5 Books For Eveline

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Purdy's legs began to tremble. She reached for the banister rail of the stairs, supporting herself as she stepped down a few more stairs and then lowered herself on to a step, the last few steps feeling like a gulf between her and Briar. Briar lowered the book, revealing her face, but she didn't look triumphant, or smug, as Purdy had expected. She looked confused, eyes narrowing as she saw the colour drain from Purdy's face.

Her hand raised to her mouth and Purdy tried to contain the disappointment. After trying for so long, with so many dips and troughs along the way, she had come to the end of the search, only to find herself falling at the last hurdle. Briar took a step forward, one foot lifting on to the bottom step. The hand holding the book fell to her side as she tilted her head.

"Con ... congratulations. You won." The words caught in her throat and her fingers moved to her hair, running through it, scratching her scalp. She could almost laugh. "You won. Just like you said you would."

"How can you be so clever and so unbelievably stupid at the same time?" About to continue up the stairs, Briar stopped and then sat on the bottom step. She looked at the book in her hand, turning it over. "I guess, it's a little more subtle than I thought."

The book came spinning through the air, paralleling the stairs, and Purdy only managed to catch it by dropping her walking stick. The stick clattered and tumbled, hitting every other step, until it landed upon the floor at the bottom. It missed Briar by an inch, but she didn't flinch as it passed her by.

Frowning, wondering why Briar would let her see the book right now, Purdy opened the cover and started to glance through the first page. It started with Raya's point of view, something none of the other books had done. Raya had had several chapters for her perspective but, until now, everything had focussed upon Eveline, detailing her life, her parents and sister, but mostly about Eveline and Raya's friendship.

"It's different. You'll enjoy it, I'm sure." Purdy closed the book, her fingers caressing the cover. She lifted it, ready to toss back to Briar. "I have to go."

"Read the start of chapter six." A hand raised, telling Purdy to wait. Briar leaned back against the wall with a sigh. "If you don't get it then, there's no helping you."

Uncertain what game Briar played, she considered ignoring her. She thought of limping down the stairs to drop the book into Briar's hands, unread, but something in the way Briar spoke made Purdy curious. She opened the book again, flipping through the pages, trying not to catch her eye on the contents, searching for chapter six.

It began with Eveline, bickering and joking with her sister, her parents trying to get them to treat each other better, but the two young women knew they loved each other. They only teased. They were all heading out in Eveline's car, to take the sister to her final recital before entering performing arts school the next Autumn.

In a car. Four of them. Two parents and two sisters. Eveline drove. Purdy's eyes raced across the words, a familiar story. Familiar through others talking of such a story. Unfamiliar to her, because Purdy had not experienced it. Not this Purdy. She read onwards. The chapter passed before her eyes. She read it so fast, she almost missed the beginning of the end.

The car suffering a failure. A catastrophic failure. Tumbling, crashing, glass raining down onto Eveline and her family. A darkness and pain, written in such a way that Purdy could almost see the accident. Almost feel the terror. Almost suffer it all. She closed the book again, pressing it down upon her knees and feeling herself begin to rock, backwards and forwards.

Briar gave her a smile. A sad smile and Purdy could see that everything had changed. The entirety of her life had suffered a shift, so massive she felt a need to hold on to the banister again. And, through the turbulence of her mind, she saw Briar making slow steps up towards her. Purdy almost began to scurry backwards, away from the woman that had proven far more devious than Purdy had given her credit for.