Imposter Syndrome: Chapter 3, Part 1
Imposter Syndrome: Chapter 3, Part 1
Vampires and Whatnot.
Imposter Syndrome is my fourth novel. It’s a spooky young adult mystery set in the weird town of Shady Springs, where nothing’s ever quite what it seems. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing serialised instalments of the story exclusively on Substack. If you like it, consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support my fiction writing. Annual subscribers will get a free physical copy of the novel when it’s published in full.
Previously…
“What the heck was that?” Theo panted, leaning on his handlebars.
They were in the park. Alex had already dismounted her bike and propped it against a tree, and now she was lying on the grass with her arms over her face, still wearing her helmet. The morning sun burned hot above them.
“Seriously,” Theo said, tugging off his helmet. “What was that?”
“I don’t know,” Alex replied. Her voice was muffled under her arms.
Theo sighed and clambered off the pink bike, letting it topple unceremoniously to the ground. “Careful,” Alex said, her face still covered.
“That was really weird,” said Theo, wiping his brow. He was still breathing hard after their furious pedal from Mr Morgenstein’s house back into town. After his third plea to stop, Alex had swung into Shady Springs Park and headed for a clump of trees in the corner just past the playpark. Younger children shrieked happily as they chased one another between the jungle gym and the swing set while parents waiting on nearby benches stared at their phone screens.
“Those boys weren’t Mr Morgenstein’s nephews,” Alex said.
“You think?” Theo replied.
His younger cousin sat up, blinking in the changed light. She realized her helmet was still on and started unfastening it. “Why were they in his house? Hiding in his larder?”
Theo flopped to the grass next to her. “I’ve no idea.”
“Were they breaking in and we caught them red-handed?”
“Maybe, Detective Oakwood.”
Alex pulled off her helmet; her hair was matted to her scalp underneath. She fixed him with a hard stare. “You should’ve done something,” she said.
“Me?” Theo cried. “Why me?”
“You’re the oldest.”
“Of the two of us. Bryan said he’s fourteen.”
“If that’s his real name,” Alex said, stroking her chin.
Theo sighed again. “You and your conspiracy theories.”
“They’re not theories, they’re true,” said Alex. “This town’s crawling with secrets and strangeness. You have no idea, you just got here.”
“Yeah, and I’ve already been chased from a scary house by two crazy kids and some old man. And what was that thing about not leaving our windows open at night?”
Alex shivered visibly. “I don’t know, but it was uber-creepy. What should we do now? Tell someone?”
“Like who?”
“I don’t know. My parents? The police? They might’ve been in danger.”
“Maybe. But they said not to tell anyone, right? Maybe if we told someone, then they’d be in danger.”
“So… we just do nothing?”
“Let’s think about it first. Maybe there’s a better way.”
Theo watched a man throw a frisbee for his dog on the far side of the playpark. The disc flew up level with the distant treeline before arcing towards the grass, where the labrador plucked it from the air.
Suddenly, he remembered.
“I saw something last night,” he said.
“What?”
“A light. Above the trees. It was red.”
Alex brushed tangled white-blonde hair from her face and looked at him. Her cheeks were pink. “When exactly?”
“Last night, when I went to pull the curtains.” Theo could see it now in his mind’s eye. “A red light, just above the woods. It was moving in a really weird way, back and forth. It wasn’t a plane or anything. And then it just went straight down, like this.” He made a sharp downward motion with his hand. “And it was gone.”
Alex stared at his hand as though it was the light itself. When she met his gaze again, her eyes were bright with intrigue.
“I’ve seen it too.”
“What? When?”
“A few times. Always at night, always above the trees.” A child screamed in the playpark and they both jumped; a parent half rose from her bench, decided her child was simply playing, and sat down again, going back to her phone. “It started a couple of weeks ago, I think. I saw it by chance one night before bed. So then I looked out for it every night, just in case. I’ve seen it at least six or seven times.”
“What d’you think it is?” Theo said, aware of how awestruck his voice sounded.
“Well, it’s definitely not a plane,” Alex agreed. “It didn’t move that way. I thought it might’ve been a drone, but it was too fast and it disappeared too quickly. And it was glowing, brighter and brighter, like it wasn’t even a real light at all. Like it was something else. Something not from here.”
Theo realized his mouth had dropped open and he cranked it shut.
“You think it has anything to do with what Bryan and Joe said? About not leaving our windows open?” That’s how they get in.
“Maybe,” Alex said. Then, nodding: “Yes. Yes I do. I think it’s connected. Maybe that’s how we help them.” She looked at him. “We need to go to the woods. We need to see for ourselves.”
“What, now?”
“No. Tonight, when the light appears. We’ll go then.” She got to her feet and held out her hand. “First, we should go home. I need to show you the file.”
Theo hesitated, saw the red light in his mind again, and grabbed her hand.
So happy to be currently in the process of slaying imposter syndrome