Double Life: Nat

A/N: a short one but it had to be that way hahaha ... I found a few pictures for this post, one that made me think of the first time my boy saw Nat hahaha I think I´ll put it at the end lol but because of the character and how she is and what´s next I think this one´s better

Saku, I think this one will answer a few things that you were wondering in your last comment, the part about the money and what Nic does/will do about it. Oh and I agree with what you said about her using her looks when necessary

***

I hope you´d been smart enough to keep this journal for yourself; I can only pray you´re clever enough. It´s taken me a while, you know, I hope my last thoughts are not wasted in Nati or Karl. This, Nicky, is only for you. I hope the letter and pictures had been enough to make you keep it and read it, I need you to do that, I’m counting on it and though perhaps you´ll think you owe me nothing, remember I and my loved ones died under your hand, but enough of the mix of a granny letter and hateful victim, the sole purpose of this is to tell you who you really are.

Haven´t you wonder the how´s and why´s of your existence? Well, my Nicky, I am giving you the gift of knowledge to you… in a simple way, darling, because I had to destroy all the other papers or Nati would´ve stolen my life work besides the prize:  you.

A bizarre thought comes to my mind, how´s Nati? And how’s your father-puppeteer? Because you, Nicky, are their puppet. I bet you´ll think like me once you know what I have to tell you.

Let me tell you about her first, Nati, you call her Natasha Strasberg, a smart woman and your care-taker of sorts, you trust her, don’t you? You shouldn’t, not really. Has she told you how you came to be? She knows it all, my letter told you so, she knows it all and more… once our experiment went wrong, she went to Karl, I seriously doubt that Karl had have the guts to make Miriam’s child an assassin if he hadn’t have Nati’s influence. Don’t be tricked by her ways, have you seen her fearful eyes? How she gets when she feels threaten? How she gives in? No, Nicky, she does not give in, she does not give up, she´s just waiting the right time to attack.

Without her contribution you probably wouldn’t be Karl´s puppet, without her contribution you probably wouldn’t b Karl´s puppet. Her contribution for you to become a failed experiment was important, very important.

 She looks like a rich woman, is she? I bet she is. She barely had anything besides her brain when we let her be part of our research. She had more brain than what we thought and now she seems to have much more money too, you must have produced a high profit. Why do you think she tolerates you? You´re her gold mine, why do you think she pampers you, I know she deals with your mood and that scowl? She´s not wealthy or free enough yet. Doesn’t she come to bite you back somehow when you least expect it? She´s a master mind, maybe it´s not Karl who´s the puppeteer controlling you… Nati must be that.

These words had made Nichole angry, it did describe Nat´s character, she’d suspected she knew more, she knew Nat was a rich woman because of what she did. She knew Nat was the one finding the victims for her, she knew Nat organized it all so that she could be the monster as much as possible, she knew Nat was a very smart woman and one that could appear docile and frightened if she chose so. Nichole believed what the old lady´s words said, the words about Nat controlling her had been true, specially with the way she was feeling, sad and betrayed.

“Not anymore!” Nic had kicked the ground and gone back to Burgeoys, four hours later, in the evening, she had stood in the middle of her room silently planning her next move. She had gotten a shower, she had eaten dinner, she had looked for a backpack, she had packed only the most basic clothes, she had put in her laptop, her little treasure chest with the least expensive jewelries she owned but that were more precious than the rest, her drawing pad, pens and pencils, Ash´s and mii´s pictures and her gloves. She had gone to the window sill, got out and removed the bricks that hid years of savings, some changed  to jewelry, finally she´d sent an e- mail from Nat´s hacked e-mail address to the infirmary to report she was sick, then another to Val to tell her not to disturb ‘the girl’. She´d left the faucet in the bathroom opened in case Val decided to come up and use her master key.

She had stood on the window sill and closed the windows, she’d jump to the ground and swiftly walked to the woods, she had thought of going and saying goodbye to josh but she’d known he´d either convince her to stay or the knowledge of her leaving would put him in danger, Nat could go to him and she´d know that he knew about her whereabouts even if he lied. 

She left. 

**************

the other pix

Like a boss :p

I always find it strange how sometimes you get to feel things on behalf of someone else, it seems to me that it shouldn´t be possible because it´s not your feelings to feel, if that makes sense -probably not. Im saying this because sometimes I find myself feeling certain things, like sadness or pride, not because something bad or good has happened to me but because it has happened to someone else. This is not the only part of it that makes me wonder but also the fact that I´ve gotten to care so much for that/those other person/people. It often makes myself question, how on Earth that happened?

This post is not about me wondering but it is about feeling accomplished and about caring. I want to make this post for my writer friend Saku as a celebration/congratulation note on, once again, completing the 50000 words writing challenge. 

CONGRATULATIONS ON SUCCEEDING FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW THE WRITING CHALLENGE!

This was and is supposed to be posted on Saturday, when the month´s over but it´ll get edited because today, six days before my amazing friend has completed and more -since again, Saku, you went and wrote more- the challenge she set for herself. I am elated at her accomplishment, as if it was mine, that´s how I feel it, as if it was me who got to do it and Im in any way trying to put the spotlight on me hahaha but what Im saying is that it gives me so much satisfaction that she made it. 

Saku, didn´t I told you you´d get to it before the month was over? Im so very proud of you. Im very proud of your writing skills and of your perseverance and effort. Also, I feel very honored, yup, honored that you let me be a part of your success and in a way, part of the process, I guess. This 50000 words have been more than amazing!

You made it beautifully!! and now Im thinking about the other writers who are pulling their hair struggling to get another word out of their dry brain, and you got to the end of it with extra words and days before ha! 

oh, *talks to the internet* and she keeps writing, right now hahahaha isn´t she awesome?!

Double Life: Be Well

A/N: The image for this one was so hard to find.... and still, I wish I had one better. 

Like I said in the past one... the beginning of the end...

***

If only this kid had green eyes, I tried to make them that but... Im not good at it... I think this kid looks a bit too young but I like the feeling of this pix, though the more I see it the more I like him like for the character haha

Someone clearing their throat made Josh mess up the song. He had been playing his guitar with his eyes closed, he didn´t think anybody would disturb him there, he was after all skipping Art Club time, it had been eight days since the teacher had inquired about Nichole, he hadn´t asked again but sometimes it seemed like he was about to.

