Deadly Secrets

Chapter 1

        I cursed silently as I slowly crossed the freezing wooden floor of my bedroom. I felt the chills run up my spine and chastised myself for leaving the window open. I went over to my dresser and began sorting through my half wrinkled clothes looking for something to wear. I grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and pushed my door closed. I looked up to the glass framed picture sitting there.

"Good morning mom, dad." I said to the picture frame holding a picture of my parents. My mother had striking long black hair and bright green eyes while my dad had a messy mop of brownish blondish hair with blue eyes. They had their arms wrapped around each other laughing on a beach where our last vacation as a family was.

        My parents had died a few years ago in a hiking accident. They loved going to exotic places and daring what normal people wouldn’t usually do. When I was really young they used to take me along sometimes. The people they were with said it was a freak accident that the cable supporting their weight had jammed in the equipment. Until I became of age my brother and I were under the protection of our uncle Malcom.

 "Eleanor Amelia Bast! Stop fooling around and come down here!" yelled our housekeeper. Even after all these years Jane could still yell like a banshee. I find her most annoying in the mornings, but after breakfast I can't help but simply love her. That's only because she has a lot of practice of getting around teenage bullcrap. Even though her job description says housekeeper, there must be a subtitle underneath that says babysitter as well.

 "Be down in a second!" I yelled at her. I slipped off my pajamas and put on my clothes. Quickly putting my hair up in an elastic, I hurried down the stairs. It was Monday morning, and for the first time since I don't know when, I feltl good. I felt all light and fluffy, like a cloud. Wait, can clouds be happy? Well, whatever. I kissed the top of brother’s head and sat down next to him at the table. I am instantly handed pancakes right off the pan. Jane was humming one of her morning tunes and cooking up a storm.

        Her snowy white hair was neatly tucked up into a bun. She wore a blue cotton dress under her green apron with daisies on it. Her skin was wrinkled and dotted with age spots. All these were indicators of her age, until she opened her mouth. She had a way of speaking like she was half her age. Not that I knew her age, she wouldn't tell anybody, and those who knew are long dead. I made a face and rolled my eyes while Leo scoffed down the last of his. I looked at his head, good he was still shorter than me. Seeing as he heading towards his thirteenth birthday I tend tp wake up every morning terrified that he's grown taller than me.

"Any plans for your birthday?" he asked me cheerfully. If he wasn't my flesh and blood I wouldn't have believed a person could be this happy in the morning.

"Oh, that was today? I forgot." I smiled at him and ruffled his hair. He sort of reminded me a golden retriever, in puppy version sometimes. His bright blue eyes contrasted with his dark black hair vividlly. Despite the contrast, he tended to be seen by eldery folks as adorable. There ain't nothing adorbale about him. But I'm his sister, so I guess I have to say that.

"How could you forget your turning eighteen? Are you feeling okay, do you want more pancakes?" I stuffed my face to make a point that I hadn’t even finished my first helping. Eighteen years I’ve been alive, if I could describe my life with one word, it would be…okay, so I can't describe my life in one word. I can sum it up in three though; boring, boring, and uh well, boring. That just comes with the territory though. Nothing ever happened here in our sleepy town. I finished the rest of my plate and sipped my orange juice.

"No, I didn't forget Jane. Are we still on for that doctor’s appointment todays after school?" She walked over and plopped another pancake on my plate and smiled one of her 'You eat everything on your plate or you won't eat at all' smiles.

"Why of course we are still going, wouldn't want the birthday girl coming down with something." Leo giggled as Jane walked back to the oven to pour some more batter on the pan. I was going to come down with something if she doesn't stop that breakfast of heroes today.

“You still dropping me off at school today?” I nodded at my brother as I downed the last of my orange juice. I watched Jane click off the stove and hang up her apron. Leo slipped off his chair and grabbed his backpack. I gulped the rest of my pancakes down and placed my plate into the sink. I grabbed my keys and my shoulder bag.

“Ready?” Leo nodded and followed me out.