Annilova

The beginning of the shadow

"Step back!", said dad as he moved towards the door.
At that moment, the cracking sound of the door as dad opened it, was the scariest sound I had ever heard. My eyes were wide open when I saw Flora shut hers in fear.
"Can I help you?", asked dad looking at three giant figures at the door.
The tallest of them stepped inside, pushed dad aside with his right arm, then headed straight towards Flora who still had her eyes shut.
Flora was A LOT shorter than him. He bent down till his face was exactly in front of hers, which of course, she had no idea was happening.
I think his very heavy breathing was what alerted her that something was so close to her face.
She opened her eyes and gasped at the sight of his face, then ran and hid her face in mum's waist.
And well, that wasn't surprising. His face was extremely frightening. It was a tall face full of dark thick hair; thick eye-brows, thick mostache, thick beard. He had two scars on his right cheek, and one on his left.
He was chewing a gum, obviously.
"I said: Can I help you?", repeated dad.
"I'm General Gobenz. I'm here to ask you some questions."
His voice was as stinky as his face. And he chewed the gum with the most annoying sound that we all know pretty well. Not to mention the spitting.
"Okay...", said dad looking at the other two men who were still at the door.
The General looked down at me.
"Tell me, kid. Have you..."
"I'm no kid, sir.", I interrupted.
He bent down and looked into my eyes, crossing his eye-brows.
"Have you seen anything extraordinary today?", he asked.

You mean how you put a bullet in a man's chest and left the street covered in his blood?

"Extraordinary is so unspecific to me, sir.", I said trying not to seem nervous.
"Extraordinary is something you don't see everyday.", he said raising an eye-brow.

Well, I see how you kill innocent people every day. So, I won't be lying if I said No, right?

"No, sir. Nothing I don't see every day."
I had always been a good liar, ever since I was born. But he still seemed to disbelieve me. I could see it in his eyes, and in the way he chewed his gum; so fiercely as if he was losing patience.
"Well, have you HEARD anything extraordinary?"

You mean the gun shot?
Of course he won't believe that I failed to hear such a loud AND close gun shot!

"Ummmm....Oh! Yes!"
I could see my dad with a worried look on his face, and the General with an evil smile on his.
I went on:
"It was a loud sound. I guess it was the sound of fireworks. I saw the kids next door playing with them before. They were so amazing!"
I forced a smile on my face and jumped a little to show excitement.
I heard him sigh under his breath as he moved some steps back.

Yes! He bought it!

I saw dad smiling at me as he asked the General: "Anything else, sir?"
"No. That's all for now. Have a nice day!"
He started towards the door then suddenly stopped and looked back at me.
"How old are you?", he asked.
"I'm 11, sir."
"Such a cute 11-year-old!", he said smirking.
The General left and the other two soldiers followed him. Then, dad closed the door.
"You've always been a smart kid, Noelle.", said dad as he hugged me.

He had hardly finished his words when the door knocked again. But this time, someone knocked regularly as if they were playing drums. I knew it was someone playful. Like maybe, David.
And it was.
When dad opened the door, David ran towards Flora and I. He held my right hand and her left hand, and started pulling us towards the door as he shouted:
"Come! Come! I wanna show you something."
"Ummm...David! Haven't you noticed that we're still in pyjamas?", I said as I struggled to resist his pull.
"It doesn't matter, Noelle. You have to come! NOW!", he screamed.
"At least give me time to get dressed."
"Ohhhh! Not another two hours!", he said with a grumpy voice.
Flora and mum laughed as they looked at me.
"That's not funny! I get dressed in 45 minutes maximum."
Mum folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Well....if I don't polish my fingernails.", I completed. "I won't polish them today. So, I'll take only 30 minutes, I promise."
David let go of our hands, and Flora and I rushed to our room.

Not again! Two closets and still nothing to wear!
Well, not nothing. But maybe only two outfits out of thirty looked nice on me.

I looked in the mirror and made my every day wish of having a plastic surgery.
I was never a pretty girl.
My skin was a little bit dark. My curly hair was dark black and tall enough to touch my elbow.
I had a curvy body, which made me look a lot older than 11.
My face was always thin and pale. Well, ever since I had gone on a diet-which was a year before-because I starved myself to reach my goal weight, which I did.
The only thing that I liked about myself was my eyes. I had hazel eyes with eyelashes so long and thick that sometimes, people thought I used mascara. But I never did. I never liked make-up generally.

"Ummm...Noelle? Start getting dressed! David is waiting.", said Flora as she took off her pyjamas.

David had always been an easy-to-be-pleased kind of kid. He got excited about the smallest things. So, I didn't take him seriously, just like every single time. I thought it was nothing important to get elegantly dressed for.
I picked the first outfit I saw; a pink sweatshirt and dark blue jeans, then started the endless torture of brushing my hair.
After fifteen minutes or so, I put my hair up in a messy ponytail, and left the room.
"Where's Flora?", I asked mum who was sitting in the living room.
"She's waiting with David outside.", she replied without even looking at me. She was working on her laptop, as usual.
Flora always got ready before I did, and she never waited for me. Whether we were going out to meet someone, or walking to school, she always left me behind.

As soon as I stepped outside the house, David pulled me by my right arm and started running.
"QUICKLY! Run!", he shouted.

Flora and I followed him.
As I was running, I noticed how our street was cleaner than any other day. And just like dad had said; not a single drop of blood. What made it even more weird was the fact that people were acting so normally. Kids were playing, men were working, women were chatting. They didn't even seem to be talking about what happened. As if the whole killing scene was a sick imagination my mind had created.

When we were about a kilometer away from our house, David stopped and looked at a house that I had never seen before.
It was a traditional house with a white shake exterior, black shutters and a trim shrubbery, and was about 2 floors high. It looked a lot better than many houses in Annilova.

"Why are we here?", Flora asked.
"This house is beautiful! Look at all those flowers near the door!", I said admiringly. "Why haven't I seen it before?"
"Because when you're in the back seat of your car, or walking, you're always listening to music and too mesmerised to see anything.", said David.

Yes, that was true. I was always listening to music, especially while walking and riding. And when I wasn't-which only happened when the battery died, or when I forgot my headphones-I started to become in a really bad mood. And although I was always looking out the car window, I was never actually watching; I was always daydreaming. Besides, I never cared to see anything in the area. I'd always hated where we lived.

"So...we're here to see the house?", asked Flora.
"Nope! Wait for it!", said David. "ARNOLD!", he shouted as he looked up at one window of the house.
"I'm coming down!", answered a childish voice.

Thirty seconds later, the door of the house swung open, and a tiny figure ran towards us.

"Hello!", said the tiny figure as he looked up at me.
He was a lot shorter than me, and very thin. He had straight, dark black hair that looked great on his thin, smiley face. His skin was as dark as mine, maybe. And he looked a little bit younger than David.

"Hi!", I said as I bent down. "How are you?"
"I'm good.", he said smiling.
"Noelle, this is Arnold Miles, my new friend. He's our neighbour. Arnold, this is Noelle, my cousin. And that's Flora, her sister.", said David.
"Hi!", said Arnold looking at Flora who had been standing ten feet away from us the whole time.
"Hey!", said Flora without coming any closer.
Why can't she be sociable for once?
"She's a little bit shy at first.", I said to Arnold. "Flora! Come here and say Hi!"

As I talked to her, I accidently glanced up at one of the windows.
My eyes met someone else's.
Someone who was watching us from behind a curtain.