Ginny and Georgia: The Younger Shadow

Chapter 47- About Time
"Are you sure you don't want me to come in? I can help you walk a bit better, Charlie." Aria had begged me to come inside but each time I told her no.
"No, Red. It's ok. Maybe you can go to Kara and Madi. They're revising, right? And it's only a few steps. I'll be fine." Fine. Those were the words I spoke to convince people I was great, but secretly they mirrored my fear. Aria crossed the road and soon disappeared out of sight, and I braced myself for whatever would happen next. What if these people didn't like me? What if they blamed me for Anthony leaving them? What if- I tried to cut myself off before my thoughts swallowed me whole and I walked into the Lion's Den. It was quite an elegant bar which I first noticed. There were scarlet plush chairs dotted around the place, and the rich, sweet smell of beer that I wrinkled my nose when I smelt. Somehow, everything felt a lot more crowded in here, all the smells and sounds crowding into my mind. Adults sat drunkenly laughing and slurring their words, and I gave a shocked jump as someone banged the table, their friends laughing and shouting in response. I suppose I looked a bit worried and peculiar in that bar, a lone girl who looked shaken with a broken ankle and hobbling leg.
"Can I help you?" Came an unfriendly voice. I turned around and saw a tall, slender woman with thick, short cropped raven hair and raised eyebrows.
"Um, sorry, but... do you know where Bethany Carlow, Cassie Carlow and Clay Carlow are? I'm a, um...acquaintance of them and we arranged to meet today." The woman tried to hide her scoff, and her sullen, pinched face gave me the impression she had swallowed ten lemons whole.
"Oh yes. They said some girl was coming to see them. Bit late, aren't you? You were meant to arrive at 2pm. It's almost 7pm now." Every word she said to me made me want to sink into the background and hide away forever.
"I'm sorry. I was...delayed. Do you know where they are now?" I was going to meet my brother and sister. My brother and sister. My brother and-
"Cassie is the only one here now. She's with a friend." And the rude lady gestured to a girl who looked so much like me I gave a sharp intake of breath. She had the same mousy, sweet golden hair as me, the same piercing blue eyes, the same slightly turned up nose as me, and the same heart shaped face. She whispered to the girl next to her and then said,
"I'll see you later, Zara. Someone's come to see me." Then she leapt off the chair she had been sitting on, gathered up a few books and bounded over to us. Cassandra. My sister. Well, half-sister. Oh God.
"Thanks, Haruka. She can come with me. Can you get us a few glasses of lemonade?" Haruka gave a Curt nod and bustled away, but not before shooting a cold look in my direction. Cassie seemed to exhale the moment Haruka left and she led me over to a small table in the corner of the bar, far from any drunken shouts or distractions.
"So, we got quite a shock when Jonathan Atley decided to give my mom a ring after not speaking to her for three years. To tell us a bit about you. To say Anthony Greene, after he left my mom, had another child when he was 19. He had you." She didn't stop talking for once, and I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat, well aware of the fact her ocean eyes never left me. They studied me curiously, and I coughed awkwardly and said,
"Hi, Cassie. I'm Charlotte, but you can call me Charlie." Cassie gave a sweet smile, but her face twisted into one interest to worry. Her eyebrows raised and panic spiked me at her eerily concerned look. Then I realised she had noticed my painful ankle, which now had an angry purple bruise the length of a plum.
"Poor thing! When did you break your ankle? Come here." And she fished a shirt out of her purse and wrapped it around my ankle. I tried not to wince at the shock of pain that happened when she examined me, but at the same time I felt comforted. My sister. This girl before me was my flesh and blood. Soon, I felt a lot more comfortable around Cassie, as she fawned over me. As soon as I was in a better position and my feet didn't hurt quite so much, sipping our lemonades a surly looking Haruka had brought us, I said,
"Thanks for helping me. You're real good with tending to people."
"It's ok. I've always wanted to be a doctor, Charlie. Besides, the least I can do is be a decent person and help you after you've come all this way to meet us. I'm sorry my mom and Clay aren't here at the minute. They went out shopping, but it's ok because we have time to talk. We were expecting you, a lot earlier. Truth be told, I was really upset when I thought you weren't coming. Yet here you are."
"I'm sorry. Loads of things have happened, and I still can't believe we're actually related. That we're sisters. But my mom- she never said I had two more siblings." Cassie's too-wide unfamiliar smile vanished at my words.
