A Place Called Home

Chapter 8

       Officer Joe collected our statements and left after an hour. Anna went upstairs in a sober mood, her husband was snatched away from her, that too on his birthday.
There was dead silence in the living room after Anna left, I stared at Shawn whose head was burrowed into his hands.
" Shawn!" I started, he slowly raised his head, my gaze  met his blue eyes.  " where where you? " I asked.
" I went to make a phone call and I didn't know I was coming back to meet my father's ashes" He said.
" does Fred have any enemies?" I asked again. Shawn stared at me, probably wondering why I cared so much.
" He didn't, and even if he did there is no way he or she would be present at the party" he said.
" what if ........."
" MJ, just leave all this to the cops, they'll take care of it, it's their job, not yours" Shawn said interrupting my statement.
He stood up and walked to the stairs.
" goodnight guys " He said heading up the stairs to his room
'' I'm pretty sure you're not going to listen to what Shawn just said" Lucas said staring at me.
" of course not, the police isn't going to find anything, this case is just going to end up as an unsolved murder" I said
" and what ate you going to do about it, its not like you are some super smart private investigator or something " He said folding his arms against his chest.
" I want answers, and when I want something I always get it" I said.
" I really do agree with Shawn, you just need to leave all of this to the police, they'll handle it "
I nodded slowly, deep inside me, I knewbi wasn't going to let it go and I think Lucas knew that too.
"Thank you for saving me... us ..... I mean Anna and I" He said almost smiling.
" obviously the murderer intended to blow up Anna and Shwn too, they knew Anna would cry over her husband's body and they knew Shawn would also cry over his father's body, so they intended to kill the three of them, except Shawn escaped and you were in his place "
Lucas sighed, obviously tired of me blabbing.
" You're creating a story in your head" He said
" I'm not, it's called theories, I don't have proof to back up what I just said but take a look at it from my perspective....... why would a bomb be planted in his body after his head had been taken out by an axe?"
Lucas fell silent, he ran his fingers through his messy hair and thought for a while.
" fine..... I believe you" He said " but you have to report thus to the cops " he added
" sure, first thing tomorrow, I'll tell Shawn about it, then he can drive me to the police station" I suggested
" or he can just call officer Joe"
" right"
Lucas phone rang, I saw the na,e on the dial- Sophie.
" why do you have her number?" I blurted, instantly regretting that I had opened my mouth.
" so we can talk, it's how you make friends. I bet you wouldn't know that cause the only contacts on your phone are those in this house" He said picking up his call.
Okay, that was a little too intense, I knew I was antisocial, but it wasn't my fault, was it?.
I listened to Lucas conversation with Sophie, all I could make out was " hmm hmm" " he's in his room" " He left a few minutes ago " " yeah"  " it's bad" hmm hmm" " no don't......not tonight" " yeah" ' tomorrow sounds okay "  " hmm hmm" " sure" " goodnight ". Then he hung up.
" let me guess, she called Shawn, he didn't pick up, so she called you" I said
He nodded " and she's coming here tomorrow " He added
" great!" I rolled my eyes.
Lucas stood up and took a seat beside me.
" the hell are you doing? " I asked raising an eyebrow
" you were brave tonight, really brave, I didn't even see a single tear drop from your eyes. You saved me, I  actually don't know where I would be right now if you hadn't pushed us away from Fred's body" He said taking my hands in his " Thank you" He smiled.
I stared down at my hands which were now locked between his then back at his face, his lips curled up into a faint smile.
" I returned the favor. Remember you saved me too, when that tree branch was about to smash me into mush, you tackled me out of the way" I said.
" yeah, except you didn't say thank you"
" didn't feel the need to "
" you know Some people were saying you're a dark child "
" yeah I've heard that before " I said letting out a tiny laugh to show him I wasn't surprised.
" well, for the record, I don't think you're dark or cursed or anything bad "
" yeah ?, what do you think of me then" I said.
He gave my hand a little squeeze, He stared into my eyes, my hands still in his  we remained in that position for about ten seconds. He raised his hands to touch my hair but I immediately turned my face.
" I should go to bed " I said pulling my hands away from his and getting up, I walked to the stairs and climbed it one by one. When I reached the top I heard lucas mumble a goodnight.

What the hell was I doing?

I passed Anna's and Fred's room, well now it's only going to be Anna's room, I heard the soft sobs as I leaned towards the door, I wanted to go in there and hug her and tell her it was going to be okay and I would find Fred's murderer but I couldn't.

She doesn't deserve this.

I leaned away from the door and walked to my room, I shut the door behind me, not wanting to think of anything, but that was simply impossible, it was one hell of a night, I couldn't seem to not think about what happened, what I had witnessed, I still prayed it was all a dream though, I prayed that I would wake up the next morning and see that this was just a nightmare.
I slipped out of my dress and took a long soak in the tub.
I changed into my pyjamas and layed on my bed. I was finding it hard to believe that I was going to wake up in the morning without seeing Fred at the dining table.

I sighed deeply, I tried to get some sleep but each time I closed my eyes, all I could see was an axe swinging out of nowhere and taking Fred's head. I swear  I didn't get a wink of sleep that night.