The Socialite [Completed]

The Socialite [12] Familiar

Chapter Twelve

Familiar

When Nora woke up the next morning the bed was empty. “Jack” she moaned, but he wasn’t there. Nora turned over to face the door and her eye caught something small and white folded up on the pillow next to her. She picked it up and unfolded it something small and shiny fell onto her chest, she read the note first.

Nora, it said in Jack‘s perfect script.

Your wish has come true… now you have a star of your own, think of it as me, remaining constantly with you. I found this in an antique store and thought of you

I will be back as soon as I can; I have gone to see Matthew.

Take care of my heart, it stayed with you.

Jack

Nora kept reading over the last few sentences of the note. Those last words meant the most to Nora. She was upset that she would have to spend the day by herself, she lowered the note and saw what had dropped on her. She picked it up and looked at it. It was a gold bracelet, with a thin chain of small links holing it together and in the middle was a gold star. She uneasily unhooked the bracelet and clipped it on her wrist. And it would stay there. Nora rolled out of bed and looked out the window, it was still miserable like yesterday and Jack’s absence would only add to that, she changed into the same thing that she wore yesterday, the material was sill wet and hung heavily off her body. She tipped-toed down stairs and walked through the dinning room to the kitchen.

Mary-Ellen was still sleeping her bed, and was too tired to hear her pass. Nora thought that she should be woken up but she looked to peaceful to be woken. The door creaked loudly as Nora opened it, but she didn’t care. She stepped out the back door, and became instantly cold. The damp material of her dress was attached to her skin and the cold wind that passed her mad goose bump raise on her arms. She tried to rub them but it didn’t do anything.

Nora started to walk foreword into the forest, she couldn’t feel the stones or twigs breaking underfeed, they were too numb for her to feel anything. She didn’t know where she was going. What direction she was walking in. what she would come across or what she would find at the end of her walk. She only had three days left with Jack, and he wasn’t here right now. What if he didn’t come back in time for her to say good bye? How long could he be gone for? What could possibly be wrong for Jack to leave? What was Matthew’s problem? Nora couldn’t think of anything that would cause Jack to leave so suddenly. She stopped walking and lightly touched her forehead. It tingled, Jack must have kissed her there before he left. Nora smiled and continued to walk taking more notice of the surroundings. The forest was thicker then she had every seen it, or could remember it. The trees were closer together around her, hugging her. The reached higher in the sky touching branches, expanding into a thick dense canopy. The ground was damper, no much light would make it through the roof of branches and leaves.

Nora kept walking further and further away from the house, she couldn’t see it anymore, only the faint sound of breaking water was all she could hear behind her. It smelled different here. No water, no tobacco, or the smell of car fuel. The smell of the foliage was thick in the air, and the occasional smell of wild flowers, when she passed small bunches grouped together at the bottom of tree trunks. Nora herd a familiar sound. Car tyres becoming louder and louder then get quieter and quieter as it passed. She was becoming closer to the road the ran along the edge of the forest. How far from the house was she now. She quickly turned right and walked away from the road. She saw some light ahead of her. A thin ray of sunlight was breaking through the canopy further on in the forest. As Nora approached she could see more rays coming through the roof. Was the sun out and the miserable clouds gone? Nora could tell from down here. She stepped from the last darkness into the biggest ray of light. It was no warmer in the sun but Nora felt it. She looked up into the ray it blinder her, she closed her eyes and let it slowly warm her. Now felt better, she felt calmed and reassured about what she was doing. But she deep down nothing was different and she would never truly feel good about it. The sun faded away, and Nora was under the darkness of clouds. She opened her eyes and slowly continued to walk and forgot about the sun. she came into a small clearing was thick bushes to the left side and thin trees on the right a fallen tree in the middle of the clearing was resting against another. Thick moss had grown all over it. It reminded Nora of the ‘secret place’. it looked so much like it. It could have been but the surroundings were different. She walked over to it and sat underneath it. The tree still looked stable enough not to fall down. If it did Nora would know. She curled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. She looked around and closed her eyes and remembered.