Number Thirteen by Elinor Skinner (top rated books of all time .txt) 📕

1 The Diary

2 After School..

3 Starry Lane

4 Empty Space

Uneventful was his entire life. The last person who would find a book crammed into a small slip of his seat in homeroom. It was blank; but for the fist page with intricate symbols and a tiny scrawl of an address in the lower corner of the back cover; Number Thirteen, Starry Lane.

He heard of Starry Lane the houses went from one to fifteen; yet there were only fourteen to be seen, and thirteen didn't exist at all. Whoever it belonged to; surely they wanted it back. He was just that kind of boy always making peace and doing good, but curiosity his parents told him is something he had to be careful with. It still wouldn't hurt to give the book back though, if he found it when someone didn't want it found; he should tell them so...

The day ended as usual. For homework he had some math problems from the textbook, an essay in Creative writing due by Friday, and some studying for a quiz on the Edo era plus the vocabulary terms for the next chapter in Biology class. He slipped the diary in his shoulder bag. As he left through the double faded blue doors; the chill of Autumn greeted him when the breeze of damp leaves picked up and sent a chill down his spine through his thin black flannel shirt. He walked across the cracked concrete with the vacant picnic tables; the dead field consisting patches of grass that had yellowed and mud from the recent rain.

 On the other side was a track field; jet black yet worn into the ground like it was scorched into the earth.   The bleachers were thirteen rows high and underneath them was an enclosed fence that served as outdoor storage area to the sports equiptment. The archery club used to practice short range targets here, but once they got into nationals the school decided to set up an offical range for them.

This area had two gates: one side was the school entrance that was accessable via the tennis courts which was only separated from the track field by the walkway that encircled it. The other gate on the other side was never really used; as it creaked and was rather rusted and more importantly lead to a small alleyway that connected to the mysterious Starry Lane.

It was through these gates that was the shortcut to his way home.

No one passed through the second gate that lead outside the grounds except for him. Back when the archery club used the space. He always cleaned up after them and everytime the arrow went straight through the hay stacks that the targets were pinned up on, he went in the back once they stopped firing to retrieve the arrows. It was on one of those occasions that he found an old key and he noticed that matched the same dull silver gray of the lock. Sure enough as everyone else went home that day, the the two clicked and the door opened with a high pitch squeak like from an old swing.

It was the same squeak that he heard time and again as he pushed the gate outward into the alley, on the other side he closed and locked it behind him. The alley which he was standing in wasn't half as frightening in broad daylight as it would have been at night. The leaves that rustled gave a sense of relaxation and calmness; feelings he never had much of at school or at home. Looking up vividness of the oranges, and reds against the pale blue sky is a serene beauty, he had never found anywhere else which is probably one of the reasons why he felt drawn here even before he found the diary.

Then the breeze became more constant and he found himself wrapping his flannel shirt all the more tightly around him. The ground was soft so his footsteps were silent like time had stopped as everything was so still and quiet. Only the wind through the trees could be heard.

At the end of the path was part of a sidewalk that went around in front of the houses. The kind that if you weren't careful you would trip and fall on your face. As for the windows; all were dark as if they were empty. No one has been seen coming in or out of the doors, and not one driveway had a car parked in it. It was the lack of presense of people is the reason why everyone avoided this street.

He had Starry Lane was all to himself. But this time, he felt invited to be here with the diary as a passport.

It was strange. The feeling he had before he came here was always welcoming, but never as if the street wanted him to be there for anything perticular. The house numbers the alley nestled inbetween are six and seven where the entrance for cars was across from it. To his right were the lower numbers and to his left were the higher ones. He stepped up on the sidewalk.

Then he felt watched. Not threatened, but watched. As if someone was waiting to see what he would do, like how a child watches the other kids before they decide to be friends or rather they should ignore them. He looked around. Half expecting to see eyes from between the curtains or someone peering from behind a tree.

For a few moments he didn't move an inch. He felt that whoever may have been watching should at least get more than a glimpse of him than when he used to almost rush by everyday. As if he wanted that person to get to know him.

But that's crazy, right? Who would be intrested in someone like him?

Not only that but there wasn't a soul in his sight. Yet he was rooted to the spot, until after a while it seemed that some of the people who were watching seemed to lose intrest or thought of him as no harm. For the most part though it was as if he was recongized..like oh it's just him.

"Meow." He jumped. So there was someone was watching him? Something warm rubbed up against his leg and it was purring. "Awww.." He bent down and started talking, "So how did you sneak up on me like that?"

A pair on vivid green eyes loving stared at him with her head held high, clearly wanting attention. He smiled, to think it was only; not a crowd and he lifted his hand slowly then scratched her behind her left ear, rubbing the the top of her head, and a stroke against the side of her body pressing against his.

Satisfied she went in front of him almost as if leading the way. He followed. In between the houses of twelve and fourteen was a small lot of nothing but a large maple tree.

"So, this is it?"  As to reply; her green eyes twinkled at him and she sat content at his side.

Text: Elinor Skinner
Images: Elinor Skinner
Publication Date: 01-25-2014

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