Clara Moore and the Creatures of the Night

"It's not just a feeling"

CHAPTER 5

The Autumn leaves crunched under Clara's feet as she aimlessly walked the street. Clara had found most of the New York ways easy to adjust to, as California had the same crazy vibe, just in a different way. Yet, it was the weather that Clara found the most unusual, with the changing seasons always bringing her another surprise.

With her weird dream still lingering, her Aunt's revelations about her fate and the gaping chasm her brother's death had left in her chest, she had fled to the streets to find clarity. She didn't know how to deal with her mind anymore. Her Aunt's reading had thrown her, they felt so true, but how could she not have a fate? She was always so sure she made the choices she did because of her intuition, knowing to go with her gut because that was what fate was. She had rushed so quickly to New York, never truly believing her brother's death to be an accident. She knew she would probably never find evidence to support this belief, yet also strongly felt that the only way she could put this feeling to rest and gain closure, was to go to the place where it all happened.

However, maybe what Aunt  Agnes had said was right? Maybe she was drifting along. As she walked on, she let her mind ease and soon enough she was taken back to the moment she left California.

"I forbid you to go!" Her mother's voice grew louder as she yelled at the girl across the dining room table. She shrunk just an inch more in her chair, wishing the lights would blow so couldn't see the anger plastered on her mother's face.

"Mum-" she began, as she tried to reason with her mother.

"Clara, stop." Her mother yelled at her. But, the girl kept at it, knowing this was the only way.

"Mum. Please, I need to do this. You can't expect me to just sit around, you need to let me move on," she pleaded.

"Clara, this is beyond ridiculous. Explain to me why you need to go to New York." Her mother's voice had lowered but she still flinched.

"It's just- I have-," the girl fought to give a reason for her urgency to leave. "I can't explain it. His death just doesn't make sense. How could it be an accident? He was always so careful-" tears began to well in her eyes, yet she persisted, desperate to get her mother to see sense. "No fire just starts like that, not at an electrical company it's so unlikely, everything is managed. It must have been deliberately started by-"

"NO CLARA! That is enough!" Her mother's shout cut her off, as she slammed her knife and fork down on the table. She looked up at her mother and felt a pain in her chest as she noticed the dark circles that surrounded her eyes and the hollowness in her face. The girl felt the tension lingered in the room as her mother glared across at her. What would she do if she found her own daughter had left? Her brain spun, and she tried to push the thought from her mind. She had to! It was her only chance to put rest to the feeling her brother's death was not what it seemed.

She slid back from her chair, her face set. As she stood up, her mother's stern voice protested "Clara finish your dinner." She shook her head, no longer feeling hungry.

"It's not just a feeling." She told her mother lightly, and left the room before she heard a response.

The hallway felt empty. All the photos had been taken down of her brother's death, as her mother could not bear to look at him with about breaking down into another one of her episodes. The girl's room was a mess as she pushed the door open. She kicked at a dirty sweater on the floor and headed straight for her closet. Reaching in she took out a leather rucksack her father once owned, and her mother had given her. Hurriedly, she began to shove some possessions in.