A Heart Still

7 Love birds' nest

I closed the door to my house behind me and headed down the street. It was dark and cold and I was walking fast because I didn’t want to spend the whole night outside.

It was kind of far and now I regretted I didn’t have a car. I didn’t even know what I was hoping to find there, but I had to…see it? I don’t know. My brain wasn’t making any sense.

When I got to the last street, I stopped under one of the street lamps. I looked to my right to the road, which was lit thanks to all of the street lights. It would take me forever, to go that way though.

It went back to the centre of the city, well, closer to the centre than I was, and then there was the main road going almost all the way to the lake houses.

That way would be easy, but it was so long. I turned my head to look in front of me. There was a forest in front of me and if I went through there, it would be like ten times faster.

I took a deep breath and decided to take the shortcut. Now I was glad I wore my army boots and not heels because that would be stupid.

Even though I turned on the flashlight on my phone, the place was dark and I could swear I heard a few animals along the way.

Every time I heard a bush rustling, I prayed to god it was just a cute little bunny.

Yeah, Becca. Don’t be ridiculous. You are scared of cute little bunnies.

I couldn’t help but move a little faster. It felt like hours passed, but I knew it wasn’t that far, it was just the dark night scaring me and my hands were getting cold again.

I hurried through the woods and finally came to the lake houses. There was a fence and I almost ran right into it, because it was dark and my phone wasn’t doing a great job with the light.

I stopped just a few inches from it and took a deep breath. Just walk around you stupid girl. I told myself and walked along the fence.

It didn’t take me long to find a hole in the fence. It wasn’t big but I could squeeze myself through.

As I was halfway through the fence, it felt like something grabbed me by my foot and I stilled for a moment, before my breathing got rigid and I started kicking all around the place, closing my eyes in the process.

I wanted to yell at myself when I peered my eyes open and realized my foot just got stuck in some brambles. I let out a long sigh of relief, calming my beating heart.

I quickly stood up and stumbled a bit as I tried to dust myself off.

When I was finally calm and safely behind the fence, I took a look around. It was dark and the cottages stood in one row by the lake. The whole thing looked kind of creepy.

The wind was rustling with the trees around and the cottages looked like they were vacant for ages, even though I could see just the back of them.

I slowly headed around one of the cottages, when I heard shuffling. I stilled. This wasn’t a bunny, this was way bigger than a bunny.

I started to back away but hadn’t realized where was the shuffling coming from until my back hit something.

I jumped up in the air with a terrified yelp and lifted my elbow in the process. I hadn’t even realized I hit something until I heard a painful groan.

Slowly turning around, Ethan stood in front of me, his hand on his jaw and he was glaring down at me.

I could swear he was burning holes in my head with the glare he threw me and my knees buckled.

What was he doing out here at night? Did he see me at Claire's house earlier and was following me to kill me?

No one knew I was here and no one would hear me scream.

Two ideas came to my mind. Either I fight or I flee and I was not going to fight this horde of muscles in front of me.

I turned and started running, but I tripped over my own foot and stumbled to the ground. This was so dumb I wanted to smack my own head, but I was sure Ethan would do that for me. With a branch or a shovel.

I yelped as I hit the ground and quickly rolled onto my back to keep my eyes on him.

He took long strides towards me and I wanted to disappear but couldn’t, his eyes were fixed on me as he got closer and closer.

“What the hell are you doing Grayson?”

“Don’t hurt me!” I yelped hurriedly and shielded my face with my hands, but he started to laugh.

What? I slowly lowered my arms and even in the dark, I could see he had an amused smirk on his face.

“What are you talking about Grayson?” he asked and walked closer to me. The fading bruise on his face was making him look even more dangerous than usual. I could just stare up at him as he neared me.

“So you didn’t follow me to kill me or something?” I asked, still watching his every move.

“What!? No! I am surprised to see you here. Why would I want to kill you exactly?” he asked and I finally calmed down and stood up from the ground.

“Because I caught you breaking into Claire’s house?” I asked with a strained voice, and Ethan paled.

“That was you? I thought her parents were back.”

“Yeah, that was me,” I said, grabbing my still lit phone off of the ground where I had dropped it earlier. “What were you doing there Ethan?” I asked and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

He buried his eyes to the ground, before looking at me again. “I wanted to figure out what happened to Claire. And what were you doing there hm?” he threw back at me and I scratched the back of my neck.

“I was there for the same thing,” I said and he furrowed his eyebrows. “How did you get in?”

“I know where the spare key is, so unlike someone, I didn’t need to climb through the window. Why are you so interested in where Claire is Ethan?”

He looked a little uncomfortable and I wasn’t so intimidated by him anymore.

