Sharp Objects

chapter two

"Clove!" I can hear Harper's voice, somewhere I'm the distance "clove wake up!"

I feel myself falling,falling down.

I hit the floor with a thud and a roll on to my side. "Harper?" I say, and I open my eyes.

Surprisingly,I'm not on the floor of the justice building in a crampled heap, with my brother crying beside me because of an awful fate that has fallen on us, I'm in the dorm at the Home. I must of fallen asleep after all. But now,I'm on the floor, with Mercedes and saffron laughing at me from their beds, and Harper looking over me,her small, pale face framed by the usual mass of untameable light brown curls.

"Oh my gosh clove,are you okay?" Says Harper, her voice frantic as she waves her arms around as fruitless attempt at help. I squint at the bright light filtering in through the window and haul myself to my feet.

"Yes Harper,I'm fine ,I'm absolutely fine."
I say,smiling down at her. Not that I have to look down very much: I'm pretty small for my age. She grabs on to my armand wipes her brow with her free hand.

"Oh god! I thought you were having a fit or something! I was going to get miss cointoyke but I didn't want to leave here! You were thrashing around in your sleep!" I noticed  the tires brimming  in the corners of her eyes as she recalls me (literally) nightmare morning.

"It was just a bad dream Harper" I assured her,bending down to her level "I'm fine now". She smiles a relieved smile that stretches her mouth wide. How she can smile on reaping day is a mystery to me, but I would rather have her overly excited then scared out of her wits.

I take a pair of blue Jean's from my closet,along with a white vest top my usual brown zip-up hooded sweater that I wear practically everywhere,and take them into the bathroom to change, I tie my long dark brown hair into a ponytail with a stray piece of string from the floor, then I shove my feet into my boots: brown, lace-up leather ones that usually take me anywhere and everywhere, and walk downstairs, Harper trailing behind me,still in her pink pyjamas.

Albert  is at the kitchen table already, eating away at a stack of small pancakes drizzled in maple syrup. It must be a repeating day treat from miss cointoyke: we never get things like this on a normal day. "Morning!" I say,strolling in through the kitchen door. Albert raised his head from lavish breakfast to acknowledge me.

"Morning clove" he says,shoving the pancake into his mouth like a dog.

"You OK?" I say, taking a mug from the cupboard and filling it with coffee . I reserve a grunt in return. Shaking my head and chuckling to myself, I prepare myself and miss cointoyke a cup of black coffee each,adding extra sugar to mine, even though I know that we're not suppose to use much because it's expensive. I find coffee to bitter if there isn't enough sugar in it. Miss cointoyke has no sugar in hers. I don't know how she drinks it like that.

I leave miss cointoyke's cup on the worktop and take my own on into the garden,by the tree, sneaking a few knifes from my drawer on my way out. Harper clearly notices, but doesn't say anything, and she goes back upstairs to change.

Once out the way of everyone, I set my coffee on the grass and slamp at the bottom of my tree, facing the other one that serves as my target. I hurl a few knives into the wood, then stand up,retrieve them,and repeat,like always. Even on this fateful day, nothing ever changes for me.

I spend about twenty minutes outside, until I am called back in by miss cointoyke. I hide my knives under my big rock and sprint back to the door. Miss cointoyke tells me that she would like Harper and I to go into town to get the food for the after reaping feast,where we celebrate the fact that we have been spared yet another year.