“Joshua, right?” the elegant woman before him asked. He knew she knew his name

“Good afternoon Mrs. Strasberg” he said politely despite himself, she smiled

“Have you seen Nichole…?” she asked, he raised his eyebrows “I thought I´d find her here since this wall seems to be her favorite place in school” she explained

“She´s not here” he stated the obvious

“Do you know where she is?” she asked smiling, it never reached her calculating eyes

“No, I haven’t seen her today” he didn´t feel like saying much, specially to her, he knew she was involved in whatever made the girl ran away and it seemed Nichole had made everything in her power for no one to find out, “not even me” he thought somewhat bitterly.

“Do you think you can give her a call, so that I can talk to her, it´s important and my battery´s dead” she frowned a little

“I don´t have her number” he shrugged

“No?” she seemed surprised, he shook his head ´no´

“If you see her, can you tell her to call me, please” she was going as soon as he nodded “ah, one more thing, could you tell me where you last saw her, maybe she´s still there?”

“I haven´t seen her today” he repeated

“Didn´t you see her in class?”

“I’m sure she wouldn´t be there since classes were over about two hours ago” he said and she frowned

“Ok… thank you. If you see her, tell her…”

“To call you, got it” he interrupted and went back to his guitar, Natasha took a few steps then stopped

“Did you guys fight?” she turned to see him. He huffed not stopping to play. Natasha observed him for a moment, his angry manners, the way his head had turned slightly to the right as he huffed, his upturned lips. It made her sure that had happened. She walked away without an answer.

Once Natasha was out of his line of vision she called the girl, as she´d been doing since the homeroom teacher called her that morning inquiring about Nichole´s health and to tell how worried she was that the girl had missed almost two weeks of classes. This call went to voice mail.

Natasha squeezed her eyes closed and then checked the tracking device, it kept moving, it had shown the girl was at the stone wall but then it disappeared and appeared in the library. Nat was aware now that somehow the girl could alter it and it was no longer useful but she still hoped it worked. She´d checked the records of Nichole´s movements from the last couple of days, before the call from school, it showed the girl had done what she usually did, even the occasional escapade to the woods or to the little towns around the school but she´d learned from the teacher she hadn´t done that, at least she hadn´t gone to classes.  Val had been useless as always, the woman had been fooled by the shower and hadn´t mind not having seen or heard about the girl in the lasts days.

Going to Nichole´s room hadn´t help, everything looked the same as always, even the things in her secret drawer were there, Camille and her mom´s picture, Ash´s letters, Josh´s birthday card, her baby picture… it all was there, all that she cared about. Natasha knew she wouldn´t care for the expensive brand dresses hanging on her closet specially since most of them had been used in some or other mission as well as the jewelry still in the box she´d bought for her.

Natasha looked around in the library, as she already knew, Nichole was not there. She stood in front of one of the girl´s pictures, one that she hadn´t seen but that she knew because of the NEC that the girl signed in all her works, there she heard a notification on her phone, she´d been disappointed to see it was not Nichole, she´d been sure that the lucky encounter with the boy would make her appear but maybe he did know where she was, or so she had thought before she´d seen the hurt expression in his eyes.

The woman checked the mail, it was the bank account report that she´d asked for, it had been denied to her that morning since the girl was now legally an adult but Nat had her ways and had gotten it anyways, up to the past Monday morning two weeks ago no transactions had been made, that was the only strange thing, then before that date, the same amounts had been withdrawn, more on the weekends, more when she was out. This information told Nat two things, one, Nichole had gone away the Monday after she broke her promise which told her it wasn´t about that since in that case she would´ve gone away on Sunday and it told her that the last place she´d been was the town closest to Burgeoys where she last used her card to pay for lunch, this also meant the girl didn´t have money to go far yet something told Nat that she didn´t need her own money, with all that herself, Tilly and Karl and the life they all had forced her to live she didn´t need it, she could easily take it and pass unnoticed, undiscovered but then, there was what Nat hoped would happen, Nichole had always refused and opposed to those things, she hoped for that, only that way she could find the girl in time to avoid Karl´s wrath for not knowing where his most precious asset was or for not knowing she´d planned to run away.

Nat let out her breath through her mouth and walked out of the library, feeling both worried and glad that Karl hadn´t decided to drop one of those impromptu calls on the girl´s phone, she was almost sure Nichole wouldn´t answer, she´d never not answer one of her calls but now, she was gone and not answering. It made Nat scared that Karl might call Nic at any moment and when she didn´t answer Nat would have to do a lot of explaining or who knew what, if she didn´t find the girl, bad things were going to happen, she was in no mood to face that ever.

On the wooded cabin in Woodhills, where Nat had decided to go after Burgeoys, she tried another call, this time she left a message.

“That you´ve fought with Joshua Arlington doesn´t mean you have to run away. Just make it better, you´ll be fine” Nat sighed looking around the cabin where she´d last seen the boy Nichole used to like. She remembered how she´d seen him lying on his bed, dead of a heart attack, she´d been the one to declare him dead to the hospital, she´d found a way to get into the ambulance that had been sent there. “Ah, Nickie…” she sighed as she remembered the desperation in the girl´s eyes, almost a year ago, the images brought an idea to her mind, and she called again.

“If you think Joshua will have Ashley´s fate, you´re wrong, you know yourself better, come back. He misses you a lot” with that she left the cabin and the town, determined to go anywhere she knew Nic had been last, even though she knew the odds were against her.

**

The phone vibrated as soon as Nichole turned it on. She´d turned it off since Josh´s text on Thursday. She had many voicemails and texts. She dismissed the voice mails and saw the texts, many from Nat that ranged from angry to desperate to an attempt to reason with her. “Screw you” Nic muttered. She noticed that since that Thursday she only had two texts from Josh, one from the next day, Friday, telling her he was worried.

“You stopped being worried?” she whispered with a raised eyebrow. The other one was of only a few hours before, she opened it.

Josh

Thu 5:20 pm

Mrs. Strassberg came to look for you. She thought I knew where you were. She asked if we had fought (?)

This information too her aback, that question mark as well, he, too, was wondering the same thing. “Focus, Nichole” she scolded herself through gritted teeth. “Natasha went to him –she sighed- of course, she´d go to him” she muttered as her thoughts started to fill with “I shouldn´t have…”. She wasn’t sure what would be the best course of action. Nat would certainly track her signal and though she was unaware of the number Josh had given her, she´d probably find a way to get Josh´s records or something… that left texts out of the question, it had to be a call, a call that she didn´t want to make.

“Michelle?” Josh answered his phone with some surprise; the girl had stopped calling him since she started dating Brighton

“No, Nichole” he recognized the voice the minute she spoke

“Nic… how…?” he interrupted her

“Listen, I can´t talk much, I just wanted to tell you to be careful, please, don´t talk to Natasha, don´t hang out in places you went with me, don´t hang out alone specially close to the wall and please, don´t call me or text me anymore or she´ll find me faster”

“Nic, where…?”

