Chapter 1: The House

As Shari drove, the winding mountain road glistened with fresh rain. The SUV's engine harkened its ascent, growling past the edges of the state park and the small community of shops at its outskirts. Grand View Mountain on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee had been the site of her family's vacation home since she was a young girl. Now twenty four and in graduate school at N.C State, she still loved coming back for a getaway.

"That's the Deer River," Shari said to the passengers in her Explorer, pointing casually out the driver side window.

"Looks fast," replied a young, rough looking man in the back seat. His black hair was mussed and slightly greasy. His name was Harry Madsen, and he came from Carolina money. His father was the president of a bank, but the polished, good looks and charisma of his father had thus far eluded Harry.

"Very fast," concurred a pretty, young woman seated next to Shari. Claire Hartwell was her roommate at State. Her smooth oval face was tanned golden brown, almost the same color as her hair. She had the look of a California beach girl, be-lying her roots as a Maine Yankee.

Suddenly came two snorts almost in unison from two other passengers sleeping restlessly in the back seat. One was Mark Cooley, a Virginian of some breeding. His family was one of the first to settle the state and he enjoyed letting you know it. He was tall and pleasant looking if slightly square headed. The other sleeper was Grayson Martin, a true Carolina blue blood, with blond hair, a blinding smile and the good looks of a toothpaste commercial actor.

These four were Shari's best friends from school, and while there was a fair amount of flirting amongst them, there had never been any romantic entanglements. They had come with Shari to the mountain house on this early September weekend in order to celebrate their reunion and the start of another semester. The idea was to kick things off in style... drunken style at least.

Another snort from the back seat made Shari jump. "Wake up you two dawgs," she exclaimed. "We're almost there." With her small stature, barely reaching five foot one inch, and her little girl smile, Shari looked like a child behind the wheel of the Explorer.

"What'd you say Miss Midget? Almost there?" Grayson said with one bleary eye open. "'Bout time."

The vehicle slowed and turned onto a dirt road marked with an imposing "Private Drive" sign mounted on a rustic, stone pillar. As they pull to within sight range of the expansive retreat built into the side of the mountain, an audible gasp escaped Claire.

"All right!" celebrated Grayson. "You never told us it was a mansion. I figured the place for a cabin or something."

"No way! No cabins for this girl" drawled Shari. "I don't do cabins," she said with a smirk.