After I got out of the shower, I thought of what to do about the clothes. I quickly grabbed my laptop and searched how to get rid of blood stains. When I did I instantly felt like a cold-blooded murderer. I thought about my dad in that instant, wondering if he had done the same thing to those women. I shuddered. This was a new town and I did not need that ghost haunting me.
I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, leaving the clothes in my sink soaking. I smelled the great smell of veggie sauce. I walked into the kitchen and started to say, “It smells-” Then I saw him.
He was tall, with dark brown hair, and bold features. His hands were frozen in mid-gesture. He was wearing a band t-shirt that hugged his muscle-y chest. The most striking thing though were his eyes. You would think that with dark brown hair he would green or brown eyes. But he had these striking blue eyes. They were like sapphires.
I looked behind them and saw that there were a man and a lady behind them also talking to my mom. “Good.” I finished.
My mom looked behind her and smiled. “Debby, Willard, Ben, this is my daughter Haven. Haven this is the Catherwoods. They live next door.”
I opened my mouth to say hello, but couldn’t. I quickly shut it and waved. “I’ll set the table.” I said. Then I quickly thought of one minor problem. “Mom, where are the china?” She turned around and looked puzzled.
“I think that they are in box number four marked.” She turned back to her food and I left in search of box number four. My mother was a little OCD at sometimes. Before we left the house Mom labelled all the boxes by numbering them and putting what room they would go in. I walked into the living room, which was mostly set up except for a few boxes for the dining room. In the corner were a stack of boxes labelled one, two, three, and four. It was just my luck that box number four was on top. I reached as high as my hand would go, but my hand wouldn’t reach it. My fingers flicked the side of the boxes endlessly, but no matter what I could never get it down.
“Here, let me help you, miss.” I felt the box be taken down by someone else. The box was hiding the person’s face but I was pretty positive that I know who it is. The box lowered and I saw the face that I was expecting.
“Why thank you, kind sir.” I said to Ben. I smiled and he smiled back. “I don’t know how I would have gotten that down without you.”
He set the box on the coffee table and took out a knife. I backed up. Ever since my dad’s killing spree, I’ve been scared of sharp killing objects, like knives. I remembered then that my dad had used a knife to kill one of the girls.
Ben must have noticed my frightened face, because he quickly opened the box by cutting the seal, and put it away. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s fine.” I said, trying to nod reassuringly.
He stood up straight and I bent over to retrieve the plates. They were beautiful hand painted plates with a gold ring around the edge. I took the plates and walked into the dining room. Ben followed me.
“So, you are from the city?” He asked.
“Yeah. New York City. Have you lived here all your life?” I asked in return.
“Yeah. I’ve been to the city a couple times though.” He put down a plate at a setting and clarified himself. “Raleigh, I mean, not New York.” He smiled at his bluff, and it looked really cute.
“This is my first time in North Carolina.” I said. “I’ve been to Europe and India, but never here. I don’t know why though, I think that my great-aunt lives, or lived, here.” I frowned. I had actually known why, and it was true that my great-aunt had lived in North Carolina, but it was my father’s aunt and she had died when I was but a toddler. My father went to her house a couple times, but never took me or Mom.
We heard laughing floating through the room. “We’ll have to talk about that later.” He winked and I smiled. We walked into the dining room just as they were entering. We quickly set down the table and sat to eat.
Dinner was good. The spaghetti was delicious as always. I sat across from Ben and next to my mom and my sister, Anne. Ben talked of the town and the high school here in Willow Creek. We had a few laughs before they left the house.
