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chapter four! Your house is haunted ☆
Everyone knew where they lived. How couldn't they? They were harassed for months after everything that happened with Sal and Andie.
Kids would taunt each other, daring one another to approach the Singh's front door, yelling and laughing. The Singh's had become totally isolated, secluded from the rest of Little Kilton's residents.
Cassie often walked past the house, holding her breath as she did. She was still sceptical, even if in the back of her mind she believed Sal was innocent. Each day for the past five years she had been listening to everyone expressing their disbelief on how someone Andie trusted so much could hurt her. She'd been fed with the information that Sal was guilty and that the Singh family were bad people. She couldn't help but have a small piece of her believe them, feeling guilty when she did.
So, even though she was assured that everything was okay, welcomed in along with Pippa, standing in the Singh's living room felt awfully wrong. Cassandra couldn't shake the feeling of anxiety bubbling in the pit of her stomach, it didn't help that she was overthinking if anyone had seen her enter and later exit. Cassie knew that if she had known this was where Pippa would have taken her, she would've ran. She had to admit, it was a smart move on Pip's behalf.
"No, I'm alright, thank you." Cassie smiled slightly, declining the glass of water she was offered. Pip stood beside her, more sober than before, the anxiety of the situation clearing her head and making her more alert.
There were distant footsteps and Ravi appeared in the stairway, exchanging a few words with his mother before he approached them. Cassie froze, mind blank and a tightness in her chest, one she knew wasn't going to go away until she was back in the fresh air and free of any worry the tense situation caused her. There was no way this could end well. Bells weren't meant to interact with Singhs. Not anymore.
Pip apologised to him for their last interaction, eyes glassy when she thought he would turn them down. To both of their surprise, Ravi led them upstairs. Cassandra followed behind them, hesitantly entering Sal's bedroom. She felt out of place.
His room was blank, empty. All of Sal's belongings were in boxes which were scattered around the room. There were no personal belongings on the shelves, nothing hung up on the walls. It felt cold, as though Sal had been completely erased, his memory stuffed into boxes. Cassie was aware that the Singhs never got the option to grieve their son fully, perhaps this was easier than waiting.
Andie's room had been left completely as she'd left it, as if time had frozen the second she left her room for the last time. She wasn't sure if it was because her family had hope of her return or if they didn't dare enter her room and disrupt any memory of her.
