If I Die Young

35. Accident/Rest

The next day was pretty cloudy outside, but it was still warm and just the slightest bit muggy. I'd asked Kathryn to come pick me up and just as I was walking down the steps, I was intercepted by two small figures that stepped in my way to block my travels. Daisy and Noelle stood there with their hands hidden behind their backs, their shoes on their feet and coats hugging their chests. They looked expectant, with sly little smiles adorning their cheeks.

"Where are you two going?" I asked.

"With you." Noelle purred, her hair tied back into two ringleted pigtails that reached her waist. I was thinking it might be time she needed a haircut.

"Oh, is that so?" I teased the girls and Daisy suddenly pouted.

"Come on, you guys always leave and we never get to go with you!" She complained. "I want to go into town."

"Alright, you two can come with us." I told them, watching their faces light up. "Where's Delilah? Does she want to come?"

"Delilah's playing with Herkimer in her room, she doesn't want to go." Daisy rolled her eyes.

"Who's Herkimer?"

"He's one of her new creations." Noelle shrugged, just as a car horn honked outside. "Come on, that's Snow!"

"Snow?"

Before I could get an answer the girls ran out the door and left me to follow after them. I just brushed off the comment and followed after them, finding my cousin waiting outside the door with my boyfriend in tow. The girls scrambled into the backseat and I joined them, listening to their excited giggles while they buckled their seat belts. Kathryn turned around and grinned at the two of them, raising her shades to reveal ghostly blue eyes that were filled with mirth and adoration.

"Where's your guys' little triplet? Delilah taking a snooze?"

"She didn't want to come." Daisy huffed, and Kathryn just nodded at the pair before turning back around in her seat.

"Well, no ice cream for her then."

The girls squealed in delight as we peeled out of the driveway, taking off down the highway and towards Egg Harbor. Ethan reached back with his hand and I gripped it tightly, glad for the feel of warm skin against my own. The thought of those two haunting the house made the air too heavy and the emotions run too high. I needed a day away from there.

The town was starting to become more lively again, the murders and the disappearances having moved north of them and therefore leaving the town just a little bit safer. That didn't mean all of the townsfolk were ready to go out and about again though, leaving the streets and the park just a little bit empty. We parked and exited the vehicle, keeping an eye on the girls as they ran ahead to the ice cream shop and darted inside. I went with the same thing I usually got, the coffee ice cream with a tiramisu macaron. Ethan was a little more adventurous this time around and went with cake batter, something that tickled my nose with a sweet scent. We walked across the street to the park and I got my first taste of sunshine all day. The gray clouds were being chased away by the breeze and I took respite in the sharp bite that meant autumn was coming.

Kathryn was conversing with a couple by the bookstore while Ethan and I watched the girls, they were playing with a few other kids at the playground and I was so, unbelievably happy that she was finally reaching out to other people. I still remember the girl on the doorstep, terrified and wearing her pajamas still. I was so proud of her. Ethan squeezed my hand gently and I turned to look at him, watching as he watched me. It made me smile.

"What are you looking at beautiful?"

"Noelle," I said lovingly, "when she first came to the house she was dropped off on our doorstep, wearing only her pajamas and completely unsure of what had just happened. She asked if she could live with us. I couldn't imagine my life without her."