alk like a ghost through the streets
Soaked from the pouring rain
And I won't ask your God for mercy
My spirits're low, my soul is dirty
-Bad Love
A few weeks previous
Precipitation. How wet. It was five o'clock when the first drops of rain fell on the road. By this time I knew we were nearing Forks, the rainiest place in the Pacific North West. The sky overhead was tattered and black, wild and fascinating. Thunder clapped hands somewhere above the clouds. The AC in the car was moody, so we had to endure Forks' nippy climate to the full.
The long drive from Mushaboom, Nova Scotia, had really taken it's toll on my face, I could feel the makeup sinking into my pores. I don't even know why I bothered applying my makeup so carefully this morning; it was only Forks. There was probably something like four teenagers here, and would definitely be no beauty contest.
However, what had brought us here wasn't just Forks' weather. It had been where my dad, Vincent, had grown up, and his blissful childhood stories had prompted me to make the decision to move here, let alone that we had inherited a house here.
I glanced behind me. My sister, Lilo, was asleep, sprawled across the backseat, snoring and mumbling to herself. Her blonde hair lay in tangles around her sleeping face. I smiled as she wrinkled her little nose. It looked like a squashed potato, but it suited her though, in a weird way.
I made out the sign for Forks through the misty drizzle, kept my nose to the grindstone and continued on through the town. I smiled even just thinking about our future here; no old grudges, no arson, no murder, just pure and simple small town life.
I turned my car up a small lane, and then suddenly a yellow house was in view. Our house. It was smaller than in the picture, the yellow paint peeling in certain areas, and the garden was entirely overgrown. There were weeds blossoming up through cracks in the derelict path, and silver bugs swarmed the windows. Damn. Water damage.
I parked the car in the small driveway, just as Lilo raised her messy head.
"We there?" she asked, dazed and confused, her voice thick with sleep. I nodded, and she looked out the window of the car. "Ah hell nah," she sighed. I just nodded once again in agreement. Al hell nah, indeed.
We got out and got the luggage from the boot of the car, and carried it to the door. I fumbled with the keys to the house for a moment, and then unlocked the door. We were greeted with a blast of stale air. This house was long dead.
"This place is a joke." Lilo was not amused.
"I know," I stuttered. "The real-estate agent said that it just needed a lick of paint… this is unexpected. Oh well, we'll have to make the best of it, I suppose." Making the best of a situation was my specialty. A fella sleazing on your sister? Kill him with a brick. In a week this place would feel like home… there was a hardware store in town, we could go get supplies after school tomorrow, and make a start at fixing this place up.
"When does our furniture arrive?" she asked, clutching her bags.
"Our house burnt down, ya hooser. We don't have any." I responded, insanely calm, inspecting the thick layer of dust on windowsill. "C'mon, lets clear out a room and put our stuff down."
We explored the two story house, and decided to stay in one room together, until it got cleaned out. We only had two sleeping bags until we could get proper beds, but they were alright. I grabbed a broom that I found and started briskly doing a quick sweep of the house. Lilo set up the bags and cleared the room, whilst muttering un-profanities like 'spider cunt' and 'fuckin' hooser' while I got the place as clean as possible. Her deplorable language was easily overlooked once you knew her well enough. Then we moved on to the kitchen. We sprayed and disinfected everything, and put some of the food that we brought in the cupboards.
After hours of scrubbing and scowering, the house looked like half decent mess. Feeling drowsy, I went upstairs switching off lights as I went, just like I saw the light leave his eyes and got into the sleeping bag that Lilo had set up in the cleanest room. She was already asleep, soundly, but I knew that wouldn't last. In a few hours, she'd pass the REM sleep and begin laughing and screaming manically.
After three hours of restless sleep, I sat up. This house didn't feel right. Lilo, sensing my movement, turned to me.
"You're taking all of the fucking blankets," she hissed. I knew she was sleeptalking.
"We're in sleeping bags, Lilo,"
"You're ass is taking up all of the room," she spat. "Just fuck off, Ramona!"
I rolled my eyes and ignored her.
"GET OUT OF MY FUCKING ROOM!"
Sighing, I got up, and shrugged on my brown cord jacket. As I shut the front door, I realised that I was still wearing my tiny little sleepy shorts and white tshirt, but Forks was lovely and warm compared to Canada, albeit a bit damp.
I strolled down the lane and into the abutting forest, and took out my phone for some light. No new messages. I wasn't used to being so alone in the world; that was another reason I had no qualms about leaving Mushaboom. It was the right thing to do, to break up with Marlon; but as soon as it was over, I was overwhelmed with a crushing loneliness; after three years of constant communication it was the sense of being missed that created this void.
The starry night was overwhelmingly beautiful. I could hear a river rushing past due east, and felt an urge to go look at it. I mean, since I wasn't getting any sleep with blonde devil incarnate sleeptalking, I might as well see if there was a good swimming creek within walking distance.
Two hundred metres into the forest, after battling my way past the moonlit trees, I found the river. It was three metres wide, and the water was slow and mirrorlike. It was like something out of a fairy story; the moon reflected perfectly in the crystalline surface.
I reached for a low overhanging branch, and caught sight of myself in the clear surface. My blond hair had fallen out of its bun, and hung down in front of me as I gazed at myself; my cheeks were flushed from my trek, but my eyes looked wild blue, and frightening. The otherworldly reflection terrified me.
"You do know that this is private property?" a dry, smooth voice came from the darkness.
The spell was broken; I whipped around, forgetting that the low branch was the only thing keeping me from falling into the watery abyss.
The last thing I saw, before the vertigo of falling backwards off the river bank set in, was a tall pale figure, regarding me with mocking eyes.