The soft crunch of gravel under my boots was the first sound I heard when I stepped out of my car, the stillness of Raven's Peak. I looked upward to the old Victorian house that crowned this hill. It was pretty breathtaking itself—are not worn and weathered, but full of personality. Its walls whispered of course ivy up them, and it should've had a storybook charm. It should've had tall arched windows that caught that dying light just so and sent it tumbling into stardust.This was home now.I breathed in the crisp mountain air. The scent of pine and damp earth and something faintly sweet, ever mixing of wildflowers nearby rode the current of air. The gift that felt like this was a moment after months of chaos … heartbreak, stress, feeling like I was spinning out of control. A chance to start over.It had been a rough year, to put it mildly. Thinking about my high school sweetheart departed Alex, my breakup with him still stung. We'd been and shared dreams but at some point we'd drifted apart. It hadn't been any harder in art school. It had drained me of deadlines, criticism, pressure to be better, dead ends, everything until I packed up and left it all behind.
My escape, Raven's Peak; a small quiet town soothing me to hit pause and work things out. This is a place to return to the joy of photography, reconnect with nature and hopefully, be healed.Opened the trunk of my car, I grabbed the first of the boxes, and, being careful, climbed the creaky wooden steps to the porch. The house groaned some trash, and it looked like it was doing an awful job of hiding it from me, like it was stretching awake after … years of being left to itself. I couldn't resist smiling as I fumbled through my pocket for the key. Sure, this place was old, but it had charm. It had waited for someone to come to bring it back to life.The air was cool and still inside, with that vague, dusty smell hallowed houses always had. Long golden shadows were cast across the wooden floorboards on the wooden floorboards. I put the box down and let out a small sigh of relief. This was mine. I am hoping...That peace didn't last long.The rustling sound came from outside, I heard it while I was unpacking a box of books. I thought it was the wind at first, but then it came again, sharper. It caused my heart to thud in my chest and I froze. I moved slowly to the window and looked out.That's when I saw him.Standing at the edge of the woods were some trees, partially hiding a man. Dark hair caught the last rays of sunlight as he was tall. While there was something wrong with the way he stood, still, so composed, it sent a shiver down my spine. I couldn't look away.
by then he was already coming closer, his movements were fluid and calm before I could be scared or even figure out if I was bothering curious. A scowl appeared on his face, and he locked eyes with me, his breath shocking my own catch.His voice was deep and steady, and I heard him say 'hi' cross the empty evening air. "Welcome to Raven's Peak."I hadn't said a word yet and I blinked. I stepped out on the porch and said, "Oh, uh—thanks." "I'm Emilia."It never wavered as he nodded slightly. "Asher."It wasn't awkward for a long pause to happen. It felt charged, if anything, as if there was something hanging between us, unspoken."Do you, sort of, live around here?" Desperate, I broke the silence asking.He smiled with his lips, almost amused. "You could say that."I couldn't tell what he's trying to do. He had some... different way about him, how he spoke and how he carried himself. He was just like he wasn't any ordinary local.After a moment, he said, still a little shifting in his voice, "Well, I'll let you get back to getting settled in, welcome again."He turned, and walked away, quiet, and disappeared back into the woods as quietly as he came. My mind raced with questions and I stood there a while, staring after him.
Who was he? Why did he look somewhat… like I knew him and had known him before even though I was certain that I had never met the man before?That night after sofa surfing and setting up enough things to make the house half look like a home I lay down on the old lumpy couch, what a relief. So this was what they felt like: my phone rang on the table, flashing an incoming message from Sarah.Sarah: Hey! How's the new place?I smiled as I typed back. It's amazing. As you may see, the house is very old but charming, the town is very, very quiet. Oh, and... I met someone.The reply she gave me was amazingly fast. Wait, WHAT? Who?? Tell me everything!His name's Asher, I wrote. I don't know much about him yet, but he's always… special. Mysterious, I guess. And kinda cute.This had me in stitches when Sarah replied. Ooh, mysterious AND cute? Sounds like trouble. Be careful, okay? Small towns, however, always have more mysteriously creepy of a vibe.Her words took time in my thoughts even more than I thought they would. It wasn't simply that Raven's Peak was alien to the Tallowed Men – in many ways it was – but there was something more to it. As if the town itself had secrets, well hidden but nevertheless neatly sandwiched between its pleasant facade. And Asher? He aspired to be one of those secrets, like he was a part of the darkness at least as much as the light.Laying in that bed and just as I was falling asleep I was aware that something in my life was about to shift and I did not yet know the magnitude of it.