Chapter 22 – A Peace Offering
The first sign that my mom was ready to forgive me was the plate of chicken lasagne sitting in the microwave. My favourite. I punched in the time to warm it up, wondering where my siblings were. The house was strangely quiet, and the beeping microwave made the silence seem louder. Archer was probably in his room, doing homework or something, Meg was still at my aunt’s house and Abbey would be asleep. That left four unaccounted for. Not to mention my parents, who were nowhere to be found. I heard the TV playing and wandered into the room, carrying my lasagne and a fork. I found Dad on the couch, half-asleep with the remote control on his belly. It bobbed up and down with his breathing.
Smiling, I snatched it up and channel-surfed. A quick peek in the garage told me that Mom’s was out – probably with my remaining siblings – and I could eat in front of the TV in peace. Even if Dad woke, I knew he wouldn’t sell me out. I watched something mindless – a reality show of some sort – as I ate, allowing my stress to pour out. I finished my plate and carried it to the sink. A pair or headlights flared through the window and I waved to my mom as she climbed out of the car – alone.
“Oh good, you’re home. How are you feeling? Any sore throat, cough, runny nose?”
She plonked her handbag on the table and pressed a hand to my forehead, checking for fever.
“I’m fine, Mom.”
I wondered why she was so specifically concerned about my health all of a sudden, until the penny dropped. I understood why my siblings weren’t at home.
“Who got the flu first?” I asked.
With so many of us in the house, if one got sick, the disease had a habit of bouncing between us. After a while, my mom realised that the best way to prevent it happening was to bundle the sick children off to my aunt.
“Tabitha. It’s just you, Archer and Abbey here. Now, I hope you have a good explanation as to why you missed supper?”
“Oh, um...”
I ran through the real explanation in my mind, wondering how she would respond to me getting locked in a cell with a psychopathic killer.
“We had to investigate something in the city, and on the way back I got stuck in traffic.”
“I’m not happy about you working for this detective, Maya. He’s going to expose you to all sorts of things you’re too young to be seeing...Like corpses and crime scenes and what-not. Not to mention the dangerous characters you’ll be exposed to. It’s dangerous!”
It probably wasn’t the best time to tell her that I saw the aftermath of a massacre today. Instead, I sighed.
“Mom, students doing medicine dissect corpses. I think I’m old enough to see one. Plus, it’s not that dangerous...”
The last part was a complete lie. It was dangerous, but I hadn’t been hurt so far.
“Just promise you’ll be careful...And that you’ll actually study something proper next year and not go gallivanting around town with a murder detective?”
“I promise to be careful.”
I couldn’t make any promises about next year, but she looked satisfied at careful.
“I’m going to bed,” I yawned. It was early for me to be going to sleep, but I could feel my eyelids drooping already. Now that I’d eaten, a hot shower and a pillow was all I wanted.
“Okay, sleep well. Let me know if you start feeling sick.”
“I will.”
“Oh, I’ve left something on your desk as a surprise. So there are no hard feelings between us anymore. Love you, Maya.”
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The Raven Conspiracy
Teen FictionThe Raven Conspiracy The thefts, murders and secrets are only the beginning “It was only my first day, but I was ready to quit.” Working as an assistant to an investigator is so much more than Maya thought it would be. Where fetching coffee leads t...
