13.
❝when you're young, you just run
but you come back to what you need❞
— this love
———
In Fourth Grade, Willow Harding was well acquainted with Sophie Shakil. Sophie Shakil owned a pair of Vortex Viper HD 300 — binoculars — and presumably watched the red squirrel skirting the school gardens. Her spot was right above the staff room, Willow knew and apparently watched the funny watcher from her own window seat.
So it's kind of a warm surprise as the sepia letter finds its way into Harding residence. Surprise paints Willow's face when she comes across a small, cello taped box, attached to a 'With regards, your private eye'.
"What a weird way to address your best friend," Willow whispers to herself. "But I'm happy Sophie hasn't changed."
-
After dinner it's time to unwrap the present. The package, that is.
Quiet dinner. Dishes. Quarter to nine, before bed. Willow skips. Camilla gives her son a curious look, which he returned with a passive shrug. Certainly, it meant he'd get to go out, out of Camilla's beady sight, to the terrace. Maybe Eliana would be up — highschool kids have all time in the world.
-
Willow lays her back camera on and sets down the phone against the bedroom mirror. She gets a blade, winces when a trickle of blood leaks her finger. She grabs a tissue.
Her movements are quite shaky. Could have sought Levi's help with this—
Each day he appears less and less and less interested in his life with her. And what was her name? Eliana was it? Ah.
The replacement.
No husband of Sophie Shakil would cheat on her, ever. Eureka! That's right! — She just has to think like Sophie Shakil.
-
