The Ice Princess (#2)

And the walls come crumbling down

Chapter 2- And the walls come crumbling down

The Ice Princess is available on Dreame.

https://www.dreame.com/novel/1970184.html

Go check it out!

The torrential rain beat down against the panes of the window, almost as if someone were throwing buckets of icy cold water at the glass.  The thunder was so loud and fearsome that the whole house seemed to rattle. Lightning seemed to push its way between the angry clouds and streaked the darkened skies in brilliant gleams of blinding light.

But it was beautiful, Bree could never deny that. This kind of unpredictable weather was something Bree missed dearly. Bree purchased a beautiful little villa in a peaceful neighborhood of Melrose and had moved in temporarily. Bree tried to tell herself that the only reason was because Mila's colleagues from NYU were coming in the upcoming week to set up a memorial for her and had requested that Mila's 'closest' friends stay behind and help.

But Bree knew, the moment she purchased the villa, that she was going to be letting down some roots there. She was going to stay in Melrose for a little while. Dressed in an oversized mauve pullover and black sweatpants, Bree stood in the middle of her tidy, tastefully decorated living room, staring out the window at the raging storm. The room was bathed in the cold dim light of a stormy afternoon, only accentuating Bree's feeling of total aloneness. The night before had been one of the most difficult nights of her existence. The funeral wasn't even half of it. 

It was seeing the others.

Seeing Lee.

Her mind kept popping in thoughts that she was fighting to keep out. But of course, it was only the truth. Bree had stayed in all day, messing about and getting settled in. She did everything she could to avoid accidentally running into her friends or parents in town. There's only so much grief and angst one can take in a lifetime.

Suddenly, her cell phone rang, the shrill ringing bursting through the silence of the darkened house. Bree was jerked out of her jumbled thoughts and fumbled to reach for the phone. It was an unknown number.

"Hello?" Bree's voice sounding choked. She realized that maybe it was; choked with tears.

"It's me" of course, this was normally not enough of an identification but Bree instantly recognized the voice and her hand trembled.

"Hey Claudia" she cleared her throat, waiting for the cutting remarks that were sure to come.

"I'm just calling to see if you'd like to come over to the studio I'm renting for the memorial. We'd really like your help" Claudia said after a pause. Her voice sounded like she'd rather be jumping off a cliff than calling up her old friend. And the way she said 'we', like the others were with her. They were all together, except for Bree. They were inviting her as a formality. And that stung.

Ouch!

"Sure" Bree exhaled, keeping her voice even, "I'll be there" and she hung up, resisting the urge to fling her phone at the wall across the room. With a heavy sigh, she got dressed for her evening out.

Planning the memorial of her dead ex-best friend with all her other ex-best friends. What fun!

Bree pulled over at the address Claudia sent over. Grabbing her bag, Bree stepped out of the car. She was dressed for the cold and rain: black jeans, knee-high brown rubber boots, and a deep red coat over the mauve pullover.

She trudged down the stairs to the studio, which was really just a huge empty multipurpose basement. It was modified by Claudia into a really cool studio, white walls, wooden flooring, great sound system, decent lighting and ballet mirrors lining the wall.