Welcome to Rose Valley

One

When I was told that we would be moving again, I wasn't surprised. My mother had been fired from her job for refusing to sleep with her boss. This happened on a regular basis and it almost seemed like it wasn't going to stop. My mum was very pretty and I think many men mistook her friendly attitude for the 'fuck me now' vibe.

Its actually starting to become a running joke between my mum and I, albeit a bad joke. Also, due to the fact that she was kicked out of her home when she was sixteen because some guy had knocked her up, she never got the chance to finish high school and go to college or university. She had been stuck with shitty part time jobs ever since. Plus having to raise a kid by herself, didn't exactly help with the costs.

Mum didn't want to go through the legal side of a sexual harassment case because there was always a chance that it could be widely broadcasted and she did not want to draw any attention to us because of the issues that I had dealt with in the last year. We did not want my abusive ex-boyfriend to find me. It did not matter that he had been arrested and is hopefully in jail, we didn't want to risk it.

From the age of fifteen, I had been competing in illegal street racing to help with the rent, bills and shopping. My mum knew this and despite many attempts at protest, she could not convince me to stop. I had always felt responsible for the way things were, because if my mum hadn't gotten pregnant with me, then we wouldn't be in this financial mess.

I had already been given the information about where I had to go when I got to the new town. Mum had decided to move to a small town in the middle of no where this time, hoping that she will be able to get a job with a decent manager who will not try and grope her. She told me that she had gotten in touch with her parents, and they had agreed to let us come live with them.

"Shaylin!" Mum shouted at me from downstairs.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I took one last look around my empty room before grabbing my backpack.

I wasn't one for being sentimental and emotional, each time we moved, I wasn't fussed. Maybe it was because I was used to it, maybe I'm just heartless? Who knows.

Once downstairs, we loaded the last of our stuff into Mum's car. She got in the car while I hopped on my motorbike. I had a Triumph Bonneville Bobber, it had been my dream to have one since the first time I saw someone on one at the tracks in my last town.

It took just under two hours before we drove past a sign which read 'Welcome to Rose Valley'. I rolled my eyes, almost laughing at the pretentious sounding name, following my mum as she drove further into the town. I knew that my grandparents were some kind of important people in this town, that name kind of giving it away.

As we drove through, I got my chance to look around the town. It was old, almost seemed as if it was over two hundred years old. Due to the fact that it was a Sunday night, it was quite quiet, however it seemed like it was too quiet maybe. There was not many people on the streets, and I could not see anyone who was under the age of thirty and over the age of twelve. It was like all of the teenagers/young adults were missing.

I was becoming more confused, the further we drove. When we arrived at some big iron gates, my curiosity peaked. Is this where my grandparents lived? The gates opened on their own and we drove through, my eyes landing on the big manor house which was situated about half an mile away from the gate.

I couldn't believe my eyes, it reminded me of a house from a horror movie. It was around three stories of solid dark stone, ivy creeping up the sides. I pulled up alongside my mum and slowly got off my bike, stretching as I did so.

"Uh, mum..." I started as she got out of the car.

"Yeah?" She looked at me expectantly.

"You grew up here?" I pointed at the horror house and she nodded.