Something About Alice Murphy: BOOK 1

P A R T - S E V E N

Chapter Seven; Questions.
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December 25th.

Alice sat on the floor of her bathroom, the door closed and locked, the clock just ticking past three thirty in the morning. Her knees were up by her chest, her arms wrapped protectively around her thighs as she cried silently with heavy tears streaming down her cheeks.

She'd awoken half an hour before with a start, convinced she'd heard the floorboards outside her room creak unnaturally again. She'd jumped out of bed and ran to her en suite bathroom to hide, and hadn't come out since. Her heart was still racing inside her chest, and the paranoia and fear clung to her neck, making it feel as if it was heard for her to breathe.

The hours that passed felt like minutes, and without realising Alice had fallen asleep on the bathroom floor, curled up against the radiator that warmed her towels with the sadness and fear still etched into her expression.

A sudden knock startled her awake and she sat up quickly, her breaths quick and shallow. "Yeah?" She asked, pushing her hear out of her face and looking up to see that it was still partially dark. "Hello?" She asked again, having received no response.

The knock sounded again and Alice stood up slowly, feeling her eyes welling up with tears again. Moments moved past with caution as Alice moved towards the door and unlocked it, feeling slightly sick to her stomach as she peered out of the crack... only to see, to her relief, her younger sister. "Jesus Charlotte," she sighed and let the door swing open as she moved back into the bathroom and turned on the cold water tap to wash her face.

After she'd dried her face Alice looked back at her sister and saw a slightly worried expression looking back at her. "Merry-Christmas." Charlotte signed and smiled half heartedly, and now even she could feel that there was something strange going on with her older sister.

"Merry-Christmas," Alice signed back, and smiled slightly sadly as she looked away from her sister and at her reflection, seeing her skin patched with redness from when she had been crying.

"Should-we-go-wake-mom-and-dad?" Charlotte asked after getting Alice's visual attention back whilst knowing that there was no point asking if she was okay, since it was more than likely she wouldn't receive an honest answer.

"Yeah," Alice replied verbally and motioned for her sister to leave her bathroom first before she walked back into her bedroom herself and pulled on a hoodie over her pyjamas...

It was Christmas morning nearly all over the world, and the festive excitement of bringing a family together for the holiday season seemed to have not reached as far as Summerland this year...

Across town and over at the Johnson family mansion an unscheduled visitor rang the doorbell at quarter past eight in the morning... at that moment the Johnson family had only just began to surface, excluding Magnus himself who usually slept till noon without disturbance, however today wouldn't be the day that he would be allowed to do that.

Julia Johnson opened the door, surprised to see the towns sherif Wilson stood there with his hands on his hips and the police car waiting at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the front door, it's blue and red lights flashing and illuminating the front of the house in the slightly dim morning light. "I'm sorry to disturb you during the holidays Mrs Johnson, but I was just wondering if your son Magnus was home..."