“Goodbye, Josh” she ended the call

“Be well” he said staring at his phone.

All these days that he´d been ignored he´d been thinking about his friend disappearing like she did… it was not completely unexpected, they´ve talked of her leaving, running away but somewhere in him he´d expected her to let him know about it but then she didn´t and now she was calling to warn him, he didn´t know what to think. However, he still wished he could help her somehow but she´d always seemed reluctant to take his help or even to let him in her life, she´d been allowing it more since the vacation but now she was ending all communication.

“Don´t call me” he repeated her words. People kept asking him about her; it had been a too long absence without a good explanation, if they only stopped asking… If Mrs. Strasberg only stopped whatever she did to the girl… if her father stopped whatever they had done to make her go. He kept wondering, as he´d been doing for a while, if that day in Woodhills, in the park, in the graveyard and then uphill in the woods had been her way of saying goodbye, maybe she´d planned it that way.

Double life: Empty

A/N: a small one and one that didn´t suffer many changes like the others -the recent ones.

I think I should warn you that this is the beginning of the end... 

I´ve done something different with the time in which the story is narrated in this one and in the coming ones, and I guess they´ll have some kind of focus either in one or other of the characters... we´ll see how that looks hahahaha 

ah, Saku, I haven´t addressed to your question about last post´s picture... I think it was about Nichole´s mind in that whole part, that trip, not only the post but the one before that one, it´s always hard for her to share stuff but then it was like letting go -like the birds too. To me that picture represented that.

****

Nichole sighed as she idly swung in the swing. She’d been in the park where Nat and Mii were supposed to meet her for a little over half hour. She´d thought they´d be there already, it was now, close to eleven in the morning.

Ten minutes went by, she stood up and paced the playground once and went back to the red swing. Another fifteen minutes went by; she made a call and was taken aback when no one picked up. She called again, this time it went straight to voice-mail. She kicked the ground. Five minutes later she got a text.

“I’m stuck. Be patient” Nat said in the text. Nichole closed her eyes and scrubbed a hand over her face.

 She took her drawing pad out of her messenger bag, as she did so, the black notebook of Mary Ann Ibsen fell to the ground, she´d been carrying it with her since she found it, she´d always been careful of putting it on a safe compartment of her bag but she´d gotten out of Burgeoys in a hurry.

A small picture fell off the notebook. It was her, angry, Nichole shoved the picture in the journal and the journal in the bag.

An hour later, she called Natasha again, she didn´t pick up. Nichole called again but there was no answer. A while later, her phone vibrated, she hurriedly picked it up

“Where are…?” she said

“Won´t be able to make it” Nat interrupted

“But you…”

“It’s not all up to me. We´ll reschedule for later. Gotta go” the woman ended the call, the girl fell like smashing the phone against a tree or like kicking someone, instead she looked up to the sky, closed her eyes and sighed with a pained expression on her face. In the distance she heard people approaching to the park, she stood up, put her things away and climbed up a tall tree on the furthest part of the park. She was sad and angry at herself for thinking Nat would follow through her promise. She was feeling frustrated enough to make tears come out of her closed eyes.

***

“Josh, can I talk to you for a moment?” said mike when the Art Club time was over. He stayed behind. The teacher waited for all the students to clear the room to start talking.

“Do you know if Nichole is ok?” he inquired at last. Josh furrowed his eyebrows

“Our teacher told us she was sick and that´s why she hadn´t been in classes” Josh explained, he wonder how Mike didn´t know that. He was almost sure the girl wasn´t sick but he also knew that she sometimes gave that excuse and missed classes

“I know, I got told that but she´s not at the infirmary… she hasn´t come over four days and that tells me she´s not well” he said as if to himself

“She often skips Art Club time” Josh said with humor. It was impossible that the teacher hadn´t noticed that

“She skips being with the other kids, but she always comes to work on her own. I thought you knew that since you often seemed to be with her –he said, Josh blinked a couple of times, Mike chuckled- I know when someone touches my instruments” he explained

“Oh”

“Yeah, so, do you know if it´s something serious?”

“I… no, I haven’t seen her either… you know I wouldn´t be allowed in her room”

“Ah, I thought you knew something”

“Why?” he asked, wondering how he could know more than a teacher about Nichole´s whereabouts, most of the times he didn´t know where she was. Mike raised both eyebrows.

“Because you are always together, you seem… ah… close… well, let me know if you know something” the teacher finished

“You too” said Josh as he left

“Mike just asked about you. Are you ok?” read the text Nichole had just gotten. The last part had been repeated in the last couple of days. She went through all of them

Josh

Mon. 9:00 am

Can´t believe you skipped the math quiz! Lunch?

Mon. 1:30 pm

Homeroom T asked about you. Still with Mii?

Tue. 3:30 pm

Back at Burgeoys? T said you´re sick. U ok?

Wed. 5:15 pm

R u really sick? R u ok?

Nichole stared at the texts wondering when he´d get tired of sending texts without getting a reply. He´d called on Wednesday, she´d let it go to voice-mail.

“I’m worried about you. R u ok?” Josh hit the sent button of his phone at around ten thirty of a Friday night. He waited ten minutes but as he suspected this one was not going to be replied either. He sighed “I guess I am too annoying” he said to himself as he pushed the emergency door exit of the girl´s dorm building. Quietly he went up the stairs and waited, listening behind the door. Nichole´s room was at the end of the hallway, the furthest from that one, he would be in serious trouble if someone found him there or “if she doesn´t open her door” he murmured to himself as he pushed the door and walked swiftly to the end of the hall. The tried the door handle, it was open. “she heard” he thought, he got in, the lights were on, the window close, it was too silent, no one was on the bed or desk

“Nic?” he quietly called and went to the bathroom door. The faucet was opened, he heard water running.

“Nic?” he knocked on the door but waited, ten minutes later he knocked on the door again

“Nic? Nichole are you ok?” he knocked earnestly “Nic, open up” there was no answer, he was worried, she wouldn´t leave her front door open “I’m going to come in” he tried the door, it opened, the shower curtain covered the tub. He hesitated and called her name once more, he quickly removed the curtain when there was no answer, to his surprise, nobody was there. He was somewhat relieved after, he´d imagined the worse, he´d remembered that time when she´d passed out as she ran on the top of the wall. He turned off the faucet and went out the bathroom.

