Chapter Twelve

New Management

-o-

Westbrook's, a sliver of a store on Main Street, had a new sign hanging in the large front window. The banner hung low in the window, creeping from one side of the display to the other. Under New Management, it read.

The store still had all the charm it possessed before. Intricate brickwork framed the shop window, where Melissa had developed a themed display for the winter season. Anna hadn't asked her to, but the work kept her hands busy and her mind from drifting too far back in time. Fake snow scattered around carefully-chosen books from several genres: soul-warming cookbooks for cold weather; romance novels set during Christmas; dystopian books about endless winters. From the non-fiction section, she picked out volumes on climate change, ever relevant, and winter foraging. From the children's section, a book about winter holidays around the world. Christmas lights still picked and weaved through the collection, but now they cycled through every colour in a hypnotising show. No more stupid rules. Melissa could do whatever she wanted.

She stepped back and assessed the window from afar. She rubbed her gloved hands together, breathing heat into her cold hands, and tilted her head. Smiled. The display wasn't perfect, but it was good enough. Westbrook's had a magical charm. It was something about the name, something about the cosiness of it all. It made any mistake work well enough. Melt away into belonging.

Eager to escape the winter chill, she pushed open the shop door. Ding. The sound of the bell disturbed Jinx, who stretched out his paws and squinted up at her from the counter. Melissa ran her fingers through the sleek black fur of his tummy and looked around the shop floor.

Anna had tidied up inside. She'd swept the floor, rearranged the shelves so the aisles weren't quite so narrow, and moved around the different sections so the more popular genres were towards the front of the store.

"Did you make my shop look good?" Anna asked. She was crouched by the front of the shop, stocking shelves.

"It's perfect," Melissa said.

"Good." Anna stood, smiled. "Are you ready to go home, then?"

Melissa nodded, and clenched her fists so tightly her fingernails bit into her palms. She wasn't going back there, she reminded herself. Not ever again. Her sister had bought a unit far away from their childhood nightmare. Everything of theirs was finally in the new place, and their father was in jail. Today would be the first day driving not merely back to a house, but a home.

-o-

The road unwound before the two girls like a Christmas ribbon, unfurling on and on forever. On either side of the road, proud pine trees stood at attention, saluting the blue car as it passed. Anna drove, tapping her thumbs on the wheel to the beat of a song by some indie band. The heater was on, blasting warm air over the white fingers and flushed cheeks of the two girls. From the rearview mirror, a new apple-scented air freshener dangled and bounced from a string.

They drove for twenty or so minutes, out west towards the sea. Soon, the dense trees thinned. Further on, La Push sprawled out along the coast. Anna turned off onto a side road leading towards a large hill. Modern rental units peppered the lower half, while large and decadent luxury homes stood towards the top and loomed over everything below.

Melissa realised just how much thought Anna had put into it. She had purposefully chosen a place they could go anywhere from - Main Street, the grocer, the beach, school, another city - without stepping foot into their old neighbourhood.

Melissa reached forwards, and turned down the music.

The car crept up the hill, winding around and around in a dizzying spiral, tyres crunching. Anna stopped about midway up the incline, in front of a slender three-level unit. She threw on the handbrake, and turned to Melissa with bright eyes.

"Isn't it perfect?"

Melissa's eyes traced over the building. From the road, the unit appeared to be very skinny, though not as slim as Westbrook's. A white garage roller door took up the majority of the first floor wall, and beside it was a matching white door with a strip of glass. The building itself was a flat grey. Large windows covered the faces of the second and third floors, wide rectangular glass panes held in place with wood - or was it metal? - painted black.

She was quiet for too long.

Anna pressed, "Well? What do you think?"

Melissa smiled at her sister. "I love it."

"Don't keep me in suspense like that." Anna let out a relieved sigh and swatted her shoulder. She unbuckled her seatbelt. "Let's go inside."

The path up to the front door was caged in with bushes and a type of ornamental grass. At the door, Anna pulled out a house key, and turned the lock. The door swung open slowly and quietly. Inside, the air was still and the space dim. The girls slipped off their boots and left them by the door. Melissa wriggled her feet, looking down at her mustard yellow socks, her toes sinking into the plush grey carpet.

The front door opened into a short hallway. Directly in front of the door was a staircase. There was only one door on the entire level, appearing after a metre or so of blank white wall, which Melissa knew must head into the garage.

The girls continued upstairs. On the second floor, the landing opened into a wide and airy space. The entire second floor was shockingly empty. It was an open plan, the rooms all tumbling into each other. Sunlight streamed through a wide window at the front of the unit and onto warm wooden floorboards. At the opposite end, a sliding door opened out onto a balcony. The kitchen was tucked away nearby, small and sleek. The countertops were grey, the cupboards bright white. The sink was cut into an island. Behind that, the oven and fridge sat on opposite ends of the kitchen, with a stretch of countertop keeping the two apart.

