Prime Suspect (When I Saw You In Remains)

Chapet 3: Digging Through

I woke up with a call from Shells, I answered it by saying ''Hello?'' with a sleepy voice. She said:

''YOU WERE RIGHT!''

About what? I continued listening without saying anything, she, too, continued after a sigh: ''Where are you right now?''. - ''Home. Why-'' was all I could say before she said, ''I am coming there, we need to talk face to face.''

It was 8 in the morning. Jennette and mom were still sleeping, Terry -my step-dad- was tending the garden. I went to sit at the porch after fixing myself in the bathroom in order not to wake anyone up. She arrived shortly afterwards. She looked pale and tired, she asked: ''Is there anywhere more private that we can go?'', I said ''Sure. Let's go upstairs to my room.'' and we walked upstairs. When we entered, she stood still by my door as if she didn't know what to do. I showed her my bed and insisted for her to sit down. I sat after her, crossed my legs and said ''What did you want to talk to me about?''

''They come to my house last night!'' she said with tears forming in her eyes.

''Who?'' I asked. ''THE CAT-MASK.'' My chin was all the way down to hell, I asked her ''Are- Are you okay?'' She wiped the single tear that fell from her eyes, looked straight at me with innocent eyes and said ''They were there, at my house. They came looking for me, I managed to hide with my brother but if I didn't hear them or my baby brother woke up, I could be dead now. We both could be dead now.'' She couldn't hold back her tears after all and let it all out. I reached forward to hug her. As she was already exhausted, she released her weight on me while still sobbing. I slowly took us from a sitting position to laying in bed, continuing to hug. ''Who can this person be?'' I asked, she unknowingly shook her head. ''Did you call the police?'' She answered ''Yes! They don't think it's a killer, though. They mainly focus on the possibility that the intruder was some drunk who mixed up the houses. Felt Beach, a peaceful town... And I couldn't confirm the cat mask as I did not see them. I sighed: ''I'm just too freaked out to believe it but I just hope it's true, I hope no one will get harmed and Claire is also okay.'' We talked a bit more, tried to put cat-mask into the logical explanation that we had, but it did not add up. She had stopped crying, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Afterwards, she told me ''Your pillow smells nice.'' This put a smile on my face. Within the exhaustion from last night, she fell asleep on my chest. I put my head over hers and closed my eyes. We stayed in that position for an hour and half.

Only to be disturbed by Jennette bursting into the room: ''Breakfast is rea- WHAT THE H-'' I quickly shushed her and explained the situation: ''Shells came by this morning, she had a rough night. Long story, I'll tell you later.'' Jennette nodded with concern, ''She should stay for breakfast, there are a lot of pastries. Oh! Right! Breakfast is ready, come downstairs.'' I laughed and poked Shells refusing the wake up. ''Splash some water in your face and come downstairs.'' In her sleepy voice she said, ''I should just go home, I am in my terrible pajamas.'' I showed her my wardrobe. ''Just take whatever you want. You heard Jen, we have too much pastries.'' She laughed, ''Okay then, I am coming.'' I left her in my room and went downstairs first.

My parents and Jennette were sitting on the kitchen, I pulled a chair before joining them, so Shells could sit when she came. My mom said ''The day has finally come. The moving company will be here today.'' Jennette wanted to quickly put her excitement into words but she needed to wait for a few seconds to chew the donut she had bitten, she held her finger until she swallowed, she then said ''Finally! I was about to forget how to draw. And you Willow, you must be excited to sit out and read books.'' Yes, I said. Back in our old house, I'd pick a good book, sit in the patio and read for hours; but now I had too many worries in my head for books to excite me. It was unnecessary to pass my worry to them with these details, though. It was still very tense after the incident last year.