The Cottage Stay

Chapter 1

Hello, I will be your narrator for this story. This is the story of 16 year old Jake, 14 year old sister Nicole and Jakes friend Greg who is 16 too. Now I will give some descriptions of these three.

Jake: 16, a 6’5, short light brown hair, blue eyes, impulsive and playful.

Nicole: 14, 5’4, long brown hair, brown eyes, kind and a good cook .

Greg:16, 6’0, short blonde hair, black eyes, “unique”, calm and Jake’s best friend. Greg’s dad owned a shop about half an hour away from Jake and Nicole’s house.

Jake was having a wonderful summer until, that day…

“Agh!!” groaned Jake, as he stepped into the living room.

He was groaning because his mother Laura and his father Andrew had just announced that he and his younger sister Nicole had to go stay at the cottage; they had just bought it and they wanted them to stay in it and make sure it was safe.

“Cheer up Jakey, we can bring Greg.” said Nicole.

At the name Greg, Jake’s face lit up. Greg whose real name was Gregory was Jake’s best friend. They had met at the park, and Jake, who was stronger than Greg, had seen the school bully Billy making fun of him so Jake had punched Billy but got beat up. Admiring Jake’s kindness Greg grew a friendship with him.

“ Oh c’mon, you’ve seen the place it’s horrible!” said Jake.

“You just don’t like it because we had to sell the older cottage which you happened to like.” needled Nicole.

This irritated Jake quite a lot for he immediately went up and didn’t come down till the next day.

The next day Jake, having recovered from what Nicole had said went to the phone and called Greg.

“ Hey Greg!”

“ Hi Jake, why are you calling?? It’s unusual for you to call out of the blue.”

“ You know me too well. The reason why I am calling today is because my mum and dad say that Nicole, you and I will have to stay at the cottage for a while. Please come or else I will be stuck with Nicole in that place for years!!”(though probably only about a month)

“ Sweet!! I’ll ask my parents.” Shortly after he came back on saying “ my mom and dad said ok! When do we pack our bags?”

“Tomorrow since we’ll be leaving in four days.”

“Ok, see ya tomorrow.” Thus, he hung up.

“ So? What did he say? Is he coming?” questioned Nicole.

Jake purposely teasing her said “ I dunno. Come here and ask.”

So Nicole went after him throughout the house and finally got him to stop in the living room, but even when he was still she could not get the phone since her brother being a good 6’5 was much taller than she who a 5’4 and the fact was, he was holding it out of her reach. Finally he grew tired of his game and gave her the phone.

Excitement in her she said “Hello? Greg? You there?” that’s when she realized the beeping emitting from the phone. She turned around furious to see her brother sprawled on the floor laughing his American little buttocks off.

After a few playful but still kinda painful slaps from Nicole, Jake said everything he had heard from Greg on the phone ending with “ So don’t get all your hair in a knot.”

Geez… Then continuing he said “ so we better start a list of the things we’re going to pack on our “fun” trip.”

A few hours later after making the long but necessary list, Jake said “ well good night Nicky see ya in the morning.”

Nicole shouted back angrily “ don’t you dare ever even try to call me the name Nicky again.”

And then in a much sweeter oh my gosh I love you type of voice, she said “ Goodnight Jakey.” So they both went to sleep not knowing of the events to happen tomorrow.

Later at around midnight, Jake woke up, he looked to his right and saw his window open. Then thinking to himself he mumbled “ I could’ve sworn I had closed that –

His sentence was cut short by a frightened scream. Still in his pajamas Jake rushed down to the kitchen where he saw his frightened sister pointing at the silhouette of a man outside.

Jake rushed out forgetting he was in his pajamas just to hear a motor roar away in the darkness. Jake came back in with a somewhat disappointed look on his face. After Nicole recovered from the shock of the events she told Jake exactly what happened.

She said “it all started when I thought I heard something, thinking that it was probably just the whistling wind on the leaves, so I didn’t bother to wake you up. So I went down myself just to see a figure put something on the table. Then I screamed, he ran out and you saw the rest.”

When she had finished Jake said “ Why not examine that note he left us?” so he went to the table and picked up the paper which was partly yellow. Then he read it aloud “ Keep out of the cottage!!”

