Cheshire Girl

Ch. 9

Mom seemed okay with me going, although she was bothered by it too.  Charlie didn't want to come to this house.  Yes, it was a little rude of me to have in mind asking her about it when this was our first outing as friends (is it weird I'm keeping track of that?), but I felt that I needed to know—I had the right.  I wasn't going to wait for people to tell me things on their time.

                Anyway, I found the library.  It was a little bigger than I expected, but not by much.  I deduced that the oldest buildings in Cheshire were brick buildings, like the school and most of the stores (should I have mentioned that earlier?  Is it that important?)

                Charlie was sitting by one of the computers.  She also had her school backpack with her, while I hadn't brought anything but my wallet and phone.

                "This isn't weird, is it?" she said the second I sat next to her.  Charlie had a PDF file open on the screen, and scrawled notes in a notebook.  She was doing homework.

                "How would this be weird?"  Address her concerns first, since she's trying to be friendly.  Then I can ask why she won't come to my house.

                "Well, didn't everyone immediately want to be your friend the second you got here?  I'm talking Connor, mostly —but anyone else?"

                "Uh, yeah….  So?"

                "So, I just hope I'm not like them."

                I laughed.  "You're definitely not like them."

                Charlie looked relieved.  "Thank God."  I was surprised that the girl who wasn't afraid to throw punches was concerned about seeming… I don't know, too clingy or something.  "It's get pretty boring around here.  There's no one to talk to.  Well, I have my brother, but he's ten, so…."

                "What's his name?"

                "Ian."

                ….

                "Yeah… my mom loves the idea of girls having boy names," Charlie went on, "but boys can't have girl names like Stacey or Leslie.  Maybe, like, fifty years ago, but not today.  She almost named my brother Skylar, but I made her pick a more boyish name… so, she came up with Ian."  She shrugged, as if she'd explained why I hadn't immediately responded.

                I nodded.  "Ian's a good name," I said finally.

                "So, no siblings for you?"

                "No… no," I sighed.  "Well… a younger half-brother, but I have no idea where he is."

                Charlie laughed.  "How'd that happen?  Is he still packed in a box?"

                I forced myself to laugh.  "Ah… my dad… cheated on my mom."

                Laugh-time over.

                "Sorry.  I didn't mean to—"

                "No, no, it's cool.  It's cool.  Better to get that out of the way and whatnot…."  It got awkwardly quiet with us just sitting there.  "So, what're you working on?"

                "Assignment for English.  You don't have homework?"

                "Finished it."

                "Wow—remind me to ask you over for homework help next time."

                Now was as good a time as any.  "So, why'd you want to meet here?"

                Charlie nodded to the computer screen.  "Homework."

                Convenient….  I nodded and shrugged.  "Yeah, yeah….  It's just that you wanted to come over, and then I gave you my address, and then you changed your mind…."

                She glanced at me from the corner of her eye.  "You want to know what's up."

                "Uh, yes, I do."

                Charlie sighed.  "Just… keep in mind Cheshire is small, so anything considered… small in the outside world is, like, major here."

                I nodded, forgetting that Charlie hadn't grown up in Cheshire.

                "And everyone here's lived here for… well, ever.  Everyone's grandparents and such grew up together."

                "I got it."  Just get to it!

                "A girl was murdered in your house.  Decades ago, but still….  No one's lived in that house for years, no matter how many times it's been redone."

                I blinked.  "That's it?"

                Charlie looked surprised.  "You're not… bothered by it?"

                I scoffed.  "No.  I mean, yeah, it's a little creepy at night, but still….  What, are you saying it's haunted?"

                She shrugged.  "It's the town theory."

                I couldn't help but start laughing.

                Charlie frowned.  "I don't find it very funny, Bella.  I mean, nothing weird has happened since you moved there?"

                "Like what?"

                "I don't know—I've never lived in a haunted house before."

                "Charlie, it's not haunted.  There's no such thing as ghosts."

                "I think you just doomed yourself by saying that.  My family takes that stuff seriously."  She beckoned for me to lean closer.  "My grandma practices gypsy magic."  Charlie moved back.  "She's not psychic, but there've been too many times to just call them coincidences or senile moments."

                "Well, I don't believe in that stuff."  I stood up.  "I'm going to look around—wait, is the internet good here?"

                "No—it's been down since last semester.  They should be fixed sometime this week.  The school still has internet, though."

                "Oh, okay.  I'm gonna go look around in the books."

                Haunted.  Haunted?  I lived in a haunted house?  No….  The house was just old.

                I walked through all the aisles, not finding any yearbooks; so, they were definitely at school.  I found a few books about Cheshire history. 

                I only looked at the chapter headings, but nothing about murders.  I did learn that the Wyatts and Walkers were the two founding families of Cheshire.  Then, other families settled down later like the Connors, Hammonds, Jones', and even Fords (common enough name, I thought).

                Maybe my "research" methods weren't thorough, but maybe the town of Cheshire wouldn't put scandalous happenings like a girl's murder in a public library.