Villains ➵ bill skarsgård a.u.

twenty seven

Aunt Marianne cooked pesto tonight, the smell effusing from the kitchen to the entirety of the house. As soon as I entered the kitchen, they immediately noticed me, Mary, Ron and Ella seated across the table, the clutter of utensils filling the room. “Adrianne, come sit down.” Ron greets, patting the back of the chair next to him. Ericka was no where in sight unlike last night, her unusual absence slightly baffling me. I haven't seen her in school lately, which is a good thing, although after what she looked like the other day, bags under her eyes, I couldn't help curiosity from questioning what was happening to her.

I head over to the cupboards and laid out a plate and a bowl for me and Bill, scooping some pasta into both. “No thanks, I'll eat upstairs.” I murmur, focused on not spilling anything. I wasn't really hungry, or perhaps I have forgotten the value of eating food because of everything that happened to me today. Either way, my body was telling me the exact opposite, my knees wobbling.

“No, you eat here, c’mon.” Ron insists behind me, bile rising at the back of my mouth.

“Is something wrong, sweetie?” Marianne’s soft voice queried next to him, my heart swelling inside my chest. If only I could tell them, but doing so meant letting my cousins know as well, and I've already done enough by angering Georgie, I didn't need the whole school to know.

“Don't force her if she doesn't want to eat with us.” Ella comments, shoving me back to irritation. No wonder she's friends with Arthur; they both like entering conversations they're not a part of.

“Have you eaten anything at school?” he asks.

“Ate with my friends.” I lie, looking back behind me and meeting eyes with him before quickly returning to my plates.

“Are you feeling better?”

“I went to the clinic,” I say, “The nurse gave me a paracetamol.”

“Good.”

“Sweetie, did you happened to see Ericka at school?” Aunt Marianne adds, my eyebrows furrowing from the question.

They didn't know where Ericka was? That shouldn't be a surprise. It wasn't the first time ever that she didn't come home for dinner without informing her parents where she is. It's more frequent that she comes home late from some random part of the city anyway. “No. Why?”

“Well, it's been a day and she hadn't contacted any of us. I was thinking maybe you bumped into her.”

“I didn't.” I simply stated. As far as I know, if anyone would know where she is, it would be Ella, nonetheless, based on what Mary said, maybe she hasn't texted her either which is unwonted. They practically share everything together, experiences, clothes, messages, hell even boyfriends. Although, I only know because Romina likes talking about my cousins. I wasn't one to meddle with other people's lives.

“She's probably off somewhere jerking some ghost.”

“Eleanor Shelley!” Mary scolds, Ella breaking into a series of giggles.

I paused, the pasta server cold against the fire in my fingers. Never in the duration that I have lived with them have I heard Ella talk poorly of her sister. She only does that to other people, and if anything, all she does is build this false personality of Ericka to their parents simply because she’s told to. For despite being twins, Ericka was somehow different from her. She spreads rumours like a fire and she doesn't stop until there's nothing left to burn, her sister on the other hand, is only a shadow compared to her. I don't know how they put up with each other's toxic bullshit, but by now I've stopped questioning why they like ruining other people's lives. The one time I did that, I regretted it. I just know that they don't have hearts behind those angelic blue eyes.