Ophiuchus

After

The morning light seeps in through the blinds, gently waking Camille from her slumber. She sighs, rolling onto her side and opens her eyes to find Matthew stirring in his sleep. Her hair is still damp from the bath she took just a few hours ago and smells strongly of lemon and lavender.

She slides out of bed, and pulls back the curtains. She looks outside to see A familiar black Mercedes parked outside their house. Perhaps one of her father's colleagues would be joining them for breakfast. She turns away from the window and begins getting dressed. As she's hunting around for her blazer, Matthew awakes and watches as Camille shakes out the burgundy jacket from beneath a heap of clothing.

He opened his mouth to say something, perhaps an insult about Camille's inability to fold clothes or put them away in a proper place, but a knock at the door interrupted him. Maria cracked open the door, with a basket of laundry in hand.

"Morning Camille. Your mother has asked that you come down for breakfast." Her gaze travels about the room from the heap of clothes on her chair, to Matthew twisted up under the covers. She almost looks mortified.

"We'll be down in a few, Maria. Thanks." Camille replies. The door shuts sternly behind her.

Matthew sits up. "Bet she thinks were fucking or something."

"She's just a prude. That's the only reason Mum hired her, so Papa wouldn't sleep with her like he did with the last cleaning woman."

Matthew chuckles. Camille begins shoving books into her school bag. She packs mindlessly grabbing pens and mechanical pencils off her desk and tossing them into random pouches.

"I was thinking of driving up to Stralsund today." he says sitting up. Camille is brushing her hair. The curls don't frizz as badly as they normally do.

"Don't you have class?"

Matthew smiles. "Not after two. And anyways training isn't until 6:00."

Camille nods. "Have fun then. Bring me back some saltwater taffy."

He watches as she applies a bit of mascara. "Well thing is-" She turns to look at him. "I was thinking you could come with me."

She eyes him. "I don't get out of school till 2:45."

"But your classes are over by 2:00. All you'd have to do is skip mass."

She shakes her head. "I already skipped yesterday and last week. If I skip again, the headmaster is going to call Mama and Papa and you know that will be the end of me."

Matthew nodded. In another reality he would've offered to come up with some mischievous plan to sign her out of school, but circumstances were different now and he knew he had to accept the fact that he and Camille were still in a fall out.

She grabs her things, all ready to leave. She stops at the doorway, catching his eye.

"Aren't you coming down for breakfast?"

He nods. "Yeah, yeah. Go on without me. I'll come down in a few."

She gives him a small smile and shuts the door behind her. She knows he isn't coming down at all.

***

Later that day Camille found herself submerged in calculus without a clue. Herr Goering was in the midst of a lecture about Trigonometric Integration. She couldn't be bothered to take proper notes, as she was drifting in and out of focus. Suddenly, the Headmaster burst into the classroom. As if they were programmed like robots the class stood up and greeted him.

"Please sit." The Headmaster replied. "I apologize for interrupting your lecture, but I'd like to speak with Camille for a few moments, if that's alright with you." He says to Herr Goering.

"Of course." Goering turns to her. "You're excused Camille."

Snapping out of her daze, Camille quickly collects her things and follows the headmaster out of the classroom. Eyes of every color follow her out the door.

She wonders if perhaps this was of Matthew's doing, but as she sets foot into the headmaster's office, the smile falls from her face when she sees Daniel standing at the door with an ashen look on his face.

"Your brother's here to take you home for the day." The headmaster announces. He nods to Daniel. "Take care now."

Camille approaches him hesitantly. Daniel gives her a small hug. She eyes him strangely, wondering what he's doing here. He takes her hand and walks outside to the parking lot.

"What's going on?" Camille asks. Daniel's eyes follow the footpath. He doesn't say anything at first.

"Is everything okay? Is it Mama? Papa?"

Nothing.

"Daniel!"

Daniel stops in his tracks behind his car and turns to face her. Gently he holds her arms and searches for her eyes. The ground beneath her feels like it's crumbling.

"It's Matthew. He drove his car into the lake."

At that moment, something heavy within her drags her down. She finds herself curled up on the asphalt with Daniel's arms pulling her up. She's saying "Why?" aloud to herself over and over again until she begins hyperventilating. All the while Daniel is pulling her up and guiding her into the passenger seat. He kisses her forehead telling her everything will be fine. They drive in silence and tears prickle at her eyes. She leans her head against the window, watching as the world turns into a blur of color.