He looked around; she wasn’t there like the dorm supervisor had reported. He sat on her bed and before every time he´d come there was a drawing for a little girl ballerina and of a long haired boy with his hand extended. The past Saturday he´d found out it was Ashley. The drawings of Camille and Ashley were missing. He opened the drawers of the desk, her drawing pad and pencils were gone but that, he said to himself, is to be expected, she always seemed to carry those.

 “I’m sorry, Nic, but you don´t reply and no one knows where you are” he mumbled and opened one of her drawers, he half-expected to find it empty but no, it was full of clothes, he quickly closed it as she also closed his eyes and stood straight. “My underwear´s on the second drawer” he remembered she´d said one to tease him. it was not in that but in the first one.

“Sorry” he muttered and opened his eyes, his reflection on her mirror stared back at him. He´d spent some time in that room and though he didn´t really had have time to pay close attention he found hat then he could recognize things were missing, one thing actually, a little wooden chest. He´d seen it at his home when she spent with them, he´d seen its contents there too.

“My treasure chest” she´d said. It had his guitar pick, Ashley´s cat pendant, a ring too big to be hers; a pair of earrings she´d said had been her mom´s and the hairpins he´d given her. He´d seen her pack it the morning when they were leaving for holidays the year before, she´d taken it with her then

“You’re gone” he whispered as a frown set on his face. Once he realized this, he wanted confirmation. He went to her closet, all her uniforms and fancy dresses and shoes were there, all of her clothes were there.

“You travel light” he said remembering how small her bag had been when they had left last year. Ashley´s old jacket was missing, as well as the scarf he´d given her and her boots but he didn´t see those things in a closet he´d barely seen open.

“You´re really gone” he whispered again, the whistling of the wind made him realize he it had started to rain. He was forced to spend the night in her empty room. 

Double Life: Uphill

A/N: The tittle could´ve been "let go" or "letting go" -last night in my sleepless night I saw both of the main character´s thoughts in this one! wow! a lot was going on!! and this is nothing but a glimpse of the depth of it. I didn´t even know of it until this morning! I think I´ll write that for the future -I think it helps  that in my mind, it´s years after DL, from 3 to 8 years after it, so both the characters are grown up... gotta go lol

****

“Do you mind walking back up?” she said as they went again through the outskirts of Woodhills. He looked up across the road to the woods and up the hill they were about to walk through

“Let´s do it” he said, she smiled

“It´s won´t be bad” she took his hand and led him across the road and up the hill through the woods. The birds kept chirping as they went up.

“Where do you want to let these go?” he lifted the cage he carried

“You choose” she smiled with the side of her face.

“How about here?” he said stopping next to a huge tree with mossy trunk and branches that went in all directions, some very close to the ground. She nodded with a smile. She sat and so did he. Each of then took a bird, he took the green one between his hands as she had asked and she took the yellow one, very carefully of not letting it go but of not hurting it. She looked at it with tender eyes.

“You give the best presents” she said softly, he blinked a couple of times “ready?” she said before he could say anything, he nodded, she lifted her arms a little and so did he, then she turned to look at him and smiled, he nodded again and they both let the birds go. She had a bright smile on her face, so similar to the one he´d seen before except it was different because this one made her chocolate eyes look bright, it was a real happy smile.

“What will we do with the cage?” he asked after a moment in silence, she pondered for a moment

“We´ll hang it on this tree” she pointed to the mossy tree “like a birdhouse”

“It won’t make such a good birdhouse, it´s not…” he started and she chuckled

“I´ve seen birds make nests in the roofs in Burgeoys where they´re barely covered and also in the oddest places there, I think as long as they feel the place is safe from other animals they take it…” she explained, he stared at her unconvinced

“I guess we could try…”

“We´re certainly not taking a bird cage with us back to Burgeoys” she raised an eyebrow

“So you’re only getting rid of this?”

“No, just giving you another reason to hung it up there” she pointed her finger up, he said nothing “we could come back and make it a proper birdhouse?” she offered, he chuckled

“Alright” he agreed. They took off the little door of it and she climbed the tree despite his reluctance to it, she went to the higher and farthest branches from the trunk. “Be careful” he told her and she smiled down to him, secured the bird cage and started to descend, jumping off the tree a few feet from the ground.

“I hope they like it” she said. A few minutes later some birds came, the cage still had the little food and water container filled. He sat and closed his eyes.

There was still some sun out, so they rested for a while, she took out her drawing pad and sketched the bird on Ashley´s grave, after that she sketched Josh against the tree, he felt her eyes on him and when he saw her drawing he leaned to see what she was doing

“Every time I see you drawing, I get amazed at how good you are at this” he complimented her

“Do you like you?” she raised an eyebrow

“Yeah, I look good”

“So much ego… but I’m just doing you the favor” she poke her tongue

“Ah, yeah? Well, then let me, I´ll draw you now” he reached for her drawing pad and pencil

“Do you draw?”

“Of course I do. I’m a man of many talents but you have to stay very still so that it can be accurate” he grinned, she rolled her eyes

“You better not waste my paper” she said and stayed still

“I am a good artist, this will be better than most of yours. I´ll even include myself in it”

“Didn´t you say it was going to be an accurate portrait?”

“It´ll be” he laughed

“Stop wasting my paper, let me see that” she scooted closer to him, he burst in laughter

“You better stick to music, Josh –she laughed quietly- because mii can draw better stick figures than you”

“Aw, no, they´re not that bad”

“They suck, Josh –she laughed some more- I can´t even figure out who´s who”

“This is you, on top of the wall, look, these are your gloves” he pointed to the hands of a stick figure

“Oh, that´s Burgeoys´wall… you made it of bricks instead of stones”

“Minor details…”

“Why are your hands tiny circles?” she tilted her head

“Because I suck at it” he made her laugh

“You do –she took his hand and shook it- but… it was funny. I´ll ask mike to hang this one in the library, next to mine”

“It´ll look great there” he also shook her hand

“Mh” with her free hand she turned the page and lazily started to sketch the same image he´d doodled. He started to hum a song as he watched her draw

“I´d like to make myself believe that the planet Earth turns slowly it´s hard to say I rather …” she mumbled the song he was humming  

“You didn´t draw my hair in yours” she interrupted the song as she turned the page back

“You had your hair braided” he continued humming as she mumbled the lyrics

“You sing” she prompted, he did so, singing softly many songs until her drawing as done, until the sunset

“We should go, I’m hungry” she squeezed his hand twice, he´d been playing with it

“So, I get this one –he pointed to her drawing- in exchange of mine, right?” his phone rang before she could answer “that was supposed to be at nine” he said to the phone, it was followed by a series of “yeah” and “no” finished by an “I´ll meet you there” and one “I´ll call grandpa, obviously” while Josh spoke she had packed her things, once he finished she started to walk towards the school.

