"What are you doing up so early?" Seb yawned, crossing the kitchen floor to snatch a carton of orange juice from the fridge.
"I’m not early; this is when most people tend to be awake. And don’t drink out of the carton." Erica tutted to herself and returned to the newspaper crossword in front of her, biro tapping rhythmically on the wooden tabletop.
Seb mimicked his friend as he poured a full glass of juice, making sure that she wasn’t watching him. Alissa giggled from where she was sat watching cartoons in the corner. He smiled and looked at the calendar hanging on the brightly painted wall, “Jeez, seventeenth already, huh? Time sure goes fast.”
“It’s the seventeenth?” Erica looked up, biting the corner of her mouth slightly.
“What, had something planned?”
“No, no, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Erica sighed and returned to the puzzle. “We have to go food shopping soon.”
“Buy some more Coco Pops!” a small voice called from the back of the chair, and Erica looked at Alissa affectionately.
“Sure. Hey, we better start walking now before it rains.” Erica snatched up some keys, and rummaged around in the cupboard for some money. “-and ninety… should be enough. Let’s go then.” She didn’t wait to check that Seb was ready, although perhaps by some miraculous psychic power, Seb had chosen this day to come down to breakfast fully dressed. He drained his glass of juice and managed to steal a spoonful or two of Alissa’s cereal, before Erica was out of the front door and calling impatiently for him.
The supermarket was right in the middle of town, so it took the pair roughly twenty minutes to walk there, although it always seemed less to Seb when he was walking with Erica. She usually managed to be so cheerful when performing even mundane chores, but today was not the case. Her green eyes fell uselessly to the floor, and her mouth such a distinctive sign of misery that not even Seb could miss. She did talk, but it was a dull monotonous voice that answered his questions, and her mind was so far away that Seb decided to just keep his thoughts and questions to himself.
They purchased almost exactly the same groceries every week, and so although Erica did try and look out for the occasional bargain, it was only her chatter that kept Seb interested. He did notice, however, that she cheered up considerably when her mind was occupied with tasks. This equated to less uncomfortable silence, but more of Seb being ordered around the aisles to find various packets and tins.
“Ahem, what’s this? More?” Seb gave Erica a mock disapproving look, after finding several bottles of vodka hidden beneath the extra large packet of coco pops. “Isn’t it illegal for you to buy this stuff?”
“I’m not buying it, am I? It’s the only reason I bring you with me!” Erica smirked and poked Seb in the chest, “you’re buying some too, aren’t you?”
Seb sighed. “If it’s not you with the alcohol, it’s Tori nagging me for more cigarettes.”
“Quit buying her those! She’s only fourteen. Ugh, you are so irresponsible!”
“Well, about that,” Seb muttered, deciding not to mention the fact that Tori had threatened to tell everyone that she had caught Seb looking through Erica’s ‘read on pain of death’ diary. Sure, he hadn’t found out anything interesting, but Erica would still be likely to kill him anyway.
They passed through the checkout without any problems, Seb waving his ID to ensure the old lady at the till that he was eligible to buy alcohol and cigarettes. He thought he saw her shake her head: no doubt teenagers about to have some drunken party.
When they had finally left the supermarket, Erica got out her mobile phone, as usual. It was annoying to keep depending on Adriel to take the groceries home for them but, then again, he was the only one who had a car. Erica seemed all cheerful smiles talking to Adriel, which always got on Seb’s nerves, even when he couldn’t see his face. He had met people like Adriel before, back home, but there was something about this boy that just got on his nerves all the time. They had been expected to get on, being just one year apart in age, but how could anyone get on with someone like that?
A few minutes later, Adriel pulled up his newly washed car up beside them, and sat waiting, almost impatiently, as Erica and Seb piled the bags of groceries into the boot. Seb had to squash into the back seat with more food on his lap, while Erica got the privilege of the passenger seat by Adriel.
“Did you buy the Coco Pops?” Alissa bounced into the kitchen just as Seb returned from the car for the third time.
He grinned in reply, “Yes, yes”, fishing out the cereal for Alissa to grab off him.
“And the biscuits? The chocolate ones?” Shina grabbed his arm from behind, with what was close to a manic grin on her face.
“They’re here,” Seb handed the packet to her, feeling like Father Christmas as Shina ran off, probably to devour the entire packet in her bedroom.
