Chapter 1
The shining light from the sun bounced off the hood of the car directly into his eye. Mango reached up to pull down the sun visor, mildly inconvenienced by how it blocked his view of the road ahead. Moving into a new place was foreign to him, however it had been a necessity to get out of his old town. It had been hard for Mango to accept. His old house had been his safe haven until the last few months.
Pop music was playing on low volume on the radio as Mango’s mom, Aurora, drummed her fingers against the steering wheel as she drove. The sounds would be driving Mango insane if it weren't for the fact that his thoughts were too preoccupied with everything else. A brand new place. Something that he wasn't familiar with at all, with nothing he knew and everyone there unknown. It had made him nauseous the first time he sat down to think about it for more than ten seconds before their move.
Mango had liked to think that it wasn't easy to get to him, not with the walls he built up around himself. Over the years, though, it seemed as though that thought had been long lost. Nowadays he felt frail as a feather, tiptoeing around anything that would make him the slightest bit anxious. Just like how he hadn't thought about the move until the very last second when he was left panicking about what of his things to pack into which reused and stained cardboard box.
In the car, it was impossible to escape it. No matter how hard he exerted himself to think happy thoughts, he feared what he did not know. He wasn't entirely convinced this place would treat him any differently than the last. It terrified him to his core, and he struggled to accept that feeling. He struggled to come to terms with the fact that this was for the better. A fresh, new place where not a single soul was aware of who he was. As long as he hurried inside after they arrived, no one would have to catch a glimpse of the new strange-looking mutant down the block.
It was a beautiful day, with only a few clouds scattered in the bright blue sky. That much he could appreciate, even though the sun shone down into his eyes half of the drive. His mother had assured him that the house did have a garden, and that seized his worries but a tiny bit. A chance to feed little animals and plant his vegetables and flowers? Count him in. There was nothing he would enjoy more than to just immerse himself in gardening after all of this. It was small things like his mom finding a place with a garden that seemed to truly remind him that she did care. Their last house had been wonderful for growing stuff. Mango loved the way the sun's schedule during the day aligned with what his plants needed, as well as the space he had to work. He prayed that this new place would be the same.
A while later, Aurora pulled into the house's driveway. Mango perked up, curiously looking out of the window, begging to himself that it looked decent.
And it did in fact look pretty nice.
A light gray house with seemingly two floors, a small front lawn, and a patio. A white fence lined the front lawn, and Mango could appreciate the simplicity of it all.
“This’ll do, won't it?” His mother questioned as she parked the car and turned to smile softly at her son. “I'm sure it won't be as bad as your mind has thought it out to be.”
Mango nodded to her, still hesitant. She was right, he had built up a bit of a grudge against the house, even though he hadn't even seen it before. He sighed, leaning back in his seat and pulling the sun visor back up to look out the windshield at the house. It wasn't that bad. It wasn't his old house, either. Mango shook his head before opening the car door, stepping out, and letting the breeze hit him. Even with the sun that beamed down on him, he felt an involuntary shiver run up his spine. A sudden feeling of being watched washed over him. So much for giving the place the benefit of the doubt… the shit was clearly haunted.
Mango let out a low groan to himself in dismay at the thought. Ghosts and ghouls, how cliche. A struggling family moves into a new house, and it so happens to be haunted. Mango did not feel like being involved in a low-budget horror movie.
Mango glanced around him, and as he suspected, spotted nobody. Shrugging slightly to himself, he walked round back to the trunk, helping his mom with the luggage they took with them in the car.
That strange feeling, however, wouldn't go away. It clung to him every time he went outside to pick up another object or bag from the trunk. Mango would eye his surroundings suspiciously, and whenever he thought he'd caught sight of something, it would disappear. It was as if every time he thought he’d seen something, he’d only just imagined it. Nothing made sense in his head at the moment, he argued with himself. He was merely being extra paranoid. That explanation would make complete and total sense – if he didn't keep spotting the same silver spot of color in his peripherals.
Mango attempted to excuse it as a curious animal, however, no animal could be so fast as to make him spot it in different places with only a few seconds for it to move to a completely different spot. It surely wasn't a bird. Of course, smaller birds did tend to be quicker than others, but not like this. Mango wasn't even sure if he'd ever seen a bird in that silvery color before. It could certainly not be an animal on four legs, since he would notice one of those moving around the house.
He tried his best to focus on getting everything inside as quickly as mutantly possible, which in turn made him lose a lot of energy. He cursed his mutation for that, it was one of the many things he hated. Back when he went to a public school, his classmates would taunt him with names like ‘slowpoke’ and ‘slug’ all because of his deemed strange appearance. They hadn't been all that far off with calling him slow, that much was a fact. His mutation made basic tasks consume more energy than he'd prefer, making him more prone to be tired. His mother had called him lazy for most of his life until she realized what was actually affecting him. Even as he carried all of the bags into the house, it didn't help his case. He felt his muscles, taught with exhaustion, strain him. After one last brief look around himself, Mango hurried inside the house. His mother was inside the kitchen, supposedly writing down a grocery list as the cabinets were all open and empty.
“Getting worn out?” she inquired, never looking up from the small notebook on the kitchen island. Mango sets down the bag in the living room before responding to her. “Yeah. Who knew sitting in a car all day would manage to drain all of my energy?”
His mother chuckled, setting her pen down before walking over to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Why don't you get yourself settled in, honey? Pick either of the rooms upstairs, I won't mind.” She encouraged him, and Mango flashed a quick smile at her before he eyeballed the room to find his bag with all of his most important personal belongings. At least the ones that had managed to fit into the car with them. After he dug around on the pile, he flung the heavy bag over his shoulder and headed upstairs. He had to admit, he did find the layout of the inside to be quite nice. Upstairs was a second smaller living room, along with two bedrooms and a medium-sized bathroom. Mango inspected the two respective bedrooms, deciding to pick the slightly smaller one. It had a window facing the backyard, and that was something Mango felt like he wanted. Waking up and immediately being able to gaze out at his plants seemed like a pleasant thought.
After he put his bag down, he stood at the window and gazed out upon the overgrown garden. Tut, the previous owners mustn't have had any care for the plant life down there. Mango decided that he would set off to work on cleaning it up first thing the next morning. Hopefully then, whatever was watching him would go away with the overgrowth.