Chapter 2
Trying to sleep in a new place is hard enough for me, but now I had Lauris face in my head and I couldn't sleep for his sheer perfection. Lying in my bed, i listened to the wild January weather howling around the trees. They creaked and groaned as the winds bashed them about; this really didn't help me, so I gave up and turned the light on. I got up and rummaged through my bag (which i still hadn't unpacked) and pulled out my iPod touch. I pressed shuffle and my favourite song started, the saints are coming by Green Day and U2. I sung along softly to myself,
"Cried to my Daddy on the telephone, how long now?" Then it started, a loud howl echoed around the outside of my house, like a person in pain. Then the whole house shook as the battering started, working its way around the outside. I dived under the duvet and turned the music up and sung louder to drown it out,
"The saints are coming! The saints are coming! I say no matter how hard I try, I realise..." Tears trickled down my face as the thumps came ever closer to my window and my voice started to waver, but then it stopped and all was quiet. Then a loud crash, like something heavy running into a hard object, a creaky groan and a crack as something gave way, then a muffled thump. I peeked from underneath the duvet, all was still but my light swung still from the battering. After a while I plucked up the courage to look out of the window, but nothing was there, just complete darkness. I squinted into the distance, when I got home that afternoon I had realised that through my window you could just see Lauris, or what I assumed was his house on the hill on the other side of the trees. No lights were on, his house looked all quiet. I looked up at the sky; the moon was almost full now. All around stars twinkled and shone. I sighed and remembered that when I was younger, me and Dad used to go camping and he would point out the constellations to me. Orion, Canis Major and minor were the only ones I remembered. I closed the curtains and crawled back into bed, and finally fell into an uneasy sleep.
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"How did you get on last night Lizzie?" asked Rosa that morning as I appeared slightly tired in her shop. She looked at me and said "It happened then." I nodded as I remembered how it shook the very foundations of the house. I sighed and perched on a chair near the counter, and then I decided to ask Rosa exactly what other people had experienced and added,
"It got to my window and stopped completely." Rosa raised both eyebrows in surprise and pursed her lips. I saw her reaction realised that maybe not everyone had been so lucky. "Is that unusual for that house Rosa?" I asked to be sure. Rosa nodded and started to fiddle with items on the shelves nearby. Then she spoke,
"Normally the window gets done in from the sheer force, then the front door. The original owner gets annoyed with all the windows and doors that place gets through. You were lucky Lizzie." She turned to me "So, you staying?" I smiled at her,
"Yes I am. It'll take more than that to get rid of me!" It sounded brave, really I was scared stiff of what else could happen to me. Rosa smiled back,
"Good, 'cos I'm going to offer you a job here. That is if you want to work here." She looked at me, but I was too surprised to reply. Eventually I managed to nod and say "OK then". Rosa handed me a duster, "Well, you can start with helping me cleaning the shelves." This took my mind off the strange occurrences of last night. Also, I managed to get more information from Rosa about Lauri. When I brought up the subject she smiled and asked me "You like him, don't you? Ha, you and the rest of the towns women. Well, from what I gather he is about 18 and has no interest in the aforementioned towns' women." My heart sunk at that, I had seen some that looked like they had come from a modelling agency, why should he like me? The day dragged on and eventually it was 4:30 and I left. It wasn't that far to my house from the shop and it only took a few minutes walking. I noticed a figure standing in the forest, hunched over a tree which must of blown down. I couldn't make out who it was so ignored it and went inside.
After my tea, I decided to have a look myself at the tree. Luckily the person had gone and the forest was empty, but the darkness was gathering. I bent over the fallen tree and noticed it had broken funny, like something had forced it over. There were several parallel scratches along the trunk too. Made by some sharp implement, maybe an axe? No, the lines were evenly spaced, no axe could of been used to chop it so cleanly. I got up and turned around, very nearly crashing into someone.
"Oof, sorry. Oh hello Lizzie, isn't it?" There was no mistaking it, it was Lauri. "What are you doing out here at this time of day?" He asked, I could just make out his face; he looked a little surprised to see me. I managed to reply,
"I was just looking at this tree, that's all. It must of blown down last night in the bad weather" I looked up at him "And you?" He squirmed uncomfortably and sighed,
"Just, going for a walk. I saw you and wanted to see if you were alright. It looked like you were on the floor or something" He gestured to the ever increasing dark sky "You really wouldn't want to be out here at night on your own. Anyway, I must dash else I might err, get lost" He dashed off quick into the forest. I sighed and walked back to the house." I will speak to him properly tomorrow; I will get some answers for this problem" I vowed "I won't drop it."