Salem is a quaint town filled with horrifying history and is said to be filled with haunted lore. The graphic retellings of the witch trials and even the gruesome tale of Lizzie Borden were a few reasons people wanted to explore what is considered an otherworldly place that to most felt fictitious or something out of a storybook. These paranormal occurrences also bring about those who would be otherwise regarded as odd or even eccentric. A gift shop in the center of town reeks of these “eccentric” persons; a pair of college graduates who own this shop seem to have magnetized their fair share of attention. Camila Rodgriuez; one of the owners, claims to have witnessed vampires and even werewolves while growing up in the Dominican Republic. She proclaims such things in the podcast she hosts once every other week, where she talks about personal things she has witnessed and theories about creature sightings. Camila also advertises in her shop that she is a “paranormal hunter”, and she will take on jobs to hunt these creatures. People who have visited her shop send their sympathies to the other owner of the shop; Tae Buu. Tae Buu is Korean-American, an awkward nerdy male with thick-rimmed glasses who grew up in Salem. He is always fascinated by Camila’s stories and firmly believes everything she has seen is true. Tae is also interested in ghosts and other mythical creatures. He is so passionate, that his room is filled to the brim with creature memorabilia, movie posters, and plenty of figures.
Together they run a successful shop despite why they are so popular. Those who visit seem to think that Camila is putting on an act that makes several people entertain her ideas. However, sometimes they run into those who enjoy taunting the two and on the windows, some crude images can be found from teenagers who lived close by. Camila could usually be found in her robe and slippers removing these images and muttering under her breath in Spanish. This is what she could be found doing this morning, where she begrudgingly finds more pictures posted on the windows of her shop. Dragging her feet back inside, she began crumpling the pictures into a ball which attracted her cat; Lucky. Lucky was an all-black Maine Coon cat who was named simply due to the irony. He was abandoned and soon found himself loving Camila and Tae with their warm-hearted nature and love for the cat. Lucky would brush against Camila’s legs and a symphony of purrs could soon be heard. Lucky seemed to have confused the crinkles of paper for the sound of his cat food. Camila chuckled as she began to prepare his bowl. After setting Lucky’s dish down, Camila soon began to prepare two cups of coffee because she knew Tae would soon follow.
The way their home was set up, a portion of their shop was mainly set up downstairs, while Camila and Tae enjoyed most of their time. She leaned against her counter, watching the steam of her coffee swirl out of her cup before she took a sip. Soon after taking her first sip, she heard the shuffling of Tae’s footsteps, getting his coffee. Tae then joined Camila where he stood on the other side of the counter. His disheveled hair and one of his many movie monsters t-shirts are what began a typical conversation for the two.
Camila: “Attack of the Were-Rabbit huh?” sipping her coffee as she asked.
Tae: “Uhhh, yeah! It’s a classic and I haven’t worn this one in a while.”
Camila: “I couldn’t agree with you more. The amount of times you made me watch that in college.”
Tae: “Uhhh, yeah! It's a theatrical masterpiece in all senses of the word! That’s why we needed to watch it more than once!”
Camila: “Speaking of masterpieces…found some plastered on our window this morning.”
Tae: “Those are not even on the same level as Were-Rabbit! How dare you!”
Camila: “Oh will you shut it with the Were-Rabbit!”
Tae: “Now you know what we gotta do later right? Oooh…it's terrifying…it's fluffy…its…its cute…its th-th-the Were-Rabbit!!!”
Camila chuckled at Tae acting out the bits from the movie. When finished with their coffee, they begin to go about opening procedures. Cleaning, organizing clothing, and setting out trinkets to be sold. Once everything seemed to be arranged and set up, Camila decided to head upstairs to get ready.
Tae: “You taking a shower?”
Camila: “Why, do you want to join me?” Camila teased.
Tae: “Wha…wha-what!? I uhhhh…no! I just wanted to know when you'll be finished so I-”
Camila: “Tae, relax ya, dork! I am teasing you, I should be done within 10-15 minutes.”
A flustered Tae pretends to be busy while trying to get rid of what he considers foolish feelings. Lucky brushes up against Tae, making his motorboat sounds as he does before flopping on the ground. Tae notices this and lowers himself to pet the furball before him.