“No wonder it all costs so much,” Erica laughed, “perhaps I should up the rent.”
“What! No! Only on the people who eat all this food! That means you, Alissa,” he poked the girl playfully in the arm, as she passed with yet another bowl of cereal.
Seb was laying out the knives on the table that night, ready for some torture in the form of Tori’s cooking.
“Hey, where’s Erica?” he asked no one in particular, as he hadn’t seen her for about an hour; it was quite hard not to notice the loud, red-headed girl, especially when something had to be done around the house.
Most of the boarders didn’t know, but finally Ava murmured over her magazine, “in the garden.”
“The garden? But it’s dark- and raining!” Freya looked out of the window, not that anyone could see anything through the night. “I wonder what she’s doing out there. What if she fell over? Maybe someone should go and check,” she looked nervously over at Adriel.
“She’s fine. She’ll be back in time for dinner.” Adriel reassured his little sister, before turning back to find more glasses.
“She’s been gone fifty minutes. It’s raining. Something must have happened, or she would have come back inside, don’t you think?” Leslie reasoned.
“Yes, what if she’s tripped, or…” Freya stumbled over her words, “someone kidnapped her, or, or…”
“She’s fine.” Adriel snapped, but hastily softened his voice when he noticed that Freya and Shina both looked on the verge of panic attacks. “She’s going to come in soon, just leave her be for a while.”
“How do you know, then? Or are you just too lazy to go and look for her?” Ava muttered again, missing the piercing glare from Adriel when she looked back at the latest fashions on the page in front of her.
“For your information,” Adriel slammed a glass down in front of Ava, who merely flicked her blonde hair out of her face nonchalantly, “she’s got something to do. And it’s important to her, so just leave her alone and when she comes back don’t pester her about it.”
“Ooh, what is she doing?” Ash entered the room, probably under the impression that Adriel was revealing the latest gossip. “Do tell us!”
“It’s none of your business.” Adriel snapped.
“But if we don’t know, then, uh,” Freya started, but Alissa finished for her.
“We might pester her about it! So please tell us! We won’t say anything! Promise!”
Adriel straightened some of the knives, much to Seb’s annoyance. “It’s not the sort of thing I should be telling you.”
Ash gasped, “Is it something- private?”
“Yes it is, so keep your mouth shut for once.”
“Please don’t start arguing! It’s not Ash’s fault!” Freya cried, “he didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Yes, just tell us Adriel! Please, please, please, please, please…”
Although Alissa’s never-ending flow of pleas was incredibly annoying, Seb did notice that Adriel was doing the deep breath ritual. He was cracking.
“Alright, if everyone just shuts up, for God’s sake, I’ll tell you!” Seb was pretty impressed that Adriel had managed not to swear; he’d just slumped against the dresser clutching his forehead, making a few mugs hanging there clink together slightly. Luckily everyone in the room had gone silent, and was now gazing intently at Adriel, who looked cautiously around him before speaking.
“You all know that Erica was here at the boarding house before any of us. She started living here about a couple of years ago, and-“
“I fail to see where this is going.” Tori murmured to herself, but fell silent as everyone glared at her.
“As I was saying,” Adriel started again, and a couple of people groaned, “Erica has been here the longest. And before any of us lot arrived, there were two young girls here, about eight or nine, something like that. Well, to cut the story short,” he paused slightly, “they both died, on the same night. And Erica feels like it’s her fault.”
Ash choked on the biscuit he was eating. “They died on the same day? What happened? Did they have an accident? Did someone murder them?” Everyone in the room seemed to share his gob smacked expression, and Seb couldn’t really blame them.
“If you let me finish,” Adriel paused, “I don’t really know. Erica’s the only person now who was around then, so there’s no one else to ask. I think everyone left when they died, except Erica of course.”
“So why is she outside?” Leslie asked, speaking slightly slower than his normal quick pace.
“Today is the anniversary of their deaths, she told me. She’s just sitting and thinking about it, or putting flowers on their graves or something-“
“You mean their graves are in the garden? We have their bodies in our garden?” Seb couldn’t help spluttering, and exchanged horrified glances with Ash, who just happened to be closest. It could have been the hunger, but he suddenly felt incredibly sick.
