Chapter 14
Sheana
To my surprise, I am the first awake in the house come morning. Its something I am not used to. I roll out of my bed and quietly get dressed, then I cross the room to look out of the window. South Park is a lovely little town when you take a moment to look at its beauty. It is an urban paradise, really. All the little cottages with white smoke billowing from the chimneys, and the emerald fields filled with grazing cows and horses, and the old-fashioned pave walkways and roads. I open the window to take in some of the country air. It's a nice place, but I still wish I had not come here. If we had just stayed in London, I could have forgotten about that picture; passed it off as coincidence. I could have agreed to go on a date with Gregory, and I could pretend to be normal and I could perhaps find love and have that happily ever after. I will be twenty-one years old in two days, and Gregory was my first serious kiss. When the cold begins to bite, I slide the window shut and walk towards the door. I hesitate for a moment, wary to leave the bedroom without knowing that my friends will be downstairs and I won't be left with alone with Christophe's mother. Bridgette acts nice to me, but there is something unsettling about her that I can't quite place. And its not just her fear of Satan. I decide to chance it and open the door. I meet Christophe in the kitchen, smoking and drinking his morning coffee. I have been off cigarettes for almost two years now, but with the stress I've found myself under in the last couple of weeks, the smell of smoke almost makes me crack and ask him for one. I ignore the craving and cross the room to the coffee machine.
"Morning." I say to Christophe, and he grunts in response.
He grinds out his cigarette in the ashtray and takes a sip of coffee as I pour mine into a mug.
"What do you think of this case." he asks after a short silence.
I shrug. "I don't know. Its weird, that's for sure."
"Oui." he says. "Its strange that there have been no more murders since the teacher."
"Maybe he did know something." I shrug. "It would make sense for the killer to back of a little if he thought he might get caught."
"Maybe." he says. "I still don't understand it though. What connection do they have?"
"It could be random." I remind him, taking a sip of my coffee and leaning against my counter. "A display of power. Some goth kid not realising what they are doing. Or just a lunatic with no motive."
He shrugs again and focuses on his coffee. I take my phone from my pocket and scroll through my Facebook feed.
"When is your birthday?" he asks suddenly.
"Huh?"
I didn't expect him to care about that kind of thing.
"When is your birthday?" he repeats. "I just like to know these things."
"In two days." I tell him, glancing up from my phone.
We fall into a silence again, and I soon zone out.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" he snaps me out of my daydream.
I laugh.
"Oh thank God, you can be mean to me." I tease, realizing that I am the only one I have not heard him insult. "I was beginning to think that I was your special little snowflake."
"You special?" he smirks.
"Screw you." I reply, taking the book I am reading from the top of the microwave where I left it last night. "It looks warm out now. I'm going to read in the garden. It feels that little more magical."
"Nerd!" he shouts after me as I exit through the back door.
I don't even grace him with a response. It has become warmer outside, and I am pleasantly surprised since the cold was unrelenting only half an hour ago. There is still a breeze, but it is a nice one.
I follow the cracked path until I come to the fountain, then take a seat beside it. This would once have been a perfect garden, like one you would see in a home magazine, but it had withered with neglect when Bridgette became so afraid that she could barely even go out for groceries, much less to maintain a garden. It is still nice in its twisted way though, and I feel like I am part of a fairy tail out here.