"This is the dining room," Anna said, pointing to the space in front of the kitchen. She turned, and gestured to the area by the front window. "And this is the living room."

Melissa nodded.

"I thought getting new furniture for these rooms would be best. I ordered some pans and stuff for the kitchen," she said, playing with her fingers, "but I thought we could choose things for common areas together."

Her sister was looking at her with uncertainty, as if she wasn't quite sure if she'd made a mistake. The thought of sitting next to her sister on the computer, looking over blankets and dining sets, had a little bubble of sunshine rising in her chest.

She smiled. "Okay."

Anna seemed relieved, shoulders relaxing with a deep breath. The two girls continued onto the third floor.

A short hallway stretched across the third floor. There were two bedrooms, sitting at opposite ends of the hall, so that both had access to large windows and natural light. Everything from their old rooms had already been moved in, though it was a tighter fit.

"You can decorate your room however you like," Anna told her. "Your life is under new management now."

Melissa grinned.

Between the bedrooms was a bathroom. White tiles clung to the walls. There was a toilet, a shower, a bathtub, and a sink. The cupboards beneath the sink were grey, matching the colour of the countertops in the kitchen. No more little yellow bathrooms.

"Should we look in the garage?" Anna asked. There was a look on her face almost like mischief.

Melissa, a little suspicious, nodded.

The two girls descended to the first floor. Anna pressured Melissa to be the one to turn the doorknob. Her sister wasn't one for pranks, but there was something about her eyes that made her wonder if she might have picked up a new hobby.

Cautiously, she turned the handle.

Darkness.

Blindly, she threw her hand inside and patted the wall. Found a lightswitch. Flicked it.

The room burst into light, revealing the concrete floor, the white walls. And, of course, the people crowded inside, grinning, and all at once shouting, "Surprise!"

A stretch of white fabric draped across the wall opposite the door, painted letters swirling over the canvas. Welcome Home! Beneath it, a folding table covered in food. The Sharmas were there, wearing colourful pointed party hats. Beside them, a few paces back, were a pair of strangers. One fiddled with the string of her party hat, adjusting it over her chin. The man appeared far more sour, the hat crumpled in his hand.

"These are our new neighbours," Anna told her. "Paul and Rachel."

But before Melissa could say anything, she was tackled. She stumbled back, the dense weight of another human throwing her off-balance. Panic seized her throat in an instant, the icy grip of terror upon her. It was gone just as quickly. The body pulled back, and Rita's grinning face hovered before her own.

Melissa let out a shaky breath. She was home. Home was safe now. She didn't need to be scared anymore.

"Thank you for moving," Rita said. "Papa made you badam katli, and I know you'll share with me!"

-o-

Upstairs, Rita sat on the edge of Melissa's bed, munching on her dessert. Melissa sat cross-legged on the floor opposite her, sorting her clothes into piles destined for drawers or her closet. A mess of fabric divided the two of them.

"Don't get crumbs on my bed," she said, folding a blue sweater.

She hummed a response, and polished off the sweet. "I have a present for you."

"Oh?"

Rita pulled a small framed picture from her bag. She leaned over the bed and handed it to Melissa.

It was from their hike a few months back. In the photo, Rita and Melissa's faces were squished together, cheek pressed against cheek. Both were smiling widely. Behind them, the trees and rocks and natural world held them in place, held them there in that moment of contentment.

"Thank you." She smiled, and looked up at Rita. She froze.

Rita was looking at her. Properly looking at her. Her dark brown eyes were pained.

Melissa shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry," she said. And slowly, her eyes grew glassy. "I'm sorry I didn't see. I should have looked. I should have known."

"No. Rita, no." She shook her head. "You didn't see it because I didn't let you. I didn't want anyone to see it."

"I'm an awful friend," she said. "The whole time I've known you, our whole friendship, and I had no idea. I was so self-absorbed, I didn't even think-"

Melissa's eyes welled with tears too, and the two girls stared at each other, both on the brink of bawling. And then, for some odd reason, Melissa sighed a laugh. Just a short snort of air. And then Rita followed. And then the two girls leapt at each other, colliding opposing forces, and fell onto the bed, hugging and in tears.

-o-

The lake was frozen over, one big sheet of ice stretching from bank to bank. Jasper stood beside Melissa, a good distance so as not to scare her, and stared out at the frozen water.

