Robin

The Town of Willow Creek wasn't that big. it was bigger than a small town but not as big as a city, still big enough for most people to know each other. the town managed to keep it's 50's form and the so there was a drive in theater, an ancient town hall and school, the church which was probably the tallest building in town, a Fire station, shops and most buildings and homes and the form of streets were remained from the 50's. but then the modern age came and added more stuff to it like fancy restaurants, an Apple store, two malls, modern houses, Telephone towers and a new high school and some shops. so now the town was an odd mixture of old and new and scenes like an Antique shop next to a McDonald's was inevitable.

The Hilltop mansion wasn't that far from the town. in fact, if anyone wanted to drive up there or even walk they had to go through town. the road from the town lead in two directions. one, to the highway and two, straight to the mansion's gate. I was running down the second road straight to town. I didn't even dared to look book, fearing the wolf is still behind me. it was dark now and the lights were on. as soon as I got to the edge of town I stopped to take a breath. fortunately I was alone and there was no wolf. I couldn't believe I had lived to see the lights of this town again. I knew just the person to tell about this.

I started running again. the town's main streets weren't that busy but during the weekends we'd have a light traffic. still thanks to the form of the 50's there were some alleyways and small streets that were announced as no drive zones. one of them was Roosevelt road. asking me, the road's name was perfect for it. the road was narrow and rock paved. on both sides there were old two stories houses and old street lamps. it gave you the perfect view of Paris old alleys. that's where Paris cafe was set at.

Paris cafe was sort of new but you never could have guessed. the building belonged to an old Irish pub and wasn't changed much so it looked old but the fact was that it was opened just a couple of years ago. the front door was a sign of Eiffel tower, drawn in silver paint with white stars above it. Lucy thought it looked dreamy.

Lucy was the owner of the cafe. we met on college and became best friends. she was from France and always talked about good old days of 1920's Paris. she opened the cafe right after college cause she said before settling down she wants to know what it's like to have a cafe. seemed like there was no settling down cause she had this cafe for almost 4 years now.

When you walked inside, it was like walking to a student cafe. her friend was a designer in France and sent her some ideas to use in her cafe so there were wooden tables and colored chairs. each table had different colored chairs like red, blue, yellow, green and... the floor was also wooden with a Persian rug in the middle. a small book case on one side, full of books if the costumers wanted to read something and the whole places was lighted by couple of table lamps so it gave cafe a dark, artistic and yet cozy feeling. behind the counter which was full of cakes and sweets on display, a blackboard was hanging with all of Cafe's drinks and foods written on it. on the modern side, there was a tv on the corner of one wall but it was usually off. the music in cafe was provided by a computer on counter that was connected to speakers and always played soft songs. and at last there pictures on the red brick walls of Cafe, portraying different streets and location of old Paris from 1920's to 60's.

I ran in and the smell of coffee hit me. cafe was half full and most of them were young. I ran to the counter to find Lucy sitting and reading a book. she looked up at me and her eyes widened. she had a bit dark and tanned skin with black hair that was usually braided and hanged by the side of her neck and her eyes were green. and with her taste in artistic clothes she looked like a beauty goddess.

-"what happened to you? you look like hell." she said closing her book.

-"I'm coming from there." I said panting. "give me some water..."

she turned and got a blue glass and filled it up with water and handed to me. I took it gratefully and drank all of it.

-"Now would you mind updating me on what happened to you?"

-"I got attacked!"

-"What?! by who? are you ok?" she asked worry.

-"I'm fine. I got attacked by a wolf." I said moving my hair out of my face.

-"Where? I didn't know wolves come into town!" she said.

-"I wasn't in town I was... in forest."

-"Where in forest Robin?" she asked, as if she was trying to figure something out.

-"By the...Hilltop mansion?" I said and she gasped.

-"Girl are you crazy?! you know what kind of people live up there!" she said.

-" I know but I needed a drawing and it was perfect! and I lost my notebook!" I said taking my coat off and sitting on a chair.

-"Rob you might wanna clean yourself." she said smirking. I raised a brow and checked myself on the mirror.

-"Ugh!" I said. my hair was messed up and some leaves and dirt were stuck to it. my jeans were also dirty and I realized my scarf was missing. "I DO look like hell."

