“Quincy And That Unusual Friend Of His”

  By Brian Roberson  

Chapter 1  

The car turned off of the main road and onto the side street. Quincy looked up from his I-Pad and saw that they had turned onto Forest Lane, so he knew that he was about to see his new home. The car drove slowly down the meandering, narrow street. Wealthy homes flanked the tree lined street on both sides. Quincy thought it actually looked kind of nice, but he wasn't about to let his parents know that. He was determined to make sure that his parents both knew how much he resented all of it. Quincy's father had been elected to congress the previous fall, having been swept into office on a wave of righteous voter anger as the Tea Party candidate in his district. The congressional district that his father now represented had been a reliably Democratic district in Pennsylvania, and even his father privately admitted that he had little, if any shot of winning. To everyone's astonishment, his family's and the country's both, his father won the election with 54% of the vote, defeating a nine term incumbent. Before he ran for office he had been a grocery store owner, now he was the Congressman from the 14th district of Pennsylvania.

"Well, Kiddo," His dad said from the drivers seat. "What do you think of the neighborhood?"

"It's OK, I guess." Quincy muttered.

"I think it looks really nice." His mom interjected. "Steve, do you know where the house is?"

"It should just be another block, Dear. It'll be the third house on the left, the one with the red bricks." He said.

They then emerged from the trees into a more open area, and the road widened a bit. There were several houses on both sides. The street they were on turned into a dirt road just past the last houses and disappeared into a wooded area.

"Here it is ! 1452 Forest Lane! We are home, folks!" Chimed Steve. They made the left turn into the steep driveway. The house was made of red bricks. It was two stories, with three windows on the second floor, and two larger windows and the front door on the first. All of the windows had a pair of shutters that were painted dark grey. There was a large front lawn that sloped down to the street. Quincy's dad parked the car next to the garage, and the three family members all got out and surveyed the surroundings.

"The movers should be here in an hour or so. Let's go take a look at the house, shall we?"

"Come on, Quincy. We're going to look at the house now. Quincy! Come on!" His mom said. Quincy had been fooling around with his I-Pad with his back to everybody, and sighed loudly as he started to follow his parents into the still vacant house.

Quincy's parents decided to hold off on moving until the August recess so that Quincy could finish the school year and spend the bulk of his summer with his friends. Quincy's dad found the house for rent through a congressional colleague who knew someone in the diplomatic corps. The house was dirt cheap to rent, especially for a house in McLean, Virginia. The rent was so cheap that he thought that there had to be serious problems with it. The houses owner, who was the widow of a nuclear scientist for Lockheed-Martin, assured him during one of several skeptical inspection visits, that all was well and that the house was in perfect, working order. What she didn't tell him, was that the previous three tenants had all fled the house after having been there for less than a year. All of them had claimed to hear strange noises, seen strange apparitions, and had books and other items fly off of shelves and tables. The previous tenants had fled in the middle of the night after the large grand piano in the living room started playing by itself.

The family entered through the front door. The AC had been left off, so the house was stifling hot. Quincy's mom found the thermostat and turned the AC on, and it could be heard dully roaring through the house. There was no furniture, save for the large. black grand piano that was in the living room to the right of the front entrance. Quincy went upstairs to pick out his room. He chose the room that was farthest down the hallway from the master bedroom. It faced the back yard, which he saw from looking out the window was surprisingly large. There was a large, floor length mirror sitting on a pair of legs between a window that looked out the side of the house and  the closet door. Quincy looked at himself in the mirror. He had just recently turned twelve years old, stood at about 4'11, had medium brown hair, brown eyes, a pre-pubescent roman nose, thin lips, and a roundish sort of face. His hair fell slightly over his eyes, and he would often have to brush it away from his face. He was fit and he had a tanned complexion.

He held up his arms and flexed his muscles a little bit. As he did that he felt a strange breeze move through the room, and the room seemed to suddenly get a lot cooler than it was. He then heard what he thought sounded like a brief, high pitched giggle. It was very faint and brief, like thunder that is at it's maximum distance to be audible. He held his breath and listened to the sounds in the room, but all he could hear was the AC blowing out of the vent. He opened the closet door and saw nothing but coat hangers and a purple handkerchief that someone had left on the shelf. He closed the door, shrugged his shoulders, decided that it was the AC that he felt and heard, and went downstairs.

The movers soon arrived, so the family decided to drive over to Tyson’s Corner Center a few miles from their house so as to not be in the way. Tyson’s Corner Center was a gigantic, sprawling shopping mall with two levels, shops and restaurants of every kind, waterfalls, a large stage, and best of all, a large video arcade. After he and his family had lunch at 5 Guys, Quincy retreated into the arcade while his parents walked around the mall. He had been in there for two hours before his parents showed up to get him. He had no idea it had been that long.

