Chapter 2 #2
“Right, well the Marissa I know would rather be out with her friends than in here with me, so tell me what’s up? Did something happen with Lucie or Taylor?” I may not spend much time with her these days but I do know when she wants something from me.
“No no nothing like that. It’s just…” She blows a big sigh out through her lips, “it’s just been kind of shitty this past year, okay?
I feel like when you were around more we had each other’s backs, you know?
And this year, since you didn’t come back for any of the other school holidays, Dad has been extra hard on me.
” Marissa gets up and starts pacing the room.
I’ve never seen her like this. She usually has this I don’t give a damn mask on and nothing fazes her.
The assumption I made of her wanting something feels rotten in my stomach. Am I a bad sister?
“I’m sorry Mar… what has he been doing?” I know all too well that Hunt can be a bit of a pompous ass, but it is usually directed at me or his colleagues, never to Mom or Marissa. She comes and sits back down, staring at her hands.
“Nothing I do is good enough for him. Every report card, every fencing match, even every friend I make is not good enough, not that he ever actually attends my matches or takes time to interact with any of my friends.” She aggressively unscrews the lid to the nail polish, which is a startling shade of purple I might add, and grabs my hand.
I want to say, at least he pays you any attention as he pretty much just ignores me, but I’m trying a new thing, I’m going to be a supportive, older sister, maybe. I’ll try…
“That does sound shitty. Well I’m here now Mar. I will try to be as annoying and disappointing as possible so he backs off. How does that sound?” This manages to elicit a snort out of her.
I relent to the supposed pampering Marissa is now supplying to my poor nails because the soft smile that has spread on her face reminds me that, despite having different parents, we are family and she is important to me. I want her to be happy.
We sit quietly while she glosses up my short and dirty nails, the pause in her usual chatty self has me feeling a bit awkward so I try to fill the silence.
“So… you seeing anyone?” Is that a normal question to ask a sixteen, almost seventeen, year old?
Judging by her facial expression, it is not. This is the first I think I have ever seen Marissa Piedmont blush. She does one more stroke on my pinky then quickly screws the cap back on the polish.
“There you go, much better. Those scraggly nails were an eye sore.” She hops off the bed then promptly leaves the room, slamming the door as she goes. Back to her normal self.
“So is that a yes?” I call out after her but receive radio silence. Great, I messed that one up.
I look down and grimace at the purple monstrosity that is my finger nails and decide I will have to remove it once they dry. Pfft, sisterly bonding my ass…
I look longingly out the window and decide that the afternoon sun is low enough, I decide to brave the scorching day once again. I know that the fairy circle will disappear soon so I push myself to get out there.
Somehow, in this heat, fungi still seem to be thriving, so I go around to each mushroom and give its cap a little tap in hopes that the spores will spread and more will pop up after the next rains – if the rain ever comes again.
It baffles me how it seems barely anyone in this town gives a damn about how bloody hot it has been.
The protest I have planned in two weeks about the water basin drill has only managed to conjure up three other people that seem even remotely interested.
Mr. Bugg was going to come all the way out to Easthelm for it but it just feels like an embarrassment now.
If only I could bring the entire town out here to experience the precious serenity of the forest, maybe then they would understand.
I also may be using the lack of protestors as an excuse to get out of public speaking.
My fear of addressing a crowd unfortunately trumps my activism.
I slowly start rambling back home, dreaming about Easthelm’s lawns turning into dynamic food and flower gardens, when I hear it – a low rumbling growl sounds behind me.
Shit… I don’t dare to turn around and look, I just start running.
Come on legs move faster! I don’t slow my pace until the back fence is in view, when I stop I listen out but nothing is following me. I may need to start bringing bear mace out here…
I’m lost in thought about what on earth that creature could be when I hear voices arguing in the backyard just beyond the back gate. It sounds like Marissa and a man.
“You can’t just touch me like that in front of her! What if she saw?” Marissa sounds peeved.
“What are you afraid of? Come on, I want to be with you. You understand me more anyway,” the male voice responds gently and I don’t want to believe who it sounds like but when I peek through a crack in the fence I can see Benji there, holding my little sister’s waist.
I see red. Rage and betrayal wash over me. In my fury, I swing open the back gate and let it smash against the fence, a bit more dramatic of an entrance than I intended.
“What on earth is going on here?” I seethe, looking between Benji and Marissa as they quickly step away from each other.
“She’s only sixteen Benji! And we literally broke up only a few weeks ago!
” I yell, as images of us in bed together flash through my mind.
His mouth on mine and his wandering hands sliding between my legs.
Then I picture my little sister and him together in that way and shake my head to quickly shut that thought down, suppressing my shudder.
“I’m turning seventeen in a few months! Don’t be such a prude, Nuria,” Marissa says, while pursing her lips and crossing her arms.
“I’ll just go. Always a pleasure, Nuria.” Benji winces before giving Marissa’s hand a squeeze and heading around the side of the house, probably trying to avoid our parents. Coward.
“Seriously Marissa, you’re too young for him and I would have assumed there would be some sort of sister code preventing us from dating the same guy…” I start saying but am soon cut off by Delia sticking her head out the back door.
“Ah, there you are, Nuria, dinner is ready girls, come inside,” she calls before disappearing back inside.
Marissa gives me a glare that I know means, don’t you dare tell Mom, before running up the back steps and through the door.
I stare after her knowing there is no way I am letting this drop but at least I am honourable to the sister code and won’t tell our parents.
Besides, this is between me and her. She always wants what I have, but this is taking it too far.
