THE DEATH OF HILLARY IRVINE
CHAPTER TWO
The living room was filled with only the soft sound of the movie playing on the large TV. It was silent apart from that, as Olivia sat on the sofa watching the hair-raising thriller on her own. Although her eyes were stitched to the television with her hand in her freshly made bowl of popcorn, her mind was elsewhere. Something that once had her undivided attention every Friday night as she watched intently, was now at the back of her mind as she tried to process the horror movies going on in her own head. Now, instead of eagerly anticipating a jump scare, all Olivia could see in the malicious ghosts in the film was her own sketch– the ghost that had plagued her dreams almost every night for the past week.
When a blood-curdling scream erupted from the TV, Olivia was drawn back into reality with wide eyes. Her hand scrambled across the leather seats until it found the long, black remote. She picked it up and hurriedly turned the TV off before letting out a sigh. Staring at her hands in silence, she replayed Nancy's words in her head— that Olivia might very well be involved with a sea spirit, assuming it even existed.
Her heart struck her ribcage heavily when a banging sound suddenly echoed through the bottom floor of her house. She used her hands to push herself up from the black leather couch, the feeling of cold marble tiles against her feet sending shivers down her spine. Reaching for her phone, she kept her eyes on the hallway leading to the front door with thousands of thoughts racing through her brain as to who would be knocking on her door so late at night; her dad had his own set of keys.
Shaking her head, she tried to mentally convince herself she was just overthinking. But between the nightmares and the horror movie she had just been watching, and the fact that she was home alone with her dad still at work, she felt beyond unsettled. The thought that someone was knocking at her door at nine in the evening left her feet cold and her hands clammy, especially considering that she and her dad never had visitors. She wiped her palms against the sides of her sweatpants and made her way toward the front door.
"Hello?" she said through the intercom on the wall.
"Hey, it's Nancy." The girl's words came unclear through the speaker, but Olivia recognized her voice. Her shoulders loosened as relief washed over her, but she frowned questioningly as she opened the door.
"How did you find me?" Olivia folded her arms over her chest shortly before she dropped them to her sides in realization. "Right, you're Nancy Drew." Mental images flashed through her head of the few articles she had read over the years about Horseshoe Bay's hero.
"Here." The redhead didn't waste a moment before sticking her hands forward with a brown folder. Her jacket sleeves rolled up when her hands stretched forward, revealing faint red constraint marks on her wrists.
Olivia frowned. "What happened?" she speculated, her attention darting between Nancy's wrists and the folder in her hands before hesitantly accepting it.
"Oh, uh, I got arrested. My dad- well, Ryan Hudson, just bailed me out," she explained vaguely. Her lack of eye contact gave Olivia the impression she wasn't too fond of talking about it.
"Arrested?" Olivia gaped in disbelief.
"It's nothing serious. I mean, my friends and I bought this mirror off of some guy and it turned out to be stolen property– it's a long story." Before Olivia could respond with any more questions, Nancy waved her hand in her air to change the subject and continue talking. "Anyways, I came here to give you this... it's a record of Hillary Irvine's death and some pictures from the crime scene investigation," she explained bluntly. Olivia raised her eyebrows and took a small step back in disbelief, the words striking her like knives. Hesitantly, she tilted the envelope so papers slid out from the opening. "You don't have to look at the pictures, by the way..." Olivia inhaled deeply before pulling out the pile of laminated photos despite Nancy's suggestion not to.
Her heart dropped at the sight of her sweet aunt's face, pale and underweight as she lay on the ground dead. Olivia shuddered and looked away briefly to catch her breath. The photos of when her aunt was found dead depicted nothing of the bright, friendly young woman Olivia remembered spending countless days with when she was eight. Hillary would glow under the rays of the sun, her vibrant, contagious laugh pulling her niece into a fit of giggles as they danced around by the beach every summer. She was the most lively person Olivia had ever known, and even though Olivia was only eight when she last saw her, her memories of her still stood strong in her head. And they were nothing like the photos Olivia was holding in her hands.
Olivia's eyes brimmed with tears but she blinked them back before tearing her gaze away. "Why are you showing me this?" she barked, her eyes boring angry holes into Nancy's head.
Nancy pursed her lips, her eyes soft and apologetic before she started speaking. "The autopsy says that her probable cause of death was suicide... but look at this," she paused to pull out the third photo– a close up to Hillary's neck. It was laced with deep marks all across her throat, as though she had clawed them with her own nails until they had drawn blood. "I think something was choking her."