I wonder why they sent this pondered Jake who then said, “ We outta bolt everything, then get some sleep cause we’re going to the cottage even if he does come back, besides we’ll have Greg.” And with that they bolted all the doors and windows and went to bed.

The next day Jake told his mother and father about what had happened while they had slept. Laura was extremely upset and told him not to go to the cottage but Andrew said it would be good because if he showed up Jake and Greg could take him.

So with it being decided that Greg, Nicole and Jake could still go, Jake went up to wake his sister, who said “ As long as you two losers let the pros cook I suppose I’ll survive.”

After a few moments everyone was down in the kitchen enjoying a hearty breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs, buttered bread and your choice of orange juice or coffee which had been prepared by Jake and Nicole’s mother, Laura. After breakfast Jake decided to call Greg and see if he wanted to start packing right away ,but when he called Greg’s house his mom said he was sleeping. So Jake went to his room and listened to music on his ipod which his sister had got him last Christmas.

After about two hours of good old rock n’ roll Jake called Greg back. This time the voice of the person who picked up the phone was, you guessed it, Greg! So after conferring that they would pick him up after lunch, and telling him of what had happened, Jake hung up.

Hurrying up to his sisters room he told his sister the plans. When she heard the words after lunch she screamed “nooooooooooooo!!”

Jake, who was clearly alarmed, muffled her voice with his hand then removing it asked

“What’s wrong?”

She replied by saying “ I wanted to go to the mall…”

This time Jake was screaming “You had me scared because you wanted to go to the mall?? Of all the things…” Then after settling down he said “ No mall, understand?”

His sister nodded still afraid he might blow up again, and with that Jake left. A few hours later, they had lunch and then set out to get Greg. When they reached his driveway Greg was in khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt with a big suitcase that was almost bursting with all the stuff inside. Catching sight of the car pulling up, Greg said “ About time” and hopped into their slick convertible which had just been painted jet black. Everything thing went by fast and in what seemed like seconds they were parking at their house. Once they were inside the house Jake went up and got the list of things they would need. Greg had been correct about everything he packed except for his containers of food, which Nicole scowled at saying that she would be cooking the meals so no need for those “silly” containers. Naturally, Jake and Nicole had their stuff correct since it was they who had created the list in the first place.

“ So now that we’re done packing what will we do?” asked Greg.

“ Well we were think of telling you something.” Said Jake.

Then he continued saying “ Last night someone broke into our house just to leave a note saying “ Keep out of the cottage!” and then left. Have any ideas why anyone would do that?”

“ Hm… maybe, just maybe somebody is hiding at the cottage or, maybe something is hidden there. I know they are wild suggestions, but hey.” Said Greg.

Suddenly Nicole said “ Look out the window!” As she finished her sentence everyone turned around to see just in time to see someone duck under their window. Hurriedly everyone went outside to corner their little eavesdropper just to hear the motor start, a sound Jake had all too recently heard.

As they returned to their house Jake asked the others“ I wonder why he was eavesdropping on us…hey I just took a picture of that silhouette and this person in my mind and their body structures looked similar!”

Then Greg said “ Uhoh, I forgot I had to help my dad at the store! Gotta go guys, could you please drop me off there?”

Nicole smiled saying “Mkay!”

And so they left to drop off Greg. On the way to the store Jake who was driving looked in the mirror and thought someone was tailing them. Telling the others he took a different route to the store and the car (which was a fair green) followed. Getting irritated and nervy Jake stepped on the gas but, so did the other car. Thinking a plan he drove to the store and told Greg to get out but look from the store. Stopping the green car stopped too and that was his mistake. Jake raced over and before the driver knew it he had parked his car right in front of the green car, raced out and asked, “ Why were you tailing us!?”

The stranger who was dark haired and slender said “ What are you talking about? Oh and by the way could you please park your car further up, since if not I will sue if you touch my car.

Jake obliged but this time it was his mistake because the green car turned out and sped away. Jake realizing his mistake went home with his sister who asked what happened and when she did Jake said “ I didn’t get anything out of him, the only significant thing we know is he has dark hair and is a slender type of fellow.”

“Did you get the license plate number?” questioned Nicole

Jake slapped his head groaning “ Another mistake… I am so useless…”

Nicole feeling bad said “ Don’t worry, all hope isn’t lost.”

So they rode home in silence.