2014
Firewolves
Prologue
Daddy was the richest man in all of Strawberry Fields, West Virginia. He didn’t own any farmland like the other wealthy folks of our small town. He didn’t grow cow-corn like the Harrolds or apples like the Myers, and he sure as hell didn’t grow strawberries. You would curse your whole family by doing that, like the Summerlins. They haven’t had any good luck since Franny Lou Summerlin told her husband to plant her a strawberry patch in their backyard. Before we knew it, they had farmhands working rows and rows of strawberries. They made their fortune selling those berries in the surrounding counties since no one in their right mind in Strawberry Fields would buy them. The Summerlins were the second richest family in our town—second to ours, of course.
We were a coal family. Daddy lived for mining the mountains. Everyone needed “black gold” as he said. Mama never cared how Daddy made his money. She was just proud to have a rich, strong Lexington man as her husband. The Strawberry Fields Mine has been in my family for decades. Before Grandpa Lexington passed, he told my father and my two older brothers to never let anything happen to that mine—anything.
“Annie-Mae Lexington, you will go to that social tonight! You will not wear that short skirt and you will dance with Richard Myers. Richard is a good boy and his blood is good. He’s sweet on you too, Annie-Mae.”
“Mama, there is no boy in this county that is sweet on me. I don’t wanna go.”
“Stop all that whining. You’re about to turn twenty and you haven’t had a single young man over here for dinner. Mazie’s had two and she’s only sixteen.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. Mazie’s a big flirt.”
“And you could learn a few things from her. Your brothers will both be married in a year and a half. It is time for you to be courted and Richard Myers has his eye on you. Now put that dress on, get your sister, and go to that social.”
“Yes, Mama.” I hated when she was on one of her war paths to get us all married with babies. I also hated how she made me wear the same boring plaid dress every year, saying that it trimmed my figure. It had lace spewing out of it at every seam for God’s sake! I looked like a big puffy thunder cloud.
I wanted to ditch the social and I would’ve if Mazie wasn’t such a tattle-tale. I love my sister, really, I do. What I love most about her is her mouth…when it’s closed.
“You’re gonna dance with Richard, right?” Mazie was clutching onto my arm as we walked down to the carriage house.
“I don’t know. I’m not gonna dance with any boy dressed in this.” I said, tugging at the lace across my chest.
“Annie-Mae, you have to. Will and James are about to be married and you are next in line.” Mazie completely overlooked the distress in my face. She looked good in anything. She’d probably look good in one of those short flapper dresses that Mama says are “sin on a hanger.”
“When the time is right, I will find a husband. Not being courted gives me time to read and paint.” I searched my sister’s face for a glimmer of understanding, but she only laughed and stepped up onto the wagon. Daddy wasn’t home yet so we couldn’t ride to town in his new red truck. I placed my foot on the wheel’s axel knob and pulled myself up on the creaky bench next to one of our horse handlers. I could never remember his name. Jeff, maybe? Whatever-his-name-was, pulled away from our home and we were unfortunately on our way to Bessemer Hall. Joy.
I could hear the band blaring fiddle music half a mile away. The lights were bright and there were too many carriages and cars parked outside. Every rich girl had some first prize trophy boy hitched at her side as they giggled and tousled their hair. Those girls made me sick and my poor sister was just like them.
Mazie and I walked in through the double doors of Bessemer Hall together. Nothing had changed since the fundraising dinner a few months ago. The walls were still a fading shade of emerald green, frayed gold curtains still covered the windows, and the floors still had faint scratches from the dinner—after all, this was Strawberry Fields’ only banquet hall. Mazie quickly found her friends from school and cantered off to join them. I sighed and prepared to spend the night in the darkest corner of the room until Richard’s gaze locked on my eyes.
“Hi, Miss Annie-Mae. You sure look real good in your green dress tonight.” Richard said, adjusting his thick black-rimmed glasses.
“Hello, Richard. Thank you for the wonderful compliment,” I said through gritted teeth. Richard Cooper Myers was not the brightest beam in the sun. In fact, he was rather dull, like my Daddy’s coal.
“Would you care to dance, Miss Annie-Mae? This song’s one of my favorites.”
“Sure, Richard. Just try not to step on my toes this time.” I politely smiled at him and he returned a nervous smirk.
