IT WAS LATE when Talia arrived back home from being at Nick's house in Sunnyvale. As she walked through her front door, she had a large smile plastered on her face. She had just spent a good hour with Nick, running an important errand and any moment she spent with him made her unbelievably happy. "Parker, i'm home" She spoke out loud, loud enough that she knew her sister would hear her. She made her way to the kitchen and set her bag on the dining table, only to find a sloppy written note. She recognized the handwriting instantly to be Simon's.
She had graded enough of his papers to where the writing is burned into her mind and all the note said was how they went to Kate's house to help her out with babysitting. She figured that Parker didn't know he left the note, she never told Talia where she was going. Unless Talia specifically asked.
Talia set the note back down and decided to get started with chores. She knew she wouldn't be able to get any sleep tonight so she decided to clean and see if it tires her out eventually. She started with the dirty dishes that were left in the sink, swept the kitchen, vacuumed the living room and bedroom's. Next thing she was going to do was laundry, so she went and grabbed her's from her bedroom and then made her way to Parker's room. When she walked into her sister's room, she shivered. She was hit by a small breeze from the window Parker left open and Talia slightly rolled her eyes. Parker knows she's supposed to close it but doesn't just to annoyed her older sister.
Talia walked over and closed it shut, locking it in the process. She let out a soft sigh and stared at her reflection in the window. She examined herself as best she could, since the window wasn't exactly a mirror. She could see the tiredness in her face. She hasn't slept well in years and well Heather's death took away whatever sleep she did manage to get in the night.
Just as she was about to turn around and grab Parker's laundry, she saw something move behind her in the reflection of the window. She quickly turned around thinking it was probably just Parker messing with her.
"I saw you Parker, I know you're here" Talia said as she began to pick up Parker's clothing which somehow was all over the bedroom floor. She smiled to herself remembering a small memory of when they would play tricks on each other when Parker was a little girl. Oh how she missed those moments.
Talia heard Parker's footsteps get closer to the bedroom and Talia looked up with a small smile still on her face. But it instantly faded when she realized— it was not Parker. Parker played jokes on Talia lots of times, but not even she would put on the same costume that Heather's killer wore to scare Talia. The Skull Mask Killer, was what Nick said they were calling him, what everyone was calling him.