Adriel rolled his eyes and sighed. “No, no. Their bodies went back to their parents. The graves in the garden are just to remember them by.” No one seemed to have any more questions, so Adriel went back to putting the glasses out. “Don’t tell Erica I said anything, okay?”
“Um, even though there’s this whole- thing,” Seb muttered after a minute or so of silence and everyone getting back to their chores, like nothing out of the ordinary had just been said, “don’t you think someone should go check on her? It is raining pretty hard now.” He glanced out of the window.
Adriel sighed, “whatever. Go take her an umbrella or something. Just don’t say anything.”
Seb felt like he was walking to his death as he trudged through the soggy grass, umbrella held tightly above his head amid the howling winds. He couldn’t see Erica; in fact he could only really clearly make out several faces pressed against the kitchen window, with identical expressions of nervous curiosity, as he passed by.
“Uh, Erica?” He called out, wishing for once that they had a smaller garden so that he might be able to see her. “Supper’s ready.” There was no reply. “Got an umbrella here, if you want it.” Still no reply. Seb began to worry that perhaps Erica really had fallen over, it wasn’t hard in this weather. He walked slowly around the garden, squinting as he peered closely at every bush or tree, in case Erica was hiding there for some strange reason. Perhaps she just hadn’t heard him through the wind and the rain, and he tried calling again.
But suddenly he could make out her shape, and Seb breathed a sigh of relief to himself as he realised that she was, at least, still conscious. Erica was sitting upright, so still that she could almost have been part of the garden. She was soaking wet, clothes clinging to her, and her long hair hanging down her face and back like a mop. She stared blankly ahead at two large, white stones sticking out of the flowerbed; Seb had just overlooked them up until now, and he noticed that they were surrounded by a multitude of flowers, some that grew there naturally, and those that had been picked recently.
“Erica?” He asked tentatively, when he was standing just a couple of metres away. Still Seb wondered if she could hear him; the rain was thundering down so loudly upon them. He took a step forward, and she jumped.
“Seb!” She gasped, after recovering for a few seconds, “I-I’m…” And then, without warning, she started sobbing loudly, making no attempts to cover up the tears rolling down her cheeks with the rain. Seb watched her face crumpling up pathetically, but he didn’t know what to say or do- even if he was allowed to talk about what Adriel had just told them. She reached out a hand, and Seb wanted partly to hug her- but he didn’t know if she would want that from him now. It might be the right thing to do, but wouldn’t there be time to comfort her later, when they had gone inside and it was warm and dry? He would visit her in her bedroom, bringing with him a mug of hot chocolate and his smile to cheer her up.
“Here.” Seb handed her the umbrella, slotting it carefully into her outstretched hand. She stared at it as if she couldn’t quite believe it was there, still holding her arm out. “You’ll catch a cold. Now let’s get inside.” He turned and ran back to the building, after Erica had slowly and shakily stood up. Seb held his arms uselessly above his head as he sprinted; he’d not quite noticed how much it was raining with the umbrella. It was only when he got to the dry of the porch did he realise that Erica had not followed him.
* * * * *
“You did what?” Adriel slammed down the pot of pasta sauce he was holding, ignoring the little droplets that scattered over the wooden surface, “you just left her there?”
Seb rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort, “I did give her the umbrella.”
“You should have given her a hug or something.”
“Thanks for telling me that now, Ash,” Seb muttered. Great, now he knew he’d done the wrong thing.
“Well, I suggest you go back out, and find her again!”
But there was no need to obey Adriel’s order, because at that moment, everyone gathered in the dining room heard the dull thud of slow footsteps coming down the hallway towards them. Erica was breathing quite heavily as she entered the dining room- still soaked- and the reason became apparent. Behind her, she was dragging a worn out potato sack, and whatever was inside it was making heavy clunking noises on the wooden floor.
“Erica…” Adriel asked cautiously, while all the other boarders watched silently, no one moving. “What are- you’re not-“
His words were broken by a loud banging noise: Erica had just lifted the sack up, dropping it onto the table in the midst of the astonished faces. The only noise now was the slow drip of rainwater falling off Erica onto the floor. Her face, turned down to the ground, remained fairly blank, but Seb thought that he could see a faint smile on the corners of her lips as she spoke.
“We’re going to play a game.”
