Dwellings On The Past ~ (Lorraine's daughter)

Girls/boys talk

David seems so different. While his sisters both have blonde long her, his is brown and short. Well, short makes sense. He's taller than his own dad and his eyes are green. The rest of the family has either brown or blue eyes. "Wait."

He stops in his tracks. We're in the library on our way outside. "What?" he asks. "Is there a demon or some shit. You can see them, right?"

Yes. "Kind of. But there's nothing. I just have a question."

He sighs. "You scared me because you have a question? That better be a really damn good question."

He doesn't look bad. His eyes have a really special shape and his jawline is sharp. "Are you adopted?" I ask. Maybe that's a little uncharming from me.

He furrows his eyebrows. "No." he exclaims. "Why the fuck would you ask that?" There's some anger in his voice, yet it's not loud. He didn't even raise his voice.

There's no answer I have ready to give him. So I just stand there. I open my mouth to answer but close it again as soon as I realize I have nothing to say to him. Nothing that wouldn't offend him more. Maybe I shouldn't go into the dark garden with him.

"You didn't said that because I look a little different than my sisters, did you?" he asks. I remain silent. "That is so graceful of you." he chuckles bitterly. Maybe I hit a nerve. Maybe he's using irony and is secretly amused.

"Sorry?" I try to apologize.

"Just keep walking, Linda." he says dryly and opens the door to the garden. I follow him slowly and reservedly. This is probably a bad idea and if he's about to murder me, the police probably would say it was my fault. Because firstly, I'm a woman and secondly, I follow a stranger in a dark garden with no other houses within a two miles reach.

"How old are you?"

We walk next to the flowers, directly towards the swings. "Seventeen, why?" I wonder while we sit down on the swings. He's eighteen and I enjoy knowing that without having to ask him. JJ told me. He shrugs, not moving his swing an inch. "Just asking. Making conversation. We could also sit here in silence if that's what you'd prefer." Ugh, why is he such an ass?

"You're rude. Very unkind." I state. "Do you ever smile? Like actually smile?"

"Are you always so confronting?" he asks in return. I open my mouth to answer, but once again I don't have anything to say. It's not like me, not at all. I seem to rather enjoy talking, because I do it a lot. My best friend Katie talks more though. And she definitely talks more nonsense.

David doesn't say anything and I don't either. I can hear the wind in the trees and every once in a while I hear an owl howling. If it wasn't for the spirits in the house, I'd love and enjoy this. But when I look up at the balcony I see the woman I've seen way too often in the last week.

She's not looking at me and all I can think about is what I can do if she does. "What is it, witch?" he asks.

"There's a spirit." I say, my eyes not leaving the woman, who's more of a body than a real person. "And never call me witch again. It's not funny nor good for your or my safety."

I can feel him getting more and more uneasy. "How do you even know stuff like that?" he asks, but I'm not sure he'll listen to my answer. I glance at him and see him looking towards the balcony, desperately trying to see something.

"My parents do lectures. I sneak in every once in a while." I say. The blood in my veins turns into ice when the woman finally looks at me. I didn't think of an escape plan yet. It would be running to my mom, but she's a little far away for me to do that.

"Linda? What do we do?" David asks. And while I'd really like to answer him I don't know what to tell him. I'm not my mom or my dad, I'm not an expert. I just know some stuff and that's it. "What. Do. We. Do?" he repeats. Word for word.

"I don't know! Okay?" I shout. While losing my temper I turned to David. And that was a mistake. "Shit!" I curse when I see the woman gone. While that could mean she's really gone, I know, no, I can feel she's not. "Shit, shit, shit."

"Stop muttering shit and tell me what to do!" David demands. How the fuck is his voiced not raised? He doesn't sound calm, but he doesn't sound panicked either. I'm panicked. I'm panicking, because I don't know what to do. I don't know and now something's gonna happen to David and me. Something bad. And it's entirely my fault because David thought he'd be safe with me.

It starts to rain heavily and I look up at the sky. This has to be some kind of joke. Is God kidding me right now? Just after a few seconds my hair is so wet it probably looks like I took a shower. I feel a hand wrap around my wrist tightly and then it pulls towards the house. "No, no, no." I mutter. This is the worst. I don't want to get any closer to this disgusting woman. When I open my eyes - which I don't even recall closing - I see it's not some invisible force or a spirit pulling me with them, it's David.

"What on earth are you doing?" I exclaim, following him unwillingly. "You saw a spirit and your first instinct isn't to run away, it's to stay and see what happens. You're sick or I don't know, fucking insane." he rambles while we reach the house. He finally lets go of my arm, but somehow I feel a little more unsafe now.

"I suggest you change and go to sleep." he says, glancing at my wet deep blue - now presumingly black - nightgown. Everything in me tells me to not go up there alone, but I can't ask David to come with me, can I? No, I can't.

Instead I just mumble "Yeah, you too." before I walk out of the library and up the stairs. I basically run past Julie's room, also the balcony room. I rush towards the very end of the hallway and burst into my parents room. They both heard me enter.

Soon the light of each bedside table is turned on and they are both sat up in the bed. "Vision?" my mom asks at the same time as my dad asks what happened. I walk closer and only know they see my wet hair and clothes.

My dad glances at my mom, worry written all over his face. She's wearing a frown as well. They both open their arms for me and I climb between them. "I saw her again." I say, no further explanation needed. I've been seeing her for the last few days more often than I can count on one hand and I've always told my parents about it, as promised.

"I was outside with David and she was on the balcony. She looked at us, I freaked out and then she was gone." I ramble. My dad has an arm wrapped around me, my mom as well. It's calming, sitting between the two of them. Their warmth is very welcomed by my cold and soaked body.

When I glance at first my mom and then my dad I realized I missed some parts of what happened. I was outside with a body my age, alone and at night. Oh, no.

"What were you doing out there with him anyway?" asks my dad.

"It's not like you could do that when it's still light outside?" asks my mom.

"Where exactly were you even doing? What would you do in the garden at-" he glances at the clock on the bedside table. "At 1AM?"

"Were you stargazing with him?" asks my mom. Of course, she's a hopeless romantic. My dad is as well, but his role as my protector is more important to him.

"We're here on a job, we're working. What on earth were you doing?" my dad speaks up again.

Why do I kinda feel like throwing up? "Give her a chance to explain, Ed." my mom mentions when my dad opens his mouth to ask another question. I mentally thank my mom for interrupting him. "Explain." she demands.

It takes a while, a too long while in my opinion, but I finally manage to tell them what happened. All of it, without them interrupting me. "Where is he now?" my dad asks. I shrug my shoulders. "Sleeping?"

"Yeah, you should do that, too." he mentions. My mom stands up and walks over to her drawer. I've basically only worn her clothes for the last few days. I didn't bring enough, but that's my lessons-learned for next time. While she grabs a nightgown and hands it to me my dad gets up and walks towards the door. "I'll go to the toilet." he says before closing the door behind him.