"But there's no DNA evidence in here at all about someone even being in the room with her when she died," Olivia argued as she flicked through the report. She died alone. The painful thought crossed Olivia's mind and she squeezed her eyes tightly to try to push it out of her mind.
"Olivia, I don't think it was a 'someone'. I think it was a 'something': the Aglaeca. Maybe your aunt made a deal with it and failed to pay the toll, like my friends and I. Either way, something is connecting you to it now."
Olivia let out a cold laugh, shaking her head. She stepped backward and dumped the file onto the small table against the wall with a level of hatred and anger she had never felt before. That file held the most painful thing Olivia had ever experienced aside from her parent's divorce. She wanted nothing to do with it. "This is unbelievable. Do people normally buy all this bullshit you feed them?"
"Olivia, I'm serious." Nancy stepped forward, her eyes staring deeply into Olivia's as she tried to convince her. "There's another picture in there- there are scratch marks all around her eyes. Maybe she was seeing things like you are. I'm worried the same thing that happened to her might happen to you-"
"I'm not seeing things!" Olivia hissed, flailing her hands in the air. "They were literally just some stupid dreams! And how the hell did you get your hands onto my aunt's police report? That's illegal and so messed up on so many levels."
"Olivia..." Nancy cut herself off at the sound of a car's motor. She and Olivia looked over her shoulder to see a black Mercedes pulling into the driveway.
"I need you to leave."
Pursing her lips, Nancy nodded and stepped back in surrender. "If you change your mind, I'll be at The Claw." She gave Olivia a weak smile before turning around and begrudgingly trudging down the porch steps. On her way down, she passed by Olivia's dad and gave him a small wave that he returned.
Through narrow eyes, Olivia watched Nancy as she climbed into her blue car and drove through the gate. So focussed on the girl who had angered her, she hadn't even acknowledged her dad who made his way to the front door. "Hey, Livvie." He planted a kiss on her forehead before he shuffled in through the door and loosened his tie. "Who was that friend of yours?"
"No one; she just got the wrong house."
"Really? She should be more careful at this time of the night," he declared, kicking off his leather shoes.
"Speaking of the time of the night... How come you're home so late today?" Olivia interrogated, raising an eyebrow suspiciously as she leaned against the wall.
"The board meeting ran late," he explained with an apologetic smile. "I know I promised tonight would be movie marathon night. I'm sorry, kiddo. By the way, don't forget about the charity fundraiser I'm hosting next week. I need to show off my perfect daughter." He cupped the side of her cheek with his hand, and Olivia forced a smile and nodded in understanding despite the faint disappointment that had settled in her stomach. "How about we order in tonight and watch an episode of the new American Horror Story season?" A smile grew on his daughter's face and she nodded eagerly. He mimicked her grin and hung his suit jacket on the coat rack. "I'll get changed and then we can start, yeah?"
"Sounds good," Olivia said, her wide grin still plastered across her face. Her dad began to walk toward the ornate dark brown wooden staircase and the air began to fill with an empty quietness once again. What once was conversation was again replaced by unending thoughts spinning through Olivia's head, and before she could process them, her mouth opened. "Hey, dad? What do you know about Aunt Hillary's death?" He turned around to face her, and almost instantly, Olivia's heart was filled with regret. She bit the insides of her cheek when she saw her dad's entire face sink and his lip quiver as he tried to find the words to speak. Mason Irvine was incredibly close to his little sister before she passed. If there was anyone more heartbroken by her death than Olivia, it was him.
"She, uh..." he paused, struggling to find an explanation that wouldn't shatter himself and his daughter once he said it out loud.
"It's okay," Olivia said quietly, forcing a smile up at him in an attempt to lift his spirits. "We don't need to talk about it." Eleven years later, and he still hadn't been able to utter a word about his sister's suicide. Olivia had never thought to ask him; his sadness was more painful to her than anything else.
Mason returned the wan smile before proceeding to the second floor. Olivia watched him from the railings as he walked toward his bedroom, and once he was out of sight she let out a shaky breath, allowing her own face to sink. She blinked back tears as she plodded toward the living room with jelly-like legs and heavy feet.
The only thing running through her mind was why a perfectly happy twenty-two-year-old woman ended her life, destroying the lives of her adoring family. All Olivia's memory's of her, the happiness, the love... the claw marks on her neck and eyes– they didn't add up. And suddenly, Nancy Drew's words began to mean a little bit more to Olivia than they originally had.
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okay so i can't say i LOVE this chapter but i've already prewritten the next six chapters and i can guarantee they are MUCH better; there's more of ace, they're more action/adventure-packed, and generally of better quality. i can't wait for u guys to read them!
let me know what you think of this fic so far <3