RoseBlood

Visitors

Lizzie comes by again in the early morning, with a bag full of her homemade pastries and bread, so the house isn't eerily quiet for the few hours that she stays. It's nice having her over, and it almost, almost looks like nothing's changed from how things used to be when my parents were still alive. I probably saw more of Lizzie straightening things up around the place than I did of both my parents. I don't know how I feel about that yet.

You do.

Mia calls up next, wanting to meet me properly in person before the school term starts.

"You could come over!" she suggests eagerly on the phone, while I sit by the window and look down the street in the direction of where Elias' car is parked out of sight, but always watching. "To Oxford! I can show you around the university and the massive library, you know you'd love that. And there's the best coffee shop around the corner, with sofa seats at the back where you can just read or work for however long you like... as long as you've ordered something."

"I'd like that," I say honestly, "but... I'll get back to you, okay? As soon as I can, I'll let you show me around."

"Okay. How are things?"

I sigh, brows raising. "Wonderful."

"You're gonna do this, I know you are, Holly. Don't... not, alright?"

"Right," I smile in amusement, peering outside absentmindedly, "I won't not. Talk to you later."

I linger at the window for a while more, and then go upstairs, into my parent's room, and dig through their things. There. I'm sorting their stuff out. I'm settling back in, little by little. Let the killer see. Let the killer come. Right. Now.

Don't lose your head, it's all you've got.

Elias calls next.

"You haven't gone home yet?" I ask him, and he scoffs as if it is not a real question.

"Of course not. The cameras are still running, their batteries are still running, but if we have to swap them when they run low, we'll figure a distraction out or something."

"Okay."

"What are you doing?"

"Looking through Mum's things," I tell him, and I roll my eyes to myself as I pull makeup bag after makeup bag out of her storage units. "How can one person need so much makeup? I can't be doing with it. There are far more important things to be getting on with."

"For Holly Cassia, maybe. You don't need it, anyway."

I smile, sitting back and propping myself up on the floor with my hands. "Is that right?"

"Yeah, whatever," Elias responds hastily, and my smile grows. "Hey, there's some woman with a suitcase speeding towards your house."

"Some woman?" I echo with a frown, moving from the caller screen on my phone to the camera's feed.

It's just Hayley. My old babysitter.

"Oh," I say, "don't worry, she was the other person who couldn't make it to my party, remember? On holiday. Damn, I wonder if Edith's talk has gotten to her yet. Or I'll have to run through everything with her. It's getting really draining, at this point."

"Right, okay. Well, I'll be here for the rest of the day. Watching. Can't be long now."

"It isn't," I agree, leaving my parents' room to go downstairs. "I'll talk to you later."

I open the front door just as Hayley rolls her suitcase up the drive, her cheeks pink and eyes wide as saucers. She looks breathless and relieved to see me, and I give her a half-smile and a wave.

"Hi, Hayley. Welcome back. I would say you haven't missed much, but-"

"Haven't missed- oh, Holly! Are you alright? I heard people talking! I've only just gotten back earlier, and, oh..."

She catches her breath at the door, and I glance at her suitcase, then back at her.

"Did you, um, want to come in? Or..."

"I haven't really had a chance to do much," she explains, standing upright with a flustered smile. "I was heading home after seeing my family all the way out in Manchester. It takes five hours to drive there, and again when you drive back."

"Was it worth it?" I ask her, stepping aside to let her in. My eyes avoid where the camera is hidden at the entrance to my house. The murderer wouldn't expect me to completely isolate myself. They've watched me enough. Well. The version of me I want them to see. They'll bide their time until the visitors are gone. I just have to keep playing along if I want to get out of this alive.

"Well, yes," Hayley answers, and I park her suitcase at the entry to the living room, where she sits down on the sofa with a short breath. "It's always nice to visit. And I thought I'd be so glad to be back home and relax, but then I heard the lady next door talking about you coming home after being protected from a murderer! A murderer! I can't believe it. I'm sorry that it happened, Holly."

"Aren't we all?" I say quietly, before sitting next to her and speaking up. "But it has happened. I just have to get on with it and try to make sense of things now. "

"You're coping so well," she breathes, hazel eyes full of concern. "I think I would have just given up."

"I can't give up," I shake my head. "Everyone's got to keep going. Somehow."

"I would ask about how it all happened... Ah, but I don't know if you're in the mood for rehashing everything. I'm sorry, we can talk about something else if you like."

"It's alright," I say with a small smile. "Um, do you want a drink? Tea or something?"

"That'd be lovely, thanks," she says with an earnest smile. "I'll use the bathroom quickly, then, if you don't mind."

"Sure. You know where it is."

I switch the kettle on in the kitchen and watch the steam start to cloud over the spout, warming the front of my face, and sigh, thinking. How much longer would this take? I won't let my guard down, I won't start thinking that they've given up, that it was all a game to get me frightened and to let my paranoia be the death of me in the end.

I know they're coming. I know they're near. Watching us. Waiting for Hayley to leave. Waiting for everyone to leave.

So that I can leave everyone, too.