CONSUME

01.

On instinct she tugged on her pale shirt's sleeve, a nervous habit that had stuck with her, and walked over to one of the few people she called a friend. She waved at the ginger haired girl and zig-zagged her way trough the crowd while doing her best to not bump into anyone.

Her perfume smelt like vanilla and Esther glanced at the extravagant makeup she wore in pure wonder, her eyeshadow matched her silver dress and the perfectly winged eyeliner adorned her brown eyes. Pink blush covered her round cheeks, matching the vibrant lipstick she wore.

"Hey, I was wondering when you would show up. These people are like vultures, I had to physically fight my way over to the food table." Mia spoke with a loud huff of annoyance while handing over a paper plate filled to the brim with pastries of all sorts. She grabbed one and sat down on one of the plush chairs while attempting to ignore the eyes she felt in the back of her head.

She half listened as people talked about old memories, occasionally scanning the crowd and all the joyous people. Large smiles were plastered on everyone's lips and everything about it felt exaggerated. Sometimes the whole town felt exaggerated, overdone and almost like a far stretched illusion. It was like a cake, one with filling and pretty decorations that looked amazing. Only on the inside it was foul and repugnant. It looked pretty but tasted horrible.

Most of the people were good but the town consisted of several bad men and women. It was never talked about and it often felt like there were some unsaid agreement to keep up an idyllic facade and paint the town to be much greater then it actually is. Yet petty arguments, horrendous gossip and bad things existed and went unnoticed. The perfectly shaped rose bushes, small houses and happy people were all a formed facade, the beloved policeman part of it.

As she stood in the room she suddenly grew extremely weary of her surroundings, the large crowd making her anxiety skyrocket.

She jumped slightly when someone grabbed her arm, the sudden contact catching her off guard. Eva began to lead her trough the busy room, dodging people left to right.

"I thought you could help me in the kitchen, you look a little bit overwhelmed." She spoke softly as they entered the kitchen, a small crowd of people gathered around the dining table.

"It was getting a bit much, thank you." Esther spoke quietly. It was weird how the woman knew her well enough to see when it was getting too much for her but she appreciated it.

"You can help me with the cake dear, Marty and I have been handling it since these fools can't bake for their life." The woman muttered as she steered Esther towards a huge, four layered cake. The air seemed to shift as she entered the kitchen but she ignored it the best she could.

She picked up the frosting and began the decorate the cake, writing Eva's name on it and adding small circular decorations. She half listened as the people by the table talked, recognizing one voice in particular and doing her best to stay calm.

"Esther, sweetheart. Do you know when your dad is coming back to town? We were just talking about the plans for Halloween and I couldn't help but wonder how if he will be joining us?" One of the elderly ladies spoke, her frail voice attempting to hide the concern that laced it.

"He does love Halloween but I don't believe so. He's quite busy." She lied, knowing he wasn't busy at all. The truth was that he could barely take two steps into the town without breaking apart.

After the loss of her mother, her father couldn't do anything without breaking apart. He had worked for the police, mostly with paperwork and when he retired there wasn't much left. All he had was her and her mother.

Her mother had hated his work, hated the people he worked with and in the end she figured he regretted spending so much time with them instead of her.

"Well that's unfortunate, he usually helps out with the haunted house." Carla continued, not noticing that Eva was scowling at her.

"Perhaps you want to help out this year Esther? I-we would love it if you did." Graham spoke, his deep voice a mixture between sounding rough and soft.
His dark eyes bored into hers as he stared quite openly at her.

He stood by the window, leaned against the kitchen counter as if attempting too look casual but his stoic body betrayed him. His arms were crossed against his chest and as she glanced at them she realized he would probably break her arm if they ever arm wrestled. It was a stupid thought but compared to her flabby arms, he was ripped.

"I'll think about it." She answered with a strained smile and went back to the frosting. His eyes were still fixated on her even as the conversation changed and a different subject was brought up.

The ladies laughed and conversed while she concentrated on the frosting and not the heated eyes on the back of her head. She knew he was watching her with that strange, intense look in his eyes. When it first began she thought it was all in her head but every time she would turn he would be there, staring at her. It was not only that, whenever she neared him apprehension built in her chest as if something in her knew he was dangerous. Mia had believed he had taken a liking to Esther, but quickly dismissed it due to the fact that the older man might be handsome but that he's too old for her.

That made Esther upset and an unknown fright in her chest grow, knowing no one would believe her.
He was respected and he was a police officer. No matter how dangerous she believed him to be there would never be any proof, not any to ever come up to the surface.

No, there were something wrong with the handsome police officer and she couldn't avoid him or the heated way he stared at her. It was impossible and it scared her.

It scared her a whole lot.