"'More?' You have more siblings? I have more siblings?"
"What? Oh, no! I mean, I have two more siblings, but they're not related to you. I have a nine, nearly ten year old brother Austin and sixteen year old sister Ginny. They both have different dads." Blood rushed to my cheeks as I stumbled over my words and I prayed that Cassie wouldn't think I was a fool. I felt grateful for the cool lemonade glass against my fingers, and the music in the bar that helped drown out my hectic thoughts.
"I have a sister. But you know, you seem really nice. Like, really nice. Charlie. So, how did you make the connection that you had me and Clay? How exactly did all this happen?" And so over the next course of an hour I spilled my life's story and my mission in Wellsbury to a girl who was so close to me yet so far: about my friends and how they helped me track down Jonathan, Amaya, of Ginny and Mang, of my suspicions about my mom, everything. And Cassie, like Jonathan, really was a good listener. She seemed to really feel the words and had the right facial expressions every time. Her pale, light hands reached out across the table and took mine. And I felt that we really connected.
"Good God. All that trouble, and you realised that Anthony isn't here. I'm sorry, Charlie. I really, really wish I could help you. But my dad left when we were three. And he never came to visit us, or bother to contact us. Never left a letter or birthday message. I always had to do the dad and daughter pictures with my mom. The father and daughter dance I didn't even bother to turn up to. But I guess you know what that's like, huh?" I nodded bleakly. Before, I didn't really consider how it would affect my half siblings either. How maybe, they understood that wide, gaping hole you couldn't quite escape. Because you were reminded of it almost every day.
"Yep. That's just how it is. My sister Ginny has a dad and he visits at least once or twice a year, and he genuinely cares about her. He would do anything for Ginny. And Austin's dad is in prison, but I remember Gil would ride Austin up and down his lap, and my brother's giggles. And his dad still writes to him weekly. But me? All I ever got from my mom is that Anthony was a terrible man who left his family when they most needed me." My lemonade was nearly done now. Cassie contemplated my words for a minute. I checked my watch and felt my chest tighten. It was 8:30pm. I prayed to the stars that mom hadn't noticed I wasn't home.
"A bad man? I can't say that for sure. But what was wrong was him leaving us. He left your mom, I heard, and moved somewhere. Maybe he always wanted to travel. From what my mom told me and my brother, Anthony was always curious about the world. Always wanted answers to his questions, however ridiculous they were. But, tell me. More about your friends and mom. At least I now know how you found us."
"I have three best friends. We met at the start of the school year, though it's May now. As I said, their names are Aria, Kara and Madi. Aria is just the sweetest, smallest girl in our group. I love them all to bits. She came with me to The Lion's Bar, and helped me with my ankle, even though I practically tower over her. She's a lot like her sister, Abby. Then there's Kara. Her older sister is Norah, in Mang. And she's got a funny personality and best fashion sense out of all of us. Then Madi. She lives across the road from me. Her older sister is Maxine. And she's just crazy and had so much energy. She reminds me of a soda can waiting to burst."
"They sound like good friends." Cassie remarked.
"They are. They really are." We spoke for a few more minutes before a sharper, gruffer voice dragged me out into the real world.
"Is that her, Cassie?" Clay. A blonde haired and blue eyes boy, the opposite version of Cassie. But he didn't seem as warm as his sister. He had a jaw line that could probably cut, and while his sister's eyes were a lot brighter, his were darker, almost grey but not quite. Clay. My half brother. In his hurry he had dropped a large shopping bag. Packets of chips, fruits and sauces spilled out onto the floor, onto which an older woman in her 30s came and scolded Clay over. Bethany. I could tell it was her. She still looked quite similar as in the photo Jonathan had shown me. That mousy dark hair and those eyes that constantly studied me.
"Charlie. We're so glad you're here, sweetheart. Unfortunate my son still is incapable of holding a bag of shopping." She added and sat down next to Cassie.
"So, Charlie, I understand this may be a bit- well, not what you would expect, but I must ask does your mother know that you're here?" Shit. Should I tell Beth the truth or not? I decided that I would just slightly twist the truth, and no one would know.
"Um, yeah. She knew Anthony had a girlfriend and kids before but didn't know you were in Wellsbury. So." Clay and Cassie both gave me incredulous looks, and could sense I was lying. Beth seemed sceptical too, but eventually sighed and patted my shoulder.
