The Color of Darkness COMPLETE NOVEL

Holes

I should have known by then that life would never be returning to "normal" as I knew it.

Normal might have been Nova and I deciding to go "steady" in light of recent events, "normal" might even have been sneaking around and hiding it from everyone (except Rick, of course, who obviously knew what was going on). Alas, no, Nova and I danced around the subject for over a month, during which she snatched me aside for two more heavy makeout sessions before, once again, pretending it never happened. By the time Thanksgiving drew near, I felt like I was going insane trying to define our relationship. I considered talking to Rick, but ninety percent of the time he had the emotional range of a dairy cow and I didn't want to risk it. If I thought things were complicated after the corn maze, it was nothing compared to when Nova got the letter.

"You. Me. Creek. Now."

I sighed and hung up my phone, shaking my head. It sounded urgent, so I put away my book (A Separate Peace, Knowles), threw on my warmest jacket, and trudged out into the snow, wondering what possibly could have riled up Nova enough to want to meet outside in the (literally) freezing cold. My footsteps threw up a poof of white powder with every step. The winters here were cold and snowy, but also surprisingly dry. I crunched my way through Mr. Bennett's pasture and down into the gully, hoping avidly that I wasn't about to jumped for a surprise make-out session. Yes, even I had my limits.

"Look at this shit!" she yelled as I rounded the corner to our clearing, breath steaming up in a great white cloud. She tossed a torn envelope at me and crossed her arms, one hip cocked, looking about as pissed as I've ever seen her in my life. I pulled out a faded old photograph and several sheets of paper folded together. I glanced at the picture really quick--a familiar looking toddler and a rough-looking guy smiling up at the camera-- before Nova snatched it away and stuffed it in her pocket. She gestured for me to read the letter and began pacing in front of me as I sat down on the couch, (literally) freezing my ass off, and began to read the letter:

Dear Natalie,

Hi, this is your Aunt Claudia (Billy's sister) and I want to invite you to our family Thanksgiving dinner again this year. I know we didn't part of such good terms last year, but this year will be different, I promise. We're going to be having a big ol' turkey fixed up from the farm and I'll make my famous lime jell-o!

The letter itself wasn't particularly interesting--just details about what the family seemed to have been up to over the past year. The very last line, however, caught my eye immediately and I suddenly knew exactly why Nova made me come down here:

Oh, and yes, your dad will definitely be coming to Thanksgiving dinner this year!

Hope to see you there!

Claudia

I looked up at her blankly. "Well? Are you going to go?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course I'm not going to go!" She began ranting about how, last year at the dinner, half the people had gotten drunk and gotten the entire group into a massive fight, complete with thrown food, a broken window, and several guns pulled on people. I read over the letter once again, wondering how it could possibly be that bad--Nova's family sounded like they were a reasonably put-together bunch, at least according to her aunt. I shivered, wondering if it was okay to suggest we go back to one of our houses, but I kept my mouth shut.

"I think you should go," I said finally, handing her back the letter. She studied me carefully, trying to figure out if I was joking or not. After rightfully deciding I was serious she started patting her pockets until she found her pack of cigarettes, of which only two were gone.