“Quick-quick three, quick-quick three, step, turn together.” Richard had to loudly chant steps just to keep on the beat. He was dragging me all over the dance floor, glancing down with a nervous smile every time my hand slipped in his sweaty palms. I looked around the room, ignoring the snickering couples and kept returning my eyes to the empty corner where I’d spend the rest of my night.
When the song finally ended, I politely excused myself from Richard’s company and skirted around the edges of the hall toward the empty corner. I slouched against the wall and watched Richard try to find another girl to dance with. Every time he got closer to one, she’d turn her head as if someone called her and would briskly walk away. A boy, tall and well dressed, walked over near my corner of the room and leaned on the wall.
“You look as excited as I am to be here,” I said.
“My Mama made me come.”
“Mine too. Do you live around here? I don’t think I’ve ever met you before.”
“Yeah, I do. “ He turned his head away from me. “Y-you probably shouldn’t be talking to me.”
“Well you’re the one talking back to me.” The music changed to a slow song and couples started to swarm the floor and sway from side to side. Richard spotted me from across the room and started to walk toward me.
“You wanna get outta here?” I asked.
“All right.” He offered me his arm and I immediately took it, watching the cheesy smile disappear off of Richard’s face.
The air was cool outside, grass still dewy. We walked away from the lights of town to get out in the country. Bright specks of stars sparkled above the dark outlines of distant mountains. A perfect, bright crescent moon hung just above one of the round mountain peaks.
“Isn’t it all just so beautiful?” I sighed and took my hand away from his arm, waiting on a response. He said nothing. “So what’s your name?”
“Alexander.”
“And why shouldn’t I be talking to you?” I asked.
“Because I live down by the river on the other side of town.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything. Look, I really should go.”
“Wait. Please just tell me why you can’t talk to me.”
“Because a pretty Lexington girl, like yourself, ain’t got no business with a Summerlin boy like me.”
I stared at him with wide eyes for a moment. Mama always warned me to stay away from the Summerlins because bad luck could rub off real easy. Half of the Summerlins’ house has been washed down the river, twice. Trees have fallen into their barns, the roof gave out in their carriage house, and, worst of all, the youngest Summerlin died from choking on his own mother’s strawberry rhubarb pie. No one from town dared to go to his funeral.
But, there was something different about Alexander. His eyes looked so brown in the moonlight that they were almost gold. His straight brown hair was neatly combed and he wasn’t full of himself like all the other boys around here. He actually was looking out for my reputation. For the first time in my life, I liked a boy—this boy. Mama wouldn’t approve, but I was tired of listening to her rules anyway.
“Well what if this Lexington girl doesn’t care about what folks in town say about the Summerlins? What if she took interest in a Summerlin boy?”
“I’d say she’d be a right bit insane, but he would be happy she was.”
I saw Alexander Summerlin every day in secret for the next few weeks. When school let out I walked to our meeting spot in the forest and waited for Alexander to show up. Most days we would walk in the woods and talk, always avoiding talking about the curse. We got caught in a thunderstorm one day and had to sit under a fir tree to try to stay dry. Alexander was pretty quiet, like he was deep in thought or something.
“Have you ever heard of the Legend of the Aurum?” Alexander asked after a boom of thunder.
“No,” I replied, pulling my sweater tighter over my arms.
“Well, a long time ago there was a race of people known as Aurum. The Aurum were keepers of history and were supposed to protect the future of humans. Their blood was gold making them immortal. But they could be killed. If you killed an Aurum you and your family got cursed.”
“Like your family?”
“My family ain’t cursed, Annie-Mae. Just down on our luck.” He stared at me for a while before continuing with his story. “Anyway, if an Aurum killed another Aurum they also got cursed, but it was different.”
I winced. “How?”
“The Aurum lived in a grand castle that kept them safe. If you killed someone or betrayed your race, you were banished for good.”
“That sounds horrible.”
He shrugged. “Mama used to tell me that as a bedtime story when I was little. She never told me about goldilocks and the three bears or the big bad wolf. It was always the Legend of the Aurum.”
“At least your parents told you stories. My daddy’s always busy with the mine and Mama’s attention was always on my brothers that Mazie and I never really got to hear about goldilocks or the big bad wolf until we got in school.” The thunder started to grow distant and the rain slowed to a drizzle.
I caught Alexander gazing down at me. He took my hand. “Annie-Mae, we’ve been seeing each other for a long time now. And I can’t see me loving nobody else, but you.”
