The Stone of Autumn

Chapter 1
The Neighborhood

Chapter Description: Ben and his family are wary of crime sweeping the small town of Valleyview, NY.

[img align=left; footer=’’; border=0; showfooter=1;]http://i.imgur.com/S3ikK.jpg[/img]

The neighborhood of Valleyview Falls in Crestmont, New York had never experienced something like this before. It was late autumn, but it hardly felt like it. With the rash of unexplained crimes in the area, it hardly felt like Thanksgiving was right around the corner; in fact, there didn’t seem to be much to be thankful for at all, recently.

Vandalism was rampant in the little town. Ben stared sternly out of his living room window, one of his large hands pressed to the glass, the other against the white frame, holding back the white translucent curtain that typically obscured the view so teenagers couldn’t case the place for a break-in. In his hand, he held an unopened envelope from his ex-wife, Cassandra. He furrowed his brow at the letter before tossing it into the garbage bin in the kitchen and returning to the window. While he peered around the empty street, his current wife, Mary, sat reading her novel, as usual. She was quickly reading through “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” having just seen “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” in theatres with him and their daughter and wanted to get a jump start on the sequels before any more movies came out.

Upstairs, Emily was on her bed, playing with her iPad. She was using the nimble little device to video chat to the boy she had a crush on from her World History class. She reopened the FaceTime app. She had started the chatting, innocently enough, by asking him to explain things over video chat, explaining she was a visual learner. It was true enough: Emily learned, visually, all the details in the face of the dark-haired handsome boy whose bright face flickered on the screen in front of her. The same couldn’t necessarily be said for the history lesson. School wasn’t set to resume for another week due to the neighborhood watch. Emily minimized a chat request from her friend from the class, Clara, to better concentrate on the cute boy she was so enamored with.

While the women in the house busied themselves with entertainment, Ben’s job remained focused on vigilance. The broad-shouldered man stepped away from the window and glanced down at the crinkled newspaper that lay sprawled on his coffee table, re-reading the same headline that he had been reading all day, “Third Family Disappearance in Month Baffles Crestmont Police.” He grimaced.

“What’s wrong, Ben?” asked his wife, “You’ve been pacing around the house all day!”

“I know, I know, it’s just this neighborhood watch thing,” he explained, “It just has me on edge. Big thugs running around my neighborhood? Terrorizing my family?”

Mary rose out of her chair, her long white skirt trailing gracefully behind her as she went to her husband’s side. She encircled his muscular arm with both of her thin, slender arms and pressed against him, smiling up at him.

“There’s nothing to worry about! I’m sure those families will turn up soon; I wouldn’t lose sleep over it.”

“I hope so. I just want to make sure I can protect you, Mary,” he said, pulling her closer against his chest.

She laughed and beamed up at her husband, “I know you could, honey!” she remarked, giving his sizeable biceps a squeeze, admiringly.