Quincy and his family arrived at the house. The moving van was still parked in the driveway, and it looked like they were about finished. The movers, however, were all gathered around the front door and appeared to be having a heated discussion. Quincy's dad parked the car on the curb, and the family walked up the hill towards the group of movers. One of the movers was loudly shouting and raving in Spanish while moving his arms around wildly. The head mover was yelling back at him, also in Spanish.

"What's going on here?" Steve asked. The head mover came over, looking embarrassed.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Lenhardt. " He said in a thick Latino accent. "He is new, he is new to this country..."

"What happened ?" Steve asked forcefully. The man came rushing over, the other movers trying to restrain him. He was wide eyed and sweaty, as though he were in a deep panic.

"El fantasma ! El fantasma es aqui! En la casa! En la casa! El fantasma ! Yo miro Yo miro ! El fantasma !" He started to yell. The other movers grabbed him and moved him over towards the van while he continued to yell.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Lenhardt. He new to this country. He come from a small village. The people there can be very superstitious. I'm sorry, he has never acted like this before!" The head mover was genuinely embarrassed.

 "I hope he's not drunk!" Steve said angrily.

"No, no...not at all, Mr. Lenhardt. He just superstitious." the head mover said.

"Superstitious of what? What is there to be superstitious of?" Steve asked.

"Well...uh...he...he say he saw a ghost."

"A ghost...?"

"Yes, Mr. Lenhardt. I am very sorry. He come from a very far away village in our country. Those people very superstitious. Now he refuse to go back in the house. I very sorry for him."

"Well I think you people better finish this up and get the hell out of here, and I had better not find out that you let a man drunk or on dope into my house!"

"Yes, yes of course, we are almost finish, I am sorry, sir." The mover bowed and scurried back to work along with the other movers. The family then began walking towards the front door while the movers dispersed. As Quincy walked past, he looked into the cab of the van and saw the frightened mover sitting on the passenger side, crossing himself over and over again.

Quincy spent the rest of the evening unpacking his things in his room. By the time he was finished it looked exactly like his old room back in PA did. He then took the empty boxes downstairs to the garage. He returned to his room and a sharp gasp left his throat. All of his dresser drawers were open, and his bed, which had been neatly made, had been tussled up and disturbed, as though somebody had rolled around or jumped on it.

"Hey Mom?" Quincy yelled down the hall. "Why did you mess up my room?"

"I wasn't in your room, Honey!" Mom replied from inside of her bedroom.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! I suggest you clean up whatever mess you just made in there!" She said.

"Where's dad?"

"Your father is at the store, so you can't blame him either!"

Quincy sighed in puzzled exasperation. He could have sworn that the room was nice and tidy when he left it. He closed up all the drawers but didn't bother making the bed, since it was late. He put on his pajamas, read a little bit, and went to sleep.

Later that night, Quincy all of a sudden found himself awake in the dark. He looked at the clock and it said 2:30. As he looked at the time, the digital image of the numbers began to flicker in and out. He then heard that same giggle as he did earlier, only this time it wasn't distant. As a matter of fact , it came right from right inside the room. His heart froze in his chest as he heard the giggle again. It sounded like a boy. He quickly turned over towards the sound. On his desk, in the dark, he saw a figure sitting indian style on top of his desk. He bolted for the lamp and turned on the switch. To his utter shock and disbelief, he saw a nude blond boy sitting on top of his desk. He had a big grin on his face and his hands on his knees.

"Hi!" The kid said as he waved.

"Wh....who....who are you...?" Quincy asked, his voice trembling.

The boy leaned back and laughed. It was a friendly and hearty laugh. "I'm Erik! Who are YOU?" He laughed.

"How did you get in here? Why don't you have any clothes on?"

Erik laughed and jumped off the desk. Quincy could see his little dangling penis bobbling around as he hit the floor. He then ran giggling into the closet and shut the door.

"Hey, hey, wait a minute!" Quincy said. He then got out of bed and ran to the closet. He then opened the door, and to his utter horror, there was no one in there.

"Mom! MOM! MOM!!!" Quincy cried out. Quincy's parents came running down the hallway full speed. Dad was in his underwear and Mom was in her nightgown.

"Quincy, what's wrong? What happened?" Steve croaked.

"I don't know, I ...I..." Quincy then hesitated. He suddenly didn't think that it was a good idea to tell his parents that he saw a naked boy in his bedroom who suddenly vanished into thin air. "I ...had a nightmare I guess." Quincy finally said.

Quincy's parents both stayed and comforted him for a few minutes before shuffling bleary eyed back to their bedroom. After they left, he sat for a few seconds and tried to figure out what had just happened. He also thought about that freaked out mover from earlier in the day. Eventually he got his composure back and decided to try to go back to sleep. As he was about to turn off the lamp, he heard the closet door squeak a little. He watched as it opened halfway. He then saw the naked boy peek around the corner of the door. He sat and watched in horror.

