Welcome to Haven

It had only been a month since Eva Santos moved to Haven. Haven was a small town in Indiana, if it could even be called a town. It was one of those places that families would pass by on the country roads when the father wants to take a “shortcut” to a specific destination. If someone blinked when passing Haven, they would completely miss it. The tiny town looked like it was stuck in the old 1900s and hadn’t gotten the memo that the world was now in the 21st century. The shops were all “Ma and Pa” small businesses, and over half of them were antique shops. The houses were either run down, or had the look of old plantation houses that would be found in the south. Small churches were scattered around the tiny town along with a few diners. There wasn’t even a Walmart in sight.

By all means, moving to Haven would normally be seen as a lost cause. It wasn’t a town of opportunity. If anything, opportunity had been slowly seeping out of the town. Having lived her whole life in big cities, Haven provided Eva with the opportunity to drastically change her scenery. She had needed change. Only a few years ago, she had been sighted as a budding rising author. Yet, as the years passed on, her stories lost their spark. She couldn’t find inspiration like she used to. Writing began to feel like a job rather than the thing that she loved to do. Her lack of enthusiasm was seen in her latest books, which received scathingly low reviews. Eva knew she needed to rekindle her love of writing, but the hustle and bustle of a big city did nothing but drain her even further. It was a constant reminder of the sensation she had been feeling that her whole life was just about working. At one time, she had been able to do what she loved as her job. However, as many people have pointed out before, the moment she turned her beloved hobby into a job, it lost its special enjoyment.

Eva moved to Haven for a new outlook and a new muse to speak to her as she tried to write her next book. When looking, she knew that she had wanted to move somewhere that was the opposite of the effervescent Chicago.When looking for houses that were for sale, she had come across a listing for a nice old house that was in Haven. Due to the location, despite that it was a pleasant rather large house, it was cheaper than it would have been worth if it had been in a more opportunistic location. The house was old, but beautiful. It was made of a mixture of red brick with a lining of light gray stone. Gazing at it from the computer, she had excitement and a yearning bubble inside of her. Immediately, Eva had put in an offer. She hadn’t been able to explain it, but she got a strong feeling that this was the place that she needed to turn her career around. She barely put any research into the city. The moment she saw that the population was under 1,200, she knew it was exactly what she had been looking for. The absolute opposite of Chicago. It was perfect.

Moving to Haven, Eva had a general idea about how small towns were in a communal sense. From everything that she had heard, the stereotype was that everyone knew each other and were friendly. The whole town felt like a close-knit community rather than just a bunch of individuals packed together in an area. People looked after one another in a small town. Just after a week of having moved into the old house in Haven, Eva got the idea that the town was very close. So much so that they didn’t like the idea of anyone outside of the town moving in and becoming a part of their community. Eva had played with the idea in her mind that maybe a neighbor would come over with some food and introduce themselves. Perhaps she had seen too much media about people moving to small towns, like the feel-good movies of Hallmark. Despite the welcoming stereotype, from the moment she arrived, Eva received odd glances from the people who passed by. On one occasion, she saw a group of three older men pause from across the road, staring at her as she moved her boxes into the house from her car. It was unsettling. The gazes were suspicious, unfriendly, and cold as they murmured to each other under their breath. It certainly hadn’t been the kind of small town welcome Eva had initially expected. Still, she had remained optimistic, telling herself that the people here just weren’t used to newcomers.

After a month, however, things didn’t get that much better. In fact, people seemed to avoid her. When she went to the small general store in town that sold food, the cashier wouldn’t speak except to tell her the total. When she passed houses as she walked in the town, people would peer at her from their windows, staring silently. Eva couldn’t help but wonder what it was all about. As much as it creeped her out, for the first time she was delving into the genre of horror. Her writing was all experimental. She had set up her desk overlooking the fenced-in garden at the house. When she moved in, the garden had been horribly overgrown. So, among the first two weeks, she worked on the garden, weeding it and planting new flowers. It had been a peaceful new hobby. Back in Chicago, her apartment complex in the middle of the city didn’t exactly give her a chance to explore gardening. The closest form of it was keeping succulents on a windowsill. There was a large tree in the center of the garden as well. Squirrels would chatter and leap from branch to branch as they chased each other. The scenery was beautiful, and the sound of the cicadas droning at twilight eased her stress. The relaxation allowed her to brainstorm about what she wanted to write without being impeded upon as much by her anxiety. The more she brainstormed, however, the more her mind dwelled on the peculiar behavior of the townsfolk.