“You´re having dinner with me, right?” he followed a couple of steps behind

“They´re waiting for you”

“No, they´re not”

“Yes, that´s why they´re calling you”

“That´s at nine”

“They´re calling you”

“We´d agreed to go at nine and that´s what I’m doing”

“I heard… sounds like it´s more convenient for you to go now that later” she spoke in her usual detached manner, he snorted

“That doesn´t matter, it´s going out not an appointment” he said, she glanced his way for a moment and kept walking

“So, dinner?” he said once they were close to the stone wall

“Go –she climbed the wall next to the old gates- Josh, you´ve been with me the whole day, go have fun” she said from the top and then jumped to the other side

“Don´t want you to be alone during dinner” he said once he was on the other side of the wall, next to her, she chuckled

“I only eat in the cafeteria when I’m with you, most of the times not even then…”

“You also do it when it´s almost empty”

“Yeah”

“You´ll eat in your room?”

“Yeah”

“why don’t you come with us?” he offered, she stared at him “it´ll be Aaron, Brighton, Lex, my roommate and a few other guys and girls, we´re having dinner first and then the girls wanted to go dancing”

“I don’t dance”

“You don’t have to”

“I know”

“Then come with us, with me”

“Nope”

“It has to be better than dinner alone”

“Nope”

“Nic”

“Josh”

“Please”

“That good do I look eating that you want to see me at it?” she teased, he stared

“Don’t want me to be with you anymore?” his voice had dropped, she stopped walking to face him

“It is not that” she locked gazes with him who gave her a questioning look “don’t want to keep you from going to your gathering… it seems –she started slowly- that … it is perceived sometimes that I… keep you from doing stuff with people”

“That´s not true”

“it´s what´s happening now” she said starting to walk, he fell a couple of steps behind

“Then by saying no, you´re keeping me longer” he said and she stopped but then continued

“I can always leave you” she said once he caught up to her

“Slave for the whole eternity, remember?” he teased reminding her of the first time she´d saved his life, she sighed and he chuckled

“You´ll get me extra fries” her eyes were slightly narrowed. She´d been walking already on her way to the cafeteria

“And apple pie” he smiled and she fought a smile of her own

Josh wanted to walk her to her dorm after they had dinner, she gave him a look of “you´re crazy” but this time she didn´t argue and let him do as he wished, he´d been detained long enough.

“I think you´d have fun if you go with us” Josh said once they were close to her dorm

“I told you I’m visiting mii tomorrow; I’m leaving early in the morning”

“If you were not to visit her, you´d go with us?” he said, she chuckled

“It´s unlikely”

“Then that is a bad excuse” he narrowed his eyes

“It´s better than I don’t want to” she said with a smile which prevented him from getting hurt

“It´d be fun”

“Go have fun, Josh” she shook his hand quick, as she let go he kept hold of it, she raised an eyebrow looking at their hands

“Just come for a little while” he asked, she stared at him for a moment

“Why are you so reluctant to go? Why are you so set in making me go?” she narrowed her eyes, he said nothing but his eyes quickly looked to a side and back to her “Oh –she mouthed- it´s because of Ashley?” she inquired, he opened his mouth to talk but he didn´t say anything, he took a deep breath

“I feel like I can´t leave you alone” he said in a pensive manner as if he realized it as he said it, she closed her eyes and smiled

“You don´t have to worry about me. I don´t feel sad. I’m ok. I think I wanted you to know Ash –she furrowed her eyebrows for a second- I think that if he was around you´d like each other…”

“I don´t think he´d like me” Josh chuckled

“Why?” she inquired with curiosity

“I´ll tell you if you come” he smiled, she shook her head

“Go, now. I can hear your phone vibrating like crazy in your pocket; your leg must be fried by now with the many calls you´ve gotten just in the last few minutes!”

“Ok” he sighed

“I’m fine. Have fun” she let go of his hand. He hugged her taking her by surprise “oh”

“Good night, Nichole”

“Later Josh” he heard in his ear. Each turned to leave.

Double Life: meet him, meet me

A/N: at the end

***

“Nini!” the woman at the counter of the bakery where Nichole took Josh greeted the girl

“Hi, Annie” the girl smiled back

“I hadn´t seen you in a while. How was vacation?”

“It was ok, how´ve you been?”

“The kids, the kids, Nini” she rolled her eyes “they should be like you, but you know they´ve missed their aunt Nini” the woman winked

“I´ve missed them too” she took an envelope out of her backpack and handed it to Annie, the woman saw its contents

“Nini, I can´t take this”

“Yes, you can and you will. Ash always talked of taking them there” she smiled, that seemed to change the woman´s mind, her gaze was tender

“Aww thank you. Did you come to visit him?”

“I think I will, yeah…”

“You know you don´t have to…” there was sadness in her voice

“I like keeping his memory” the girl had a soft smile

“So, you’re taking the usual?”

“I want one more this time and cookies. Do you want anything else from here?” she asked Josh who was looking around. Annie noticed him

“Oh, I’m sorry –she said- I didn´t know you were with Nichole. I am Annie Cooper” she shook his hand

“Joshua Arlington” he smiled “it´s nice to meet you”

“School friend?” Annie asked Nichole

“Yes, we hiked from there today”

“Oh… so you’re corrupting him?”

“Annie, you offend me! –Nichole touched her heart- but… very much so” she smirked, Annie laughed

“When I came to leave these guys –Josh lifted the birds’ cage that they had just picked up- I saw a park, we could free them there or in the woods if you like”

“Let´s go to the park” she said at once

“You´ve spent quite a while in here” Josh commented as she led him between a couple of trees to a partially hidden set of swings

“Mhhh…These swings stopped being used when a thunder struck those trees during a rainy night, well, two rainy nights, since it happened twice. People got superstitious and these are always empty” she explained as she sat on one

“Not always empty, Nini, you´re stealing our hangout place”

“Aren´t you supposed to be at college, Iz?” she rolled her eyes

 “You´re totally bringing the rich kids to our place, Nini” the tall young man walking towards them spoke, completely ignoring Nichole´s first comment

“This is a public place, Iz” Nichole raised her eyebrow

“This is our hang out place, Nini, he´s not approved”

“I am totally bored by now, Iz, so I’m not even going to answer that. I´ll pretend I didn´t even listen”

“Oooooh” the other boys with him hollered, Josh lips twitched up a fraction

“So you gonna ignore me, Nini?”

