Clearer (J.HALE)

03

"Im! Dinner!"

I jolted and snapped the book shut. It was a crime thriller I'd found on the shelf, the kind that made me creep around the house jumping at the slightest noise for days after.

There were voices downstairs. Lower ones. Voices that definitely weren't my aunt.

Crowded in the small kitchen was a huddle of four young men, each lingering somewhere between teenage and adulthood, and an older woman was talking to Aunt Meg by the stove. I slowed on the last stair as they all turned to look at me.

"A few friends dropped by," Meg said, smiling at me. "Come and say hello."

They seemed friendly enough. Each was similarly russet-skinned, dark-haired and excessively muscular, yet somehow still lean. It was almost as if their muscles were magnetically repelled by their bones and were in danger of bursting from their skin and spilling out onto the kitchen floor, but their smiles were bright and interested.

"Hello," the woman said, stepping toward me and smiling.

She was very pretty, petite, and well-dressed, and there was a large scar running across her left cheek.

"I'm Emily," she said, tone chirpy. "Childhood friend of your aunt."

I smiled. "You have a nice name. I had a hamster called Emily."

She paused for a moment whilst I internally berated myself for saying something so utterly stupid, before her smile doubled in size.

"I love hamsters."

I let out a sigh of relief. One of the men stepped forward then, a little older than the other three.

"Sam," he said, holding out his hand.

I shook it, mimicking the low tone of his voice. "Imogen."

He raised an eyebrow and smiled but didn't say anything else.

"Who're the statues?" I added, gesturing to the three motionless boys stood behind him.

Sam pointed to each of them in turn. "Jared, Jacob, Paul."

I offered them a light smile. Jared returned the gesture and Jacob bobbed his head in a shy nod, but Paul simply blinked at me. I could tell he wasn't one for niceties.

"Are you all staying for dinner?" I asked, returning my attention to Emily.

"There's enough food," Meg said. "You're all welcome."

Emily beamed. "I'd like that."

Sam nodded as he slid an arm around Emily's waist. The glittering engagement ring on her finger caught my eye as she moved to pat his arm.

"I'll stay," one of the boys, Jared, said chirpily.

"Yeah, sure," Jacob said.

Paul was still looking at me. I tilted my head to the side in question, trying not to show wariness in my expression, and he shrugged. I took that as a yes.

I moved into the kitchen to gather plates and cutlery, guessing at cupboards and drawers until I found the right ones. Emily, Sam and Meg moved into the living room, chattering about something I wasn't paying attention to, and the three other boys remained in the kitchen with me.