After a lot of thought and gathering her courage, Eva baked some brownies and made her way to her neighbors’ house. If they wouldn’t introduce themselves, Eva figured that she should at least try and make the effort. For all she knew, they were just shy. Besides, if she was able to get to know the neighbors, she could ask about the odd behavior the people in Haven directed towards her. From what she saw, it appeared that her neighbors were a middle-aged couple. They seemed nice enough from the few times she had seen them. Their house was similar in structure to her own. It was made of a red brick with a nice white porch out in front. It was about the same size as the house she had bought. It was a two-story house that was big enough for three people to comfortably live in. Flowers lined up the walkway towards the porch steps and door. Eva walked up the steps and paused outside the oak door, shifting the brownies into one hand as she gave three definitive knocks. She waited for a few moments, then heard the door unlock before it swung open, revealing the middle-aged woman. Her dark brown hair was pinned up in the back, and her eyes appeared to be a grayish color. The moment those eyes rested on Eva, her soft expression became blank and she went to immediately shut the door.

“W-Wait! My name is Eva Santos, I’m your new neighbor. I moved in a month ago and thought that I would introduce myself,” Eva said quickly, catching the door with her open hand and flashing the woman a warm smile. The woman didn’t respond to her smile. She stared at her.

“He hasn’t approved you yet,” She spoke in a monotone. The simple sentence put a chill down Eva’s spine. Her smile faltered.

“Um…I’m sorry, who is He?”

“Don’t worry. Judgement is coming,” The woman said eerily, this time successfully closing the door. Eva heard the lock click into place. She stood there for a moment, her head spinning. What just happened? Slowly, she made her way back to her house.

The whole situation really freaked Eva out. She sat in the kitchen in the house, quietly eating the brownies she had made. Not even the rich chocolate could temper her distress about the events that occurred. What was her neighbor talking about? Did her neighbor just happen to be insane? Altogether, it put Eva on edge. The fear was a writhing snake in the pit of her stomach, slithering up in her chest and wrapping around her heart. For the first time since moving to Haven, she felt unsafe. That fear was making her imagination overreact, and she went around the house, making sure every door and window was securely locked. As dusk came around, Eva quietly chastised herself for not having bought a gun for protection. All she had was mace and the knives in the kitchen. Eva grabbed a knife and her mace as she went upstairs to her bedroom. She set the knife on her nightstand and put the mace under her pillow. Having them within reach made her feel safe after the words her neighbor had said. Judgement was coming, apparently.

Knowing that there was no way she would be able to sleep with all this anxiety, Eva settled in bed with a book on her lap. Reading would be able to help her relax. At least, that was her hope. She began to read the book, her attention delving into the unique world created by the printed words on the pages. For two hours, Eva was completely sucked into the story, admiring the plot and putting small notes in the margins about the author’s excellent writing. It was what she wanted to be able to do with her own writing. She wanted to draw people in and let them forget about the world around them to escape reality, even if it was just for a little while. However, her immersion broke as the room’s temperature drastically dropped. It was extremely weird, considering it was the middle of summer. Yet here she was, lying in her bed and being able to see her breath from how cold it was. Eva placed her bookmark in the book and set it aside, only to freeze as she heard heavy footsteps outside her room, getting closer and closer to her closed door. Her heart began to pound in her chest. The footsteps sounded louder as her adrenaline thrummed through her blood. With shaky hands, Eva grabbed her phone. She quickly punched in 911 and raised it to her ear…only for her phone to not have any service.

