Counter Clockwise

Chapter 8 - Black Dahlias

The early morning sun shone through Xandra's lavender curtains. Thunderous knocks rapped against a door somewhere on the ground floor, sending her down the stairs in an unconscious haze.

"Hey Felix, what brings you here?" Xander's voice cheered from the front door. Laughter and friendly banter followed. Xandra rubbed the sleep from her eyes and collapsed at the top of the stairs, peering through the railings with sleepy blue eyes.

"I heard Xandra's back from college, how's it been?" An old, elfish voice rang from outside. Xandra blinked at the sound of her name. "Also," Felix cleared his throat and getured to the living room.

"Oh, come in come in!" Xander chuckled awkwardly, moving away from the door. "It's just really early in the morning, and we weren't expecting guests."

"Don't you worry about it Xander my boy, you're like family to me now."

Xandra crawled down the hallway on her hands and feet as their voices filled downstairs. She slid inside her room and changed out of her pajamas.

"Thank you, would you like some tea? Coffee?"

Xandra tied her hair in a ponytail and crept into the stairway.

"Oh, no no. Just water is fine." The old man nodded, hanging chins bobbing along. His closed eyes widened at the sight of Xandra as she reached the last step.

She nodded, "Good morning. I hope I didn't intrude in your conversation."

"Xandra! You're awake," Her brother exclaimed, turning to her. His words were cheerful, but his eyebrows were furrowed, lips twisted in an awkward smile. "Come, help me prepare the tea."

There was a sputtering retort from the old man, but Xander had already dragged Xandra to the kitchen.

"Where's dad?"

"I just woke up."

Xandra filled the kettle and turned the heat on while Xander rummaged through the kitchen cabinets. "What does he want?"

"I kept trying to pry it out of him but that old man was persistent. He kept insisting to wait until you woke up." He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms, a worried look on his face. "He also tried bringing mom up in the conversation, like, five times."

The kettle wheezed. Xandra sighed and took mittens, filling the mug.

"Have you figured it out? You look restless."

Xandra didn't answer, setting the kettle down instead.

"I know, it isn't fair. Especially for you. You went here to be free from all the stress in the city, is he really going to pile that on you right now?"

Xandra gripped the mittens, back turned to Xander. She remembered the visit to the festival yesterday. The outrageous pile of hot garbage they call a sculpture. The woman behind the blueprints. Is it really worth it?

But the sculpture was so incredibly stupid.

She needed to fix it.

Xandra turned around to face her brother. Xander stopped his ranting, mouth falling at her expression. "You've seen it." Xandra kept quiet, but she was already taking the mug of tea in her hands.

"Wait!" He whisper-shouted. Xandra stopped, but didn't answer. Xander continued, "Look, I know it's practically begging for someone to fix it, but you should really learn to know where your limits are. We didn't invite you back here just to burden yourself with more workload, Xandra."