Devour

Chapter 42 - Dax

The little farmhouse is just as I remembered, except the roof is partially burnt out. And there's no cow in the pastures.

We have to walk all the way from the bus station in Bucknell. It's a familiar route. So many happy summer days, skipping down this path following Miss Cora, our dad taking up the rear, usually carrying Nel. All in our little matching uniforms, Emma usually trying to read and walk.

Sometimes it would start raining, and we'd all complain, mostly Emma about her book and Patch about his hair. Our dad eventually could be cajoled into stopping the rain from hitting us. God, we were a sight.

Now we trudge solemnly up the road, vaguely aware that we five, the 47s, would not all come back down together ever again. We're all in our civvies tonight, regular street clothes like regular people. Well, I'm in my uniform shirt, because I'm not creative. Emma is in a nice sweatshirt that's actually close to her size, her mum probably bought it for her. Jules is copying me with a uniform shirt I should tell him it's not a style, it's laziness. Nel is in a dress as usual but it's short so she has leggings on under it. This dress is very dark red so it doesn't stand out so much.

Pippa is in her long red pea coat, bringing up the rear with me. I doubt if she's been to the country so much, the way she stares off at the fields then the sky.

"I guess we should go in," Nel says, looking at looming, burnt out farmhouse. 

"We should look around," I say, putting an arm around Jules' shoulders, because he's apprehensive; he doesn't want to see where they died. "It's just a place."

"Yeah, show me where you grew up," Pippa encourages, lightly for his sake.

"Okay," Jules agrees. He's quite smitten with her by now and she's quite adopted him. He's been holding her hand for no apparent reason for the last mile.

"I'm sure they haven't locked it—nope," Emma says, opening the door.

We step into the main room. The floor, once wood, is now severely blackened. Mostly in the center, where they found Miss Cora's body. And not our dad's.

I walk up to look, with Emma, Nel sort of walks around, peering in the kitchen. Jules hangs back by the door since he didn't want to come. Pippa stays with him.

"Two bodies," Emma says, quietly, pointing at the burn marks.

"Yeah, but this one didn't burn as long---so where'd he go?" I ask, equally quietly.

She shrugs that she doesn't know and shakes her head.

"Why wouldn't it be locked?" Nel asks, staring around a little nervously. Now she's getting apprehensive too.

"Let's just go," Jules says, standing at the door, "Patch isn't here."

"Yes he is." 

We all jump, me a little less so because I was 100% expecting his dramatic ass to do something like that.

Patch is standing underneath the shadow of the stairs, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He's wearing his favorite yellow, with black leaves on it Hawaiian shirt, black jeans, and purple shoes. He takes his glasses off, slowly, and folds them before placing them in his pocket. We are all wearing our glasses. Yes, at night. Yes, in retrospect that wasn't subtle of us.

"Why didn't you tell us you're a telepath?" I ask, tiredly, knowing somewhere vaguely in my mind this isn't going to end without a fight.

Patch shrugs, staring at his feet and stubbing the toe of one purple shoe in the soot and dirt on the once pristine floor. We used to have to mop this floor on Sunday afternoons.