“What?” She whispered in panic, tossing her phone to the side on the bed and snatched her knife and mace as the doorknob to the door slowly turned. She got off of the bed and onto her feet, moving as far from the door as she could be. How did someone get in? She made sure that every window and door was locked, and that they worked. No one should have been able to get in!

The door creaked open painfully slow…and then she saw long, black fingers slowly wrap around the side of the door. The fingers cracked in their slow movement as if they were made of ice and breaking with each movement of the joints. They were unnaturally long. The long nails lightly scraped against her door. Just seeing them was disturbing. The room was getting colder and colder. Her fingers were numb as they clutched her mace and knife. Slowly, the hand pushed the door open. A scream caught in the back of her throat. A lankly, black form stood in the doorway. An unnatural, eerie smile was plastered on the being’s face. Its eyes were a bulging, glowing solid red. Its arms were so long that the hand not gripping the door dragged on the ground. The legs were bent at the knee as it stood. An earthy, moldy odor wafted into the room.

“Hello Evaaaaa,” The abomination drew out her name, its hand dropping from the door. It stepped forward. And then again. The footsteps were heavy and resounding. The sound of its hands dragging on the ground mixed with the booming steps. Each thud of its clawed feet made Eva jump. She didn’t even realize that she was crying in her terror. She raised her trembling hand holding the mace, spraying it as the creature got close enough. It had zero effect. It just continued to have that creepy smile. Its eyes didn’t blink. She sobbed, letting the mace drop from her hand and raised the knife instead. The grin it had seemed to widen as if amused by her attempt. One of its long arms raised up, and it extended a finger. The fingertip tapped the knife…and the blade cracked into shards, the metallic pieces clinking to the ground.

“Now, now. Let us not be violent,” The entity chuckled in a disembodied, gravelly voice, “I have been watching you, Eva. People can not just come to Haven. We must protect it.” Eva’s body felt frozen as she watched it continue to extend its finger, its claw-like nail pushing into her cheek. The touch was frigid. It felt like ice was gathering on the skin of her cheek.

“I-I-I won’t hurt…a-anyone,” Eva whimpered. She was barely breathing; her whole body was shaking. Was this the Devil? Was she about to die? In her head, she recited the few prayers that she knew. Her lips were trembling too much for her to murmur them. She had never been very religious, but in that moment, she placed all her hope and faith in any deity that could hear her.

“Haven must be protected from the outside. Either you become bound to Haven…or you will no longer exist here. Me and the other guardians have kept this civilization free from the reality of the world. The people here live outside of society, forever in a stasis of peace. You must not bring the strife of the outside reality. Tell me, Eva. Will you join our community?” It asked, those red eyes boring into hers.

There was so much to take in. Eva had no idea what this thing was. From what it said, there were others like it, looking after Haven. At least, this thing thought it was looking after Haven by, from what she understood, keeping it barred from the rest of the world somehow. On the tip of her tongue, she wanted to say no, but she hesitated. She couldn’t help but think about the ailments of the world. There was so much pain and evil. People were killing each other and burning the world down. There was so much hate. The first time Eva truly knew peace was when she moved to Haven. In the beginning, she thought her stay in Haven would be temporary. She’d stay a few years then put the house up for sale. However, she could barely fathom going back to Chicago and be in the center of humanity’s chaos. She hadn't realized just how unhappy she had been until she finally got away. An odd sense of ease came over her. Eva’s shaking stopped, and she met the thing’s red eyes. She no longer felt frigid. Instead, she felt warmth.

“Yes. Yes, I’ll join,” She said softly. The entity’s smile got wider. Its finger moved from her cheek, and instead pressed onto her forehead. Immediately, calmness washed over her. Any anxiety about writing her next book was gone. It was like she could sense the others in Haven, as though their minds were connected. It was a special togetherness unlike no other. A smile spread across her lips.

“Welcome to Haven.”