Chapter 4: Bad News

Christmas day was spectacular. There were loads of presents, a delectable feast, and a scrumptious pudding to follow. Ellie received three long sleeved shirts, two pairs of pants and six new novels (four fantasy, two mystery). Her cousin Nicole gave her a gorgeous porcelain unicorn for her collection.

Just as Ellie was getting use to the break from school, she found herself back on the Pileforth Academy bus. School was just as boring as Ellie remembered, but not for long. The second half of the school year was always more hectic than the first since the teachers assigned more homework, and projects to better prepare the students for the end of the year exams. January flew by, and Ellie hardly noticed.

On February 6th Pileforth Academy sent a letter of notice home with every student, notifying parents that the school would be closed on February 18th for extermination. Pileforth Academy was a very old castle, and naturally had hundreds of bugs and rodents crawling around.

"But why fumigate the castle now?" Ellie thought out loud on the bus ride home.

"Who knows?" Jo replied. "One of the rumors going around the school is that the health inspector came to look at the kitchen, and demanded that changes be made. The other rumor is that the new teacher Mrs. Creemore is terrified of rats and found one scampering down the hallway in front of her office. Whether either story is true is pure speculation."

"I personally think that they should have called the exterminators years ago, but now that the problem has gotten way out of hand they're trying to fix it before the health inspector does come." Ellie stated after giving the situation some thought.

"Well, what ever the reason is, we get a long weekend." Jo smiled.

"Yeah, and at least we don't have to spend the weekend in a hostel like the girls who live in the dormitories." Ellie grinned.

Ellie couldn't wait to get home and gloat about her extra long weekend to Dennis, and the smile stayed on her face the entire bus ride home. But little did Ellie know how drastic her mood would change later on that night.

Dinner had just ended and Ellie made her way up to her room to do her homework. Half way up the staircase the sound of a news bulletin on TV caught her attention.

"Another bombing has taken place in London's west end this afternoon." The reporter's voice said gravely. "Thirteen people are dead, making this the most fatal bombing yet..."

The sound of the phone ringing interrupted the news cast, and Ellie continued on to her room.

Everything had been so quiet and peaceful, there hadn't been a bombing in months, but now all the chaos and panic would set in again.

After a half hour of working on her math homework, Ellie heard a soft knocking at her bedroom door. Right away she knew it wasn't Dennis, since he never bothered to knock.

"Come in!" Ellie said loudly, turning in her desk chair to face the door.

Karen Richards entered the room looking very distraught and red eyed.

"What's wrong?" Ellie asked immediately.

Mrs. Richards took a seat on the edge of Ellie's bed and stared at the floor quietly for a moment.

"Your father just got off the phone with your Aunt Linda." Her voice trembled. "It turns out that...." She trailed off as tears welded up in her eyes.

Ellie sat in her desk chair, transfixed at her mother's state of grief. Obviously something terrible happened, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear this news or not.

"... The bombing in London today ... Your cousin Nicole was in the area and...."

Ellie's heart stopped and her body went numb.

Please just say she was only injured! Please God, please! Ellie's thoughts raced. She tried to fight off the tears, but it was a losing battle.

"The funeral will be held next week...." Mrs. Richards choked on her sobs.

That was it. Ellie's worst fears had been confirmed, and now there was no stopping the river of tears that flowed down her cheeks.

Mrs. Richards stood up and pulled her daughter into a consoling hug, but Ellie wasn't felling any solace at all.

Once alone Ellie flung herself onto her bed, and cried heavily into her pillow. She felt as if she was trapped in a nightmare, and prayed that she would wake up soon. But she didn't wake up, it was all real. Ellie always thought of Nicole as an older sister, and now she felt like she had lost an older sister. It had just been over a month when Ellie last saw Nicole at Christmas. She was healthy and happy, and now she was gone.

Ellie didn't go to school the next day. She was far too grief stricken to be able to focus on any of her lessons. This unexplained absents caused Jo to phone the second she got home.

"Are you alright? Are you sick? There is that flu bug going around." Jo said concerned.

"No, its nothing like that." Ellie replied glumly, and told Jo about Nicole's death.

"Oh Ellie, I'm so sorry to hear that." Jo said after a moment of stunned silence. "When is the funeral being held?"

"On the 12th. Scotland Yard is holding her body until all their preliminary investigations are over, which they expect will take five days." Ellie said lowly.

"When will you be back at school?" Jo asked.

"Tomorrow. I can't be missing too many classes, or I'll fall too far behind. Besides, I only needed the one day off to get over the initial shock of her death. I'll be okay by tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Jo asked skeptically.

"Well, I won't be all cheery and happy, but I'll be able to focus in class." Ellie answered. "My mum phoned the school this morning to tell them why I wasn't going to be there, so its not like the teachers won't know."

It was nearing dinner time. Jo quickly gave Ellie the homework that had been assigned that day, and said "good bye" followed by "see you tomorrow."

The worst thing about going to an all girls school is the constant gossiping. If someone had missed one day of classes the entire school would know about it, and the rumors would start to fly. At first everyone believed that Ellie was sick with the flu and was still contagious. An invisible five foot perimeter formed around her as she walked down the halls. By second period the new rumor was that Ellie was so sick that she only had three days left to live, and was in denial. It was early afternoon when the truth finally made its way around the school about Ellie's cousin being one of the casualties in the latest bombing attack.

By the time the bell rang to let out the last class, Ellie was so sick and tired of every single person approaching her and offering their condolences. She knew they meant well, but most of the girls who approached her didn't even know her, many of them Ellie didn't even recognize.

Why bother speaking to someone who you're never going to talk to again? Why should they suddenly care about her life?

Every time someone said "I'm sorry about your cousin" was just one more reminder that Ellie would never see Nicole ever again.