hiding something.

  Meanwhile, a strange curse seems to have struck the town. Every day, at exactly noon, one resident drops dead. Is the string of sudden fatalities just a coincidence? If it's something more sinister, why does no-one seem to be trying to uncover the truth? And what do these deaths have to do with the disappearance of Eli Denton, a strange old man who has barely even left his house in more than a decade?

  Eli's Town is a novel about an eccentric but seemingly harmless man who discovers a new way to live, and about his niece's desperate attempt to uncover the truth before she too succumbs to the town's mysteries.

  Eli's Town

  Prologue

  “Hey, woah, hold back! Isn't that Eli Denton's house?”

  “So?”

  “So?!?!?” She reached out and grabbed his arm, while keeping her eyes fixed on the dark house across the street. “You didn't tell me we were coming to Eli Denton's house!”

  “Would you have come if I had?”

  “Hell, no!”

  “Exactly. Come on!”

  Slipping away from her grasp, Jordan ducked down and scurried across the street before disappearing into the shadows. Brittany opened her mouth to call out to him, but finally she sighed as she realized there was no way she could back out now. She'd only agreed to hang out with Jordan out of sheer boredom, but although she'd known he had a tendency to do some crazy stuff, she never in a million years thought he'd want to mess around near Eli's house. Some parts of the town were just supposed to be off-limits.

  “Jordan!” she hissed finally, even though she couldn't see him anymore. “This is really dumb! Let's just get out of here! Can we go to the lake or something instead?”

  She waited, but there was no reply. It was almost as if he'd slipped into darkness and vanished.

  “Jordan!”

  Silence.

  She watched the house for a moment longer, as she began to realize that the lack of lights was actually a bad thing. After all, what kind of person left their house completely dark at barely ten in the evening, especially if they were already known to be a recluse who barely ever went out? Sighing, she glanced both ways along the street before hurrying across, keeping as low as possible until she was able to duck down into the shadows of the trees that ran along the edge of Eli's property.

  “Jordan?” she whispered. “Where are you?”

  She waited.

  “Jordan?”

  Staring ahead, she realized there was no sign of him at all.

  “Oh Jesus, Jordan -”

  “Scared?”

  She let out a shocked cry as she felt hands clamping down onto her shoulders from behind. Spinning around, she clenched her fist, ready to punch, before seeing Jordan's laughing face as he sat back.

  “Asshole!” she hissed.

  “Classic!” he replied, wiping tears from his eyes. “You wanna keep your voice down, though. Any more screaming like that and you might get old Eli's attention!”

  “I did not scream!” she snapped, shoving him in the chest. “Don't you dare go telling people at school that I screamed!”

  “Okay, fine.” He knelt next to her and leaned past the side of the bushes, watching the dark house. “You definitely yelped, though. That was at least a yelp. Seriously, we don't want to go disturbing the old guy, do we? You know what they say happens to people who disturb Eli Denton.”

  “Stop trying to scare me, then,” she muttered, already feeling as if she wanted to turn around and go home. Looking past him, she watched the dark house for a moment. Silhouetted against the night sky, the place stood out from the rest of the houses on the block, as if it had been designed to freak people out. She'd never liked even passing the place, even as a child, and over the years she'd heard plenty of stories about Eli. Some people even said that he spent his days sitting at one of the upstairs windows, watching everyone who came near. “Why are we even here?” she asked finally. “What if he's in there right now?”

  “Where else would he be?”

  “He might be in his garden,” she suggested. “You know what everyone says about him, he's some kind of freak. He might be real close, he might be listening to us.”

  “I don't think old Eli Denton has left his house in a long time,” Jordan replied. “That's what my Dad says, anyway. He reckons no-one's seen Eli out and about since... Well, for as long as they can remember.”

  “He has to come out sometimes,” Brittany muttered, keeping her eyes fixed on the house's upstairs windows. “He must go into town to buy food.”

  “That's what you'd think,” Jordan muttered, “but go ask anyone in the stores and they'll tell you they haven't seen him.” He paused, as they both watched the house for a moment longer, and then finally he turned to her. “I guess maybe he's just found himself an alternative food source.”

  “Don't,” she said firmly.

  “Don't what?”

  “Don't try so hard to freak me out. It won't work.”

  “It's already working,” he said with a smile. “I can see it in your eyes.”

  “That's it,” she replied, turning away, “I'm off, see you tomorrow at -”

  “Wait!” Grabbing her arm, he pulled her further down into the shadows. “Did you hear that?”

  Her heart pounding now, she looked back toward the house. She knew he was probably just trying to freak her out, but still, she couldn't be sure. “Hear what?”

  “Like a -” He paused, as they both listened to the night's silence for a moment longer. Tulepa was a quiet town at the best of times, but in the area around Eli Denton's house it seemed quieter still. “Like a gentle bump,” he whispered finally, his voice lower than ever and filled with a sense of concern that Brittany felt couldn't be faked. “It might have been the front door.”

