The Boy in The Window
Summary- Time has been passing slowly since Nick's death, and no one really knows how to cope. After receiving a box of old things from Nick's aunt, strange things keep happening in Cassie's room, beyond witchy strange. Things will move, things will disappear, things will appear, and no one but Cassie is home. Someone, or something, is trying to tell her something, and she isn't sure if that is good or bad.
Chapter 1: (Cassie's POV)
Silence. That is all there is this morning. It feels like right before the first time I went out after my mother's death. Everything is still while your mind prepares itself for all the sympathy you don't want. Only difference is, the sympathy is for a boy I truthfully barley knew. He was the boy in the window. The first member of the circle I saw. The first member to try magic around me. One of the five who brought me into a destiny that I couldn't back out of, not when I was this deep in. The one who I found lying cold, alone, and not breathing next to the water, obviously dead before I even went up to him.
I gave up on trying to eat, placing my half-eaten cereal in the sink and grabbing my school bag. I take a quick look at myself in the mirror, seeing the same girl I had a week before. I was on my way out when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find Nick's aunt standing there with a small card-board box filled with who-knows-what.
"Hello," I said for a lack of anything else to say.
"This is going to sound silly," She started, obviously trying to keep herself together in front of me. "I was going through Nick's things and I found this box of things I was suppose to have given him when he turned 16, but I forgot to." She gave it awkward laugh, looking towards the yard, then back to me. "I just want to get it off my back, and I didn't think I should give it to Melissa, and I thought you and your friends could go through it, see what's there." She was rambling.
I smiled, taking the box as I said, "Sure, we'll go through it." It was obvious this box, of what looked like old journals and jewelry, had memories to painful for her. Know what that felt like, taking off her hands was the least I could do.
"Thank you," She said as if I had just done the world's greatest deed, which in her eyes I probably had.
After I had taken the box, she smiled and started away from the house. I stood at the open door for a second, looking into the box once more, before closing the door and starting upstairs to put the box in my room.
I walked through the door and caught sight of my window, the window. Since the day of the accident, I had kept the curtains closed. I couldn't stand looking into that empty window, remembering who I had seen in it more times than I would have liked. It almost felt wrong that it would sit empty.
With a sigh, I set the box on my bed. I checked my watch. I was going to be late if I did not leave right then for school. I left the box right there, even pushing the thought of it from my mind as I re-prepared myself to step outside and face the day. I knew right away it was going to be a long one.
Once at school it did not take me long to find Adam and Diana, or it take them long to find me. Walking down the hall, everyone was looking at us. Everyone knew, and I felt even more in the spotlight than on my first day of school. I couldn't imagine what thoughts could be going through peoples' minds. Whatever they were, people had the right idea when they didn't say anything. Well everyone, that is, except Sally.
"How are you doing?" She asks coming up behind us.
"Hanging in there," I answered, because how else could I answer with them image of a friend's dead body still fresh in my mind and the thought of a box of his possessions he never knew about sitting on my bed.
"I think we all are," Diana continued, thankfully. "It's a lot to take in."
Sally nodded, "I'm really sorry." The dreaded line. It was what people said when it wasn't their fault. It was what people said when there was nothing else to say. I mean, what else could you say at a time like this?
"Thank you," Diana said, for us, because right now, words were coming slowly to all of us.
Sure we had all been through loss, me more recently than the others, but this was so different. Just the thought that one of us could so easily be killed reminds us how dangerous this witch stuff is, and how much we really don't know. We know nothing, and now one of us is gone. There is no getting over that.
The silence between us gave Sally the hint that no one want to talk. She smiled as she walked down the hall. As soon as she was out of sight, Adam looked to the two of us in his protective way. He wasn't made of stone, but he could definitely hide pain in front of Diana and me.
"It's going to be ok," He whispered.
Diana nodded, believing his soothing words. I knew better. It was never going to be ok.
In silence, we started through the halls, finding Faye at her locker. She was just standing there. Her dark hair falling into her face. Her hands by her side. She was looking down at the lock, but she didn't even attempt to open it, just kept her head lowered.
"You ok?" Diana asked coming up behind her. Her head jerked up fast, sending her hair flipping over her shoulder reveling her face. She had been crying.
"I'm fine," Faye said in a strong voice, one that must have taken a lot to use. She was acting tough as always, but we could see past it. She pulled herself together, straightening her back, pushing her hair behind her ear as she said, "Have any of you seen Melissa?"
"I don't think she is coming in today," Diana informed us. It wasn't a surprise. Melissa was not only the closest to Nick, but the softest, sweetest and most vulnerable. I would have been surprised if she had come in today. If this is how torn up the rest of them were, I couldn't even imagine what Melissa was going through.
For a while, we just stood there for a while in silence, letting the other students move past us, not thinking twice about us or Nick. I watched as Adam's eyes passed by each of ours, slowly, taking in everything. I looked to Diana, her eyes looking down. I looked to Faye, who looked out into the crowd, I'm sure not seeing anything.
"We'll get through this," Adam finally whispered. I looked to him. He didn't get it. This wasn't like losing a parent you never knew. Nick was in their minds. Someone they had memories with. He was more than a name and a relation. He had been real to them, to me for a short time. And now he was just gone. He was never coming back. I knew from experience, you didn't get over that.
