CHAPTER ONE
It was not that Esther felt uneasy but something felt wrong. The feeling had crept up on her as she left her home, slowly infecting her with worry for every dreadful step she took. It was an apprehensive and persistent feeling that clung onto her uncomfortably and she couldn't quite understand why it was there or what it meant.
Esther's steps were short and rushed as she walked down the narrow street and glanced around attentively. She wrapped her arms tightly against her body, as if to shield herself both from the cold and the unsettling feeling that seemed irreparable. The harsh wind felt like needles against her frail skin and the thin coat she wore did nothing to protect her from it. It easily seeped trough the wool fabric and onto her shivering body, prickly goosebumps covered her arms and her face and ears was flushed red by the cold weather.
When the large yellow house adorned with every flower known to human kind came in sight she let out a relived sigh and scurried towards the warmth. She knocked twice on the heavy wooden door and listened to the joyous talking and music that came from the inside. The door swung open and she was met with the elderly ebullient woman that she had known since she was a child. A loose dress clad her body and a colorful party hat sat crookedly on her large hair. Heavy arms were thrown around her and she smiled, enjoying just the mere presence of her mother's old friend. After her mother passed away she found great comfort in Eva, who had always been an compassionate and kind woman.
She handed over the muffins she'd bought and entered the warm but crowded house. Never had she been a fan of large crowds but she couldn't miss Eva's birthday gathering. She had predicted in beforehand that more then half of the residents of the small town would be at Eva's birthday party, it was a town of four thousand people after all.
"Don't worry about the crowd dear, I'll shoo them out if it gets to much." Eva whispered, a large smile on her red lips and a soft but confident tone to her words. Esther gave her an appreciative smile and followed her into the large living room.
Esther was an easy person to read, her emotions were evident at almost all times and most people that paid attention could read her like an open book. It was not something that she liked but she had learned to live with it. Most of the time she had no idea that she were showing her emotions blatantly, not realizing when a displeased frown or a crooked smile landed on her face.
She recognized everyone in the oval shaped room and greeted people the best she could with faltering words, feeling both nervous and overwhelmed. Most of them were deep in discussion, others were enjoying the company and most of the kids ran around without much thought.
She felt warm all of sudden but did her best to ignore it as she greeted May, the woman who ran the local cafe which she was a frequent visitor to. As they talked she began to feel uneasy again, the apprehension coming back once again but now stronger.
The man was nice, friendly even and everyone in town had been quick to like him. He was tall and handsome and most of the younger girls flushed bright red when he walked by in uniform. There was nothing visibly strange about him, yet Esther felt like there were something awfully wrong about him. It felt like behind the bewitching dark eyes something menacing laid, but no one except her noticed it due to his charming looks and persuasive personality.
She did not need to look to confirm her suspicion, he was watching her from across the room. It seemed like he was always looking at her, having a distinct and oddly heated look in his eyes whenever they landed upon her. It made her skin crawl and a large knot form in her stomach. It was odd to be so heavily affected by someone, someone who was liked by everyone she knew but the feeling always crept up on her whenever he was around.
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.