Chapter 2 Chapter 2
Audrey
“Audrey.” The pounding in my head was accompanied by the sound of my name being shouted , loudly.
Groaning I sat up, my hands reaching for my head which was pounding away in time with whoever was hammering on the door. The photo album fell onto the floor with a thump that made me wince back.
Too loud.
Everything was too loud and too bright.
Stumbling upwards and trialing the blanket behind me I headed towards the door just as it was pounded on again and my best friend's voice called out again. Each shouted word in time with a fist smashing into the wooden door.
“I swear to god Audrey if you don’t answer the door , I will break it down and-“
I swung it open, blinking rapidly in the bright blue of the sunlight. The storm had passed and even though it was cold the sky was clear and the palest of blue.
“I’m here-“ I mumbled in a whisper because even the sound of my own voice was like a red hot poker through my brain.
“I’ve been knocking for fifteen minutes. Where the hell were you?” Bethan peered at me. “What the hell happened to you?” Stepping into my space she tilted my face up and squinted into my eyes. “You look like shit Audrey.”
“Thanks.” Mumbling I opened the door wider so she could come in and I could close myself back into my shadowy cocoon. I needed the dark right now before my eyeballs exploded.
“Are the blood shot eyes from crying or-“
Flouncing in Bethan stopped just inside and I slammed the door shut behind her making her jump.
“I found my nannas homemade wine.” I muttered as I swept past her and led the way to the kitchen. I needed coffee and an asprin . And to maybe tip the rest of that sweet addictive poison down the drain because it was lethal.
“Damn this place is spooky.” Bethan was so close that she was literally breathing down my neck. I stopped and she walked straight into me.
Glancing around I frowned. “Spooky?” I didn’t see anything spooky, I saw history. My family's history. “Do you think so?” I continued my way through the wide corridor. My need for caffeine completely outweighing my need to defend my family home.
“You don’t? I mean do you even have electricity?”
“Bethan.” Pushing my way into the kitchen I sighed. “This is the countryside, not a different planet of course we have electricity.”
Except last night it had blown.
I smiled ruefully. “Usually anyway.” Heading towards the kettle I crossed my fingers and prayed for power. It turned on straight away and I let out a sigh of relief.
Thank god for that.
I was in desperate need of coffee and I was pretty sure I was still too drunk to drive anywhere to get it.
“Take a seat and I’ll-“ turning I found her already sat on one of the wooden stools. Her elbows firmly on the granite work top and her chin in her hands as she stared at me.
“What are you doing here Bethan?”
“Charming.” She rolled her eyes. “I came because I was worried. You sounded different-“
“Different?” Pausing I stared at the kettle and frowned. There was a small bottle of painkillers sitting next to it. And I was sure they hadn’t been there last night. In fact I had been positive about it. I hadn’t left them there , they weren’t the brand I used but yet there they were.
Almost like the house had known I would need them and had placed them there especially for me.
Shaking my head I shook two out and swallowed them down without water.
“Yeah different. Like you were totally out of it. And now looking at you I’m glad I came because you look like hell.”
“My Nan died and I’m hungover.” I snapped before I could help myself and instantly felt guilty. Bethan had come because she was worried about me and here I was snapping at her.
“Yeah.” She continued to stare at me. “And you shouldn’t be alone right now so here I am.”
After a second I lowered my eyes. She was right, I shouldn't be alone. Hadn’t I thought about how lonely I felt last night and here I was having a go at her because she had turned up. Even though I had known she would.
Bethan was nothing if not predictable.
“You must have left early?” I muttered pushing a chipped mug across the island towards her.
“Or you just slept in late.” She countered with a sarcastic grin. “It’s almost lunch.”
Blinking at her in shock I did a double take. “It is?”
“Yeah and I’m guessing.” She raked her eyes around the old cabinets. “You don’t have anything to eat in this place?” Finally she let her eyes fall back on me. “When was the last time you had a meal?”
“I ate yesterday-morning.”
Bethan’s wide brown eyes narrowed. “You had a banana.” She reminded me. “With an iced coffee. That’s not a meal no matter what the Tok says.”
“Well in that case. The day before. I went out for lunch with some work friends.”
Bethan’s eyes lit up with a twinkle of mischief. “You mean you went out for lunch with Duncan. Your work husband.”
“He’s just a friend.”
She rolled her eyes. “He doesn’t want to be your friend Audrey. He wants into your panties.” Her lip curled up in a sneer. “Well maybe not now because you smell like a brewery and look kind of gross but -“
“I do not smell and he’s just a friend. He doesn’t look at me like that.”