“Pete, what are you guys doing here?” she turned her attention to a smiling brunette

“We´re visiting, we went by Annie´s she told us you were around, we thought you came to see him”

 “I think I will”

“To say goodbye?” Iz glanced at Josh. Nichole laughed as she rolled her eyes

“Iz, Pete, Charlie, this is my friend Joshua Arlington. Josh, these are friends of a friend…” she motioned to the boys

“Ouch! That hurt, Nini” Charlie spoke

“My friends would not Judge my other friends based on the money their parents make” she raised an eyebrow, the three boys seemed taken aback

“Sorry, man” Pete shook Josh´s hand followed by the other two

“Yeah, sorry, Just getting a little over protective of Nini” Iz offered

“It´s fine, Josh said. Nichole snorted

“Funny, Iz, you´re well aware I can defend myself”

“Nini, you´re like our little sister…” Charlie intervened before Iz could talk.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” she rolled her eyes but there was a smile tugging at her lips before silence settled in

“We´ll go now but say hello for us” Pete dug in his pocket and gave her something and so did the rest

“I will” she took it

“Nice to meet you Joshua” they nodded and started to walk away

“Don´t get lost, Nini” Iz turned and walked backwards as he spoke

“Nini” Josh started once they were gone

“Yup”

“You have lots of friends in here” he commented without looking at her.

“You could say that…”

“They seem to know you”

“Don´t like that you´re not my only friend?” she raised both eyebrows, he stared blankly at her “wow, mad you is coming out”

“Nic…”

“They´ve known me, sort of, for a while… I used to come a lot here”

“Why did you stop? You know, having friends here and all?” he asked already guessing it had to do with the friend she´d been talking about and that person everybody asked her if she was visiting.

She reached for the bag Annie had given her when they left the bakery and took out an envelope, opened it, sorted the contents and passed him a picture, in it, a younger Nichole with the 3 guys and another one in soccer uniforms were smiling. She gave him another of the unknown guy and for some reason it seemed familiar.

“I have the weird feeling that I´ve seen this picture before” Josh furrowed his eyebrows

“That´s probably because you have” she said and he looked at her with questioning eyes “right where I met your twin, in that library hallway there´s a picture, a version of this one” she pointed to the picture of the unknown boy alone

“You made it, it´s the same person” he said to himself

“Yeah, I made it and Mike made sure to put it in the library, your picture is there this year too”

“Really?” he widened his eyes

“Yeah, I can see you don´t go to the library much” she chuckled “you should go see it”

“I will! –he smiled happily- mmmm so…” he lifted the picture a little

“Annie Cooper was his aunt –she started softly frowning a little for a second- Pete, Iz and Charlie were his friends since they were kids, they were in the school soccer team, in that picture I had gone to cheer, sort of, on them for the final game of the season or something I wasn´t at all interested in –she laughed quietly-. He had befriended me somehow, I guess it was his ability to know when to talk and when to stay quiet, -she smiled and seemed almost happy to be talking of this person- like me, he loved the woods, he showed me this place and told me the legends... He borrowed me his friends and family –her voice broke a little-. The guys gave me this –she showed him three shiny pennies- because I Just quoted his words to Iz about the not being friends with him over discriminating based on money… they had this story about a penny that reminded them of it, I don´t know, I think a couple of girls from Burgeoys had thrown them a penny as a way to look down on them so… I don´t know he was a little crazy sometimes”

“So…he… Iz got jealous on behalf of…”

“Yeah” she shook her head. She showed him another picture. He was sure he´d seen that one. It was the boy sitting in the middle of a road, raised eyebrow, a tiny smile

“This picture is in Mike´s office” he said pondering

“There are some more in the drawers –she said- Mike had me doing human figure a lot back then, he was always glad to help”

“He sounds like a nice guy”

“He was, he was amazing, Ashley would´ve been a great man –she closed her eyes as if in pain- and… I think I want to ask you a favor for him”

“Ashley?” Josh eyes were a little wide. Nichole laughed

“The doctors told his mom she was having a girl and when she died of childbirth his grandma named him that anyway… Though, he never let anyone call him anything but Ash”

“Oh… a favor you said?”

“Yeah… I want to give him one of your birds because they are special to me and I want to let it free where he is now”

“They are your birds; you can do what you want….”

“Would it be weird for you to go to the graveyard…?” it was very strange to see her unsure like that

“I´d like to meet your… friend” Josh smiled

“Thank you, Josh” she reached for his hand

**

They entered in a graveyard that looked more like a garden with flowers and trees everywhere, it was all very green.

“Should we have brought flowers?” he asked

“That´s what the cupcakes are for” they walked silently until Nichole stopped. She reached into the box of cupcakes and put it on the stone that said

“Ashley Cooper.

He was loved,

He was happy,

He is within our hearts”

“Goodbye, Mr. Cooper” Nichole said and kept walking further into the graveyard where more trees were. She stopped in front of an old stone

“Benjamin and Lola Cooper.

Beloved parents and grandparents”

“Hey Ash” Nichole whispered and sat Indian style in front of the stone “Ash, this is my friend Joshua. Josh –she looked up to him- Ashley is in here…”

“But…?” Josh looked back at the tomb with Ashley’s name

“Ah, yeah… that´s actually his grandpa´s name –she pointed to the stone in front of her- he always said that when he died he wanted to be close to Ben and Lola, his grandparents, so when it happened… I made sure he got his wish even though… there´s not supposed to be one more person in this one”

“Oh… how…?”

“You´d be surprised at what people do for large amounts of money”

“Ah”

“Yeah… no one else knows though… so….”

“My mouth´s closed”

“I thought so” she smiled

“Ashley´s epitaph is nice” he sat next to Nichole

“Ash –she winked- Annie asked me to write it”

“It´s beautiful”

“I didn´t deserve it” she said after a moment in silence

“I’m sure you did. You did a good job”

“He would´ve liked you” she chuckled

“It’s good to know. I can see he´s really important”

“He is” she leaned forward slightly

“Were you and him…?”  He´d been watching her face attentively

“I… -she smiled a little- yeah” she breathed out and he stared, she laughed “You´re thinking of the rumors, right?”

“A well-kept secret” he said shaking his head

“Hardly anybody knows me but they kinda knew him, I don´t know where do the rumors come from …maybe it just has to do with him not belonging to Burgeoys”

“They knew him at school?”