“Do you know what was Mrs Perrish’s last name before she got married?” he asked making me look at him like he was crazy. What did it matter?

“No, why are you asking?”

“Because it was Harris. She’s my father’s sister.”

I stared at him. So the man I met at Claire’s house, Richard, how Mrs Perrish called him, was Ethan’s father?

“Oh, that would make her your…” I didn’t get to finish before Ethan interrupted me.

“Cousin, yes.”

“Oh, I see. But why didn’t you just come when they were home if you are their nephew?” I asked. I was a very curious person.

“Because Uncle Frank doesn’t like my dad very much and I doubt he would just let me in Claire’s room.”

“Oh” was all I said to that. I didn’t really know how to act in this situation.

“Why are you here Grayson?” He asked me and I squirmed a bit in my place. “I wanted to look around the place to see if I could find anything.”

He looked at me curiously and went on with his interrogation. “And how did you know to go here?” I took Claire’s phone out of my pocket and showed it to him.

“That thing has a password.” He stated and I nodded. “Yeah, it does, but I know the password.”

He sighed and I realized it was my turn to ask questions. “How did you know where to go?”

He reached his hand to the inner pocket of his jacket and took out a small notebook. “I found her diary.” He said and I snatched it from him.

“You read her diary!?” I asked in disbelief and he just shrugged his shoulders.

“No, well just the last few pages. I wanted to know what happened and she wrote about this place,”

“What did she write?” I asked. I didn’t know she had a diary. And I didn’t want to read it. It was her personal space.

I would swear he blushed but it was hard to tell in the dark. “I think you better read it for yourself. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind, you are best friends after all.”

That was true. “Thanks,” I said and put the diary in my jacket.

“So, what did you find in her phone?” he asked curiously and I frowned at him. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He glared at me and took a step forward. “I gave you the diary, so let’s have a deal. We both want to find Claire so I tell you what I know and you tell me what you know.”

He stood right in front of me and my neck started to hurt from how it was bent, so I would be able to look him in the eyes, which by the way, looked terrifying.

The big green orbs were dark in this place and the angry glare wasn’t helping me to stay calm.

“What if I don’t?” I asked, just to see what he would do. His offer was actually beneficial for both of us, but I wouldn’t tell him that.

“Then I’ll take the diary back.” He said and looked down at my jacket. It was clear he would take it from me when I took a step back and his hand tried to catch me.

“Alright.” I raised my hands in a sign of defeat. “Let’s share the info, but first let’s look around here.”

He nodded and took a step back, finally getting out of my personal space. He was making me nervous and I didn’t like it.

We walked around the cottages and he turned to me. “I’ll take it from that side, you go from this one. It will be faster this way.”

I nodded and headed to check the cottages on our right. They looked all the same. Old, wooden and creepy. I looked through every window, but this cottage was like all of the others. Vacant and locked.

When I was in the middle of my half, I heard Ethan calling out for me.

I walked to where he was and saw him opening one of the cottages.

“You like breaking in houses, don’t you?” I asked him, but he just glared at me. “This one was unlocked.” He stated and motioned for me to get inside.

I stepped in and it was clear someone had been in here not so long ago. There wasn’t so much dust in here and there were blankets on the bed. It looked like someone was sleeping in here, but it didn’t look like they slept here every night.

There were a few empty bottles of cheap wine on the floor and I could see the package of condoms on one of the nightstands.

I frowned at the sight. Was this where Claire and that guy were going? Was she going here to bang him?

“Wow, didn’t see that coming,” Ethan said, standing next to me. He lifted one of the bottles covered in dust and then threw it on the bed. “Fancy.” He said.

“I don’t want to know what happened here,” I mumbled but Ethan scoffed. “I think it’s quite clear what happened here.”

“Did she tell you she had a boyfriend?” I asked him with a frown on my face. I was still a little hurt she hadn’t told me.

“No, we didn’t really talk because of my dad, I haven’t really seen her since I was a kid.” He said and took the corner of the blanket in his hand to lift it up a bit and look around.

“You know who he is?” he asked me and I shook my head. “No, they texted but she didn’t call him by his name and he’s saved as Honeypop in her phone.”

He chuckled but kept looking around the room. It looked like he found something disgusting under the bed because he grimaced. I wasn’t planning on looking there.

“I tried to see if I didn’t know whose the number was, but I don’t know that number. Did she write about him in her diary?” I asked, hopeful.

“Yes,” he said, still looking around the room. “but there’s not a name either. As I said, you better read it for yourself.”

He straightened and looked me in the eye. “There’s nothing else to help us, I think we can go.”

I nodded and headed out of the cottage. “Did you walk here?” he asked making me hum in response.

He sighed and closed the door when he came out as well. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride.”