Chapter 2
"What?"
"I said that we will be moving to Ashton, Massachusetts, on the 27th." Sean Elafros said anxiously, pleading for understanding with his cobalt blue eyes, so alike those of Chryseis.
"Next Monday?!" her voice came out as a slight squeak as emotions she couldn't decipher flooded through her.
"Yes. We are going to live with your aunt, Serene. She lives there, you remember? We used to visit her…" Sean knew he was rambling, and he wished desperately then for his wife. These talks simply are not meant for a man to deliver. Especially to his daughter.
"There are reasons for this move, Chrissy. Please understand. Your mother hasn't been herself since-" Saying Alianne's name still hurts, Sean realized, feeling tears coming to his eyes.
"I understand, Daddy. I…I just need to think it over." With that, Chryseis dashed out of the kitchen where they had been talking.
Sean heard the slam of her door as Chryseis entered her room. He sighed and sank into a nearby chair. He wasn't so sure she understood.
Once in her room, Chryseis sank down into her bed, lying spread-eagle on her back, and thought about what her father had said.
Moving away? Leave everything she had grown up with? Can she really do that? Leave her friends, familiar grounds and…Alianne's memories. Chryseis remembered the way her father had been unable to say out Alianne's name and how his eyes had filled at the memory of his dead daughter.
It had been hard on him too; only he doesn't show it because he has to take care of mom and me, Chryseis realized suddenly. He had suffered silently, because he knew he was the only one who could look after the family.
She sighed. Complying him and not making it hard of him was the least she could do. Though it means moving away from her friends and the place she grew up in…together with memories of Alianne.
She stood up and walked to Alianne's room, which was adjoined to hers. It had been untouched since Alianne's death a few weeks ago.
The pale blue wallpaper still had the dirty yellow stain at the corner when she and Alianne had accidentally spilled their mother's best perfume while experimenting with it.
Her mother had been furious, she recalled with a grin. She had made them clear up the mess and grounded them. But they hadn't been able to do anything about the smell and stain, so the smell had lingered on, a light flowery fragrance that scented the room. Even now, a faint fragrance lingered in the room. It reminded her suddenly of how much she had missed Alianne. The room lacked a certain vitality that Alianne had filled it with when she was alive.
Alianne's desk was scattered untidily with textbooks and pens. She was never one for neatness. She was like a whirlwind, rushing from one place to another, simply bursting with life and youthfulness.
Chryseis, on the other hand, was more reserved and studious. Her sister had never understood her love for books and her aversion to speaking in public.
For Alianne, speaking out was one of the ways she could express her ideas and make friends.
For Chryseis, speaking out was one way to allow others the chance to ridicule her, and one of the ways to induce an early death, through stage fright. She preferred the solitude and peace her books could offer her, to the exasperation of her sister.
Her mother used to comment on how different their characters were as sisters. Like fire and water, she used to laugh and say. But deep down, they had loved each other more than words could express.
Her mother had not laughed again since Alianne's death. She suppressed a shudder as she remembered the brutal way Alianne had been killed. She moved towards Alianne's bed and sat down on the edge.
And jolted as she felt something hard underneath her. Standing up quickly, she looked under her for anything she might have sat on accidentally. Nothing. But the shape was there; Chryseis frowned as she felt the shape simply by pressing her hand down on the little lump.
Unless…she lifted the edge of the heavy mattress and saw the plain little notebook tucked there. She took it out, frowning slightly even as she examined it.
Then, her hand froze as she opened the book. Diary of Alianne Elafros…keep out if you know what is best for you. The words were printed in bold letters in Alianne's cursive handwriting.
Alianne had kept a diary? That was something Chryseis hadn't counted on. Alianne simply did not seem to be one with the patience to keep something like a diary.
Amused, she flipped the book over and opened the last page…and promptly dropped the book onto the floor. The book dropped with a thud to the tiling, opened on the page Chryseis had flipped to. There, in Alianne's handwriting, were the words,"Nicholas, 12 pm. Find Samantha. He is coming to kill me."