Everything for the Hunt

Chapter Nine

The smell of my dad's famous lasagne drifted through the house like a beckoning hand that pulled both Grams and I out of our rooms and into the dining room. As he left the kitchen to call for dinner he jumped, staring startled as we sat in our seats already waiting for food.
                             "My god, it's like feeding time at the zoo in here..." chuckling quietly to himself "...I've never seen either of you rally so quickly" readjusting the dish in the centre of the round table.
                             "It's been a long day" resting my head against the palm of my hand. "Tell us all about it, darling" Grams lifted my chin to smile at me – although I knew she really did it to remove my elbows from the table.

Dad cut a square out of lasagne, the gooey golden cheese on top trailed behind as he scooped it up and placed it on Grandmas plate, then doing the same for me.
                               "Yeah, what happened?" Dad glanced over his glasses to look at me as he sat back in his seat opposite and began to eat.
                               "If someone's foot was run over by a car, would it break?"

                              "Oh god, Annie Olivia what have you done?"

                               "No..." I shook my head "... god no, not me. Someone at my school drove over a guy's foot but the guy just walked away like he was fine. I thought maybe I had just seen it worse than it was but I don't know. It seems like he would have still hurt it regardless of whether it was broken or not" Dad looked at me, his eyes thoughtful for just a moment before responding.
                              "I guess it depends on whether it rolled over his whole foot or just nicked his toes – he could lose a few nails but it wouldn't have cracked the bones if it barely touched his foot"

                              "I suppose so" but I couldn't get the image of the car bouncing back down to the ground with the vigour that suggested it had rolled over something bigger than just the end of his shoe.
                             "We can only hope he's ok" Grams smiled – lightening the mood ever so slightly. My dad must have picked up on my still uneasy expression because he continued
                             "You've been acting weird ever since Grandma told you that town story" he had a point. Before I knew about the town everything was exactly what it was – nothing seemed to more than face value. But I guess the words of her story had resonated with me more than I realised. Now I felt myself analysing every weird situation for some ulterior motive, and looking over my shoulder as if I was about to see something I shouldn't. 

If she had never said anything to me, would I have still felt so uneasy delivering that vase? Would I have just brushed of the whole event as something odd but not suspicious? I felt trapped in that moment of time when the horror movie you've been watching has ended and you have to return to your dark room – you look around every corner and keep your lights on for just a few minutes longer than usual as if you are waiting for something to jump out at you.
                           "I didn't mean for it to scare you"

                          "It didn't Grams, I'm just overreacting"

                         "Like usual" Dad smirked, biting into a large chunk of his dinner.
                          "I don't always overreact – I'm not Rob" at that comment, the corners of Grams lips twisted to a smile and she looked down at her dinner.
                         "Fine, not overreacting... you're just a little crazy" which was worse than thinking I was overreacting. "Dad!" I protested.

***

                          "So the plan is to meet at Ridgeway Lake at 7pm" Rob confirmed as we joined him at our table at lunch.
                         "What are you talking about?" Eve's tray of salad and cookies dropped opposite him.
                          "There's a party tomorrow night at the lake – I think everyone is going" I slid into the seat next to her and stole a fry off of Rob's lunch tray. He watched with raised eyebrows before shaking his head
                         "Sounds fun, what's the occasion?"