-"Clean yourself in bathroom then come and tell me what this wolf was like." I rolled eyes at her and headed to bathroom. my waist length hair was messy from all the rolling on ground. I grabbed a paper towel and wetted it and started cleaning my hair which looked red in the bathroom light but the truth is that it was Auburn. after cleaning that I started cleaning my face and looked at it. sometimes I thought the little freckles on my cheek and nose showed themselves a little too much on my white, almost pale skin. halfway through cleaning my jeans, I gave up and headed back in cafe and behind counter.

-"So no scars?" she asked while pouring some tea.

-"No I'm fine." I said taking the tea from her. it's scent made me feel relax. "funny thing is I didn't even it coming! it just suddenly jumped on me and let me tell you it was WAY bigger than a normal wolf."

-"Bigger? I don't think wolves are that different from each other in size." she said, taking a sip. she always drank her tea hot.

-"Well this one had a growth spurt. it was big!"

-"How big?" she asked.

-"Huge! I guess a little shorter than me!"

-"Well that's not very tall, is it?" she said, smirking and taking another sip.

-"Would yo stop joking about my height for a second? I just got attacked by a wolf!"

-"Who got attacked by a wolf?" I turned around to see Mr. Crawford. "nothing Mr. Crawford ,a wolf attacked me near the Hilltop mansion."

Mr. Crawford was one of the cafe regulars. a really nice guy and he was an Archeology professor. he was African-American with black eyes and very short grey hair and goatee beard. he usually wore light brown suits and scarfs like that night.

-"Hilltop mansion? what were you doing up there Robin hood?" he always called me that. and he called Lucy Classic cause she liked everything old school.

-"Well I wanted to draw the mansion. I'm sketching all the classic parts of the town and that's the most classic one."

-"Piece of advice: Don't go up there. it's dangerous." he said.

-"Come on Mr. Crawford we know they're not social people but I don't think they're dangerous." Lucy said.

-"That's when you're wrong." he said and moved on his chair a bit to get in a comfortable position. "listen girls, I've lived in this town for a long time and I've seen a lot of things come and go and happen but there was one thing I'll never forget. its was 1997, before you open this Cafe this place was an Irish pub and sometimes I popped in for a drink. so one night I went to movies and on my ay back, I came in for a small drink."

"There were two guys here talking. I got my drink and sat down. just a couple of minutes later, their conversation lead to Hilltop mansion. they kept talking and talking on how old and creepy it is and the owners are barely ever coming out and so on. but as more drunk they got, the more unbelievable their theories got. they guessed that the Bradfords are spies, illegal immigrants, even vampires!"

"So after a while one of them dared the other to climb the fence, go in the garden and get in the mansion. and the other one, drunk as hell, accepted. I still remember him. still a kid, with a little stubble, blonde hair and a wrinkled shirt and jeans. his name was Jimmy. so despite everyone in bar telling him it was nuts, he went in."

-"I had nothing better to do so I decided to wait and see what's gonna happen. so we waited. an hour, two hours, three hours and still he didn't come back. all of us started thinking we gotta call the cops when he finally showed up. I still remember him..."

-"Remember him... how?" Lucy asked.

-"The kid was terrified out of his life like he'd seen a ghost. he was so pale he even looked like one! he was sweating and shivering. we wrapped him in a blanket and gave him some coffee. when he got a bit better he told us what happened. he said he went up there and saw the mansion as usual as always. the fence covers a big part of the forest as their property. technically the whole forest is theirs but the part in the fence is extremely off limits. he said he climbed the fence and jumped in. just the while later, he herd them."

-"Heard what?" I asked.

-"Wolves! three of them inside the fence. now he sweared the God that these were no ordinary wolves and they weren't pets. they had no collar, no chain or anything. and they were bigger than normals wolves like twice! he said the three surrounded him and attacked. he screamed and screamed but nobody came out to help. they bit and scratched him until he passed out. later he woke up in forest and managed his way back to bar and he sweared that anyone who lives there is demonic."

-"Well...you don't believe that do you?" I said.

-"No I don't. I don't think they really were wolves or as huge as he said, the kid probably had too many drinks and mistook some big dogs for wolves, but I know what I saw. I saw fear in his eyes that night. the point is anyone who keeps three dogs in his house and lets them loose to any trespasser to kill him, can't be normal and safe to hang around. so Robin hood, if you trust in me and my opinion, don't go back up there unless you have a written invitation." he looked at me seriously.

-"Well...I don't even see any other reason to go back there so I should be fine. there's no reason I would ever wanna go back there."