“Yeah… well, not in the beginning, you see… I took him to Burgeoys, he went to one of the parent´s weekends. Most pictures he´d helped me with were presented then. Your good friend, Michelle was a jerk as usual on how he didn´t belong but he was above that and in turn he took me to one of his school dances so he made me wear a dress more or less willingly …”

“He was something then… I thought you didn´t like those things” his eyebrows furrowed upwards

“I don´t but I had fun… first and only time I had fun at a party”

“I’m glad about your good times and I’m sorry that he´s gone… I can only imagine how much you must miss him” his head was slightly tilted to a side as he spoke

“Yeah… I miss him a lot” she sighed

“What… happened to him?” he asked softly

“I happened to him” she said in a small broken voice, lips upturned. It felt like a blow for the boy, she´d been giving him so much information at once and now it was all over again like the time when she made the big old tree die just by touching it…

“Ah, Nichole…” he tried to hug her but she put her hand on his chest

“He cared for me and I killed him… nothing good comes from being close to me” her voice had taken somewhat a different disposition, clinical, as if it was part of a speech. He wondered if she pushing him away showing him where he could end. He stared at her cold eyes; she was a totally different person, she was the girl that told him not to follow her on the stone wall.

“My … life has been saved twice by being close to you” he broke the silence between them

“That´s arguable… that could´ve been avoided if you hadn´t been close”

“I’m not going anywhere”

“You´re stupid as well” her eyes pierced into his, he sighed.

“I’m sure he was happy to be with you –he tried another approach- and I’m sure he´d do it again even if he knew he´d end there” he said, she snorted

“If I had known or had been smarter I would´ve run from him and the pain of losing him” Nichole´s voice was barely audible

“The spent time was worth it and all you´ve told me tells me it´s true”

“I´d still trade it for his life” she said and stared at Ashley´s grave. Josh looked at her

“It´d be his choice too…” he said softly, she didn’t reply

“Do you want me to give you a moment alone?” he asked after a while of silence

“No, I brought you here to meet him and to let the birds free, here if you don´t mind” she showed him a smile, one that didn´t reach her eyes

“I told you I don´t mind. Which one do you want to let go first?”

“I want you to free the green one –she smiled with the side of her mouth, he smiled back- I´ll let go the yellow one, so the first will be the blue one”

Josh opened the cage; carefully, she took the blue bird and put it on the stone that marked Ashley´s resting place, on the other side of where the cupcake was. Instead of flying away, the bird hopped towards the bread and pecked it. She started to laugh; Josh smiled at the sight of her. She took out her cellphone to take a picture but as she was about to do it, the bird flied away, she slumped her shoulders

“They can be tracked… -Josh informed her- so you can always know where they are” she looked at him

“Really?”

“Yeah” he replied to a smiling Nichole

“I like that… Let´s free the others somewhere else” she decided suddenly when he was about to open the cage again.

****

A/N

agh! I had two images for this one! and a lot of tittles "friends and family", "memories", "visit" and even "Ashley"  I´lll put the other image here. 

It was a trip to post this one... a lot of change and many bits about Ash didn´t make it, which was kinda sad but it didn´t fit....

well, I hope it was good... I think I feel kinda bad about Josh... she can be too much, even for me I guess lol

the other pix -which is better?

Double Life: Over Your Steps

A/N: I don´t feel like I have that many things to say in this one... except that I have been worried about this part for quite a while... well, this part and the whole coming part because I was thinking that maybe Nic was talking too much and not being who she normally is but last night I felt like she´s been talking more and more and after the days at the Arlingtons it seems like something changed and also going back to prior posts, it seems a certain guy makes her talk hahaha 

*

During the first week of school, on Wednesday afternoon Nichole´s phone vibrated. She was laying down by the stone wall, sketching birds and cats and a face that she hadn´t drawn in a while.

“Hello! How´s your first week of classes going?” Natasha had her motherly voice, one that Nichole dreaded

“What do you want?”

“Whoa! What´s with that mood, I´m just checking on you”

“You never check on me”

“This time you’re right… I still owe you your birthday gift and I am calling to confirm. Sunday´s doable… your father´s out of town and mrs. Duchenne´s going for a spa day and your step-sisters won´t mind if Camille is not there but out with me, meaning you”

“Oh” the girl said. Nat chuckled on the other side of the line

“Yeah, I thought you´d like that”

“Mh”

“Why don´t you sound excited, baby?”

“I’m not your baby. Where?”

“You´ll have to help me on that one… -there´s the ´but´part Nichole thought- if I ask permission for home leave for you it´ll be registered, the same if you go out on your own and I can´t have that, specially since you saw Camille the day before school started… I need you to go to the park that is close to the hotel where you spent your vacation, can you do that?”

“It´ll take a lot if I take a cab, can you bring her closer?”

“No, baby… if I take her closer to Burgeoys, it´ll be suspicious…”

“How about Crystals house?”

“Your sisters will be there… but we can postpone it or cancel”

“I´ll be there”

“Great! I won´t tell Camille until you´re there, is that ok?”

“Yeah”

“Ok, have a nice day!” Nat said chirpily, the girl ended the call.

Nichole stayed there, where she was until the sun set and even a little after.

**

“Are my birds around?” Nichole asked with a soft s mile as she and Josh got closer to her dorm

“Sort of” Josh returned the s mile. She raised her eyebrows to enquire “I have them at the vet´s in the closest town to school”

“Woodhills?” she sounded surprised. That had been Ash´s town; his aunt and cousins still lived there. 

She and Josh had never visited there, she was almost sure the boy hadn´t gone either, there weren´t that many places there to interest Josh or so she´d thought.

“Yeah. Ever gone there? It seems like you´d like it  better than Greenvalley”

“Mhh” she did like it better than the town in which she and Josh had gone together. Ash´s town was a bit more rural but nicer and closer, greener.

“We could go this Saturday since it´s the first one out we have” he offered

“What about Kate?”

“She said her family´s taking her to her aunt´s wedding”

“Saturday, then” she said glancing back to him before getting in the glass doors of her dorm.

 “What time´s good for you tomorrow?” Nichole read the text. It was already Friday night. She had erased the caller id but she knew the number.

“Early” she texted back

“I´ll ask the car to come by eight. Breakfast there?”

“I kinda wanted to show you the way from school… sort of a long walk though so it´s up to you” she texted back, he smiled when he saw it

“Jumping the wall? You like being a rebel, huh?” he texted and she laughed

“What´s life without breaking a few rules?” she teased and he laughed. Another text came after that one “go to sleep. I´ll wake you up before the sunrise :p”

He´d thought she´d been joking but at five o´clock she was calling him

“Wake up sunshine! –She chuckled- you better get ready. Be there in fifteen”

“What time is it?” he squinted his eyes to look at his clock

“See you in fifteen” she chuckled and hung up

“Why do you get up so early?” he grumbled once he met her outside his dorm building

“You´re grumpy in the morning” Nichole gave him a one-arm hug “hiking´s better in the morning and sneaking out is better in the dark” she winked as they started to walk towards the orchard and then to the stone wall. This time she led them to the old iron locked door. As an agile cat she climbed it in two strides and from the top she jumped landing on her feet.

