herondale | shadowhunters

4

"I'm leaving now, bye mum!" I call up the stairs to my mother who is probably still in bed half asleep.

I breathe a sigh of relief as I walk out of the front door, locking the door behind me. I'm glad to be out of the house and away from the grieving for today.

Though I barely feel as if I'm awake as I walk along the cobbled village streets to work. I didn't sleep last night.

Even as I leave home I still feel as if a sprit is following me. I had visions of my grandad in my sleep, but they weren't happy ones.

I could have sworn I'd seen him stood there right beside me when I was stood at the funeral service and heard his voice telling me words that made no sense.

And I'd been blaming these visions on the grief of my grandfather's death. That I'd been tired and gone mad or something, but now I'm not so sure.

Everything just seems a little strange.

The village seems its usual, un-energetic self. Though it is nearing the end of July and more and more tourists are beginning to arrive, it still seems the same dreary place to me.

Today is a sunny day however, and as I walk up the narrow street people seem surprisingly cheerful.

I work at a small, traditional looking, tourist orientated cafe in the main street of the village named 'Merlin's cafe'. It's fun on good days, but today I'm really not looking forward to it.

"Maddie!" Ella, my friend who similarly works at Merlin's cafe, greets me as I silently arrive through the back door.

"Hey, what time are you working until? I need to talk to you about something." I say, instantly regretting it.

"Until 5. I can meet you later if you want. What's it about?"

"Just school stuff... doesn't really matter if you're busy." I say, trying to take back what I'd previously said.

"No, I'll meet you tonight. We can get food or something," Ella says with a smile.

Before I can say another word, she whizzes off to go and serve some customers sat at a table in the corner. Why did I decide this was a good idea?

I unenthusiastically walk over to the checking in desk and try to greet the rest of my work friends in the most cheerful way possible. Most of them are about my age apart from a few who are older, so I feel like I fit in well.

"How was... the funeral?" Joe asks awkwardly, running a hand through his dark hair.

"Yeah. Ok." I try to avoid talking about it for longer than I have to. It was something that had happened that I wanted to forget about.

When I realise that I actually have to get on with work and serve customers for the next five hours, I take a deep breath.

"Maddie, that's you." My boss, Gary says, as a small group of people walk in and sit table number 2 by the window.

"Yeah, I know." I say, as I reluctantly walk over to the table and try my hardest to look and sound as cheerful as possible as I greet the customers.

The next five hours drag on, but at least I have something to distract me from everything else. Something still doesn't seem right.