Red Carneau

Chapter 1

"I swear I'll find you; if you dare to touch a single hair of my daughter's head I'll kill you." Grell screamed into the fake phone before making it look like she was hanging up and sent it flying across the room.

"CUT!" A voice behind her yelled. There she stood, in the set of her new movie, filming her last scene of the week.

"Great job everyone, you can all go home now, have a good weekend!" Mr. Michaelis, the director said after raising from his chair.

Grell started walking to her dressing room when someone called her.

"Grell, wait up!" It was the voice of Ronald, her best friend and coworker.

"Ronnie!" She smiled at him "you were great in the last scene, I wish we'd have more scenes together, I miss having you on the set all the time." She said as they entered her dressing room.

"I miss it too, Senpai!" he said as he quickly averted his eyes from his friend as she started to get out of her shirt "Geez, Grell, you could have warned me before starting to change..." Ronald tried his best not to look at Grell but his eyes quickly went back on her as he saw the purple bruises on her back, her lower back and sides were marked with older bruises, green ones that were beginning to heal but those ones were new, freshly made.

"Did he hit you again?" he asked, his voice low as clenched his fists.

Grell looked at Ronald over her shoulder and swallowed. "It's nothing, really. I don't even feel pain anymore." She answered as she put a new shirt and turned around to face her friend.

Ronald looked at her with narrowed eyes as she pulled her hair out of her shirt.

"I don't understand, why don't you just leave him already?!" he knew he had already asked that a thousand times but he couldn't help but keep on asking, at least until he'd get an answer out of her.

"Please Ronnie, I don't want to talk about this." She said, turning her face away. Of course she'd answer this, she never gave him a straight answer, always trying to skip the subject. They were supposed to be best friends but never in their years of friendship had she opened up about this to him. He knew what happened but only because he had seen it happen and stopped it once.

"What are you doing this week? Are you going somewhere?" Grell asked as she toyed with a lock of red hair.

"Nah, I'm just going to stay at home, relax and enjoy my week of vacation before having to go back on set."

Grell clapped her hands "Great! Then you'll be coming with me!" Ronald frowned, "Going where?"

"To my home town, it's the anniversary of my mother and sister's death and I'd like to visit their grave."

"Are you sure it's okay? I mean... are you... allowed to go?" He asked slowly.

"He's not here to stop me. Sebastian left last night to Milan for the fashion show and comes back at the end of the week, we'll be back before then, please Ronnie, I don't want to go alone, it's the first time since their death that I'll be going back there..."

"Alright, I'll come with you!" Grell's eyes lit up as she heard her friend's answer and hugged him tightly. "Thank you, thank you! I'll pick you up at 7h and we'll go to the airport." Ronald chuckled as he realized that Grell had already planned everything in advance. "As you wish, Senpai."

It was 8 o'clock when they arrived at the airport, they had packed lightly, only traveling with a small luggage, Grell had also her hand bag with her. They were both wearing black sunglasses and black masks that covered their noses and mouth in order for them not to be recognized.

"Grell, remind me again why you're using a red coat? We're not supposed to be recognized, your hair is already obvious enough, you should have dressed differently." Ronald mentioned as they waited in line to board the plane. Grell gasped dramatically "Ronnie, how could you say I should have dressed differently, I never wear anything other than red..." she said as she inspected her manicured red nails. In her other hand, she was holding a bouquet of white roses.

The trip was short and they sat comfortably in their first class seats, unfortunately they had to take two planes to get to Snowvale, Grell's home town because big plane companies didn't fly all the way there. The second plane they took was far from comfortable, it was small but rather empty, Ronald found out that it wasn't a destination many people chose. The airport wasn't even in the same town, it was in the outsides and they had to take a 40 minute cab to get to the town. It was indeed as small as Grell had told him, she explained that it took 30 minutes to go from one side of the town to the other. In the cab, Grell couldn't stop fiddling with her bracelet nervously, it had been 7 years since she had last set foot in her home town... The cab dropped them off directly at the cemetery, they walked past many tombstones until they found the one Grell was searching for. It was a single tombstone for both of her mother and sister, Grell hadn't had enough money for two so, she asked if they could be buried in the same one.

'In loving memory of Catherine and Angelina Dalles, may they rest in peace.' The head stone said.

Grell got down on her knees to deliver her flowers when she noticed that there was already a bouquet of white roses. Weird... she was the only one who knew that those where her mother's favorite flowers... She quickly put that thought aside before laying her bouquet next to the other.

"Hello Ma, hey Ann. It's me, Grell. I know it's been a while since I've come to see you and I'm sorry." She spoke, feeling a knot in her stomach, she missed them so much and there wasn't a day that she didn't think of them but somehow being in front of their tombstone made it worse.

"I miss you so much, I wish you were still here with me..." She hugged herself as she started crying. Ronald put a hand on her shoulder, softly, trying to show her his support. She looked up at him and smiled. "Ma, Ann, this is my best friend Ronald, but I call him Ronnie, I wish you would have known him, you'd love him..." she said as she removed her glasses and whipped away her tears before getting up.

"Goodbye Ma, Ann; I'll come back before I leave but right now we're going to a motel since it's late. I love you both, so much." She said as she kissed her fingers and pressed them against the headstone.

After leaving the cemetery, they walked through the town in search of the motel, Grell remembered there was one but she wasn't sure where.

"Maybe we should ask for directions?" Ronald suggested as he was getting tired of walking.

"It would be a great idea, if there was anyone on the streets or places open at this hour..."

"Look, that place seems open." Ronald said as he pointed at a shop.

"Red Carneau..." Grell read the shop sign as they got closer "It has the word Red in it, I like it!" she said with a small chuckle as they got inside.

Not even seconds after going in, Ronald started sneezing and the smell of animals infested the atmosphere. A pet shop? The sound of birds chirping could be heard. A bird shop then? Grell took a few steps in direction of one of the cages and looked inside, Ronald followed her as he covered his mouth.

"Pigeons." She said as she looked at the bird in the cage. She pressed her index and middle finger to her lips as she leaned in and took a closer look to the bird.

"Did you know that in India it is believed that when a person dies, their soul assumes the form of a pigeon?" she commented

"Really? How do you know that?" Ronald asked, his voice a bit muffled by his hand.

"Someone from my past told me that..." She said a sad smile forming on her lips.

"I'm sorry for taking so long, I normally don't receive customers this late, how can I help you?" A voice said behind them, making Grell step away from the cage and whirled around to face the person.

"Actually we aren't customers, we a-'' Grell's eyes went wide, she slapped a hand over her mouth in surprise and she felt like all air was removed from her lungs...

"Will?!" she gasped