Honey

Chapter Two

We finally made it to the back of an old brick walled house at the corner of the large field, which was also just a block away from our dear Mayor's mansion. It is quite strange how one block could so easily shift from mansion to deteriorating houses in just a few meters.

Layla, was a pretty woman who looked like the original carbon copy of her daughter with just a bit of added laugh lines and crow's feet at the corners of her eyes. Her gray eyes were absolutely beautiful, almost as beautiful as Bradley's blue-grey ones, and her strawberry red hair was complimentary to her pale, fragile skin. It fell in soft waves just passed her shoulders, and when she answered the door and asked Bradley what was wrong her voice was quiet, but rang with the clarity of a sweet bell. The only weird thing about Layla was probably the way that she was staring at me like she was concerned about my well-being, but also as if she was scared of me.

"Um, hi, Ms. Williams. I'm Honey-Bell, I've heard good things about you," I said, which was a total lie. Around town people said many weird things about her, like how she never ate at the school balls we held even though the food is absolutely amazing. Also, that she never voiced any opinions at town meetings, or how she never truly looked anyone in the eyes. Miranda did things similar to this as well, which gave her a creepy reputation at school.

Layla gave me a wry grimace which did little to mar her delicate features, "I'm sure you have Honey, may I call you Honey? It seems easier," she asked sweetly, voice rushing through my ears like a soothing melody, and I became aware that I was very tired.

"Layla," Bradley said sharply, annoyance lacing her low voice. "You don't need to do that, she's old enough now, she deserves to know." I look over my shoulder at her to see that her face is hard, tight-lipped and the muscles in her jaw were twitching like they always did when she was trying to stay calm. "And before you argue with me you have to know that another Elf was in my room tonight."

That got Layla's attention as well as mine. Elf? Another Elf? What the heck was she talking about? What did she mean "another," when there wasn't even one to begin with! My eyebrows furrowed with a "what the hell?" expression on my face as I turned around fully to look Bradley in those beautiful, insane eyes of hers. However, she stopped me before I could say anything.

"Stop. Honey, I know you don't get it, and we will explain, we just need to get inside first," she declared, walking up to Layla and grabbing my elbow on her way. "Layla, we're going to all sit in your living room and explain a lot of things right now, okay? Everything."

Layla sighed and closed her eyes for a second, when she opened them she nodded to Bradley solemnly and led us into her home. Within a few of minutes we were all settled, and Miranda was now awake and with us too. Bradley and I sat on the small couch in the tiny living room, Layla on the recliner in the corner and Miranda sitting against the wall.

Bradley was the first to speak, "Honey, do you remember when we were six and Nikki Lace came up to us in the pool?" she asked. Of course I did, that day scared the bejeezus out of me, but what did that have to do with anything? She gave me one of her knowing looks, "I almost died that day, you were there, remember? You saved me."

Which was true, she did almost die, and yeah, technically I saved her. Except, an adult did the CPR, so I also technically didn't. My mom, Rozeline, had already taught me to swim, however, Bradley's mom, Odessa, had been trying, but failing, to teach my lovely little friend. I have always been tall for my age, and slender too, rather than how Bradley has always been short for hers. So, we had been sitting in the shallow end of the pool when this older girl named Nicole, or "Nikki", Lace came up to us.

Nikki was the most popular 9-year-old on the island. She was, according to basically all the adults, the "sweetest" and the "most adorable" little girl in the world. To give her some credit, she really was a sweet looking girl. She had the most perfect skin because it had no freckles and was never sunburnt no matter how long she was in the sun. Her eyes were a pale blue color and her hair was a soft brown that always lay in perfect little ringlets, even when she and her other friends did cartwheels and hand stands all day long. And even though she never used lip balm and hardly drank anything but chocolate milk and orange juice her lips were never chapped and always the perfect rose petal color, likewise all she ate was junk and candy and yet her teeth were perfectly straight rows of pearly whites. All the adults adored her, and I will admit that she put on a great charade of being the best little girl on the block, but she was actually the meanest little girl on Devil's Island. So, as we were sitting in the shallow end Nikki waded through the water to get to us. Bradley and I had never had any personal experience with her before this, but we had heard all about her from the other kids before we were let out for summer break. Consequently, all those stories about her harassing our friends had every hair on our tiny bodies standing to attention as we shivered under the hot sun, and her glacial gaze. Once she was standing a foot in front of us we slowly looked up at her, letting our blonde hair fall out of our eyes and discreetly scoot closer to each other.