I stood in the middle of the master suite as the vacuum moved across the carpeted floor in the guestroom five doors down. Until now I hadn’t noticed how weird time has been since coming here, especially in the last year. When did it start?
Oh yes, when ‘she’ came. I have no answers for my strange dislike of her. I’m not in the habit of hating people without a cause, but for some reason unknown to me, from the moment she moved into town I’ve been unsettled by her. Maybe because I’d grown use to being the youngest one around these parts? Nah, that doesn’t jive for me.
Is it her looks? That pale untouched skin, those sleeping beauty lips and that raven black hair that seems to breathe each time she moves? Or is it the fact that she’s not what she seems? She has a body made for fucking, but is the most timid thing I’ve ever met. At least the few times I’ve ran into her she’s been.
I don’t like the hippie Bohemian type. The sort of women I’m attracted to are cosmopolitan high society types with a fat bankroll cushioning them. That way I know they’re not in my bed for anything other than my dick.
She dresses like something out of the sixties and as far as I can tell didn’t own anything and never did, except the house her great aunt had left her. That house is the only thing I like about her, which is odd since I’ve never been inside.
But every time I pass by there I get this warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of my gut. And if I look at if for too long I get the sensation of being watched. I’ve checked and never found anyone peering out of the curtain-less windows so have no idea what that’s about.
Some paranormal nut would say the place is haunted, then again the whole town has that feel about it sometimes, like it had stopped growing sometime in the last century and nothing changed, not even the people.
The oddest thing now that I think about it are those times when I have a sense of being here before. Like I’d go somewhere in the house to do something and suddenly get the feeling that I’d been there before, doing the exact same thing.
Or some of the places in the old town square that seem so familiar when I know for a fact I’ve never been here before moving here two years ago. It’s just not the sort of place I would’ve visited, too off the beaten path for my taste. Or it used to be. Now it feels like I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else ever.
I walked over to the window and gazed out across the white snow capped landscape. As my eyes moved over the housetops in the distance I realized I could see her home from here, at least the top of it. It’s the only house in town with a red roof for some reason, while all the others are mostly green or black.
Why hadn’t I noticed that before? That I could see it from here? And more importantly, why am I noticing it now? I turned away from the window and headed back downstairs to look for something to eat. Edie will put something in the slow cooker for dinner before she leaves in a few hours, but as hungry as I am, it’s way too early for roast and potatoes.
JESSICA
I’d barely made it into the library and turned on the lights when I heard the door opening behind me. I looked back over my shoulder with a smile for Mrs. Horton who was one of my favorite people here. The sweet old lady had been friends with my aunt and was the first one to welcome me to town.
I smiled even wider when I saw the box in her hand as she walked towards me as I moved behind the desk. “Morning dear, how did the weather treat you yesterday?”
“I should be asking you that. The lights went out and I got a little worried about you and the others but since I don’t have a car there was no way to get to you all. Then the phone lines went down and well… I didn’t mention the fact that I’d slept all day and woke up with my ass hurting like I’d impaled myself on a baseball bat.
She put the pretty pink box down on the counter and my eyes followed as my mouth began to water. Weird! I’ve never really had a sweet tooth, but this is the third or fourth time she’s brought me her special red velvet cupcakes and I felt a raving hunger for them.
She waved off my concerns and pushed the box towards me. “The lights came on sometime in the early morning and I was too wired to sleep so I got up and made a batch of my special cupcakes. I know how much you love them so…”