Tae: “I know buddy, I will ask her out eventually…now just isn’t the time ya know? I need the perfect moment.” Lucky chirps at Tae as if to disagree with him and this causes Tae to ruffle his fuzzy face.
Boiling water flows out of the showerhead onto Camila, rinsing her curled hair with the suds of her shampoo. As she runs her hands through her thick curls, she ponders if she is just mental or if what she saw all those years ago was truly what she witnessed. She remembers the screams of those in her small village and several of those screams were at her. Blaming her for what had happened and the blood that was spilled that day. She motions to the soap dispenser and proceeds to slap bits of soap all over her body and scrubs it away. Camila, almost on the verge of tears, gently places her forehead against the acrylic wall. The dreaded day that haunts her is approaching and she feels like that same little girl in the Dominican Republic all over again. Scared, regret, and melancholy. Camila slowly twisted the faucets off and grabbed the towel she left near the shower, slowly drying herself off. The faint memory of sounds of monsters hunting the people of her village, teeth barred, and pointed ears. These were all things that she believed to be true and other times she may have wanted it to be make-believe.
Snapping her out of these thoughts was a rapid knock on the bathroom door and the sounds of anxious footsteps jumping up and down. With this, Camila gently squeezes toothpaste onto her toothbrush.
Tae: “Camila!!! I am so sorry to disturb you, but I have to go to the bathroom! Are you almost done!?”
Camila swishes the toothbrush around her teeth and spits into the sink.
Camila: “Tae, is this your way to see me in a towel? Oh my, you’re bold today!”
Tae: “I swear I am not trying to sneak a peek! I just really have to use the bathroom!”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Camila giggles a bit and spits a few more times into the sink. She opens the door and Tae flies past; not even batting an eye at her current appearance. Camila stomps out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind her as she did.
Camila: “And here I thought chivalry was somewhat alive…you sure as shit proved me wrong…quite literally in fact!” she shouts from the other side.
Tae: “I’m sorry Camila! The coffee hit earlier than expected! I would never just brag in lik-...!!!”
Camila: “Need I emphasize further on the shit part of what I just said...”
The only sounds that could be heard were groans of regret and shame, but with this, Camila just sighed and continued to prepare for the day. As she zipped her pants and began to put on her shirt, she heard a knock on their door to the shop. She looked at her phone that had been buried under her blanket and noted the time. It was only 8:45; they were not open for another 20 minutes. Curious, she quickly threw on her green jacket and ignored the fact her hair was a curly wet mess. She ran down the stairs to see who was at the door and without thinking, she flung it open.
Before she stood two men, both having very clear distinctions in the sense that you would be surprised they were friendly with one another. One of them was paler than a ghost, lanky, tall, brown hair that went every which way and thick-rimmed glasses. He didn’t seem to have any sort of fashion sense, unlike the man that stood next to him. With a much darker skin complexion, clean-shaven beard, freshly styled dark curly hair, physically muscular as well. He was what most would consider attractive, but Camila was too curious about why they were here instead of swooning.
Camila: “I’m sorry guys, we’re not open until 9 AM. I thought you were our building guy asking for rent. Go get a coffee or some-”
Before Camila could shut the door or even finish her sentence, she was cut off by Mister Good-looking.
Mystery Man 1: “Oh no, we just moved into the area and we heard from the other folks we just had to check this place out. I can see why…you’re quite the sight.”
Camila rolled her eyes, ready to slam the door right in this good-looking idiotic face.
Mystery Man 2: “Ahem…excuse my friend here. As you can see he is rather impolite. We were told to check this place out by others in the neighborhood. We moved in about a week ago and finally feel ready to meet people around us.”
Camila simply furrowed her eyebrows, unsure if they were telling the truth or not.
Camila: “You guys just moved here? Funny, Salem is small enough that I feel I would’ve heard about newbies moving in so suddenly.”
The good-looking one just laughed hysterically, bracing his stomach while his friend stood there awkwardly adjusting his glasses.
Camila: “You guys just made it hard to make me believe either of you.”
Mystery Man 1: “I like you, you’re one feisty Latina. You have spunk, which I like in a woman.”
Camila: “Excuse me?” she said in disgust.
