His Name was Noah

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Without thinking I ran inside, my whole world was a blur as I raced through the dining room and into the kitchen.

I froze in the doorway when I saw my mother standing on a chair with a butcher knife in her hand, scattered over the floor were the shattered remains of a blue ceramic bowl.

“GET OUT!” She shrieked, pointing to something on the floor with the knife.

I shifted my eyes to the ground, it wasn’t very surprising when I saw the little hairy black spider crawl across the floor and hide under a piece of the broken bowl.

 “Well that’s not a ghost…” the disappointed voice of Peppa said behind me, I hadn’t realized that she followed me in.

“Ghost?” my mother asked, lowering her weapon.

I opened my mouth, to explain when the back door opened and in burst something that I wasn’t sure how to react to.

George hadn’t followed me when I ran, instead he had gone to his garden shed and grabbed a pair of long clippers and had now burst in my back door screaming bloody murder and snapping the shears together in an ominous fashion.

For a minute he was just standing in the open door way with the sun shining in behind him, bearing his teeth with violent blue eyes scanning the room.

He stopped when he saw the lack of ghost in the room. Both me, my mom and Peppa stood silently gaping at the boy.

He slowly lowered the shears as a fiery red blush crept up his neck, across his face and straight out to his ears.

“Uhh…what seems to be the trouble…?” He said with a forced smile, pulling the clippers behind his back.

“Geesh, this is awkward.” I thought, scratching the back of my neck and looking up at the ceiling.

Just then Peppa burst out into uncontrollable laughter, she fell back against the dining room wall as her giggles took over.

Laughter being contagious, I quickly began laughing as well.

He chuckled and blushed harder; I don’t think I have ever seen a boy turn so red.

“I’m…going to…uh, go put these away.” He held up the clippers, and walked sheepishly out of the house and across the backyard.

I grabbed the broom from the corner and carefully stepped across the floor to the piece of ceramic that the little monster was hiding beneath. Using the broom I gently nudged the insect out the open door and into the garden. 

“Who was that?” My mother asked, tentatively getting down from her perch on the chair and glancing around as if another manic spider was going to jump out and attack her.

“He’s just a neighbor.” I said casually, maybe a little too casually.

Esther Reynolds crossed her arms and gave me “that look”.

“Actually…that’s my brother, George! And I’m Peppa.” The blonde bounced across the kitchen to my mother and stuck out her hand.

“Well it’s very nice to meet you Peppa, I’m glad that Cassandra is already making friends.” She smiled warmly, shooting a suggestive glance in my direction.

I sent her a pointed look as I pulled a plastic shopping bag out of a drawer and bent over to pick up the shards of broken bowl, carefully placing each piece into the bag.

Peppa had noticed our exchange and simply waved at me before turning back to my mom.

“Oh yes Mrs. Reynolds, George and I are quite excited to be having some new neighbors. I must warn you however; the McTavish family isn’t very… well let’s say, kind towards the people who move here…” Peppa turned to look out the open back door as if one of the said people were about to jump out of the shrubs.