Haven [1] A Stranger Magic by D.C. Akers

headed? Perhaps Travis had been on the same road all along without knowing it. After all, it was Travis’s idea to come to the caves. Didn’t he owe it to Travis to tell him the truth? What if the stranger came after Travis? That was a chance Sam couldn’t take, Sam concluded. Travis had to know.
    “Well, to tell you the truth Trav, there have been some very strange things happening around the Dalcome house lately.”
    Travis looked over at Sam with his dark brown eyes squinted and eyebrows flexed, preparing himself for more of the bizarre.
    Sam began to explain in detail the events of the last several days. He told Travis about the dreams he had and the mysterious stranger outside his house. He told him about the chocolate wrappers and how the stranger had disappeared into thin air.
    Travis listened intently, never interrupting to ask questions. By the time Sam had finished Travis’s face had gone sallow. The realization of what Sam had said was slowly sinking in. The moment had come and gone, the words had escaped Sam’s mouth and seeped into the air, changing everything they knew around them. Things were different now; more real, and more alive. Magic had fused unimaginable possibilities together with imminent danger bringing forth a world they never knew existed, but that had always been there. Magic had slumbered in the shadows until now. Now it was awake and nothing would ever be the same. Sam shivered at the thought.
    They rounded the corner to Giddyup Lane. Their neighborhood in the past had felt like an old friend—familiar and comfortable, but most of all safe. But tonight it felt foreign and eerie. Things they took for granted, such as next door neighbors, stray animals, and insects, for that matter, could no longer be looked at in the same way. Not anymore, not with magic out there. Not with the stranger out there.
    Sam and Travis continued to walk in silence. The soft breeze grazed against treetops of maples, elms, and oaks that perfectly lined both sides of the street, rooted in small, overpriced lots. Sam’s house was the fifth from the end on the left.
    As the boys approached his house, Sam could see that the light in his mother’s bedroom was still on. His heart sank just a little, remembering that he still owed her an apology. With all that had happened he had simply forgotten about it. It was just one more thing that would have to be done before the night was through.
    As they stopped in front of his house Sam turned to Travis with a sardonic grin.
    “Well, we made it.”
    “Yeah, I’m not sure that’s a good thing,” Travis said.
    He quickly surveyed Sam’s appearance and shook his head as a smile crept to the corners of his mouth.
    “You look like crap,” Travis said.
    Sam could not help but laugh; it was the first time he’d laughed in days, as far as he could remember, and it felt good.
    “We smell like it, too!” he added.
    They both continued to laugh as they tried half-heartedly to straighten and dust themselves off. But it was no use. Their shirts and shorts were stained and torn, their hair matted to their faces, and Travis was even missing a shoe.
    “Hey, what are you going to tell your mother?” Travis asked.
    “Nothing, I mean, do you really think she, or anyone else, would believe me?”
    “No, probably not. Heck, I wouldn’t believe you if I hadn’t been there.”
    But Travis had been there and he had seen the magic with his own eyes. Sam was glad Travis had gone to the cave because now he was no longer alone.
    “Okay then, well, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, right?” Travis asked.
    “Yeah, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. You okay walking home?”
    “I’m okay. The stranger’s after you, not me, right?” Travis said smiling.
    “Well, for now.” Sam grinned back.
    Travis’s smile faded. “Yeah, not funny Sam.”
    “I’m kidding.”
    Travis turned, and with only one shoe on he headed home.
    Sam opened the front door to his house. It was dark inside except for