I realize in my shock that I dropped my towel and sketch pad outside the gate and walk back to pick them up when I notice the birds have gone silent again and my skin prickles.
I feel like I’m being watched. I can hear the distant rumble of a storm as I quickly grab my stuff and run back towards the house.
I don’t dare to look back, having that feeling of terror I used to get as a little girl when I would have to go down into the cellar of the house to grab a bottle of wine for Mom.
The kind of terror that if you don’t move quick enough something is going to grab you from behind and drag you into the darkness. I’m getting out of here!
Once I’m inside I can already hear the deep rumbling laugh of my dad coming from the dining room, so I race upstairs to change out of my swimmers and start mentally preparing my rebuttal to the inevitable heated debate that’s about to ensue.
I always looked up to him when I was younger.
He seemed larger than life to me with his tall, strong body, a face that was all hard angles, and a deep authoritative voice.
He would tell me of his travels, visiting many of the universities across the Continent and even getting out to a few of the large island chains in the south.
He spoke of his interest in how cities were planned and of man’s ingenuity across the world.
I never thought a day would come where I would doubt him but the work he has been doing lately just isn’t something I can get behind.
Perhaps he was always this way and the whimsy of childhood just sheltered me from reality.
I change into a comfortable romper and hurry downstairs, knowing Delia takes personal offence when we let the food she cooks go cold, and slide into my seat at the big oak dining table.
“My dear Marissa, I hear congratulations are in order for a win at your match,” my father announces while passing the potatoes, as if this wasn’t last weekend’s old news. Marissa looks elated at the mention.
“Thank you Father. I used the manoeuvers you showed me and schooled Gemma Hawkesbury. She thought she was going to take my spot as captain this year but I showed her,” Marissa says, puffing herself up while flipping a curl over her shoulder. We share a knowing glance.
“Good good,” he responds, giving her hand a little pat, already dismissing the conversation and turning his sharp eyes on me. “Nuria…” My eyes open wide in anticipation of his next words and I try to hide my gulp.
“Father…” I say back warily.
“Delia and I will be joining the Turnbulls this Saturday at their lake house. I want to get William on board with the new environmental proposal for the drill. It’s the only thing holding us back from breaking ground at the moment.
So I will need you here to watch out for Marissa.
I know you had plans this weekend, some sort of hike I believe but you will need to cancel as this is of the utmost importance.
Perhaps you two can practice your fencing,” he says, using his stern voice.
He is probably expecting a fight from me but I sigh in relief at avoiding yet another fruitless debate about what I think of the council's work.
After what happened at the luncheon, my brain feels too scrambled anyway.
So I give him a curt nod and we all slip back into our normal dinner time silence but as I glance at my sister I can see a cheeky little smirk on her lips and wonder what mischief she is planning.
Later that night, I knock on Marissa’s open door, leaning on the frame and peering into her bright room. She’s sprawled on her massive bed, staring at her phone with that same cheeky smile from dinner.
“Whatever you’re plotting, stop it.”
“Whatever could you mean?” she says, rolling onto her stomach and batting her long, blonde eyelashes at me. I roll my eyes and sigh, knowing she’ll do what she wants regardless of my protestations.
“Can we please talk about Benji? It kind of feels like you’re just going after him because I dated him,” I say, the hurt from before is bubbling up.
“That’s not true Nuri. I actually really like him.
” She sits up, tossing her phone on the bed.
“Look, I have had a crush on him since the seventh grade and then you started dating him out of the blue and it sucked. You don’t even care about him, you said so yourself.
Just let me live my life. There are probably loads of cute guys at your university anyway.
Probably nerds just like you that you’d have more in common with,” she says, wincing at the harshness of her last comment. I let it slide.
“It’s just really strange for me, ok? Can you at least wait until I head off for university in the fall before pursuing anything?” I say, hoping she will get bored of him and move on to the guys at her school instead.
“Ok, ya, maybe.” She shrugs and goes back to looking at her phone. I open my mouth to push on when instead I decide to cut my losses on this conversation. Not worth the headache, and I will be out of here soon enough.
“Good night girls! We are heading out early tomorrow so we most likely won’t see you. Marissa, listen to your sister!” we hear our mother call from downstairs.
“Good night!” we call back in unison. I push off her door and head down the hall to my room.
I swing open the door to the pitch black of my room, flipping the light switch, but nothing happens.
The light bulb must have burnt out so I feel my way over to my desk by the window that faces the backyard.
As I lean down to flick on the lamp a sudden flash of lightning lights up the sky and illuminates the backyard, I see a hairy creature standing on two legs with freakishly long fingernails staring up at the window.
Its knees are pointing backwards and its arms are too long to look natural.
I scream and quickly feel for my lamp but when I turn it on and look back out the window, the creature that looked like death incarnate is gone.
“What? What is it!?” Marissa screeches as she comes tumbling in and sees me staring out the window.
“Uh…um, I don’t know! Some sort of creature is out there!” I answer and can’t keep the shake out of my voice.
“Like a fox or something?” she asks, scrunching her face up and looking at me like I’m ridiculous.
“No, not like a fox or something. You think I would scream at a bloody fox? It was standing on two legs and it was huge!” I yell back.
“Ya right. I think your brain has had a weird couple of days, Nuri. Get some rest,” Marissa chuckles, leaving me alone in my terror.
Maybe I am seeing things. I feel like I’m unraveling at the seams but as I look back out the window, another lightning strike flashes and I can clearly see the back gate is wide open.
Didn’t I close that behind me? I shudder and yank my curtains closed, as if some flimsy fabric could keep out whatever the heck that thing was or maybe at least keep my sanity intact.