Juniper Halls

Fern-

"How're you Holly?" I asked. "We missed you."

"It's only been, what, four days? We've been apart longer than that," she said.

"It's been a long four days."

Holly frowned. "Why?"

I glanced at Violet, who answered quickly "Just, you know, getting to grips with it all."

I thanked her mentally for the save.

Holly looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled. "Well, come in! It's still our house isn't it?"

We carried on down the hall.

James-

He stood outside the big black wrought iton gate. It was getting darker with every passing minute but he wasn't sure whether he wanted to walk up to the door or not. Looking at the house reminded him of his own, big, expensive. Only his house was less inviting, less cozy. He pulled out a cell phone he had found at one of the gas stations he had stopped at and dialed his number. After two rings Fern answered.
"Hold on James." He could hear people talking in the background then Fern say, "Excuse me ladies." then a few moments later, "James, are you there?"
"Yeah, I'm standing at the gate outside your house. I understand you probably don't want to me to come into your house or for your family to know about me, so I didn't come to the door."
"I'm coming out." She said, then the line went dead. He leaned against one of the brick posts on either side of the gate and lit another cigarette.

Fern-

I hurried down the drive, hearing Holly ask "Where's she going?"

James was waiting by the gate. I ran down to him and threw my arms around him.

"Whoa," he said and I stepped away quickly, blushing.

"Sorry, I'm just glad to see you," I said. I looked him in the eye. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

"It's a long story."

I dragged him to the bench on our lawn and sat him down, sitting next to him.

"Talk."

James-

He tried to brush off the tingling in his arms and shoulders from where she had touched him but the feeling stuck. He let her pull him to a bench and leaned back before talking.
"I wasn't always this messed up, in a sense." He started, puting the cigarette to his lips, " I used to live in a big house, have lots of money. I had four older brothers and my parents were somewhat happily married."
"Sounds nice."
"Yeah it would, wouldn't it. I mean, don't get me wrong, things weren't always bad. Sure my brothers pciked on me, but that's because I was the youngest. I wasn't exactly close with my dad but he still taught me how to fly an airplane and drive the boat we had. And as I grew up I knind of started fitting in me, at least on a maturity level. Nobody in my family was too happy when I brought home my girlfriend, but once they got to know her they liked her. You see she wasn't a blue blood and didn't coem from an extremely wealthy family, she worked at a casino. But, the night we announced our engagment there was a big celebration."
"What happened?"
"There was a fire. E..Evelyn and I were separated and when I got out and couldn't find her I went back in and tried to find her. But I couldn't and the firemen came and when I woke up two weeks later she was dead and it was because I didn't save her. I just layed in my hospital bed saying her name over and over. The doctors said it was just going to take a while for me to get over the pain, but it was like I was catatonic."
"Oh my gosh." He threw his cigarette on the ground and nodded his head before continuing.
"So then I started gambling, I went into debt with the wrong crowd, my father disowned me, all my friends turned away from me. I was completely alone and when I couldn't pay off my debtors I ran. I've been runnning for almost eight months now. I have changed identities at least five times, because these people want to kill me. I have no idea why my oldest brother, Glenn, is working with the people who want me dead. And I'm so terribly sorry for involving you and your sister in this." He finished and stood, "I should go now."\
Every step he took away from Fern was killing him. He wanted to stay with her just to be able to look at her. He hadn't felt this way in a long time, it scared him.

Fern-

I ran after him grabbing his arm and turning him around to face me.

"You can't tell me that and expect me to let you walk away!" I said.

"There's nothing else I can do," he said back. I ran my hand down his arm and slipped it into his.

"Let me help. You can come back and stay at the B&B, they won't be expecting you to go to the same place twice," I said desperately. "And we'll help you."

"How can you?"

"Believe it or not, we're pretty similar. You have four brothers, I have four sisters. We both live in weird old houses. Your girlfriend was killed and four days ago my mother was murdered, in our kitchen. Please," I looked into his eyes. "We can work out both problems at the same time if you just let me help."

James-

He loved the way her hand felt in his and what she was saying was making more and more sense. He stood holding Fern's hand for a long moment before answering. Only he didn't answer with words, he pulled Fern over to him and kissed her. It was a wonderful feeling, to be in love again. When he pulled back to check her expression and saw that she was smiling he added, "You should know that I'm not a chef." And she laughed.
"Come inside," she said, "I want you to meet my sisters." He had never felt more at home or more safe than he did when he walked through the doors of Fern's house with his arm wrapped around her waist. But there were still so many things he was worried about, that he tried not to let into his mind at that moment, but seemed to be nagging at him all the same.

Fern-

He kissed me, again! I grinned and led him up the driveway to the house.

"Briar and Willow aren't here yet," I told him. "And you know Vi, kind of."

I led him into the drawing room where we were sitting. Violet's eyes widened as she saw our clasped hands. Holly frowned.

"Holly, this is James. James, this is Holly, my youngest sister. And you know Violet."

Violet bit her lip and said nothing. We sat down on the sofa.

"James is going to help us to get to the bottom of all this," I said.

