IN OUR BONES || EXPLICIT ||

Chapter 2

I hear voices singing songs in the streets,
And I know that we won't be going home, for so long.

- Right now, One Direction.

When a person approaches you first, they are more likely to trust you and they feel a certain amount of dominance over the direction of the conversation and the situation, this makes them feel a sense of security deep in their heart. It makes them feel in control. Sometimes it's better to sit back and wait for the other person to approach you, rather than walking up to them.

It was still pretty early in the evening for her to retire to bed. So, Madison decided to explore the grounds. She thought she would get to the house later.

In the municipality of Arvika. A few miles off the borders of charlottenberg , trönmark was a remote town, relatively cut off from other surrounding areas and more closer to Norway than actually to Sweden. Maddison had never really been out of the states before, so coming to Sweden was a pretty big step for her. The 'holiday cottage', as referred to by the Hudsons was surrounded by woods on all sides and had a huge backyard, that Maddison discovered contained a garden.

The path to the garden opened up with an arch decorated with purple, pink and white hydrangeas. The rest of the path was lined by white and red roses. The path led to the main section of the garden, which was adorned by differing flowers. It contained all the indigenous flowers she could think of. Lady's mantle, chives, yellow chamomile and of course roses, were the few ones that she recognized.

This is so different from the city buzz she thought. For her the garden was surely the favourite place in the house. She decided that this will also be the place that she visited most frequently. However the garden didn't hold her attention for long.

As she walked the damp grass crushed under her boots. A little bit further into the woods she stumbled upon a shed-like outhouse. She walked up to the worn out door, but then changed her mind and then walked sideways towards the windows. For her, there was no such thing as too careful. She peeked in through the window and concluded that this place is a storehouse. It contained planks, ropes, gardening and other supplies and, lots and lots of dust on the floor.

In the dark corner she saw a shadow. She suddenly hid her body out of sight and made sure she had full sight. The figure was taking something out of one of the drawers. She observed the figure and concluded that it was a female from the old lace up heeled leather boots that were in her vision. The figure suddenly straightened up and seemed to have gotten what she was looking for, as she started walking towards the door and went out.

Maddison stood on her toes to make out which way she was going, but it was futile as she closed the door behind her and dissapeared.

"Its not nice to spy on people", a voice suddenly muttered behind her. With a gasp Maddy turned around and put a hand to her heart that was actually not racing. " oh! You scared me" she said, " and um, I wasn't spying. I was just... um ...looking?" She said with a sheepish smile.

Now in good lighting she could see that it was definitely a woman. She had deep scarlett hair and beautiful emerald eyes and a deep accented voice. She was instantly jealous of the woman's cute button nose. She was wearing jean overalls over an emerald turtle neck.

"Maddison, I am a friend of the Hudsons " she extended her right hand and said with a smile. The woman eyed her hand for a while and then looked her in the eyes curiously. It slightly freaked Maddy out. Suddenly the woman said " She has ratted you out".

What. "I am sorry. What?" She frowned. Suddenly the woman beamed at her "Agatha Larson. Pleased to meet you" she then shook her still extended hand. Then she started walking, Maddy instinctively followed. Agatha walked up to a bush of beautiful flowers and started tending to them. Maddison was unnaturally mesmerised by the flowers. Some of them were dark blue almost purple, some were pinkish white and the others light pink.

"Hepatica nobilis. Beautiful, aren't they?" Agatha said. Maddy looked at her and whispered "yeah".

Agatha smiled at her, then went back to what she was doing "some may call them wildflowers, but actually they are quite specific. They grow only in properly tended soil. Warm and moist. Their best feature is, they aren't high maintenance. And most importantly they aren't just a pretty thing" she smiled fondly at the flowers "they have many medicinal properties. They can be used as an astringent, for treating gout, bronchitis and also for pimples. They are diuretic and were used for treating liver disorders in medieval times." She told her. "I never liked useless pretty flowers. People are enough for that" she smirked. Finally something Maddy understood "I think I can relate to that" she said.

She watched Agatha work in silence for some more time before she announced "okay. I m done. Let's go and put this back in its place" and started walking towards the shed.

"So, how do you know the Hudsons?" Maddy asked curiously. Agatha looked at her before replying " I don't ". When she didn't continue Maddy looked at her curiously but refused to repeat herself. "I just like plants. So I usually don't mind the current owners of the house that much" she finally continued. Maddy instantly decided that she liked Agatha. Or perhaps it was because she finally met someone close to her age. Agatha couldn't have been a day older than 22.

"So, how do you like Miranda?" Maddy said when she couldn't think of anything else. "Miranda, huh?" Agatha asked. By now they had reached the front door of the outhouse and were going inside. "She is adequate. Never pokes around anyone's business. Dosen't do anything more than what she is paid for" Agatha told her, "I don't mind her".

Maddy smiled "Is that so?". Agatha smiled back and said " Yes and I am pretty sure she is looking for you right now".

Suddenly Maddy remembered she had a dinner to attend to, and she was sure that if she was late, letting her sleep with an empty stomach wasn't below Miranda. She walked towards the door, but before leaving she smiled at Agatha and "I'll be back".

Agatha smiled back and said " I'll be here".