He shrugged. "Yes and no. Hard to tell since they don't ship the bodies back." He grinned. "I think they eat them."

Sonja stared at him in shock, unable to respond.

The old man's smile faded as he stepped around the bridge and down toward a path away from the valley and into woods. Sonja watched his form disappearing into the trees before she looked back at her mother. Gwen still screamed on the phone, but in a marginally softer tone than before.

"Must be talking to a higher manager," muttered Sonja.

Sonja sighed and leaned against the bridge. The warm air drifted around her and she stared out across the valley. On the far side, the blinking lights were almost hypnotic and she amused herself by counting the flashes. The warm wood of the bridge felt good after hours of sitting in the BMW in their cross-country drive.

The car door slammed shut, waking her. She watched as her mother straightened out her blouse over her large breasts before walking over. She struggled with her heels on the gravel road, but she managed to walk over to Sonja without injury. "I miss the days when you could just order a server. Now, everything is custom blades, pissing over asset tags, or trying to throw something up on VMWare."

Sonja didn't like computers. She turned back to stare across the valley.

A few uncomfortable seconds of silence pasted before her mother sighed. "Who were you talking to?"

"I don't know, just a local. He told me to stay away from there," she pointed across the valley with her right hand.

"Did you ask for directions?"

"Of course."

More silence.

Her mother sighed before curtly speaking. "Do you want to tell me what is wrong?"

For a moment, Sonja considered just walking away, just like every time in the last few weeks. But, after weeks of fighting and the tedious drive, she finally snapped. She locked eyes with her mother's. Anger and rage exploded in her as she stepped forward, balling her hands into fists. "Besides being dragged across this god-forsaken country? Right before my senior year!?"

Sonja's voice grew shrill as she screamed.

Her mother snapped back, but not quite yelling. "I told you. I had to---"

"Yes, I know. You had to move to keep up with your job. God forbid you actually found a job in the same state as before. You had offers, you know that. You just wanted to get away from dad's family."

"This one paid better and you know---"

"Oh yeah, and money is more important than letting me---"

"Will you let me finish!?"

"No!" screamed Sonja.

"Then let me anyways!"

Her mother stepped forward, hand rising to slap her. Sonja glared at her, but said nothing. After a long moment of tension, her mother lowered her hand and balled it in a fist. "I had to take this job. It let me keep my seniority and it paid better. I looked, you knew that, but I couldn't find anything. They were going to close the business unit."

Sonja continued to glare at her mother, but said nothing.

Her mother started up after a few moments. "Now, I know you don't agree, but it was the best choice. They have good schools here and you'll make new friends."

Grumbling to herself, Sonja stepped away from the bridge and returned to the car. After a few moments, her mother joined her and turned around.

"We better hurry. The movers will probably already be there."

Silence flooded the car as her mother finally found the right street and turned onto it. A few more turns and they drove down a sparsely populated dirt road. In the quarter mile to the end of the road, Sonja counted four houses on one side and a large field on the other. Her mother pulled into a long gravel drive of the third house.

Sonja's first look of their new house didn't impress her. Two stories tall, with peeling white paint revealing weathered green underneath. Long, narrow windows ending in a curved point; Gothic style, she remembered from her high school architectural classes. A large porch slumped to the side, the corner collapsed in a pile of splinters and mold. She frowned as she inspected the rest of the house from the snarls of weeds crowding the foundation to the flaking plywood covering the upper windows. To the north side of the house, she saw a detached garage sitting a few yards from the house, like a beaten dog with nowhere to go.

Four bored-looking men looked up from a large green truck parked on the south side of the house. Two of them set down their beer cans while a third gathered up plastic poker chips. The fourth, the leader, walked over to Sonja's mother. "Lady, we get paid to sit around. And we've been---"

She held out a hundred dollar bill. "This says less than twenty minutes. And if you shut up right now, I'll double it."

The man clamped his mouth shut. Her mother knew how to deal with people. The man's eyes glittered with greed and the bill disappeared. His eyes lowered to take in Sonja's mother appearance: Gwen's tailored suit attracted most men's attention. Her curves fit an hourglass, with a narrow waist, flared hips, and large breasts. She even wore black pantyhose for a drive across the country, simply because of the advantage she got out of it.

