THE MURDER NEXTDOOR

chapter 2

It's Saturday morning and Cherry was late for breakfast.

" Cherry, breakfast!" Zoey, Danny's mom yelled impatiently. She tosses a hash stare at Danny implying that he had a hand in Cherry's disappearance.

" I didn't kill her," Danny said defensively as he took another bite of his sugar less cereal that tasted like dirt. Everything in Willowdon tasted like dirt.

Strange how most people in Willowdon stayed away from sugar. They almost seemed scared of it. But not the Grape family, never the Grapes. They had sugary cereals and sweet ice cream and more. They were quite the sweet tooth.

"Did you use Robert to scare her again? " She accused. Robert was his third pet spider. All the past Roberts were vanquished by Cherry's wicked step after scaring her to death.

" I haven't seen her since I woke up," Danny wondered if she could tell that he was lying.

"Danny, she's your sister," she said with sympathy.

" Well, not really," Danny only whispered it, but she heard him. Danny watched as sadness flushed on his mother's face and immediately regretted his words.

"Can you at least help me find her?" She asked softly with a little hurt in her tone.

Suddenly there was a sharp scream from outside, the kind that only comes out of seven year old girls.

" Found her," Danny said sarcastically, pointing out side with his spoon. He pretended not to care as his mother rushed out for Cherry.

He was being mean, and he knew it. He was just _ hurting. Seven years past and it still felt fresh.

It was the divorce. Danny never understood it. Jordan, Danny's dad,and Zoey Cross, Danny's mom,were so in love. They wanted nothing but to start a family together. But they soon found out that... Jordan couldn't have kids.

Yep, Daniel or rather Danny was adopted. They never lied to him about it. It never mattered. They loved him all the same and everything was awesome for a while until Zoey found out that she _was pregnant.

Everything fell apart from there... slowly. And when Cherry was born, Jordan asked for a divorce. Believe it or not ,this crushed Danny more than it did Zoey.

For a long time he blamed himself for their separation. He soon took out all his frustration on Cherry.

Danny watched Zoey came back in with Cherry. She was holding her stuffed frog on its neck tightly...too tightly.

Zoey and Cherry looked so alike. They both had a smooth jaw line, green eyes and long, straight,chestnut hair. The only difference was that Cherry's hair had a whisper of red.

Danny looked nothing like anyone. He had tan skin,a set of caramel eyes and dark curly hair. He hated that part about himself. It shouldn't have bothered him or make him feel lonely, but it did.

Without knowing it, Danny was locked into a stare contest with Cherry.

" Attention seeker," Danny spat after loosing another round.

"Mama's boy!" Cherry shot back as she Victoriously stuck out her tongue. She's the devil's daughter, Danny could swear it.

" Enough,both of you!" Danny's mom raised her voice, " I don't have time for this," she panicked," I have an interview in...oh my god, two minutes..." She quickly grabs her bag and checks her makeup up one last time then rushes to the door." Play nice, or at least don't shive each when am gone, okay?There better not be a dead body when I get back." She commanded.

And just like that, she was gone. For the first few minutes, the fight between Danny and Cherry was only verbal ,but things got really physical.

With in seconds, glass ornaments were shattered and wooden furnitures were reduced to splinters.

In the afternoon, the door bell rung.

" Shoot!" Danny whispered.

At that moment, Danny's hands were on Cherry's neck.... squeezing.

"Mommy," Cherry called out. He quickly covered Cherry's mouth with him palm.

" It's Kale and Bexie," Kale announced behind the door.

Cherry bit his palm and he yelped in pain, then she made a ran for it.

Danny was following behind as she got into her room. This was Danny's chance to get rid of her_ for the afternoon of course, so he locked her up in her room, leaving her yelling and growling like a caged wild dog.

That was one way to avoid blood shed_ or so he thought.

"I got the cookies," Kale said with so much enthusiasm signaling to the white box of cookies in his hands.

" No," Bexie protested, " I got the cookies. No offense but your sugar less, vegetarian cookies taste like dirt. "

" True," Danny agreed with her while taking a bite of Bexie's cookies, " but yours taste like diabetes."

Danny opened his mouth to say that her dad made them best, but thought better of it.

Together they walk out to meet their fate as they locked the door behind them.

"Why do I get the feeling we are walking into a horror movie?" Danny was joking and smiling on the outside but his heart was beating so hard he couldn't breathe. Maybe they were.

"Wouldn't it be cool if were?" Bexie asked as if three kids walking to a haunted house just as the sun was setting was her idea of fun.

" You think having to survive Jigsaw is cool?" Kale looked calm. Probably because of his logical thinking. Reasoning with something like, "chances of getting killed by a serial killer are lower than one percent. "

"Who do you think would die first?" Danny asked as he laughed to shake away his nerves.

Both Danny and Bexie threw a stare at Kale in response.

"Oh come on guys," Kale objected, "I know am the short one but if we're being realistic, Bexie would die first."

"Wait why," she asked.

"Your reckless and impulsive way of thinking would limit you from making reasonable decisions in a high pressured situation. Then Danny would be next. " He added.

"But this isn't a horror movie," Danny said, finally coming down, " guess we'll never know."

At 9:00 pm that night  Danny's door was opened and Zoey came in.

She was tired and hopeless. She didn't get the job. That was the seventh job interview she had failed, no one could blame her for coming home late and a little drunk.

Her eyes widened at the site of three kids sitting on her recked living room.

She wanted to get mad and fairly, she had so many reasons to, but she noticed something was different in all of them. Danny, Kale , Bexie even Cherry had all changed. She could see it in their blank expressions. It was their innocence...it was completely ripped out.

A/N. Super psyched about this chapter and not only because it's chapter 2 and that's the farthest I've ever gone with a story 🤭 but also coz we all get to know more about Danny. Don't tell anyone but am actually writing this as I go.🤫😆.

I'll be doing more chapters, like this one, where I narrate a character's background to understand them better.

Please comment who's background and family drama you want dirt on next 😉😅. Bye.