“Show off” he said from the other side, she grinned turned his way and winked “hurry” she said and he climbed as well, not as gracefully as her but pretty easily. They walked along the stone wall, she had detoured from the usual way she took when she went down there but if she hadn´t done it, they would´ve had to climb in the exact same place where she saved his life the afternoon she considered was the one he´d become her friend. This time she hadn´t wanted to risk something like that happening again, she avoided the river but she got closer, only enough for it to be seen, not enough for him to fall or slip in it.

“Do you mind?” she asked nonchalantly but there was nothing nonchalant about it since she was actually worried about it

“Ah, no, I’m fine” he said smiling at her concern though it always made him feel bad that she knew he was scared and though she didn´t made him uncomfortable about it, he still felt that way.

The morning was cold and quiet. The sounds of their when they stepped on the moist ground melted with the sounds of the river and the birds that at times sung louder, but even this felt quiet.

They seemed to be walking towards the sun, the soft sun beans peered between the trees, it made Nichole remember the last time she had walked that path with someone, back then she´d been walking very close to the boy. He´d been wearing a denim jacket with his loose untied hair, he was humming a song, he was always humming a song, they were quiet besides that, they were only walking next to the other, they didn´t need to talk only to walk, similar to what she and Josh were doing but so different. Ashley and Joshua were nothing alike yet in a way so similar, Nichole thought.

There was no time to think about Ash, Nichole didn´t want to think about Ash right now, she knew she´d be thinking a lot about him though, not only because of the path she was following but because she was following it with someone else, a new friend, it felt to her like she was walking over her steps and Joshua´s steps were now on top of Ashley´s, maybe erasing them, maybe just being there, new steps, that would be lost but never forgotten.

Nichole sighed and Josh glanced her way a little worry in his eyes, she´d sounded sad. He wanted to ask if she was ok but somehow it felt like she didn´t want to be asked that. It seemed like she was walking in a different time but she was here so he stayed quiet wondering what he should do.

At some point she stopped and sat, she looked up at him with a very tiny smile; from her bag she produced a thermo

“Do you want some cocoa? Or would you prefer tea?”

“Oh –he said shifting on his feet- what do you want?” he said, she looked at him as if saying “if I asked you I wanted an answer” so he ended up replying “cocoa´s fine”, he gave hi m the thermo and then she gave him a box with a cupcake

“Where do you get these?” he asked, they were not the kind they made at Burgeoy´s cafeteria.

“I feel that is a must to have a cupcake whenever I walk this path” she explained with a little melancholic smile he furrowed his eyebrows a little

“And why is that? Or is it a secret?”

She inhaled deeply and stared in the river direction, she pulled a necklace where she had his guitar pick, there was the cat he´d seen before, she caressed the pendant between her index and thumb.

“I had a friend…who… gave me cupcakes whenever we walked this path” she said

“Oh” Josh exclaimed not knowing what to say

“Yeah… we had a little joke. He had wanted me to meet his grandma and the day he asked me to go –she said with a little smile on her face- he brought me cupcakes and somehow I ended up saying that if I found a cupcake line I might follow it –she said with humor- after that every time we met he always had a cupcake for me and I don’t know every time I come here I just have to have one… it´s silly, I know” she smiled.

Josh stared at her for a moment, almost never she showed that side of her, she was always so private, so secretive and now, almost as if it was from nowhere, she was, she was talking about someone she´d been flirting with, a friend like she kept calling him. Something told him this was the same friend that she said she´d visited a while ago. He pretty much had to keep biting his tongue to be patient and wait for what she wanted to share. He felt a little scared, on how to go about things, he´d been thinking a lot about her after the last time they were together back in the woods when they were camping.

“Well… -he ended up saying- it sounds like a good tradition”

“Yeah, it´s silly –she said again- but yeah…it´s nice… I think”

“Sounds like you were very close”

“Yeah, we were” she replied and closed her eyes leaning back until her back touched the ground. Silence stretched between them.

“Im going to drink some water” she announced lightly pointing to the river. They had been walking for a while calmly in silence next to the other.

“I brought water” Josh was about to open his backpack

“I did too. I just want to take a sip of that water” again, she motioned towards the river

“Is that water even good to drink?” there was some concern in the boy´s voice. She laughed quietly

“I won´t die if I drink it”

“But…” he started and she held up her hand to stop him

“Whenever I go through this spot I take a sip of water here” she explained, she knew he wouldn´t let it go other wise

“Why?”

“In memory of my friend. The first time we met, he was drinking water there” a small smile graced the girl´s lips

“He wasn´t from Burgeoys” Josh stated making her laugh

“No, Josh, he wasn´t” she said as if the idea of it could be impossible, then, with a tiny smile still on her lips she walked towards the river.

“Hello, Kitten” she murmured crossing the river using the rocks in it that made some kind of bridge. Once she got to the other side, she knelt down one knee on the ground and then she looked down and with one hand she reached and drank twice.

“When did you start liking this place, the forest?” Josh asked, they had started to walk down again

“I think we´ve talked of this before, have you forgotten?” she was serious, his eyes widened

“I…” he started but stopped when he noticed the soft gaze in her chocolate eyes

“I started to like it this one time that I ran away from Natasha… They couldn´t find me for a while… whenever I wanted to be at peace I went there, it was nice to have the illusion that I could scape”

“What were you escaping of?”

“Training”

“Like the one you left on vacation?”

“Oh… well… kinda”

“That´s child abuse” he said serious, she pursed her lips

“It´s over… I can do pretty cool stuff because of it…”

“Are you justifying it?”

“No, Josh but there is no need to wallow in misery… no once can touch me now, I’m safe here, now”

“I think you should go to the authorities… don´t let them harm you anymore”

“Oh, don´t worry, that won´t happen again. Now, tell me, do you mind the long walk?” she bumped her shoulder with his, he stared at her for a second and decided to follow her lead in changing the subject

“No, not really but I’m thinking on the way up”

“We can take a cab up to Burgeoys” she offered, he nodded.

“Where´s that vet´s shop?” Nichole asked once they reached the street that cut the woods. He looked around

“From this road we have to go left on it until we find the town”

“Is the one across the flag square?”

“Yeah”

“Ok, let´s take a short cut” she took him though empty stone-made streets, all surrounded by many wooden house with big gardens and backyards that made it seem like the woods kept going

“Do you know it here?”

“I do. Would you mind if we go somewhere first?” Nichole asked, he smiled