Short stories

Celeste Taylor

The morning was crisp, the Autumn leaves had fallen against the window sill, all beautiful and vibrant colors. The smell of freshly made muffins lingered in the air as Celeste set them in the center of the polished marble dining table. She went to grab the tea that was on the stove, being careful not to drop it as she had many times before, burning herself in the process. She had been often scolded by her stepmother for causing such a ruckus.

Celeste sat at the end of the table, watching the news and sipping her tea. She glanced around at her small townhouse, remembering how empty it was when she first moved in.

She had been so afraid to leave the only place she had called home for 17 years, but at the same time she had to get out of there. She couldn't stand the same events occurring over and over. The war reenactment every sunday or seeing the same faces every morning. It got repetitive. Everybody acted like they were still in the 19th century.

She also disliked most of the people in this town, specifically, Heather.

The town of Swordbreak was located somewhere in Canada. Most people didn't even know that this town existed and they wanted to keep it that way. Their little town was set up perfectly, suited to everyone's needs. They had Barbers, dentists, shop owners, teachers, even our own government.

And then there was Heather. Heather was the town's landlady, not sure if she was good or bad one though. She was good at scamming people out of their money but she was even better at manipulating people, like Celeste's father. When Celeste's father, Frederick Taylor, brought home a new woman, she wasn't too happy about that.

Heather acted somewhat fake. At first she was kind to Celeste, even going as far as trying to bond with her over things like baking, something Celeste thoroughly enjoyed, or certain books that Heather would see her reading.

"She's so nosy." Celeste had complained to her best friend Abigail Knight, a gentle soul, kind and understanding but also not afraid to stand up for herself or voice her opinion.

"I feel like she's trying to replace my mother. I can't believe he could move on so quickly. I mean your wife did just die 4 months ago."

Celeste brushed tears away from her bright blue eyes, usually filled with wonder and curiosity. Thinking back to how her mother had passed, it was obvious that it wasn't an accident. Someone had planned to kill her, as she was the only victim of the "accidental" switch from a gun with real bullets during one of the town's war reenactments.

The gun was directly aimed at her mother who was only in the crowd. Of course, Old Man Wayne was arrested as he was the one who took care of cleaning and  polishing such important weaponry. Later confessing that he done it on purpose, old man wayne was asked why he did it and if he had any accomplices. He simply replied,

"I'm just doing what I need to." and he stated countless times that he had worked alone.

Somewhere deep inside Celeste's heart, she knew there was more to the story and that Wayne was hiding something.

"Celeste? You okay?" Celeste hadn't realised that she had been lost in thought, so when abigail spoke she became startled and almost fell out of her chair. Looking around the now almost empty library, Celeste explained herself.

"Yeah, I was just lost in thought." Celeste explained, brushing her curly brown hair behind her ear.

"You do that a lot you know." "Yeah I know," Celeste replied, "There's just so much to think about."

"Like what?" Abigail questioned, her green eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"I was just thinking about how my mother's death might have been planned by someone else, and Wayne just carried out the plan."