Phoebe:
I hadn’t told anyone. I don’t know why not. I just hadn’t. I knew what they would say- “Oh Pheobs! How stupid can you get?!” and “You haven’t phoned the police?”
They would never understand, Hell, I don’t even understand myself let alone explaining it to anyone. And that parcel! I had asked Linda if she had put it there, but she hadn’t seen it when she was putting away my clothes earlier that afternoon. She didn’t read into it too much because the fire alarm went off and the noise exploded through the house, reacting from the smoke from the oven. I left her swearing and helped Jeff lay the table in the kitchen. We only ate in the dining room when dad was home, that was very rare though because he was always around the world working. I wasn’t entirely sure on what he did, but it was something to do with the market, whenever I asked he never gave me a full answer.
A ruler was slapped across the whiteboard. It shocked out of my random thought process. Miss Crayola glared at me from where she stood at the front of the classroom.
“Ah, Miss Smith, I am so glad that you’re back with the living. So where did you go this time?” She asked sarcastically. I looked into her eyes, I saw the hate she held in her old grey eyes for me and the enjoyment of seeing me laughed at by my entire math class.
“What? Nowhere miss. Are you seeing things again? My, my you even look a bit green!” I said with utmost honesty and tried not to grin. I could see the anger burning her eyes.
The whole class laughed, and some of them even joined in, calling out taunts about how she looked so ill.
“BE QUIET!” She bellowed at the class. Every one stopped at that instant. Yes Miss Crayola was an old bat but no one had ever heard her raise her voice.
“I want everyone to turn to page 78 and try questions one, two, three, four and five and anyone who doesn’t finish them by the end of the lesson can do them for homework.” She turned to her computer and started to type onto the keyboard.
I looked at the textbook and looked at the questions they were 5 pages long and we only had ten minutes of the lesson left!
“The stupid old cow.” Meredith muttered,
“Sara will help,” I told Meredith, she brightened up immediately and started texted on her phone.
I sighed and thought of Christopher again.
A week later I hadn’t seen or heard anything from Christopher. By the end of the week I wasn’t thinking about him at all. My mind was preoccupied by something else. The date.
I walked through the graveyard, purple freesias in my hands. Jeff and Linda were ahead of me, I stood behind trying to stay strong. They stayed for a few minutes laying down their own flowers. Linda laid her shaking frail hand on my shoulder, before walking on with Jeff. Slowly I sat down and crossed my legs mechanically in front the white marble headstone.
It read:
RIP
Josephine- Esmée Smith
Beloved Mother, Wife, sister and friend.
October 2nd 1970 – February 29th 2001
“Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but it's about how to dance in the rain."
I always smiled when I saw that quote. I can’t remember who chose it; I had only been six when she had died. But the quote suited her. I lay the flowers down and a silent tear fell down the cheek. When she died that was when everything changed. Dad and I used to be close, but he went on trips more and more often till he was only home every few months. It was okay I was used to now but I think when I was younger I needed him. Today was when she was killed in the car crash; she had gone to get some more sequins for my school play costume she was making.
