Lilies And Smoke

CHAPTER TWO: Hello neighbour

A week passes by and the living room was finished, Anita takes some solace in knowing she can be comfortable now that her house is complete. Her accounts were done, as well as her home and she couldn't be happier. She misses her mother, her voice and her Charlie's perfume. Her mother always knew the right things to say, sometimes though she has the bite of a snake when it came to things like her last landlord trying to con her. Anita never felt so homely in her own place before until now. She smiles brightly at herself as she wiggles slightly in her seat merrily, her soft blanket wrapped around her as she lets out a satisfying sigh. She didn't have any complaints about her new place, it was much larger, the area was decent and less populated. She has a back garden, she shakes her head, happy for Bill now he has room to run around whenever he feels like it and she didn't have to put up with her neighbour's blaring music until early hours in the morning.

The only thing Anita could think of that bothers her a little, was the rattling sounds she keeps hearing at night, like a tumbling of keys, little scratches here and there but she assumes it was just the pipes keeping her up, or perhaps the boiler. She sits there undecided about it, covering her mouth as she lets out a stretched yawn. Anita sits there snug, sipping at her hot chocolate, sighing as she relaxes. A high pitch whine reaches at her, snapping at her ears. She pauses, the mug pressed against her bottom lip. "Bill?" she calls gently. Listening carefully, as she places her mug onto the coffee table in front of her. She hears the whine again, and then hears the patter of his nails against the ground as he makes his way towards her. Bill plants his head on her lap and lets out another small whine. "What is it boy?" she cues, stroking the top of his head. She wonders if she needs to take him to get his nails done at the parlour's but remembers she had taken him there the month before.

She gives him a half smile in concern and pets him. Taking in a deep breath in thought and continues to listen to her audio book of the recent thriller she had bought a couple of days ago.

She taps her finger softly on his head, thinking deeply for a moment. "Let's go for a walk" she suggests tonelessly. Anita pushes herself up off the sofa and walks out in front of her, the side of her right leg grazes against the coffee table as she traces her hand over her DVD player; turning it off as she turns her attention to her right. She heads towards the front door, continuing her usual routine with the harness and her fleece jacket. Today she decides to wear jeans and her plain loose vest top, although she wished the summer would come faster so she can go back to wearing her long flowing skirts and her new sandals. She traces her hand over the door and feels the round metal lock hit the left side of her hand, she turns it and opens the door. Anita and Bill walk through the door, as she pulls out the keys from her left pocket of her jacket; where she always has them. She traces her fingers over the keys, feeling the bump of the number two on the key's handle. That's the back door one, she reminds herself as she takes hold of the other key and tries to lock the front door. She struggles for a moment as the key scratches against the key hole, but it soon pushes its way into the key hole and she turns the key; the clicking of the locks as it bolts into the door. She takes out her key and places it back into her fleece pocket.

Pulling on the handle to double check, she turns around swiftly and instructs, "forward" to Bill; her grip tight on the bar as Bill tugs forward. She walks towards the pavement and instructs; "straight to the curb". They stop for a moment as Bill assess whether it is safe for them to cross the road. A minute or two passes by, as Anita listens as the cars whizz down the street. They walk on, crossing the road. She remembers the route to Janice's house, two rights, walk on until the end of that road, then a left and halfway down the street. Bill knew the area well and is well aware of where they are heading by this point, as Phillip and Janice had walked her and Bill back and forth a lot to their houses and the local shops.