James-

He was still holding her hand when they sat down on the couch and he smiled to himself a little bit when he saw hoe big Violet's eyes got when she noticed. He was glad that he could push away his problems for now to help the girls figure out what exactly happened to his mother, it would be nice to focus on something else for a while. But he knew it would be hard for all of them, it was a touchy subject. James leaned against the back of the couch and closed his eyes listening to them talk while they waited for the other two to get there, still firmly holding Fern's hand.

Violet

Violet couldn't help but show surprise at the very obvious display of affection between her sister, Fern, and James but she also felt a dim glow of happiness. Fern looked... happy. For the first time in four days, she looked really happy and Violet had not dared hope that any of them could ever be happy again.

"Get to the bottom of what?" Holly demanded, her eyes flashing with a sudden anger. Violet felt the sadness return. Just a few minutes with Holly had been enough for her to see how lonely and troubled her sister had become.

"With mother's murder of course," Fern carried on, oblivious to the way Holly flinched, how her fingers curled into the palm of her hand. Violet caught hold of the fist as it slammed towards the table and held it gently, stroking the knuckles softly.

"Let's discuss this later, okay? We'll go for a walk. Meet Will and Bri at the end of the street." Violet stood and gathered their coats. Both Fern and James looked rather confused but Holly seemed to calm and nodded her agreement.

Fern-

I buttoned up my coat and set off. James frowned. "What's with Holly?"

I sighed. "We've all been affected somehow by what happened. I've been having nightmares, Vi's gone into big sister mode, she makes it her duty to look after us all and doesn't think of anything else. And Holly, Holly's... pretending like nothing is wrong and hoping that'll be the end to it."

James put his arm around my shouders and squeezed them. "Your family is as messed up as mine," he said solemnly.

I nudged him in the ribs and put an arm around him. "We'll just see if the other two can help us bring her around."

[Aidan]

There was nothing abnormal about how I spent the next couple days--read a book or two, played some checkers on my computer, practiced saxophone. Just business as usual. But normally I didn't mind business as usual; now it just felt stifling. I wanted to do something for Donovan's and for Holly but all attempts had backfired and I knew I would just make things worse if I tried.

But clearly I had had enough, because there was an immediate reaction when I happened to glance in direction of the Donovan house––something I had done a lot in the past few days, truth be told--and caught a glimpse or a few people I never expected to see, yet hoped I might. I moved myself into a stupid triple jump, letting my opponent win the game, and half tumbled down the stairs. Seconds later I was out the door, hastily pulling on my coat.

Three of the girls were there, including Holly--Fern and Violet were the others. With them was a guy I had never seen before. He was in his early twenties, probably, and looked better than I ever would. I could quickly and easily ascertain that there was something between him and Fern. She looked happy, so that was good.

"Hey," I called, waving at them as I power-walked to catch up. "Not planning to leave without me, were you?"

James-

A boy came running towards them and he caught Holly roll her eyes. He turned back to Fern and raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"That's Aidan." She whispered. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and nodded his head. They walked almost in silence down the road.

>,< sorry short

here is James if you wanted to see him lol:

http://www.piercemattie.com/fashionprdi ... ridsen.jpg

*Fern's boyfriend is HAWT haha*

Fern-

"Hey Aidan," I said as he went to greet Holly. "Briar's not here, if you're wondering."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I head what happened."

"Don't be, it's not like it was your fault," I said smiling at him. "This is James. James, Aidan, Aidan, James."

They both nodded, and the conversation stopped flowing. Aidan drew level with Holly.

I lay my head back against James' chest. "He used to be really close with Briar," I explained.

Violet

Aidan drew level with Holly and though James and Fern whispered to each other, the sound did not reach Violet's ears and so she heard only the wind as it tugged at their hair and clothes, urging them to move faster. Violet found the silence oppressing; suffocating.

"How have you been, Aidan?" she asked warmly, if slightly less informal than her usual tone.

"Uh... alright, I guess," he replied, shifting awkwardly.

"And your father, your... mother. Are they well?" Violet did not pause as she led them down the street but the others thought they saw a slight shift in her shoulders as she hardened herself against the threat of tears.

"Yes, they're... very well, thank you. Are we meeting Briar and Willow at the station?"

"The end of the street," Violet said. "I'm not sure if they intended to catch a train or pay for a taxi but either way they have to come past here." She stopped as she reached the corner and turned to face them, offering a weak smile.

[Holly]

Holly walked beside her sisters and the two boys, her arms crossed in front of her defiantly. Her sisters stole quick glances at her, but she didn’t speak to them. She knew they were wondering what had happened to her, why she had changed so drastically, but she really hadn’t. She still acted the same as normal, which is what was bothering them.

They all expected her to be upset, desperate for her sisters’ company, like they were. In their minds, seeing her so indifferent was terrible, but she didn’t think it was. Her mother was dead – wasn’t it better to just accept the fact and move on?

I'm so jealous of Fern! James is SO hot! Oh, and sorry this is short; I'm very sick. Hmm...anyone daring enough to talk to Holly?