Spiced Molasses

Chapter 45

Beth didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing they had returned in the dark. She supposed it made cosmic sense. She had left her home in the dead of night, while her life was in tatters. It seemed right that she return the wrong side of midnight.

The familiar figure of her childhood home loomed out of the shadows, silent as a tomb. All the good memories Beth had there didn't seem enough to override the feeling of dread that sat heavily in her stomach as she looked at it.

Maybe in time, the balance would shift and she would remember lazy, sun drenched afternoons talking with her parents on the porch before she remembered the colour of their blood against the grass.

Beth swallowed hard. Her eyes drifted unbidden to the spot where they had lay.

"We have them," Rick said quietly, appearing at her shoulder. "To bury properly when you all are ready."

Beth nodded and hope that was enough to convey her gratitude. She didn't trust herself to speak right now.

Shawn was already walking up to the front door, forever fearless, forging a path for his sisters to follow. Maggie was quick to take his lead and Beth only hesitated for an instant longer. She was one third of the reason they were all here after all.

The inside of the house was chillingly normal. Beth didn't know what she had expected though. Some physical manifestation to reflect the horror of what had occurred? But nothing had changed. The walls were still the same colours, the pictures on the mantel showed the smiling faces of her family.

The atmosphere was off. The air was thick and heavy. Beth knew logically that it was what happened to houses that had been closed up for longer periods of time but it seemed apt. Agents were drifting out in pairs to survey the area, taking stock of the environment they were now tasked with protecting.

Their presence was such that Beth didn't feel too afraid to venture further into the house, up to the second storey where her room was. The bed covers were still thrown back but other than that, the space seemed undisturbed. A thin layer of dust coated everything. Her first impressions were right. Her home had become a mausoleum, a structural tribute to a life that was gone.

With a shuddery breath, Beth tied her hair up with an elastic still lingering on her bed stand. With business like efficiency, she stripped the bed of the old sheets. She bundled them up in her arms and went to Maggie's room.

Maggie was standing in the middle of the space with almost reverent detachment. Her fingers hovered over the shade of her old lamp, shaking but never quite touching.

"I'm going to do a load of laundry," Beth announced, trying to sound matter of fact. "Do you want to throw your sheets in there too?"

"Yes- Yeah, that's a good idea," Maggie accepted after a stilted pause. Her green eyes focused and carefully pulled the sheets off her bed, trying not to send plumes of dust fluttering around the room.

Shawn wasn't in his room. It was more likely he was with Andrea or Rick, peppering them with a million questions about how they were going to ensure their safety here. It was his way of coping, Beth knew that. He wouldn't want to sit around and bask in the new misery that had installed itself in the house.

Beth took his sheets all the same and they sent the washing machine into motion. It was an old thing and Beth had heard the cycle more times than she could count. It was such a familiar sound that for a second her eyes filled with tears.

She hastily brushed them aside with the back of her hand. She had promised she wouldn't cry anymore, not until this was all over.

Maggie was watching her carefully, having noticed the sudden rush of emotions. She didn't push though and once Beth was composed she wordlessly led the way to the linen cupboard.