“You do smell and all men look at you like that. But that doesn’t matter now. Food. I’ve travelled for hours and -“
“I don’t think there’s anything in. Maybe some eggs but I don’t know how old they are.”
“Then go and shower. I’m talking us out for lunch. No arguement.” She wagged her finger like I was a naughty school kid and she was my teacher.
“Bethan I feel like death and I’m going to need to check the house and grounds after that storm.”
“And we will. After we have eaten. Now take that coffee and get in the shower.”
Bethan drove because there was no way I could legally get us anywhere safely.
“Well the options are- no where.”
I rolled my eyes at her defeated tone. She was such a city girl. I doubt she had even seen a sheep in the wild.
“You weren’t even looking. Pull in here. There’s a little-“ I paused and a chill ran up and down my arms under my thick coat. It wasn’t even September yet and summer should still be heating me but the storm last night seemed to have zapped all of the warmth from the world.
Of course it could just be me that had been zapped. Grief did funny things to a person after all I had thought I had seen someone on the property last night.
Standing under the apple tree.
Watching me.
“Audrey.” Bethan’s voice cut through my thoughts. Turning to her I watched worry seep into my friend's warm brown eyes. “Sorry.” Shaking my head, forcing myself back into the here and now.
The street wasn’t busy but it wasn’t empty either and not one person had stopped to look at us. We were just another car on a street full of them. And yet I couldn’t help but feel like I was being watched. Stared at from one of the set back doorways. It was the same feeling as I'd had last night. The unnerving feeling of having someone’s eyes on me when I couldn’t see them.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I reached back to rub at them.
“Are you ok?”
I shook myself , forcing a smile on my face. “Yeah.” My voice shook. “I just thought-“ I trailed off. What had I thought? That some unknown entity was stalking me? Last night in the dead of night I could let my imagination run riot because of grief and too much home made wine but this was a beautiful if chilly late summer's day. There was no one watching me.
“The house has made you strange.” Muttering to herself Bethan wrapped the scarf around her throat and stepped out into the road. “So where is this place? I’m so hungry I might start eating the locals.” She let her eyes follow one man about ten years older than us as he walked down the street with his eyes fixed firmly ahead.
Hearing what she said he glanced at her and a small smile twitched up the corners of his mouth before his eyes found me as I clambered out of the car as well.
My heart fell into my stomach.
Those eyes. So blue , so dark. They were unforgettable. And I had seen them before I just didn’t know where. It was like they looked straight through my soul and left not one of my secrets unseen.
“Or maybe I would let them eat me if that’s what the locals look like.” Bethan’s giggle tugged me out of the stupor the man’s eyes had put me in. Even under the shadow of his hood they were unlike any eyes I had ever seen.
His smile slipped until his lips were turned down at the edges and lifting to hands he pulled the hood further down over his face. Hiding it. Not that I was able to see much of it anyway.
I had been too fixated on those eyes . How beautifully dark blue they were.
“I think he might want to eat you instead.” Laughing, Bethan looped her arm through mine. “Now where are we eating?”
Opening my mouth to tell her I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder at his retreating back. Tall, wide shoulders and impossibly good looking in a cold way. When he had looked at me my body reacted and screamed at me to run and hide.
Had he been the one who I had felt watching me?
No. I shook my head. He hadn’t been interested in me at all. In fact he had looked pretty disgusted. Like somehow my very presence on the street offended him in some way. Of course that could have been Bethan’s crudeness.
“I don’t think so.” I finally managed to say. “He looked like -“
“He knew you.” She cut in and I frowned. “Do you know him? I mean if you do can you introduce me to him? He looks like the kind of man a woman wants to get to know.”
I didn’t think so. To me he looked like the kind of man a woman should stay the hell away from. “I don’t think so.” Arm in arm we began walking down the street. He didn’t look like the usual locals but that didn’t mean he didn’t live here now. “It’s been a long time since I was here, Bethan. I might have known him and he grew up.”
“To be a hottie.” She fanned herself. “But I think I might be persuaded to stay longer if that’s the local talent.”
Side eyeing her I saw darkness flicker into her eyes. “What about your dream job?”
Bethan gave an awkward one shoulder shrug. “That’s a long story.”
“Well I’m not going anywhere. You can tell me over lunch.”
“Sure.” Bethan muttered and I knew full well that she wasn’t going to tell me anything until she was ready. Something had happened to Bethan and she was trying to hide it from me. That’s why she was here. She needed me.
That was fine. I needed her as well.