Trust  Me
Chapter One

A chill ran down my spine as the autumn breeze penetrated the warmth of my sweater. I wrapped it tighter around myself and stared at the place that would be my new home.

I stared at the moss green sign before me. Welcome to Plum Grange. Oh yes, welcome, welcome. God it was cold here. Why Auntie Katherine decided to live in North Dakota is beyond me. Well, where was she? Maybe she changed her mind without telling me. She knew my parents well. She’d call about once a month to check up on me at home, although I hadn’t seen her since I was about five. Our conversations never lasted more than five minutes due to my constant excuses to get off the phone. However, at the end of each, she’d always say, “Dearie, just remember, if you ever want to spend time away, you come and stay with your Aunt Katherine. I’ll always have place for you.”

“Ok, bye,” is all I’d ever reply. Never a, “Thanks Auntie, I love you.” I was such a brat. I was an immature sixteen-year-old caught up in my own little world. My life was just so much harder than everyone else’s, right? What could they possibly know about anything? My self-destructive behavior exiled me from my friends. Up until now, I had spent all my time locked away in my room, listening to heavy metal. It was all a big, attention-seeking game, not that I ever got any attention anyway.

Yet here I was, so small and powerless as Plum Grange loomed over me in all its moss-greenness. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

I waited for Aunt Katherine for a long time. Eventually, I got fed up and dug out my cell phone. Dialing her home phone number, I pressed it to my ear. It rang five times and went to voicemail. I sighed and plopped down right in the dirt by the side of the road. I put my backpack in my lap and rested my head on it. I dozed off, probably not the best thing to do when sitting alone in an unfamiliar place. These types of mistakes tend to get young women into trouble, which is just what I would get into as a figure made his way through the forest, closer and closer to me and my troubles.