The Great-Uncle
Chapter 1: Moving to Victor Springs
Jim kicked the back of the seat the whole time in the car. He was upset that his parents decided to unexpectedly move to the town of Victor Springs. Jim didn’t even have time to say goodbye to his friends. Dad had received a letter from the lawyer of his great-uncle, whom he never met. His great-uncle had passed away and gave him all his possessions, which included a house.
They had to leave quickly as his great-uncle set a deadline that they had to move in by the weekend, or he would give the house to charity. The weather was horrible, and it rained the whole trip there. On Sunday afternoon, they finally made it to Victor Springs. The rain had also stopped. Finding the house was also a challenge as even though it was a small town, not many people had heard of or even met the great-uncle. The letter stated that the address to the house was
“32 Rook Lane”.
The GPS couldn’t find it. Jim’s dad stopped at a gas station/diner to ask someone there if they knew. A man walked over to Jim’s dad.
“Oh yes! I know where that road is.” said the old man, “I used to live near there when I was a kid. We used to throw stones at the sign as kids. There was a mysterious man that lived down that street. He never came out during the day, and we were too scared to go down that dirt road.”
He drew a map to the road. Jim’s dad got back in the car and followed the directions. After a few wrong turns, they finally found the dirt road. The road stopped at a weird gate that looked like some kid had made it. They saw a “32” made with old broken tools on the pillar attached to the gate. The gate had a lot of lights, buttons, and unusual shapes on it. The gate all of a sudden opened and made a weird horn-like sound. The front yard was big, and there were a few piles of metal pieces and rusty appliances around some of the trees.
They reached the end of the driveway and stopped the car. Jim didn’t want to get out. His parents got out and started to stretch due to the long drive. His mom came to his door and tapped on the window.
“Sweetie, I think it is time to stop being upset!” she said.
Jim pretended he didn’t hear and turned his back to her in the car. He noticed that there was another car in the driveway. A man stepped out of the car and walked to where his dad was standing. He then handed his dad the keys and some papers. The man and his dad started talking. Jim hoped the man was saying they missed the deadline and they could go back home. Jim sat in the car as his parents entered the house. His mom came out a few minutes later, begging him to get out and see his new room. He refused to listen and just turned his back again and looked out the other window of the car. He stared out the window until his mom went back into the house.
His dad finally came out, opened Jim’s car door, and pulled him out. Jim tried to resist, but his dad was a big man, so nothing he did worked.
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“I let you mope and be upset the entire car ride. It is time for you to stop acting like a baby!” he said.
Jim stood in front of the car. He had been sitting for so long in that car that his legs were wobbly like he was about to fall down.
“Get inside the house now! Jim!” dad yelled.
Jim, still upset, slowly walked to the house. He opened the front door and stepped inside the house.
The front door opened to the living room. Papers, stacks of books, and strange metal devices were all over the living room. He picked one of the metal devices, turned a knob, and it started to glow.
“Be careful! Sweetie! We don’t know what they are.” said his mom.
Apparently, Dad’s great-uncle liked to tinker and create stuff. There were also a lot of papers with scribbles and doodles on the kitchen floor. There were also stacks of books on the dining table and even in one of the bathrooms. Jim explored the other parts of the house and saw the same thing. Jim’s curiosity about all the metal devices let him cool down. He started running throughout the house, playing with the different metal devices. Some made sounds, some moved in weird ways, others did nothing, and others would cause a spark or two. Jim started to act like his usual self, which made his parents smile.
Mom was looking for some cleaning supplies to start cleaning the house. She couldn’t find any and yelled to Dad to get the cleaning supplies from the car. She was a clean freak and couldn’t stay anywhere that was not clean. She always brought a set of cleaning supplies with her anywhere she went. His dad came inside with the cleaning supplies. She grabbed the broom and started sweeping. His dad started picking up the papers on the couch in the living room. Once he was finished, he just sat down and eventually fell asleep. Jim also helped by putting all the metal devices he found into an empty box. He was making more of a mess trying to find more metal devices as papers and some of the stacks of books fell on the floor.
“Jim! Watch out where you are going! I will take it from here with the cleaning. Let me show you your new room.”, she said.
Jim went to what was supposed to be his room. The room had a small bed, just enough for him, and an old dresser. In the corner of the room sat a recliner with a pile of books and papers next to it. There was a closet that was filled with boxes. Jim sat on the bed and looked out the window. The window looked into the backyard and the woods. He could see a large shed that was all the way in the back of the yard. His dad had already put his suitcase in the room. He was just about to open it when his mom came in.
“Jim! Don’t open the suitcase until I finish cleaning this room!” she said
She started cleaning out the dresser. She stuffed the clothes from the dresser into a box. Jim decided to help by cleaning the chair and organizing the books and papers. Once he was done, he sat on the chair. It was old but comfortable. He picked up a book and flipped through the pages. It was all jibberish to him. He picked up another book and flipped the pages. A photo fell to the floor. Jim picked it up and saw it was a picture of a boy. Jim looked closer at the boy in the picture. The boy looked just like him. The boy was even wearing the same clothes that were in his suitcase. He even noticed the boy had a bandage on his arm, just like he had right now when he fell off his bike and scraped his arm. On the back of the photo were the words, “My sweetie, Jim!”.