"You're such a pretty girl, too. Well, this is quite the reunion, isn't it?" Beth raised the corners of her mouth in a grin, and I decided that I liked her and Cassie too. They seemed kindly enough, and hopefully willing to answer more questions. But Clay didn't say anything, just sort of stared into nothing. Then:
"You're 15, right?" I nodded, almost surprised my brother had spoken.
"So, if you knew about us before, why didn't you come to visit?" Beth slapped Clay's hand and an air of awkwardness settled over the table.
"Um, my my mom, siblings and I always moved around a lot, so...we came to Wellsbury kind of recently, I guess."
"You have more siblings? I thought Anthony didn't have any more?" Beth tried to act like she wasn't too interested, but I could see her dark eyes flicking from side to side and assessing me nevertheless.
"My mom, Georgia, has three kids, including me, from three different dads. My older sister Ginny's dad is Zion, but he doesn't live with us. Georgia and Zion split up and then my mom was with Anthony. Then she had my little brother Austin. He's ten in July. His dad is, well...in prison." Cassie's mouth dropped open in fascination.
"Careful, Cass, if you don't shut that mouth flies will come into it." Clay said, sipping his cup of steamy coffee.
"It's ok, people get surprised when I usually tell them. He's in there for fraud or embezzlement, or something like that." The others nodded, now hooked onto my words.
"Well, you definitely lead a more interesting life than us, it seems. At first, I doubted whether you were Anthony's kid. I thought his old friend Jonathan had perhaps mixed you up with someone else, but when I saw you sitting there, just like he did...that wilting posture, the smile that shows all your gorgeous teeth and that hair and identical eyes. Well, I had to believe that!" I knew I should've felt reassured by Beth's kind words, but it honestly just reminded me of everything I was missing without my father. I didn't have that comfort. I had never even met the man. And now the longing to see who he truly was with my own eyes felt so desperate it pulled me and my heart quite easily. Cassie seemed to notice my melancholy face and nudged me gently. So I decided to get things over with and ask the question I had been longing so much to.
"Bethany, do you know where Anthony is? Where he moved? It's just, I've never even met him, and he sounds like such a great man." And did I imagine that, or did Beth's expression change slightly at my words?
"I'm sorry, Charlie. After he left me when we were 19, we cut off all means of contact. He never paid child support for Cassie or Clay. He valued your mother more than me. But-well, the past is in the past, and I want to keep it that way." Even though I had half been expecting it, my heart sunk and felt like It had been speared through with a knife at her words.
"I understand you wanted more information on his whereabouts, but I don't think Anthony has even visited his parents in over a decade." I didn't want Beth, Cassie or Clay to notice the fresh round of tears pooling in my eyes, so I turned my head to look like I was checking the time, and I saw the night sky aglow with bright city lights. The pull of the moon and to suddenly be outside with my emotions was magnetic; but is stayed put and wondered whether to leave, and I was positively certain mom was boiling with rage. It terrified me to even think about it.
"Hold on a minute. Why don't I show you the rooms that Georgia and Anthony stayed in? When he split up with me he told me this was where he was going. I forgot about that reticent little girl with Georgia; I realise she was with your sister Ginny. But I never knew that she was pregnant." Georgia and Anthony's old room? Excitement spiked in me as Cassie and Clay got up to show me mom's old room. Would I find anything inside? Anything that might lead me to my dad?
"Nobody else has rented the room. Not many people want to stay in a place that's loud 24/7. I barely go in myself, but maybe you'll find something of importance to you." Beth said. I nodded and followed my siblings through the corridor. There, the bitter smell of beer seem to waft away, and the stairs creaked as we climbed up them. Cassie took a set of rusty keys out of her pocket, gently blew on them to get the dust off, and poked it through the thin keyhole. The room seemed to speak and call out to me, and I hoped I could find something. This was where mom and Ginny had stayed, but obviously Ginny wouldn't remember anything about it, when she was so young and her mind could barely register anything.
"Here we go!" Cassie pushed open the door with such force the hairs on my neck stood up. Clay just sighed and strolled inside, and I followed after him. The room was nothing impressive really; there was a rough camp bed wedged in the corner, with a faded quilt lying forlornly on the floor. I had to stop myself from bursting into a fit of violent sneezes, because the dust in the room was overpowering. It lay in every corner of the room as far as the eye could see. A thick, silver spider web lay cocooned in the corner, the jewel of the spider's world. I just stared and stared at the place my mom, dad and sister had all loved in once. A happy family, or not? I thought to myself. Besides from the bed, there wasn't much. An infant crib was just by the old bed, and carved into the wood were the words: Virginia May. Ginny's crib was a sorrowful thing, and as I swung it gently the noises that came from the rusty thing were horrible.
