The sister in the dark

Chapter 3

The drive through my small village brings back so many memories from when I was younger, and I begin to regret getting into the car. Memories that included Rose. Happy memories...

I am jolted suddenly out of my own world by the squeak of breaks and the bang of a car door opening. Here already? I must have drifted off, lost in my own thoughts... I step out of the car door in the most ladylike fashion I can muster, and come face to face with the school itself. Wow. It's huge up close. Like one of those castles from the fairy tales.

A girl with long blonde hair and green eyes came striding down the steps to stand in front of me.

"Eliza Bond" she says, sticking out her hand. "I'm the head girl, and you are..?"

"Oh um..." I stammer, "Evelyn Hyde."

"Pleased to meet you, Evelyn," she says, shaking my hand, "Your roommate will be here shortly."

Oh my god... they really are posh here, I think. Who speaks like that these days anyway. And she called me Evehlin.

I sit on my suitcase, waiting for my roommate to come and take me to my room. I wonder what she's like. Is she blonde? Is she nice? Did she like Rose? Is it the same room Rose had? How big is the room?

Abruptly a girl with short brown hair steps elegantly out of a car in front of me, carrying a brown leather suitcase and a little black bag.

"Hi Evelyn!" she says, "I'm your roommate. My name is Olivia Graham. I was Rose's old roommate as well. I should have stopped her from going outside with Charlotte, but I was in the sick bay with Matron that night."

I nod, pick up my suitcase and follow her to the dorm block. It's a big, ugly, modern building to the side of the school, in the centre of some tennis courts. A gaggle of boys are clustered around the main entrance, blocking the path. But almost as soon as they see Olivia, the crowd parted and they let her through, wolf whistling and commenting on her clothes and fashion choices. Oh god. I totally forgot there are boys at this school too.

"Room 36. 3rd floor," comments Olivia, pulling her bags up the stairs. I try to catch up but fail, and find myself stumbling slowly up each step. Once we get there, I realise how much bigger the room is than I expected. There's a curtain splitting the room in half, a bed and a wardrobe on each side plus a desk in the middle to share.

Olivia carries her suitcase into her half of the room, leaving the other side to me. I push my bag into my section and pull the curtain shut behind me. Dumping my stuff on the bed, I cautiously open the wardrobe door, just in case a bunch of Rose's old stuff falls out. Luckily, none does.

A school uniform is hanging up in the wardrobe, probably my sister's. Nothing in the bottom, nothing in the drawer below. But... something about this wardrobe doesn't feel right. The dimensions don't align quite properly...Then it hits me. The thing that has made me feel quizzical about this closet from the start. I understand now.

My wardrobe has a false bottom.

I prise the firmly pressed down board off the base and look into the secret compartment.

Inside is...

My sister's jewellery box.