Something Strange is happening on Normal Ave.

Chapter One: The Butler says Hello

Normal Avenue looked just like how you think it would look. Very. Normal. Almost too normal if you had asked Pilot as they turned off the main road and onto the red cobbled bricked road. Ancient houses lined the red cobbled road. Each with a rusty bronzed post slot on the front door. The face of each house adorned with windows on the second story made each house look like a different character in a sinister storybook that watched you as you moved down the street. Some of the houses had iron gates as an accessory. Others had white picket fences or stone-lined walkways. Others with large overgrowing gardens intentionally grown for the bees and other pollinators where the walkways could no longer be seen below the foliage.

As you you turned onto Normal Avenue, you were greeted with a tall black iron plaque that stood like a butler waiting to announce you to the matriarchs and patriarchs of the street. It read, “Old Normal Historic District.” It looked down on with a snobby font that declared that you had best behave while you were visiting Normal Avenue, or it would creep up out of its concrete resting place and escort you by the ear off the street and back to wherever it is you really belong.

Pilot did not feel like they belonged here. They didn’t feel like they belonged anywhere. They had moved about 8 times in their 12-year-old life and feeling normal felt out of place. The car paused at the start of the street. The family’s giant white suburban his mom had nicknamed Betty White, stood still as the whole family held their breath gazing down their new street. All except the baby of course who couldn’t do anything still for anything.

“Well. Welcome to our new normal!” Pilot’s Dad joked. Pilot rolled their eyes, and they heard their brother moan from the backseat in dismay. Their Dad was always making puns or stupid Dad jokes. Sometimes they were funny, but this pun was too obvious to even muster up a pity chuckle for the guy. The car bounced and vibrated as it made its way down the uneven cobblestones. Pilot thought that the dentists in this town probably made good money off these people as his teeth chattered together. Dad must have heard them knocking together because he slowed down the car and Pilot got a good look out of the window.

They noticed there were giant trees placed perfectly every 500 feet. They must be at least 200 years old. Pilot calculated that it would take at least two other siblings and himself to wrap their arms around them. The trees were not only thick, but they were also tall. Their branches were higher than the tallest houses on the block. Pilot wondered how long it would have taken those trees to grow. What kinds of things had they seen? What kinds of other kids had climbed them? They had perfect climbing branches. In fact, Pilot thought as they looked around, the tree branches were the one thing on this street that didn’t look normal. Instead of branching up towards the sky, these tree branches stretched out like arms trying to reach out to something. “Creepy,” they thought, “this must be a killer spot on Halloween.”

Pilot’s thoughts about what they were going to be for their last legal Halloween were interrupted when the car slowed, and they bumped into a curb trying to turn into their new driveway. In most towns, Trick-or-Treating was only for kids 12 and under. Pilot knew this year they had to go big… or stay home. “Here it is!” Pilot’s mom said excitedly as she pointed to their new house. Of course, she was excited. After renting a newer cookie-cutter house in a subdivision that didn’t quite fit them all for two years, Mom was excited to have been able to buy a large old house that not only fit their larger family, their dogs, and cats but also looked like it too was out of a storybook. A Grimm’s Fairy tale storybook, but a storybook nonetheless.

As Mom quickly got out of the car, Pilot thought about how Mom herself was far from normal. Mom wasn’t like other moms. She was weird and quirky. She would be loud one moment and then crawling into a closet with a book and a flashlight for some peace and quiet the next. She dressed like some kindergartner had been allowed to pick out her outfits. She liked to change her hair a lot as well as her house décor. Mom was always rearranging things or painting a room. Dad was the opposite. Dad liked schedules and needed to have a plan at all times. Dad was calculated and always measured his wood projects three times before cutting them. Dad likes to be on time and Mom liked to take her time. As Pilot’s last science teacher had said when teaching their class about atoms and their polarity, “Opposites attract!”

Pilot tumbled out of the car. As the oldest, they got to sit in the middle seat next to the baby’s car seat. Dad got the baby, Charlie, out of her car seat. As soon as Charlie’s feet hit the ground, she ran off toward the new backyard and was immediately lost somewhere behind some trees. Mom let out a sigh and ran after her. Pilot’s brother Ford climbed out of the car complaining. He was always complaining about something. Ford was more like Dad. He hated long car rides with loud sisters. Ford liked it quiet. Car rides with the Dangers were the opposite of quiet. Ford was super smart, like cats and he liked his life to function, “just so.” Ford walked towards the house grumbling about getting his bedroom set up as fast as possible.

Finally, their sister, Ramona, bounced out of the backseat ready to explore. Mom named Ramona after one of her favorite childhood book characters. Mom must have consulted a fortune teller or a prophet because Ramona was exactly like Romana Quimby. Pilot’s Ramona was autistic, had the same bobbed haircut like on the book covers, and dressed like she had closed her eyes to pick out her clothes. Today Romana had on purple shorts with yellow stars on them, and a t-shirt with a dinosaur on it that zipped open to make a pocket. The pocket was usually full of weird treasures. Today it was a lint covered mochi, a couple of pieces of candy, a pen, and a tiny notebook she had been making lists in.

Mom came back from around the house with the baby as Dad was unlocking the front door to their new house. Dad had gotten the keys from the realtor this morning as they packed up the hotel room. Ramona ran past Ford and into the house. Ford yelled that Ramona had run into him and ran into the house behind her. Pilot stayed outside for a second listening to the other three kids fight over the bedrooms through the windows of the house. Pilot took in a deep breath and looked up and down the street. Then they looked up at the house looming before them. It was tall. It had three stories with a tiny little half-round window at the top. It was a dark brick house with brown wood windowsills and a dark green door. Just like the other houses on the street, it had a rusty mail slot that looked like it was going to talk back to them at any minute. They up looked at the house and they felt it looking back at him. He didn’t want to go inside, but they heard their mom calling from inside, “Pilot! Come look at your new room!”

With a sigh of resignation that this really was their new normal here on Normal Ave., Pilot walked toward the front door. As their foot stepped over the threshold of the door frame Pilot felt a breeze waft along their neck. The little hairs on Pilot’s body stood straight up like when they touched the static electric ball in science class. As the breeze blew over their neck it swirled up into their ear and that’s when they first heard it. The small little childlike voice that he would come accustomed to soon whispered on the wind, “Save me.” Pilot froze. They braced themselves from falling on the door handle and quickly looked around. There was no one nearby. They could hear their family’s footsteps scampering around the second floor and their Mom’s voice from the kitchen mumbling about tearing out cabinets. There was no one near and they weren’t quite sure if the voice came from inside the house or from outside. Either way, Pilot immediately knew that there was something strange happening on Normal Ave.