Light to Dark

Chapter Three--The Friends

Chapter Three--The Friends

Brithe grabbed a towel that was hanging over the railing on the porch. She rubbed it over her hair in an almost violent way. The lake house was huge--to say the least--bone white, and made entirely out of wood. The whole first story had an old-time porch around it, with a balcony on the above story. I couldn't help but gape at it.

"Who lives in a house like this?" I muttered to myself, blinking against the sun.

"I do," Brithe trilled as she pulled open the door. She motioned me to follow, and I obeyed. Well, that just fits, doesn't it? "But only in the summer. The lake looks beautiful at sunset." She sighed as I tried to piece together the current topic.

"Wait," I told her, coming to a realization. "As far as I was aware, your house had burned down in the fire."

Brithe rolled her eyes. "That was the Midtown House--We call it that because it is right next to the Midtown Tower." Then she frowned, becoming serious. "Or we had called it that. The house is gone now and so is the 'we.' It's just me now." Her voice had a hard, sarcastic edge, which sounded completely out of place in her accepting and--frankly--blithe disposition. Then she shook her head and continued, "I have four houses left now--the lake house, the suburb house, the city house, and the big house. Nobody likes the big house, which is why named it that." She counted them off on her fingers.

"You are," I noted, poking an artful vase, "filthy rich."

She shrugged.

"So how did you know that I was Immortal? And how come you did not die either?" Brithe demanded, getting to the point.

I raised an eyebrow. "To start with the obvious, I'm Immortal."

She didn't seem to appreciate my taunting.

"As to how I knew you were Immortal...well, let's just say that comes in time." I managed to avoid eyeing her trinket. If she didn't know what it was, perhaps I could get her to hand it over...

"How old are you?" she interrogated expertly, sitting down.

I tilted my head to the side. "Let's see, I was seventeen in 1663...so, I'm roughly three hundred sixty-five years old. Give or take a year or two."

"You're ancient!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing dating a young thing like Lauren if you are three hundred and sixty?"

"Well, I never aged past seventeen. So technically, I'm seventeen still, but I have lived three hundred and sixty-five years." I shook my head. "Immortality is confusing."

"I thought people from back then talked a lot." The way she eyed made me realize that she did not think I fit the bill.

"I never was verbose."

"So Lauren tells me," she retorted.

I held back a smile.

"So we seriously stop, like, getting older? I'm sixteen forever?" Brithe sounded as if she were going into shock.

"Yes--no midlife crisis for us."

She laughed--a high, bell-like sound. "Funny. But seriously, how we did get to become Immortal? How come I survived the fire and my parents didn't? Is there anyway we can die? Do any humans know about us?"

I sighed. "It seems you have a lot of questions."

She nodded furiously.

I got up and headed towards the door. "C'mon," I beckoned. "We're leaving."