Audreyville – Part 1

I think every one has a dream of living in a small town, nice people, thriving community, and overall peaceful. Audreyville is not one of these towns. The Smith family moves to the small Texas town to find the house they purchased to have dark past. Join me through this short story series as we explore the secrets of Audreyville. (PG-13 rating)

Audreyville  - Part 1

Jacob Bryant

I never wanted to leave Los Angeles; I had so many friends, I was the best player on the football team, and the one girl in my whole school that I ever liked, I won’t be able to see her anymore. I never had a shot to be honest but it was at least still good to see her, but dad just had to take a job across the country.

“Are we there yet?” my little sister Leila asked impatiently.

“Almost honey.” Mom said growing more annoyed.

“Why so quiet Arthur?” Dad asked me.

I didn’t have the energy to respond to him, he and mom could see I was still upset about the move, so I just left my headphones in pretending that I didn’t hear him.  I eventually gave up sulking and just fell asleep. When I woke up I saw the words “Audreyville, Texas” in bold letters. We had just passed the city line.

This is a very small town, so people are gonna notice when new comers enter town,  especially a car with a mixed family; everyone was staring at us. I tried my best to pretend that I didn’t notice, but it was kinda hard not too. We had to stop and get gas, so we pulled into this diner that has gas pumps out front. Dad had me go in and put our names down while he got the gas. I walk in and just like when we pulled up everyone was just locked in staring at me.

“Excuse me may I have a table for four please?” I asked the hostess.

“Sure thing darlin’,” she said in a happy tone.

The rest of my family came in not to long after she sat me down at the table.

“You bought the old Humphrey Plantation didn’t you?” this hairy truck driver asked my Dad.

“How’d you know that?” my dad asked in a confused tone.

“The people in this town have a tendency to know when someone in town buys a house that’s cursed,” he snapped back.

My face went white and so did my Mom’s.

Dad said in a more direct tone, “What are you talking about?”

The truck driver cracked a smile and said, “Back in the 1800’s Randall Humphrey purchased a plantation and had one of the most thriving plantations, not only in Texas but in the South, everyone wanted to know how Humphrey became so successful. A slave by the name of Martha was the secret, turns out she had a thing for magic. Apparently she was using voodoo to make the plantation profitable. But one day Martha decided that she didn’t want to help Humphrey out anymore and stopped casting these spells. In anger, many say Randall Humphrey made the worst decision in his entire life, he lynched Martha’s only son right in front of her and the other slaves as a message to not defy your masters. Martha then placed a curse on not only him, but the entire plantation. Martha attempted to take his life, but was caught and she was lynched right where her son was. Humphrey suffered a stroke after and died, only two families have moved in since, but moved out because they saw the spirit of a slave. Let’s see how long you guys last, welcome to Audreyville.”

He picked up his hat and walked out the door. I had pretty much lost my appetite at this point. Thank God Leila was asleep, if my sister heard that she would freak out.  Our house was only 15 minutes out from where we were, so we got in the car and we left.

“That guy is an idiot” my dad said in anger.

“Don’t worry about it James, maybe that was his weird way of showing hospitality” my mom said trying to comfort my Dad.

“Did you know that the house was ‘cursed’ when you purchased it?” my mom asked him.

“Yeah, Abby, I intentionally bought a house that was cursed and brought my family to live there, what kind of husband and father do you think I am?”

We passed Audreyville High, my new school, and on the LED boards it said, “Come out on Tuesday for football tryouts.” I kinda got excited and I started imagining my self being the star QB on this team just like I was in L.A. I even forgot about everything that crazy truck driver said back at the diner, then the sun started to set and I saw the silhouette of our new home.