Seeing Nothing.

A/N: Summary Change! Review response, down the bottom.

"Hi Mum." I manage to say; though it thoroughly confuses me how I did mange to say it, because my stomach is currently doing summersaults. I never knew my stomach had such acrobatic ability.

"Mary! It's so great to see you at last!" she exclaims enthusiastically, but her enthusiasm doesn't reach her eyes, which seem cautious and afraid. She gradually walks towards me, and when she reaches me she gives me a hug. But the hug isn't full of the usual motherly love. This hug is like her eyes.

"Why don't you come to our house and have a talk? Your father can't wait to see you. It's been so long, after all." Mum says, but I see the hidden message hidden behind her words. But instead of trying to resist her, I just follow her. Just like a sheep, with my little lamb following me.

I step into the house, and already I see the familiar sights of my mum's house. At one stage of my life, I called this place home. But I no longer do so, because the farm is my home. Home is not a place. It is a feeling. It is a feeling of belonging; it is a feeling of love. I no longer feel these feeling from my Mother's house. It is no longer my home. My mum's presence has poisoned it. It is her like her eyes; it is like her hugs. It is no longer the same place.

I sit down in the chair and faced my mum across our huge wooden dinner table. Mum starts talking, but I block her out. I stare out the window, and it is a normal spring day. But however normal the day is, the events that are taking place. I look at my mum, and our eyes meet. After a few minutes of an intense staring competition, Dad walks downstairs.

"Mary!" he exclaims, as he rushes up to me to pull me up in a big bear hug. I can smell the flower and plants on his clothes, and it calms me. I don't want to tell my mother about anything. She is known as one of the town's biggest gossips. Instinctively, I pick Sam up and clutch him close to my chest, the way a child might hold a teddy bear. But in all this time I say nothing.

Another period of silence begins, where no-one talks and everyone stares. I find my parents looking at Sam, still held tight to my chest. Even though I see him every day, I still can't believe how big he's grown.

"So Mary, why don't you tell us about that night?" my mum's suggestion is blunt, and it brings tears to my eyes, but I won't ever, ever, ever, ever cry in front of my parents. So I don't let them spill. Instead, I remember.

Flashback

I woke up in the middle of the night and Jack still hadn't come home yet. I ignored the funny feeling in the bottom of my stomach and fell asleep again. I woke up again and Jack still hadn't come home. It was four o'clock in the morning. I was worried, but the worst that I had thought could have happened was that he had spent the night at the clinic.

I walked to the clinic, but everyone was sleeping. That meant he wasn't there, since either Elli or the doctor would stay awake to nurse the over night patients. I couldn't think straight. I was now worried beyond belief. I ran home, and picked up Sam, who was still sleeping. I took a walk around the woods to clear my head, and maybe use the abundant amount of logic that resided in my brain. I walked along the lake, and saw my reflection. I saw a scared and panicked woman starting back at me. I didn't think I felt like that, but I was unsure of my emotions at that point.

I continued to the mine entrance where I saw someone lying next to it, with a basket merely centimetres away from his hand.

I couldn't see the person, since the clouds blocked the moon out. I was about to walk back to the farm and find a torch to see who it was, but then the clouds shifted and I could see the person. It was Jack,

His leg was twisted at an odd angle, indicating he had tripped over something. His face was blue, like a huge bloated blueberry. But the worst thing was that he wasn't breathing. I think I stopped breathing myself at that moment. I then pinched myself more than a hundred times, trying to wake up from that horrible nightmare.

But I didn't wake up, since this wasn't a figment of my over-active imagination. It was reality, and I had a big, ugly bruise to prove it. Even though Sam was still sleeping, I shielded his eyes. Because even if this was reality, it was a horrible reality.

I fell to my knees and I cried for hours. I only stopped when Ann came for her morning walk. I told her nothing. She helped me move the body. I had a private funeral with only Carter and I in attendance,

The only people at that stage who knew Jack was dead were Ann and Carter, Even though, it probably spread quickly in the town, since a secret that size couldn't keep hidden for long.

I went for another walk there, and I looked at my face in the lake again. It was worse than it was before, a feat that I had thought to be impossible. I was only a shadow of who I was. I went back to the entrance of the mine. I finally decided to look in the basket. There was a jewel.

In a plain, wicker basket, one would never imagine to find a jewel so beautiful. I lifted it out of the basket to get a better look at it. It had a golden glow, but looked silver at the same time. Then I recognized it. I didn't bother to stifle my gasp. This was the legendary Goddess's Smile.

I looked in the basket again, to see if there was anything in there. A piece of paper was in the bottom, screwed into a ball. I quickly unwrapped it, my fingers were trembling.

It was your average things-to-do list. I looked at the first item in the list.

#1: Find Mary an anniversary present. Something meaningful.

The piece slipped out my hands. The day Jack died…was also our anniversary. I started crying again. Admist my tears I lifted the Goddess's Smile and slipped it into my pocket. I did receive my anniversary present after all that. But I still didn't know what caused his death.

End Flashback

I remembered, but I didn't tell. My thoughts are my thoughts and they are now worth more than two cents.

My parents are looking at me, expecting me to say something after watching me think. I want to get out of this; I don't want to tell them.

"How did he die?" Mum asks. Always blunt and to the point, and not at all subtle.

"I don't know." I whisper.

"I can't hear you!" Mum says in a louder than neccesary voice.

"I DON'T KNOW!" I yell, for it is the truth.

"You better start telling people soon, Mary. People are starting to think you killed him.

I am enraged by this last comment. Highly annoyed, I tell her, "What I think is the truth, will be the truth to me." I clutch Sam even tighter and run out of the house. I can still hear that last comment playing in my head, like an incredibly slow television.

"People are starting to think you killed him."

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Krazie4Christ: Thanks, hope you enjoyed this chapter.

CannedCream: Yeah, that's what happened with this chapter. I just sat here and did nothing. MY HANDS DID THE WORK: P

K: I don't really care about your crush on a certain tree ( (cough)I.T technician(cough)) Please, find something better to occupy your time with while I'm not with you. I said please!

Thank-you for reading.

Thoughts and Pondering.