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EVENING - JULY 20TH
THAT EVENING, THE PIPERS FAMILY SAT IDLY AT THEIR DINING TABLE, the din of forks scouring against the plates accompanying the classical music piping from the record player.
Amelia stooped down in her chair whilst occupying herself with pulling her fork over the plate cruelly. She was eating the food as if it was tainted with poison, and would delay before attracting a scoop of the meatloaf towards her mouth. Her mind was elsewhere - not even near to being focused on feeding herself - for it was foolishly doddling over the kiss at the pharmacy like an animated schoolgirl would think.
It disgusted the girl.
She had invariably been the person to taunt any of the boys when she heard they fancied any of the girls at their school. But, now, here she sat with cheeks swirling red and a mind fixated on a boy - oh, how she wanted to denounce it, but found she couldn't muster any fragment of distaste in her for these thoughts.
"Pumpkin," her father sprang in conversation while chewing on his food. He amused her with the view of his partly eaten meatloaf in his mouth as he angled himself towards her, "I thought this was your favorite dinner?"
"Not much of an appetite," Amelia fibbed simply, poking away her plate, which creaked against the oak facade of the table, "Can I be pard-"
The doorbell inserted into her sentence as it rang one time too many throughout their home. Her mother sprang from her chair after placing away her napkin, and sauntered off to the door while muttering to herself about how it was 'dinner time' and questioning 'who the hell is it now'. Her father slipped off his own chair and hastened after the woman, his napkin drooping from his jean pocket.
Amelia herself lurched up against the chair, the presumption of it being one of her friends developing through her haze of other thoughts - they're going to believe that I phoned one of them over and I'll be in even deeper shit! Amelia nearly toppled over the seat when she glided off from it, almost dropping her milk glass, and sped over to her parents.
"Mrs....." a faint, rumbling voice resounded from the open screen door as she skidded against her dad's arm. Once she noticed the man was clothed in a police outfit, her short-lived assumption was shattered and her stomach soured with forebode. This can't be good.
"Pipers, it's Pipers," her mother squirmed as she presented the response, her father sinking a hand on her shoulder as he settled behind her.