  “Jordan, please...”

  “I'm not lying! I heard something!”

  They waited again, but the only sound came when Brittany swallowed. Her throat was already dry.

  “I definitely heard something a moment ago,” Jordan whispered.

  “You're so full of it,” she replied. “You're just trying to scare me, there's no -”

  Suddenly she stopped as she heard a faint thud coming from the house. She froze for a moment, waiting for another sound, before turning to Jordan. For a few seconds, her brain scrambled to find another explanation, but she knew deep down that the sound had definitely come from the house. “Do you... Do you think he knows we're here?”

  “No way,” he replied, although his voice sounded very different now, filled with a sense of fear. “No, it was probably just the wind or something.”

  “Can we please get out of here?”

  “Not until we get the picture.”

  “What picture?”

  He sighed. “Don't you ever listen to what people are talking about at school?”

  “Jordan, if this is part of some dumb prank...”

  “It's like the ultimate challenge,” he continued. “I can't believe you don't know. Basically, there's like this massive bet that everyone's a
part of, and the only way to win it is to get a photo of Eli.”

  “Why do people want a photo of Eli?” she asked with a frown.

  “Because no-one's seen him in years,” he replied, slipping his phone from his pocket. “People are curious if he's turned into, like, some kind of weird recluse. He's obviously still alive in there, but what's really going on with him? That's why everyone's betting to see who can get a photo. The first person who actually does it is, like, guaranteed to be king of the town forever.”

  She looked toward the house. “Isn't that, like, harassment?”

  “He won't even know,” he said with a smile. “Come on, I've got it all worked out. We're gonna be the ones who get a photo of Eli, and we're gonna be legends! And the best part is, we don't even have to get his attention.” He turned back to look toward the house. “We just have to go look through the windows.”

  ***

  “Jordan, please,” she hissed a few minutes later as they reached the side of the house and ducked back down into the darkness, “can we just leave?”

  “You can,” he whispered, looking up at the dark window directly above them. “One way or another, I'm getting this picture.”

  “You don't even know he's in there,” she replied, looking over her shoulder to make sure no-one was sneaking up behind them. “He might be upstairs in bed, or maybe he just moved away years ago and he never told anyone.”

  “Oh, he's in there,” he continued. “People have seen just enough signs of life to know that old Eli Denton is still alive and kicking. Just last month, two kids from my street swore they saw someone watching them late one night from one of the windows here.” He looked down at his phone and tapped to open the photo app. “It's like he keeps himself well out of sight, and that's part of the whole deal, it's one of the reasons everyone wants to know what he's doing and what he looks like these days.” He swiped to bring up a photo. “This is the confirmed photo of the guy, from eight years ago.”

  Looking at the screen, Brittany saw a slightly blurry image of a late-middle-aged man with barely any hair on his head and thick, puffy features. Dressed in a cream cardigan and brown pants, the man seemed to be in the process of picking up a newspaper from his lawn, although he was staring straight at the camera as if was angry at having his picture taken.

  “He looks sad,” she whispered.

  “He looks like a goddamn freak,” Jordan countered.

  “This is mean,” she said with a sigh. “Look at the poor guy. No wonder he became a recluse, if people were bugging him like this. We should leave him alone!”

  “Don't worry, there's no way he'll find out we're here. I'm just gonna get this photo and then we'll get out of here.” He waited for a reply. “We'll be helping him. Once we have this photo, no-one else is gonna come and bother him, the bet will be over. Really, if you think about it, it's our civic duty to help this guy out by putting an end to all the questions.”

  “Oh God,” she whispered, closing her eyes for a moment as she felt sheer panic rising through her chest. “Oh God, why did I come with you? Why didn't I just stay at home and read?”

  “Because you want to join the cool club,” he replied with a grin, “and because you want to hang out with me.” He turned and look up at the window directly above where they were crouching. “Okay, I don't know which room is which, so we need to look through all the windows and hopefully we'll spot him. I'm pretty sure these reclusive types are, like, nocturnal or something. Don't worry, we'll be out of here in no time.”

  “We?”

  “It'll be quicker if we work as a team. I'll go this way, you go that way, and we'll meet round the other side.”

  “I don't want to be by myself!”

  He laughed, before clamping his hand over his own mouth in order to keep the noise down. “You're terrified,” he said finally. “Maybe you should go back and wait down by the street. If you're this scared, you might bump into something or knock something over. I guess I was wrong about you, Brittany. I guess you can't handle a top-secret mission like this.”

  “Oh, please,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Okay, you know what? I'll help you look in his windows, but not because I think this is cool or fun. I'll do it to prove to you that it's dumb and mundane, and that anyone could do it. If you really want to be cool, there are better ways to go about it.”

