Eden Falls

Chapter Four

Erin

Erin gazed out of her bedroom window which overlooked the fields and river beside her house. Her house was actually a quaint little cottage covered in honeysuckle and was the only house at the end of a long gravelled drive. From what Kaitlyn had told her it used to belong to an old man who enjoyed his own company and used to fish a lot, so she figured a house in the middle of nowhere with your own private river seemed like a pretty sweet deal. She understood the old man, she didn’t mind her own company either, preferred it in fact, especially when she had this beautiful sunset all to herself. Laying back against her bedroom wall, her mind drifted back over the last six months and how radically different things had become in such little time...

 Erin wasn’t like most other seventeen girls her age at Eden High. She wasn't part of the popular crowd but people knew who she was. Sure Erin had her group of friends, all who like her never cared to be centre of attention and were far too busy with more important things than  the latest fashions a Kardashian sister was wearing or making the cheer team. She was by no means a loner but she saw what baggage came with  the title of being considered popular, and that was drama, over the last few days that was the last thing she needed. 

Getting up and walking until she came to Kaitlyn’s art studio at the end of the hallway. Kaitlyn had set up her own studio in the spare room when they moved in, she painted the walls a bright cornflower blue as well as a huge sun mural on one wall, she put up wooden shelves to hold her countless jars of things she had collected over the years – sea shells, feathers, sunflower petals, colourful beads. When Erin had asked why she had these things Kaitlyn always got a dreamy look on her face and simply answered “I’ve been many places and have many memories”.

There was a wooden easel to one side of the room, and countless sheets of paper covering a huge wooden cork board which was spread across most of one wall, while paint brushes and pots of paint were set on top of a small stainless steel sink. Erin often liked to go in and watch Kaitlyn paint, she was so graceful and elegant while working and Erin decided there and then that she wanted to be an artist too.  Kaitlyn’s art was beautiful but a lot of the time didn’t make sense to  Erin, sometimes her work was serene and beautiful, depicting how life should always be – bright and bold and colourful but other times they would be dark and angry and would sometimes give  her nightmares, deep down she knew  why these paintings bothered her, it’s because these weren’t just paintings, they were warnings.

“Erin, dinner!” Kaitlyn's voice called from downstairs.

Setting down two hot plates of lasagne on the table, she threw the tea towel over her shoulder and put her hair up, today had been a long day. Kaitlyn Hunter was a Student Counsellor at Eden High and adored her job, she would do anything for those kids, but it was so much more than a job to her, it didn’t matter what other people would say, you can’t help but bring the work home with you, it took a lot to relax after the more intense days and today had been no different.