“Makin’ the bugs dance.” He said. The little girl watched as a daddy long legs stood on it’s hind two feet and danced around spasmodically. The little boys eyes were an eerie shade of blue, as he glances up at the girl they changed slowly back to the soft hazel they normally were.

 “You better not let your mommy and daddy catch you doin that again.” The girl said in low tones.

 “I’m not afraid of them!” he said indignantly, standing. The girl stood too and giggled.

 “Yeah , they should be afraid of you!” they both laughed.

 “Wanna go swim?” Jeremy asked, taking the girls hand.

 “Yeah!” she said enthusiastically. They began skipping hand in hand towards the dirty little pond near the boys house. It was a hot, humid day in the middle of the summer. Neither of the children cared, they’d grown up in Virginia and were used to the sticky heat. The young boy was clad in a pair of cut off jean shorts, and the girl in a thin yellow sundress. “It sure is hot today.” She said stripping to her underclothes. The boy nodded.

 “Yup.” Then he pushed the girl down and ran towards the edge of the water. “Last one in is a rotten egg!”

 “No fair!” the girl yelled after him. Then she narrowed her eyes, the little boy gave a yelp and tumbled to the ground. The girl got up laughing and ran past and jumped in the water. The boy got up quickly rubbing his backside and jumped into the murky water after her.

 “You cheated Lexie!” the boy said accusingly.

 “You cheated first!” she said splashing him. The boys face became vacant for a moment then he looked at the girl seriously.

 “Pops is lookin for me.” He said quietly. Alex stopped smiling.

 “Don’t do nothin Jeremy, it’ll make him madder.” She said flinging her arms around his neck. Alex and Jeremy had grown up together, and Alex knew all too well Jeremy’s fathers temper. Jeremy’s father hated him, because he said Jeremy was something called abnormal. She didn’t know exactly what that what, but she knew it had something to do with the things Jeremy could do. Jeremy’s dad always got mad when Jeremy was doin ‘That thang’ as his dad always called it. His dad also didn’t like him playing with Alex because she was just as abnormal as he was. Whatever that meant. Her mommy had always told her she was special, her and Jeremy both. Alex loved her mommy, she loved her daddy too, but he’d gone to heaven a long time ago. “Come on we’ll go to my house, mommy is makin’ pies.”

 “Yeah Ok.” Jeremy agreed finally prying Alex off  of him. The got out of the pond, pushing and shoving , laughing and playing. Alex couldn’t have known but Jeremy had a feeling that they wouldn’t be able to play like this anymore. He didn’t know for sure, but something he sensed in his pops scared him. His pops was happy for once, and that couldn’t mean anything good for him.
 They raced to Alex’s house, where they found her mom sitting on the porch.

 “Hi mommy!” Alex said cheerfully.

 “Well hey you two, been swimming?” she asked rocking back and forth in a rocking chair Alex could remember her Grandmother sitting in.

 “Yes ma’am.” Jeremy said. Alex’s mom smiled and held her arms open. A big grin split the little boys face and he jumped into her lap and gave her a big hug. Jeremy’s own mother didn’t like to talk to him, she was afraid of him. One day she had found Jeremy making one of the other boys from school hit himself in the face, and since then his mother wouldn’t even look at him. Jeremy liked Alex’s mom, she was always nice to him, and never called him the mean names his mom and pops did. He liked to pretend  sometimes that she was his own mother. Her mom leaned over and kissed Alex on the cheek.

 “You two smell like frog water.” She joked lovingly. Jeremy jumped down and with Alex began hopping around and making frog noises. Alex’s mom laughed and waited for them to tire of their game.

 “Did you make pies mommy?” Alex asked innocently.

 “Why yes, I believe I did.” Alex and Jeremy clapped. “But those are for dessert.” Now the two children groaned. “After dinner you can both have a big piece, you will be staying for dinner right. Jeremy?”

 “Yes ma’am if that’s Ok, I don’t think I best be around my pops today.” He said kicking at a small pebble on the deck.

 “Never you mind that.” Alex’s mom said getting up. “I’m going to go check on the roast, you two go on upstairs and wash up.” Alex and Jeremy pushed and shoved each other racing up the stairs. They cleaned up in the bathroom then went to Alex’s bedroom. She pulled one of Jeremy’s own tee shirts out of her dresser.

 “Here ya left this one.” Jeremy tugged it on over his head. “What’s your pops mad ‘bout now?” she said undressing herself. She didn’t mind Jeremy’s presence, as a matter of fact it didn’t occur to her to mind. She pulled on a fresh sundress and began pulling a comb through her hair.

 “He’s not mad.” Jeremy said looking out  her window. “He’s happy, that’s what scared me.” Alex went to the window and casually draped an arm around his shoulder.

 “Don’t worry Jeremy.” She said quietly. “If he does anything like last time, I’ll zap him so hard he won’t be able to sit for a week!” They both giggled at the thought. Jeremy looked at Alex seriously again.