"There's not much here. Can we go back?" Clay asked. I tried not to be annoyed with him, but he was making it very difficult.
"Clay, just let her have a look! Charlie, take your time." Cassie called from where she had sat down in a stiff brown chair. I nodded and continued looking around: on the windowsill was a bunch of long deceased violet flowers. Once, their colours would've been rich and bursting with life, but now they dangled out of dirty water, a sad sight. There was a chest of drawers, but the only thing I was inerentes in looking for was anything that could be my dad's. Just to have some part of him with me would comfort me. Or an answer that would tell me where he went. He must've left something behind, surely. But Clay was right: there was hardly anything of importance.
"Has anyone else lived here, after my mum and Anthony?" I asked, as Cassie studied me when she thought I wasn't looking.
"What do you think? It's dusty and cramped, and nobody wants to live above a bar, unless they're really desperate." Clay rolled his eyes as I was sure blood rushed into my cheeks and I ducked my head and walked to the other side of the room. Something about it was just so depressing. And not the fact that no one had lived here for ages. It just felt so...sinister. Shivers danced up my spine as I noticed a little crook in the wall. Maybe it was nothing, but something tugged in my mind for me to see what made the floors by the armchair so uneven. As Clay and Cassie talked to each other under their breaths, I went over to the crook, and saw that something was weird there. I pulled out the slab of wood, to where a little hole was. Just big enough to store something. Inside, there was some sort of...flower? I pulled it out, and it was a Violet coloured flower, well founded and smooth. It seemed like hardly anything, but then why would someone feel the need to hide a few harmless flowers? Something didn't add up. I quickly pocketed them in my jeans and brushed off the dust just as Cassie called out to me,
"We should head back down." I nodded and followed  them, and even though the flowers themselves weighed hardly anything, it felt heavy in my pocket, like it was going to burn a hole. Beth was waiting for us at the foot of the stairs, biting her nails. As she noticed us she waved and walked over.
"Everything good?" She asked, and Clay smirked and said,
"Mom, don't be so anxious. It's fine." Bethany nodded tightly and smiled.
"It's getting late though, so I think it's time you head back home, Charlie. If you want, you're welcome to visit another time, if your family are planning to live in Wellsbury longer. It was lovely meeting you, sweetheart. Here, Cassie will give you her number." I punched the number of the keyboard that Cassie read out, and we went to the doors of the bar, and the nice May weather greeted us. It was getting darker though, which made me feel slightly queasy. The walk home wouldn't be too long, but I couldn't ask Cassie or Beth to just drop me off, not when mom didn't even know I'd left, and I didn't want to think about the consequences lying in wait for me at home. I checked my phone, which had a few messages from Leon and Kara, Madi, and Aria. I smiled at the cheesy emojis Leon sent, and wondered if I could ask him to walk home with me.
"You sure you can walk home by yourself, honey?" Beth asked, and stupidly I nodded. Cassie promised we could meet soon, but all Clay gave me was a clipped nod. It stung, but I suppose I should've expected it. I mean, he'd just found out he had a sister. It wasn't easy for any of us. As I set off down Parker Avenue, I knew something was...off. I couldn't explain it exactly, but nobody was in the street, so why did I have any reason to worry? The place was deserted. Still, I felt a prickle of anxiety rush through me, and when I turned around, no one was there. I could've sworn I heard a high pitched giggle in the distance, but it was probably just some 7th graders having a sleepover. Somehow, being by myself increased the sense that I was not ok. I started waking a little faster then, and my heart pounded against my rib cage when a voice out of nowhere asked,
"Which way is Magnolia Street?" I whipped around, knees shaking, and then realised it was just an old man in a car. He was by himself, and probably used to have a handsome face, but now it was wrinkled by time. He smiled kindly and I replied,
"It's just by here. Turn left on the next road and you'll be there." The man cocked his left ear towards me and asked,
"Sorry dear, but my hearings not as it used to be. Could you come closer and tell me?" I nodded and stepped towards his window. That was when I knew something was wrong. When I saw the pistol in the seat beside him, the coils of rope. The only thing I remembered then was the smooth click of the door opening, and a hard, hard hit. Then, there was darkness.