Melissa kept her eyes trained on the ice, too. This was their first time together since the incident. Not the lake. The first time together since he jumped her fence and restrained her father. He had scared her then, blood-crazed, face something out of a horror film. He didn't look like himself. His eyes were bulging and his chest wasn't moving, and he stared at her the whole time as if he wanted nothing more than to eat her.

After the police came, he left abruptly. She didn't see him again for weeks. Then, one day, a text. He invited her out to the lake. There was no humour, no teasing about how she might not remember how to get there. Just the words, cool and bland.

So Melissa now blinked at the lake, and waited for the ice to crack.

"Are you well?"

It was the first sentence he said to her. She'd forgotten the comforting tones of his accent. She dipped her chin, nodded.

Icy quiet. The air was as still as the lake.

She turned her head and looked at him. His eyes flickered from the lake to her face, then immediately back, as if he were afraid of being caught glimpsing her way.

"How did you know to come back?" she asked.

"Alice saw."

"What?"

Facing the lake still, he drew a slow breath. "There are things I want to tell you, Melissa, but I worry for your wellbeing. Last time I spoke to you here, I terrified you."

"You didn't."

"I know I did. I felt it," he said.

She shook her head. "I don't understand."

"Do you really want to?"

She hesitated. There was no going back after this. But she wanted answers. She had to know the truth. "Tell me."

"Some vampires have gifts," he said slowly. "Alice has visions. I can feel and influence emotions."

She blinked at him. Even if she could accept that vampires were real, surely this was too much. "You're lying."

"Why would l lie?"

"Do it then," she said.

He frowned at her. "What?"

"Do it. Make me feel something."

He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes searching her face. He stared at her for a long moment but nothing changed. Melissa felt nothing but disbelief, annoyed that he would lie like that to her after everything that had happened.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, she felt it. It was as if the trees were bending towards her, the ice covering the lake melting to reach out to her, the frosted grass underfoot shivering and trying to straighten up to graze her legs. The air around her seemed to warm and grow thick, the crisp bite of winter sapped from the atmosphere. She felt as if she were in a snow globe, cosy and safe, held carefully in someone's warm and gentle hands.

The air left her lungs in a short and quiet gasp. "Jasper," she whispered, eyes welling with tears. She blinked rapidly so they would dry, so they wouldn't freeze on her lashes.

"I'm sorry," he said, seeing her glassy eyes.

The feeling dissolved. The trees were trees once more, the lake just the lake, the grass just the grass. All the magic disappeared, replaced again by the cold of winter.

She shook her head. Vampire or not, Jasper couldn't be a monster. How could a monster make her feel like that? The two things were incompatible. They had to be.

She needed to ask. She needed to know for sure.

"Do you really drink blood?"

"Yes," he said, "but only animal blood."

Melissa sighed, relieved. Then a more troubling thought rose to the forefront of her mind. "Not endangered species though, right?"

The corners of his mouth tipped up. "I try to be responsible," he said. "I mainly hunt mountain lions."

Her eyes widened. "Mountain lions? Like, actual mountain lions?"

"They don't pose much of a threat when you're like me."

She looked away.

He wasn't like her. He wasn't human. Jasper was a vampire, but he tried to be ethical about it. He tried to be a good person. And he was still Jasper, wasn't he? Jasper with sharper teeth, that was all.

Melissa was quiet for a moment.

"I think," she said slowly, "maybe, if you're honest… maybe we…"

"Melissa," he said, turning to face her. "You're in control of all of this. You tell me to go and I'll leave forever; you tell me to stay and I'll be more than glad to keep you company. You know that, don't you?"

She blinked.

"There's no pressure between us. I know you feel confused. I think you've felt like that for a while."

Melissa nodded, eyes lowered, unable to speak. Jasper was right, of course. He'd seen right to the centre of her heart and glimpsed a truth she'd been too terrified to acknowledge aloud before. Had she ever really liked him, or was he just some object in a fantasy where she was saved? How much of her attraction was real? How much was the result of her wishing someone, anyone, would love her?

"We can start as just being friends again," he said. Then added, tone very serious and his eyes still kind, "But only if it would please you."

A lump formed in her throat. She tried to make a joke. "Friends who sometimes kiss?"

Jasper's steady orange gaze rested on her warmly. "When you're ready."

-o-

Page 241. A drawing of a calathea in coloured pencil. "Gifted by Jasper Hale as a housewarming present. Commonly referred to as 'prayer plants' due to their nyctinastic leaf movement. In response to the onset of darkness, their leaves fold upwards, resembling hands in prayer. During the day, their leaves open to catch the light. These plants are thought to symbolise new beginnings, as with the expression 'to turn over a new leaf'."


Thank you so much for reading Field Notes!

If you're interested in reading Anna's story, Westbrook's Law is now posted.