Mystery Man 2: “Why don’t we introduce ourselves? My name is Chansen! This is my crude roommate Mackenson and-”
Mackenson: “Mac…for short. Some may even call me Big Mac.”
Chansen: “Mac please…you are making this a lot harder than it needs to be. Sorry if we seem like we’re coming suspicious. It may not seem like it for one of us at least, but we like to keep a low profile and adjust before we go around town.”
Before Camila could go on with another barrage of inquisitive questions, Tae came down the stairs, holding Lucky in hand who seemed on edge.
Tae: “Oh, is it opening time already? Or are we trying to sell something?”
Camila: “Nope. These are our new neighbors who moved in last week. They were just introducing themselves and leaving soon.”
Tae looked at Camila with some suspicion but decided to drop it for her sake. She had that certain look on her face that Tae never dared to challenge.
Tae: “Well, I’m Tae Buu, I am the co-owner of this place with Camila here. It is certainly nice to meet you, hope you enjoy tourists and pretty colored leaves. That’s all we have here anyway once you live here long enough!”
Chansen: “Nice to meet you Tae, I would shake your hand, but you got them quite full with this big guy here!”
Chansen attempted to pet Lucky, but he hissed and his fur soon puffed out. Tae seemed embarrassed by his behavior and petted the top of Lucky’s head.
Tae: “Oh my goodness, I apologize! That’s odd, he never does this to people.”
Chansen: “It’s quite alright! I am pretty new to him, so I understand.”
Mackenson: “I was just telling your girl here, I’m Mackenson. Nice to meet ya Table.”
Tae: “Oh you must have misheard its-...” Before he could correct Mackenson, he was cut off abruptly.
Mackenson: “Well I think we had enough of an introduction here Chance, why don’t we get moving? We have a lot of meet and greets that we need to get over with. Nice to meet ya feisty and Table.”
With this, the two strode off further down the street to soon make their rounds of people they needed to meet. Camila crossed her arms, watching as they slowly turned into two dots.
Tae: “They seemed quite eccentric huh Camila? Feisty was your nickname huh? I guess it’s being called a literal table!” Tae said, slightly giggling.
Camila: “Something about those two…I don’t know. They stood out a bit too much…everyone in this town who has moved here is typical, hippy-ish, or staler than week-old bread. And new people hardly introduce themselves so suddenly like that these days…they do it over time or if necessary. They didn’t even talk about anything touristy either.”
Tae: “Well it takes time to adjust to a new area and maybe they did their research before moving here. They probably didn’t wanna come off that way. Anyhow, we gotta open soon! Let’s double-check and make sure we got everything out! Alright Lucky, I gotta put you down you little sassy pants!”
Camila stood in the doorway for a bit before closing it, pondering her thoughts. She knew something about those two was off, she just couldn’t pinpoint a reason why yet. She locked the door behind her and began to set up shop, Lucky sat near the shop door with his tail flicking about. He still seemed a bit on edge upon meeting those two new neighbors and looked as though he was guarding the door from a potential threat.
Away from the shop, in an alleyway filled with different artworks of the Witch Trials and other spooky creatures slathered on the brick walls. Mackenson was leaning up against the rutty wall and Chansen was standing still with his fingers motioning slowly down his chin.
Mackenson: “You sensed it right, Chance? That has to be the spot of the next right? I mean the energy was off the charts there.”
Chansen: “It was quite hard to ignore that stench…that was quite a powerful aura coming from that place. We are going to have to monitor that location very closely, but that woman seems like she isn’t something to ignore either. So we will have to move slowly and delicately.”
Mackenson: “Oh, I don’t mind that at all. At least she’s a sweet piece of ass, which will make this all the more appealing to me.”
Chansen: “Could you dial it back a bit? That was so embarrassing you spoke like that to her! I was afraid she was going to end us then and there.”
Mackenson: “Awww, Chance! You’re just as shy and conservative as ever. Loosen up bud, some ass will do you some good!”
With that, Mackeson ruffled Chansen’s hair and laughed loud enough that it echoed throughout the cramped alleyway. Chansen just turned a bright red, flustered that Mackenson mentioned such things. As the two begin to head back to their place, a slight chill fills the air. This was not something that was due to the weather, but rather, something ominous was approaching. Whatever this shift was, would soon impact this small town in a very significant way.