"Thanks for not ratting me out to your folks." He said.

"R-r-ratting you out...?"

"Yeah, the girl who used to sleep in here ratted me out to hers as soon as she saw me." He then stepped out of the closet, walked over to the bed and sat next to Quincy. "So what's your name? "

"Q-qw-Quincy."

 "Nice to meet you, Quincy!" Erik beamed. He then held his hand out. Quincy took his hand and shook it. "You seem pretty cool. I like you better than all the others. You're the first boy my age who's lived here too. At least since I lived here." Erik said.

"You live here?"

"Of course I live here! Where else would I live?" Erik laughed.

"Where are your parents?"

Erik became quiet and contemplative for a second. "You know, I don't really know where they are? I've never really thought about it, actually."

"You've never thought about it?"

 "Nope."

"So how did you disappear like that in the closet?"

"Like this."

Quincy then gasped in shock as Erik vanished right in front of him. He was there and then he was not. He then heard giggling behind him. He quickly looked and saw Erik sitting up on the bed with his hands behind his head.

"You have a pretty comfortable bed, Quincy!"

"I don't believe it..."

"No really, it's pretty comfortable." Quincy laughed.

"No ! I meant...I mean...who are you? What are you?"

"I told you, my name is Erik. I live here. I was here long before you moved in and I'll be here long after you move out." Erik then jumped off the bed, went to the mirror, and started to do karate moves. To Quincy's shock, he saw that Erik made no reflection.

"How long?" Quincy asked.

Erik turned around and faced him. "You know, I don't even know that either. No one has ever asked me these things."

"Hey, so look, do you want to borrow a pair of my underwear or something?"

 "Why?"

 "Because you're totally naked. I can see your wiener and everything."

 "So?"

 "That doesn't bother you?"

"No. Why should it?"

Quincy thought about that for a second and really didn't have an answer. If this kid wanted to parade around nude in front of him, then Quincy guessed that was his business.

"So, what? Are you some kind of wizard or something?"

 "No, I'm just a kid like you."

 "No you're not. Kids don't disappear and teleport around the room at will."

"Hmmm...I haven't thought about that either."

Just then the door to his room opened up. Quincy's mom was standing in the doorway.

"Quincy, are you on the phone?"

"No, Mom."

"Then who are you talking to?" Quincy looked over at Erik who then smiled at him and then smiled at his mother.

"Uhhhh...nobody, really. I was...just readin' out loud a little bit. I'm sorry...I didn't know I was being so loud."

"Well it's past three AM, Quincy! You need to get yourself into bed right this instant! Don't forget that we're going to the Capitol at nine tomorrow morning to see your fathers office, or I guess I should say THIS morning! Go to bed and no more noise! You scared your father and me half to death a little while ago!"

"Sure Mom, sorry about the noise." Quincy's mom glared at him and shut the door.

Quincy looked over at Erik who was still sitting next to him. "She couldn't see you?"

"Nobody does, unless I want them to."

"Are...are you the ...ghost that the mover saw earlier?"

Erik became angry. "I'm NOT a ghost! I'm a kid just like you! I live in this house!" Just then a couple of pieces of notebook paper violently blew off of the desk and floated to the floor.

"Ok, ok , I'm sorry. Don't get mad! We have to be quiet or I'll catch hell!"

 "Sure, sorry Quincy."

Quincy then reached over and felt Erik's arm and shoulder. "You feel real."

"Of course I do!" Grinned Erik.

"I guess I shouldn't be scared of you, right?"

"No, definitely not! I was actually kind of hoping we could be friends. I haven't had a friend in quite a while."

Quincy smiled. "All right, you got it Erik!"

Quincy then held his fist out for a fist bump. "What are you doing?"

 "Oh, that's a fist bump. I hold out my fist and you tap it with your fist. It's kinda like a handshake."

 "Oh, OK." Erik then responded with a vigorous fist bump that stung a little bit.

"Ouch! Wow, you got a little bit of a punch there, Erik!"

 "Sorry, Quince. I guess I don't know my own strength sometimes!"

"Well. it was nice to meet you. I kinda have to go to bed now, I guess."

 "Oh really? Oh well, I guess that's cool. I really liked meeting you too. It's actually really cool that I met you."

Quincy got up and got into bed. "Hey Erik, you can sleep in the bed with me if you want."

"I don't ever sleep, but thanks anyway. I'll just hang around the house until you wake up, I guess."

"Cool." Quincy climbed into bed and turned out the light. Erik got back up on the desk and watched over Quincy.

"Wow, I don't think I can ever get back to sleep." Quincy said.

"Yes you can." Erik said. He then got off the desk, walked over to Quincy, and put his hand on Quincy's forehead. Quincy immediately fell into a deep, peaceful sleep. Erik climbed back up on the desk, sat indian style, and watched over his new friend, making sure that no harm would come to him.