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Chapter 10: Misfortunes
Kristina woke up to light shining in her face, her pillow once again wet from her tears.
Four days had gone by since Antos had asked her to come with him, and so far she had gotten nowhere in her thoughts.
Leave? The thought kept striking her as ridiculous, but when she thought about never seeing Antos again, a sick feeling made its way into her.
Kristina sighed. Ever since Antos had asked her, all she had been doing was staying around her house, sitting and pondering everything that had happened in a short time. She knew that her habit over the past four days was not healthy for her, but she didn't know what else to do.
Luckily, today her head felt clearer than the others, so she decided to go for a walk. She started to walk towards the crossroads that would lead her to the town Martha lived in.
How could I just leave? She asked herself with fear and sadness, not knowing where to go in all of her mixed up emotions.
Another strange thought hit her: Antos hadn't even visited in the four days after his declaration.
How can he just do that? Just ask me and then not show himself? She thought with a bit of anger as she walked down the path that would lead her to Martha's place.
She decided that talking to Martha would be best, but as she saw Martha's house in the distance, Antos' words from four nights ago came back to her.
"You seem to depend on her a lot."
"So what if I do Antos?" she whispered, then realizing that she must appear insane to other people if they were present, seeing her talking to air.
Going to the back door, as was custom, Kristina knocked. She waited for a moment and smiled when Martha opened the door.
"Hi Martha," Kristina greeted with a smile, "Mind if I visit?"
"Not at all. Come on it," Martha said as she opened the door. Once in the kitchen, Kristina heard the loud noises that signified Martha's children being home.
It is Saturday, Kristina thought with a smile, wondering where the week had went.
Martha led her into the living room, where she announced that "Tante Kristina" was here to visit.
All five of Martha's children came scampering up to her excitedly. Kristina smiled when the children often called her "tante". Since Martha had no sister, but two brothers, Martha's children often referred to her as aunt because of how much she came and visited.
"Would you like something to drink?" Martha's oldest daughter, Leah, asked in a pleasant voice.
"No thank you," she declined and Leah went back to sitting down on the ground, knitting something into a cloth.
Kristina smiled as she helped Martha to preoccupy the four other children; Eli, Sadie, Emma, and Matthew- often called Matty for short.
The day went by quicker than Kristina would have liked, but she knew that when the sun started to go down that she should be getting back to her house.
"Bye Martha!" Kristina waved back at her longtime friend as she walked back to her house, letting her friend get on with her getting the children to bed.
On her way back to the house, Kristina began to think.
Why can't life be normal, like today? She spotted her house up ahead, bordering the forest that she had refused to go into since she had run away from Antos.
Taking a shower and getting changed, Kristina was just about to go to bed when the phone started to ring.
Looking at the dial number, she didn't recognize it, but started to pick up the receiver. She knew that her mother had always told her not to answer the phone when she didn't know who it was, but something was making her want to answer.
She brought the phone to her ear, secretly hoping that Antos wasn't prank calling her or anything.
"Hello?" she answered, shuddering a bit when she heard heavy breathing on the end of the line.
Maybe I should just hang up, Kristina thought but then stopped when she heard a voice on the end of the line.
"Is this the other Calland residence?" the voice, a man's, asked.
'Other'? She wondered, but then assumed that he was meaning about her parents.
"Yes," she answered, feeling a bit creeped out.
"We are calling to offer our condolences," the man on the other end of the line said, making Kristina freeze at his words.
"Condolences?" she repeated, wondering why the man would say that.
"Yes," the man answered, making her even more confused.
"Why would you be calling about that?" she asked, getting a somewhat sick feeling in her stomach.
"We had called earlier and left a message, but apparently you hadn't got it," the man said before continuing, "As the message before said, we are offering our condolences for the death of your parents."
"What?" she asked, feeling a lump in her throat, "how?"
"It looked to be some savage wild creature," the man said with sadness, "maybe a bear. The officials weren't sure."
Kristina blinked, thinking of hanging up the sick joker and calling her parents, but something clicked in her mind.
"When did this happen?" she asked, hoping her suspicions weren't true.
"Four days ago," the man said, leaving her speechless and he finished up the called by saying that he was very sorry.
Kristina hung up the phone and sat on her bed, not quite letting the news sink in.
Could Antos have had anything to do with this? Kristina wondered before continuing to stare at the wall. How could one of the best days become one of the worst?
I'm going to end it there. I just had a thought: Am I the only person who can imagine Antos robbing a store? Also, P.S. to (the only person who reviewed so far last chapter, you know who you are :) ), sorry about the type-o at the beginning of the chapter. Internet is giving me problems. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!
-AnimeWolfGirl9