“I think I feel the same way.” His face lit up and he leaned over to kiss me.
“Come to the fishing dock by my house tonight.” He kissed me on my forehead and walked away, leaving me with a thousand questions floating in my head and a goofy, happy smile spread wide across my face.
As happy as I was then, I should not have gone.
Alexander Carter Summerlin, Jr. was born on April 22nd. On April 25th, Daddy took him away while I was sleeping. Daddy didn’t talk to me for six months after Mama told him that I was pregnant with a Summerlin child. He wouldn’t even look at me or allow me to eat dinner with him. He was ashamed and hurt. It was as if Daddy lost all of his pride and love for me. Two days after Alexander Jr. was born, Daddy finally let me eat dinner with him and the rest of the family.
“Lost another horse today. I’m about to fire Jeff if he slips up again,” Daddy said tucking into the table.
“Oh calm down, Peter and eat,” Mama said, spooning some green beans onto his plate.
“How can I? Last week my truck broke down coming from the mine and nobody can find what’s wrong with it. Lightning almost burned the barn down yesterday. One of the lifts in the mine got stuck for a day and cut our productivity down significantly. William’s in the county over trying find out why his fiancée left him. It’s that damn Summerlin baby. I want it gone.” Daddy pointed his finger at me.
“But Daddy—” I exclaimed.
“Don’t you ‘but Daddy’ me. You had child out of wed-lock, Annie-Mae. A Summerlin child. You better be glad I’m not kicking you out of this house. Think about all the trouble you’ve caused this family. Your poor Mama can’t sing in the church choir without hearing the gossip flying around about this family. This family used to be the pinnacle of Strawberry Fields. Now we might as well as start growing strawberries.”
“Daddy, I-I’m sorry. I just—” Tears spilled onto the mashed potatoes on my plate.
“Excuse yourself from the dinner table, Annie-Mae. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
I did as I was told and went upstairs to hold Alexander Jr. I told him about how wonderful his father was and how one day we would be a family. But I was wrong, Alexander never got to see his son.
Several weeks had past and Mama’s permanent scowl had lifted. My hatred toward Daddy for taking Alexander Jr. had lessened. Everything was calm and quiet. The storm of gossip shifted over to some other unfortunate family. Daddy’s mine was doing well until the worst happened. The earth moved. Mama and I were sitting in the living room when it happened. The chairs rattled and dishes fell out of the cabinets in the kitchen. Mama and I had to crawl under the living room table until the shaking stopped. When we thought the worst of it was over, the ground shook one last time and a loud thunder growled, seeming to come from underground. Daddy’s mine was gone. Decades of work and money turned into fine coal dust.
When Daddy came home that night, he was numb. He wouldn’t talk to any of us, not even Mama. Before dinner Daddy said he was going to go for a walk—to think. That dry night, Daddy set fire to the Summerlins’ strawberry fields. The weird thing about the Summerlins’ fields are that they run right up to the back porch of their house, there’s no back yard. My Alexander and all of his family burned alive that night. My family burned the next night.
Alexander’s story about the Aurum was true. The glint of gold in his eye was real. He and his family were Aurum. Because my Daddy killed his family we were cursed and became Firewolves, the Aurum’s hot-blooded, molten rock spewing, pets. My family and I must now serve the Aurum and never expose ourselves to the public eye. There is only one way to reverse the curse Daddy put upon us—eat the flesh of a hybrid.
My son.
This Prologue was originally published on Ground-Broken which no longer exists on the web. Ground-Broken was an online collection of writer’s abandoned first drafts and musings on what they’d planned for their novel. Here’s what I had in mind:
I remember taking a trip going somewhere far south of Virginia and saw a sign for a place called “Strawberry Fields”. I imagined it as quaint farm town and remember thinking it’d be ironic if “Strawberry Fields” banned strawberries from town limits, which gave birth to the curse in the prologue. Though I’m not sure why I abandoned this idea, I knew I wanted to tell a story of how rural towns can be charming, yet riddled with superstition, gossip, and misunderstandings of the world outside their borders. The rest of the story would’ve been told in a modern day setting and would’ve alternated between the perspective of the hybrid’s descendant and one of the Firewolves’ descendants. No idea how I wanted the Aurum to fit in, but I’m sure they’d make their way to town at the absolute wrong moment.