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Story Title: The Rose On A Thorn
Chapter Number: Three
Chapter Title: Welcome Neighbor
Author Name: Dev-Ra Alyn
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Her hair was in curls down to her scapula. Her eyes seemed cheery as she walked down the hall. She could hear her husbands voice as she walked closer to the office room. She peered in as she passed un-noticed. Probably due to she was barefoot on the soft ashy-colored carpet. But, there he sat with a black cordless phone in his right hand and shuving papers in the paper shredder with the other. He seemed to be having quite a pleasant conversation with who ever it was he was talking to. She cracked a smile. Their time for living like a regular couple has finally come.
Now her barefeet were stepping into a cold tiled floor. She flipped a switch and a light flickered on causing the whole room to be lit and exposed. It was the kitchen. Nothing fancy; it was of the average. That's how she wanted it though and her husband agreed. Average people is how they wanted to live. It had been so long. Aside from the boxes laying all over the counter, the kitchen appeared well cleaned and had that fresh Pinesol smell to it. She grabbed a glass from out of one of the boxes and filled it up with water from the sink. Her eyes looked out the window. Staring at the next door neighbors children playing in the backyard. There was three boys. Brothers. One appeared to be a lot younger than the other two. The older boys were throwing a football at each other. From what she could gather, they seemed to be playing a game of "monkey in the middle". She began to slip into thought. Thinking about how it could've been her daughter playing outside or sitting by her fathers desk helping him shred papers or standing by the stove to learn how to cook Lasagna. It wasn't fair. The sound of the doorbell shot her out of her thoughts and she began towards the door.
She peered out the peep hole to see a large face. She couldn't really make out who exactly it was, or if she knew this person so she was very hesitant in opening it. She unlocked the bottom lock and kept her hand on the chain lock as she opened the door. Through the crack she could see a young girl, may-be in her early, uh... mid-twenties, turned looking out at the neighborhood. Her hair was bright auburn with a short cut and she wore the average white tank top and blue jeans. The young girl turned facing back towards the door to see a hazel eye peeking through the crack of the door. She flashed a smile and brightened her eyes to look more cheery.
"Hello. I'm your neighbor. I live in the house next to you." She paused to lift a gift basket. "I came by to welcome you to the neighborhood and drop off some nice goodies."
The eye through the crack in the door lit up then disappeared. She could hear the sound of the lady unlocking the chain lock. The door swung open wider to reveal a lady, around her 50's, wearing a dark green blouse and black capri pants. Her reddish hair was pulled back in an old raggedy bandana that looks like it's been through years of use. The lady smiled at her.
"I'm so sorry about that. I'm terribly cautious. You just don't know who will knock on your door now a days." She said with a grin.
"I completely understand. By the way, my name is Anabelle Haughton."
"Marie Blakestone. Please, come on in, Anabelle." She offered as Anabelle stepped inside handing her the gift basket. "Thank you so much for the lovely gift. Would you like a glass of water?"
"Oh, no thank you."
"Sure?"
"Positive." Anabelle grinned as she sat down on the living room couch. "I see you already have the furniture set up."
"Well, just the living room and bed room. We haven't gotten around to the rest of the house." Marie said as she took a seat on a recliner.
"It's more than what I've done. I just moved in not long after you and I still haven't gotten around to getting the furniture set up in the house. Everything is still in boxes." She chuckled.
"Oh, well maybe my husband and I can drop by one day and help you do that." Marie offered.
"That would be divine."
"Beautiful choice of words."
"Thank you--"
"Marie, I set up a meeting with Rockland and Taylor on the 15th. We should--" A mans voice said as he came around the corner to see Anabelle sitting on the couch. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize we had company."
"Anabelle, this is my husband Lucas. Lucas, this is our neighbor Anabelle Haughton." Marie introduced as Lucas shook Anabelle's hand. She then whispered lightly to him. "She brought us a lovely welcoming gift basket."
"Oh, thank you, Anabelle." He graciously thanked.
Anabelle nodded. They began to start talking and making plans on help making their homes into "homes", then Anabelle announced that she had to be going.
"Well, we won't keep you no longer." Lucas pushed himself up from his chair.
"Thank you very much for stopping by, Anabelle. It was a pleasure talking with you." Marie said as they walked Anabelle to the door.
"Oh, same here. I'll talk to you two later, then." She waved as she stepped outside and started walking to the house next door.
"Bye." They both waved back.
"What nice young lady." Marie noted as Lucas shut the door.
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Anabelle entered her house and closed herself in a room with shut blinds over the windows. She sat down on a box infront of a closed lap top. She opened it and began to type up some notable information about the Blakestone's and their household. After finishing up typing, Anabelle turned around to a dark corner of the room where a husky body laid limp over box. Hair looked to be long and grey, seeming to be an eldery lady. She saved the file on a disk labeled "PROJECT ROCK YARD" then closed the lap top.
I have got to get rid of this body.
So Anabelle flipped the lifeless body over her shoulder and carried her into the kitchen. She then pulled a big black garbage bag and put it over the body. Anabelle then put two more garbage bags over it to make sure that it won't give if someone picks it up. Then she started throwing some trash from the garbage basket itself to help disguise it and carried it out to the front of the house, hoping that today would be "garbage day". She ran back inside her house. Nobody in the neighborhood seemed to be suspecting. Which was good on her part. She grabbed a heavy purple colored duffle bag and tossed it up on her bed room closet.
This Blakestone assignment will finally be brought to an end.
She flipped the dangling information tag, on the duffle bag, up to where it wasn't seen. On that tag read, "Property of Sharon".