Sonja knew how much her mother used her appearance to cut deals and get promoted, one reason Gwen got the request to move to corporate headquarters instead of being laid off like everyone else. For all of her obsession, her mother knew how to manipulate people.

Everyone said Sonja looked like her mother, something that always rankled the teenager. She was skinnier and slightly taller, but the family portraits confirmed what Sonja didn't want to admit. Sonja folded her arms around her chest, trying not to notice the other guys staring at her as much as her mother.

Gwen turned to her daughter. "So, what do you think?"

Sonja looked over the house. "It's a piece of crap."

"Honey, don't start---"

"Look, mom," Sonja gestured to the fallen porch, "It's coming apart. What is holding it together, termites and duct tape?"

Gwen sighed. "We'll get it repaired, the real estate agent recommended a crew already. Come on, let's see our new home."

Sonja followed her mother, muttering under her breath. "Hopefully it will crush her to death."

The greedy mover followed Sonja and her mother. Gwen picked her way up on the porch of the house, grabbing the side as her heels tapped on the rotted wood. She dug into her purse and pulled out an old, Victorian-style key. Fumbling with the large key, she jammed it into the lock and twisted hard. The door made a thunk noise and swung open, pulling the key from Gwen's hand.

A cloud of dust poured out of the house, followed by a choking scent of mold and rotted meat. Sonja shivered as the dust rushed past her, the air from house felt icy against her skin. She gasped, coughing violently and gasping for air. It felt like something squeezed her lungs with claws and she couldn't breathe.

The world spun around and she sat down heavily on the top step of the porch. The splinters of the wood dug into the back of hers thighs and she tried to shift away. Tears running down her cheeks, she managed to regain her breath. She inhaled long and deep and then exhaled.

For a moment, it looked like her breath fogged in the summer air.

"What the...." she decided not to finish her words. Looking up, she saw her mother watching with impatience. Her mother didn't seem to notice the cold or the stench. Blushing, Sonja scrambled back to her feet. "Sorry."

Gwen sighed dramatically. She turned to enter to the house but her cell phone rang out shrilly. Another sigh and Gwen grabbed her phone, gesturing to Sonja. "Go find your room, honey. I need to get this."

Sonja glared at her mother who already walked back to her car. Padding quietly inside, Sonja got a chance to see her new home, alone. Tall and dark, the entry hall stretched the entire length of the house. Her fingers found the heavy, ancient switch, but flipping it did nothing. Navigating by the slashes of sunlight that entered the room, she peered around at the tile floors and wallpapered walls.

She found the kitchen next and stopped when she took in the large room. Even with three walls practically dripping with cabinets and applicants, she saw enough space for a huge central island. Three large stoves dominated one wall, each one about twice as large as the one back home. A triple sink on the second wall lead right up to a door leading into the back yard. On the third, she saw two doors leading into smaller, windowless rooms. Sonja frowned as she saw bolt holes in the walls. Along the door, she caught sight of some metal. Picking it up, she read the plaque, "Ice King Freezer." She scanned the room, trying to visualize a freezer the size of a room and failed.

Pushing it out of her thoughts, she peered out back at the large backyard. A massive brick grill filled one corner of the lawn, surrounded by tall grasses, but otherwise she saw nothing of note.

Her exploration went past a living room and dining room, both large enough for a small army. Both also had fireplaces, marble and Gothic in appearance. The living room fireplace had black and white marble while the dining room had a dark green that somehow fit with the stained glass cabinets and dark woods.

The wooden staircase led up to the second floor. Every step creaked with her footsteps. The heat enveloped her as she climbed the stairs, a suffocating humidity. As she reached the top, she felt sweat trickling down her spine. She heard someone whispering in one of the rooms. Curious, she stepped to the door and peered inside, but she only saw a dark room. Fumbling with a switch, she flipped it on.

Unlike the switch below, the switch actually worked. Yellow light flooded into the fair-sided room and she looked at the garish wallpaper with disgust.

"Flowers and fairies? Gag me with a spoon."