  “That's the spirit,” he said, slowly standing until he was just about able to see through the corner of the window.

  Still crouching down, Brittany waited for him to say something. “Well?” she asked finally, feeling bored and nervous at the same time. “Do you see him?”

  “It's the kitchen,” he replied, “and no, I don't think anyone's in there. It's dark inside, but... It looks like a real mess in there, like no-one's tidied the place for months. I'm gonna go around the side and try to find the front room. A guy like Eli, never leaving the house, there's no way he's tucked up in bed so early. He's probably, like, watching TV or looking at stuff online.” He turned to her. “We're not harassing him, you know. It's only harassment if he finds out what we're doing, so you need to make absolutely certain that you don't make a noise, because if you do, then you're the one who's turning this into harassment.”

  “Nice logic there,” she muttered with a scowl.

  Smiling, Jordan scurried past the window, making his way around the corner. Brittany sighed, still tempted to turn around and head home, before figuring that she had to at least take a look through some of the windows. She knew it was wrong, and she knew she shouldn't join in with the potential humiliation of an old man who simply kept himself to himself, but at the same time she wanted to spend time with Jordan and she liked the idea of impressing him. After all, Jordan was by far the hottest guy at school, and any girl who was seen with him was guaranteed to be super popular.

  After taking a deep breath, she kept low as she headed past the front door, and finally she dropped down next to another of the windows.

  “Please God,” she whispered, “just let him not be here. Let him be on vacation or something.”

  Craning her neck, she looked through the window and saw to her relief that there was no sign of anyone in the front room. She waited a moment longer, before ducking back down and pausing to consider once again whether she could just bail on the whole evening. She'd been hoping to get some time alone with Jordan, maybe even to make out a little, but instead he'd insisted on checking out the Eli Denton house, which seemed to her to be an almost comically childish way of spending the evening. Finally, she realized that enough was enough. Getting to her feet, she trudged back around the way she'd come, figuring she could tell Jordan she was going to -

  Stopping suddenly, she saw that the front door was wide open. Just sixty seconds earlier, it had been shut.

  “Jordan?” she whispered, feeling a hint of fear in her chest as she took a step back. Turning, she looked back along the side of the house, but there was no sign of anyone. “Jordan!” she hissed. “Where are you?”

  She waited.

  Silence.

  “Oh God,” she stammered, taking a step back before turning again, looking across the garden. “Jordan, where -”

  “Here!”

  Almost jumping out of her skin, she spun around and saw Jordan waving at her from the doorway.

  “Come on,” he said with a laugh. “I got us in.”

  “How?” she whispered, hurrying over to him. Her heart was pounding, but although she wanted to run, she also didn't want to leave Jordan's side.

  “Relax. I have my ways.” He stepped back and gestured for her to join him. “Come on, it's totally safe. The place smells kinda rough, but that's not a problem. What are you waiting for?”

  “Well...”

  “It's empty.”

  “How do you know?”

  He smiled. “I've taken a look around. Trust me, there's no-one here.”

  After pausing for a moment, she stepped past him and into the house. He was right, the air did
smell fusty, as if the place had been locked up for quite some time, and after a few seconds she began to detect a faintly vinegary smell. The floorboards creaked beneath her feet, but she told herself she had to stay strong and that, besides, she could easily turn and run at any moment. Besides, she trusted Jordan completely, even if he had a tendency to lure her into things she'd prefer to avoid. If she -

  Suddenly she heard the door swinging shut behind her, plunging the hallway into darkness.

  She turned. “Hey -”

  “Relax,” he continued, putting a hand on her waist. “You're not scared to be alone with me, are you?”

  She could feel his breath on her face. He was close.

  “Brittany? Are you scared?”

  “Of course not,” she replied, turning and looking up the stairs, where a patch of moonlight illuminated part of the wall. She felt he might try to kiss her if they were face-to-face, and then he'd want take things further, and suddenly she wanted to hold off for a moment. The last thing she wanted was for her first time to take place in such a grotty location. “I just don't really get why we're here.”

  “You don't get why we're in an empty house?” he asked, taking her hand and leading toward the stairs. “Seriously? You don't get why I might wanna have you all to myself in a place where we can just do what we want without anyone walking in on us?”

  She couldn't help but smile. The night had suddenly taken a turn, and she was starting to think that maybe Jordan liked her after all. The problem, however, was that she felt torn in two directions. On the one hand, she wanted to let him take her completely, to let him inside her in every way possible, but at the same time she also felt that the moment wasn't right, that whenever she'd imagined getting with a guy it had always seemed more romantic.

  “Jordan -”

  “Relax.”

  “I am relaxed, but -”

  “Come on.” He began to lead her up the stairs and, since she hadn't decided yet what to do, she followed. The boards creaked under Jordan's feet and, a moment later, under hers too.