What Lies Beneath

Chapter Nine

Chapter 9

I've never been to Clara's house before and hopefully no one will be there. I don't think I can put on a good face for her family right now.

My eyes kept flashing around my car to make sure that the woman isn't following me. When we pull into her driveway I'm surprised to see a typical house in the suburbs. The driveway on the side of the house slopes into the backyard and you can barely see their swing set. There's a sidewalk that leads to the front door and the walkway is lined with small purple flower bushes welcoming you to the offset cream home. There's nothing too special about the slightly outdated house but it still has personality. It looks like the shape of an L, very small and comfortable on two floors.

I look up and down her street and before I step out of the car and Clara notices. "You are so paranoid," she giggles slightly under her breath.

"This isn't funny Clara! She could have done something to you!" I raise my voice. It is true; I am very paranoid right now.

"Settle down I was kidding!" she says, still smiling slightly but trying to hold back. "Let's get you something to eat."

We walk up her sidewalk and I start to get a better view of her house from the inside. Through the white plastic door, there's an entrance into the dining room to my immediate right and that leads into the family room, connecting to the living room where I can see in the space in front of me. A stairwell is set off to my right and goes up to the next flight, but it shoots left across the living room ceiling. The hallway's walls only go as tall as my elbow so you can look down into the living room and entrance. I can't get over how open this house is.

She takes off her shoes and jacket, throws it at the foot of the stairs and puts mine along with it.

She takes my hand and takes me to the kitchen. I look around the rest of the house and she looks apologetically at me. "Sorry it's so messy, you can look around and get anything you like," Clara says over her shoulder as she tries to pick up a dozen Barbie's scattered on the floor.

"Is anyone here?" I ask.

"Uh, no. My parents took my sister to some friend's house and my brother is probably at a friend's house too, they shouldn't be back until later tonight."

As I look around, I find a family picture of them at the beach; it had to be from a couple years ago because Clara had braces. Her brother looked about two years older than her and her sister about three years younger. "I didn't know you had siblings."

"Yeah I don't talk about them very much. We're all a little far apart in age and everyone is completely different from each other." She laughs at herself," Logan's really into cars and that kind of stuff, but Marcie's still in her doll phase, hence this," she says and lifts up the dozen Barbie's.

"And you?"

She looks up at me and presses her lips together, as if thinking very hard about it. "I have a million stuffed animals. It's a problem," she says sarcastically.

I slowly start to walk toward her in the living room, "Really? I don't believe you."

"Well you better believe it, and all of them have names."

"Wow, that's not as good as cars or dolls but I guess it will do." She notices what I'm doing and slightly sets me back, smiling and continuing past me into the kitchen.

"So what do you want? I don't know about you but I haven't eaten all day so I'm starving."

I sit down at the wooden island in the middle of the kitchen and watch her take out the Kraft cardboard box of macaroni and cheese.