among the fallen leaves

Chapter Six.

Hunter woke up that same morning to the sound of Grace talking loudly in the kitchen and the smell of eggs frying. As he opened his eyes, he could see directly into the kitchen from his spot in front of the fireplace.

"If Hunter isn't up yet I'm gonna go and pour water on his face!" Grace exclaimed, to which Hunter then heard Aurelia giggling quietly.

"Gracie, as funny as that would be, I think we should let him sleep in a little bit longer. It's only eight in the morning." Aurelia said quietly, braiding Grace's hair into two small braids and finishing them off with a blue ribbon bow. "Why don't we," Aurelia paused to look over and grab her recipe book from the table, "bake some chocolate chip muffins to go with breakfast this morning? You can even eat the extra chocolate chips!" She could barely finish her sentence before Grace was up and out of her chair, running to the pantry to get the ingredients.

Hunter took this time to watch Aurelia putting an apron over her blue and white floral dress as she went over to her mother to ask her to braid her somewhat damp hair. She must have showered before they could smell the whole sea on her this morning, he thought. At that moment, Grace came running out of the pantry, canisters of various muffin ingredients in her small hands; Aurelia rushed over, to make sure the small child didn't break any of the ceramic holders or bags of sugar.

Hunter had managed to make himself unnoticed as he went upstairs to shower the nights' events off while Aurelia and his sister baked their muffins as the mothers enjoyed their coffee on the porch. Aurelia found herself waiting for the muffins to be done while she sat on the counter, drying the bowls and dishes used and setting them next to her when Hunter came and pushed himself up to sit next to her. The girl barely moved a muscle, having heard him walking up to her.

"You don't smell like dead fish anymore." She said with a smile, handing him a glass of orange juice. He drank it happily, his laughter echoing against the backsplash tile of the stove they were in front of.

"Neither do you." He said, fingers tracing her braid ever-so-carefully. "You're matching with Gracie," he said, a small smile hinting at his lips, "she must be thrilled." Aurelia turned her head to look at Hunter.

"She asked me why I didn't use ribbons on mine, then she told me she would go find some, but I have no clue where that child went now; probably found a ghost friend of her own to play with." Hunter rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Aurelia Rayne, would you stop talking about ghost-people of whom are non-existent?" The girl laughed at this, shaking her head as she pushed off of the counter to stand in front of him.

"There is absolutely no way I will ever stop talking about ghost-people because they do very much exist and they are friendly; they don't like you, by the way."

"Well have you tried defending me? I feel like you haven't, or they'd like me better than they like you!" Hunter teased, poking Aurelia's shoulder. She just gave him a look, all the while warning him about the thin ice he was traveling on with her.

The day went on, the muffins out of the oven and cooled, the mothers' coffee drank; it was mid-afternoon when Aurelia waltzed into Hunter's room again, the boy reading an old sports magazine.

"Let's go into town." He immediately put down the magazine and stood up as if he was just waiting for her to announce that they should go out.

"How do we get there? Is there a car?"

"No, dummy; we're going to walk. It's only a couple miles, don't be a baby about it." She winked, walking out of the room, and smiling as she heard his footsteps trailing behind her.