The Queen Of Spades

Chapter 3, Continued, Again

I woke up in a cold sweat and got out of bed somewhere around 0300 hours and crept over to the window, quietly opening it and stepping out onto the roof to look at the stars. Because of the street lights I couldn't see that many stars, but the ones I could see were beautiful. After a while, a noise sounded inside and I held my breath, someone was probably going to the bathroom. Right? I stood up and looked in the window, Olivia was awake. She must've gotten cold from the late August air and woken up. I slunk back to the shadows so that she wouldn't see me, but instead of going back to sleep like a normal person, she came to the window and climbed out with me. She lay down on the roof and put her hands under her head, looking over at me before looking at the stars.
"They're pretty, aren't they?" She asked in a hushed voice.
"They're prettier in Greenland. You can go outside at night there and see stars and the Aurora Borealis. It's amazing." I answered.
"You've been?"
"Once when I was really little. Before my little sister was even born I think."
"I haven't. I went to Texas once, but that's the farthest from home I've ever been."
"My parents travel a lot for work. They usually take us with." They should have taken us with them.
"What do they do for work?"
"Photographers. Mostly scenic but sometimes people too. What do your parents do?"
"Mom is a secretary and dad is a sous chef at that new restaurant in uptown Ellsworth. You know it?"
"Um, I've been out of state the past couple months. Just got back to Maine this past week."
"Cool. Um, what's your sister's name?" I was confused until I remembered what I had said.
"Jade, she's six."
"So is Anton. Maybe they could be friends."
"I don't think that would work." I said, biting down on the scar tissue on the insides of my cheeks.
"Where's she placed?"
"She's downtown. On Main street."
"Hey, that's right around the cemetery. Isn't she scared of ghosts?"
"No." She can't be scared of herself. I got up and walked inside so I wouldn't cry. Keep your cool, Madelyn. My watch told me that it was almost 0600 hours, so I grabbed my arm and my clothes for the day and went to the bathroom to change. When I came out of the bathroom, I grabbed my phone and earbuds. I always liked to start my day with music. With nothing else to do I sat on my bed and worked on my handwriting until everyone woke up at 0830. Well, it was Saturday. It made sense that they would sleep in, my family did sometimes too. Saturday also meant that I got to go to the cemetery today and visit my family. My school backpack had my tombstone rubbing kit and the rubbings from the past three weeks. Eighteen in total, three of each member of my family and today I would get six more.