The Murder of Ms. Fey

Chapter Two

The Stillness of the Wind

The scorching, hot air left Carrie scrunch her hair up in a ponytail. She hated the way California was, especially in Summer. She thought it was sort of draining, like the heat and light from the sun was bit by bit sucking up her energy like a black hole not letting light escape from it. Apparently, her cousin, Levy was ecstatic about it.

"Well, if you don't like it, my ever so genius and fucking uptight cousin, I like it so suck it up." Levy Bowen declared. She then lit up a cigarette, despite being half naked in a stupidly skimpy black bikini, the white sand practically burning her skin.

Carrie rolled her eyes at Levy. "You know what, I specifically can tolerate you better when you were still into the art of memorizing lines."

Levy snorted. She took a long drag of her cigarette, flicked it off her thumb then watched the smoke sizzle on the hot white sand.

"Ditched that two years ago, Car. You know why I did?"

Carrie was genuinely curious about it. Ever since the summer of her graduation, her cousin showed up in their house, wearing an all-black outfit, with a black suitcase. A Levy Bowen completely different from the post-Levy who liked reading books, memorizing lines, who wore floral sundresses and tons of bracelets. And she never elaborated. Carrie never knew.

She clicked her tongue. She took off her shirt, revealing a teal-blue bikini that she borrowed from Levy, even though she explained to her that she hated the sun. She did not understand why she did the latter action, but it felt strangely like an appropriate thing to do just to get an actual answer from Levy. Her cousin looked at her with fiery eyes. She smirked.

"I have to say, You are such an incredibly psychic person."

Levy was right, her father had told her that he has a way with actions and words when she wants something. An instinct or a visceral move to get what she wants. Carrie knew this capability, but never understood why or how it works. It had always been like that, she thought. Everything I know I'm capable of, I never understood it.

"What's the reason? Elaborate." Carrie slowly took her denim shorts. Her face remained still and stoic. Like she always did. Levy was still smirking, making the hole of her lip ring spread. Carrie grimaced.

"Look, Car. You're not getting anything. You're forgetting one tiny bit. I'm some kind of a genius too. A prodigy, perhaps." Levy smugly smiled, propping her elbows on the white summer sand.

Levy was a prodigy. In her young age, she learnt how to memorize two books in fifteen minutes. It was of good use, not until her father used her skill to make money. But that was just what Carrie knew. She was certain there's something else behind it. And that was what she was stripping for.

She sighed, "I wasn't consciously doing it, and you know that. I just genuinely wanted to know what happened to you."

The girl with the skimpy black bikini turned her body around, so she could face Carrie. She wore a look, an expression that drooped her face even with the gorgeous cheekbones she was sporting. She seemed sad, all the while uptight and lip-straight.

Or Carrie would guess. Because her weakness was to read people's feelings. She could read what they were possibly thinking or trying to say, but never the feelings a person would have.

"Why are we talking about this, Carrisa? I went to your beach house because it's Summer and you have the whole week off of that stupid college." Levy crunched her brows, turned to her side, signaling end of their discussion.

Carrie put her shirt and shorts on.

"Sorry."

At least she was sensitive enough to know what Levy was trying to say, Leave it. Carissa stood up, patting away the sand on her shorts. She glanced at her watch. 3:04 PM. Her dark hair swayed with the scorching, hot wind almost billowing smoke on her pale face. She stared at her skin. She was always too pale. Levy was always too tan. She threw the beach house's keys at Levy's lap.