 “Hey Lexie?” he asked.

 “Yeah what?” she said removing her arm.

 “You wanna be my girlfriend?” he asked.

 “Ok.” She said, “But you gotta promise me somethin.”

 “Ok, what?”

 “Promise you’ll never make me do things, like with Derek the Dummy from school or the spiders.” Jeremy stared at her in disbelief.

 “I’d never do that!” he said almost angrily.

 “Then promise, or I won’t be your girlfriend.”

 “I’ll do better than promise.” He said taking her hand and leading her to sit on the bed. “I’ll teach you how to keep me from doing it.” Alex smiled.

1.  Alex drove slowly, she hadn’t been in this part of Virginia for such a long time. There were a lot of memories here, some good, some bad, but mostly bad. It hadn’t started that way, she had fond memories of childhood, her father had died when she was a baby and her mother passed away when she was seventeen, but that was after they’d already moved away from here, and away from the things that had happened.

 There had been a lot of development in this area, but somehow it still seemed vacant, wrong. She supposed that when bad things happen in a place it can never seem quite right. She turned down the appropriate side street and realized that she was leaving the growing sprawl behind her. She could see up ahead the small little neighborhood she had grown up in, it seemed that even growth didn’t want to touch this place. She didn’t blame it. She had sworn never to come back here, but when her mother died she inherited everything, the land and the house. Since they hadn’t lived on it in so long, some obscure law in Virginia said she had to take up occupancy for a period of time before she could sell the house and the land, so grudgingly she left her apartment in the city and her job at a quiet little bookstore that she loved to come back here. She knew she’d be facing a lot of memories, and a lot of pain. A small part of her hoped against all odds that he might be here. But most of her knew he wouldn’t.

She hadn’t seen him since that day, five years after the last happy summer day they ever spent together. She smiled smugly remembering that was the day he’d asked her to be his girlfriend. For five years they were more or less inseparable. Except for odd lengths of time when Jeremy’s father would take him away to “camp” he said. Alex knew it wasn’t camp, but she didn’t know what it really was. Every time Jeremy came back, he was a little different, a little colder, a little meaner. Never to her, but she saw it. And when she tried to talk to him about it, he’d deny it, or just brush it off. He never told her where his father took him, he always said though he’d run away before he went back. And he would run away, but strange people would show up, and they would find him. Alex even tried hiding him several times. Her mother begged her not to hide him anymore, to stay away from his father and the people the inevitably came to look for him. Alex questioned her mother but her mother wouldn’t tell her anything more, just begged her. In the end Alex agreed, her mother’s health was failing and the last thing Alex wanted to do was be an additional strain.

 Over the next five years Jeremy changed, and Alex grew. She grew to love him more day by day. Her mother never tried top separate them, though Jeremy’s father tried many times. Alex recalled one night when Jeremy had run away again, after Alex promised not to hide him, one of the strange people coming to talk to her mother. Alex hid by the door and listened to part of the conversation. The man was trying to persuade Alex’s mother to let Alex go with them, he said they were helping Jeremy and they could help Alex too. Alex’s mother had gotten very angry and told the man never to come near Alex, and even if she knew where Jeremy was she wouldn’t tell them, and what they were doing was wrong. A year later, late at night Jeremy seemed on the verge of telling Alex something about his mysterious absences, instead he had laid his head in her lap and cried. She knew now, that he knew then that they’d never see each other again. They were fifteen then, that night she’d lost her virginity to the only person besides her parents that she’d ever loved. She’d tried dating when they moved to the city, but found that no one in her mind compared to Jeremy, so she gave that up. She finished High School after her mother died, then got a job to support herself. She’d been at the same job, and living in the same apartment for four years, now she was 23 and moving back. She pulled into the dirt driveway of their old house. It was run down, but otherwise exactly how she remembered it. Her thoughts turned again to her last night with Jeremy again, and how terrified he was.

 “They’re coming for me again.” He said as she cradled his head in her lap. “I hate my father for this, I’ll never forgive him.” He vowed through his tears. “And one day I’ll make him pay, I’ll make them all pay.” He said in a tone the scared her. He had told her he loved her, and that no matter what happened, one day they’d be together and no one could keep them apart. She told him she loved him too and she’d wait for him no matter how long it took. The next day he was gone. He spent the night in her bed, and though she was a light sleeper somehow he’d managed to leave without her knowing. She had a feeling it wasn’t his choice. Now either years had gone by, she’d never gotten a letter, a phone call, never had any clue to his whereabouts. She had returned here many times after her and her mother had moved to look for Jeremy. His parents had disappeared as well, and their house had stood empty the whole time. Alex sighed and  walked through the front door of the house. The house was pretty much bare, except for large pieces of furniture they didn’t want to take, and a lot of dust.

 “Home sweet home.” She said cynically and set down her bag......

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