"It's not that scary Daniel!" Matilda shouted, waving goodbye.
"Well, we'll have to see Huh!" She could hardly hear the rest. As her brother drove her further and further away to home.
"So, you guys are going? And Mom allowed it?" She heard Dennis ask as he turned toward Bullmore Street.
"She did, but obviously she was reluctant." Matilda glanced at Miss Andreas's treehouse, as Dennis drove the car far slower than she'd like. Dennis liked to drive safely. He was careful about everything, to others he was the perfect boy. Only I know the real him, Matilda thought.
"I'm going to stop by Alisa's for a couple of minutes, will you wait in the car? Or you do you want to come along with me?" he prodded. She stared at his face with a blank expression.
"Well?"
"You don't actually want me to come, do you?"
"Of course I do, you could hang out with Haley."
"Haley's gone out with Melissa and Jenson. They made plans in school."
"Oh, well then..." He had a relieved expression on his face.
"Just go!" she said, turning away, looking back at the treehouse. Something caught her eye but abruptly Dennis grunted and hit the brakes with full force, if they had been going a bit faster it would have resulted in an argument, but she just ignored it. He opened the car door and looked at her with a solemn expression.
"I'm leaving the car here, sorry for stopping like that." He looked away hiding his face.
"Sorry for..." he trailed off.
"You're crazy." She looked at him.
Is He? apologizing for that...NOW?
"I'm not a bad person. I promised I wouldn't do it ever again." He didn't meet her eyes. He couldn't. He started towards Branford residence without uttering another word.
The car door clicked as it locked automatically. Matilda gasped for more air, her breath became heavier, she pushed down her tears. They were too heavy. That awful night flashed in her mind, those awful screams. Her screams.
My own brother, how could he hit me...
The street got quiet as Dennis made his way across to Evan's residence. Matilda saw a few groups of fellow schoolmates walking along the footpath. She waved at someone she'd recognized from chemistry class, her old friend, but he just kept walking with a nervous glance. That's odd, wasn't that Peter? She thought, when suddenly she noticed something fell near Ms. Andreas' lush front garden. A silhouette moving closer to Peter. She quickly lowered the glass window and cried "PETER THERE'S SOMETHING BEHIND YOU!".
Peter jumped looking back, his friends stood equally tense to see. To their surprise, there was nothing.
"Haha, Matilda, you got us there. Like we're sorry that we ignored you Alright! but that wasn't funny." Peter said from across the road.
"You got that right." One of his curly haired friends said, he snorted.
They continued walking, but Matilda could still see the shadowy figure following them. Why can't they see it... feel it. She couldn't speak anymore, the thing was harrowing, it smiled wildly following the boys, she could feel its peripheral gaze on herself too. She slowly opened her mouth again to warn them.
"PETE—" the thing vanished out of her sight. She could no longer say anything, her throat went dry; she sensed the thing—no it was a man.
Behind me
"What now Matilda?", He and his friends started to jog towards her. She looked behind her, the backseat was empty, but she couldn't stop feeling the presence. "STAY BACK!" she screamed,
"Don't come near the car." She said, hardly sure why she said it.
"What's wrong with her, Is she stupid or something?" One of Peter's other friends said. Peter gave him a stare that said, Shut your mouth.
"Are you okay Matilda..." Peter said and tried to open the door; it was locked.
"I'm okay, just stay away." Matilda said eyes drooped now, she felt dizzy.
"Open the door. You don't look okay." He said, gesturing to his friends to leave. He pulled the grab handle again, with no luck. "Let me in Matilda. I can help you." he spoke softly.
"No, you can't..." she whispered.
"Let me try." Peter said.
Click
She unlocked it. Peter opened the door and saw that Matilda was smiling now. She asked him to come and sit at the driver's seat.
"Are you sure, won't your brother be mad?" He asked looking around.
"Where is he anyway?"
"He won't, He went into that house over there a few minutes back. He should have been back by now..." She pointed still feeling lethargic.
Peter walked around the front of the car and entered through the driving seat door. He looked at her in a peculiar way. She felt bad for not inviting him to the camping trip. He had been her friend since the start of elementary school. These past two years had been rough. She had distanced herself from him. Oh, how much she missed him. Those memories of old came to her abruptly, of days they spent playing video games on his gramps's T.V. She had gotten over those times, she thought, but that proved to be wrong, each time she saw Peter around school with his new friends.
"Are you sick?" he asked genuinely concerned, she knew he was, she could tell.
"You've been acting weird today, a few moments ago you were shouting and screaming and now you're all drowsy. Don't tell me you're high. Wait a— was it Daniel who sold you something? I just know it would be him. Judging from the kind of guys he hangs out with." He put his hand to her forehead. She slapped it away immediately suddenly feeling rejuvenated. He stared at her in shock.
"I... I'm alright Peter." she said.
He gave her a skeptical look. "Okay..." he said.
There was silence for a moment.
"I should go I guess, seeing that your fine now."
'No stay please,"
Why'd did I have to say please. He's gonna think I have gone nuts if I tell him what I saw.
"I saw you at Oxley's house, you were at the party with Garry and Matt." She said reading his expressions. He was uncomfortable.
"You were there?" He asked, looking at her. He knew she was. She knew that.
"Yeah, I wish I wasn't." She said trying not to remember that event.
"Me too, what happened that night was awful. Alan—"
"Let's not talk about it, I shouldn't have brought it up." She cut him short and pushed down her tears again.
"I'm sorry. Oh, Look there's your brother. I should go." He pointed and quickly got out.
"Wai—, Thanks Peter."
He nodded jogging away. Dennis came running to his car to check if he stole something or hurt her. He never liked Peter. But for that matter he never liked anyone near her since the Incident.
"What was he doing here, I thought you weren't friends with him?" He said getting in with a scowl.
"Is it any of your business? I can hang out with anyone I want. And don't give me that look! GOD!" She lashed out, she had had enough of this. She shut her eyes and leaned into her lap.
"After what you got yourself into, I can't trust anyone around you. Look you are my sister. I don't want you to be in danger, ever again." He grew calmer as the words came out of his mouth. The scowl was gone.
"I'm not blaming you Matilda for what happened that night, I already apologized for treating you the way that I had for these past months. I can look past your mistakes. But it's impossible to look past the way the rest of this is. This city is dangerous. Do you understand?" He reached for her and patted her back. She rose.
"You can't blame every single one of my decisions, I know I made a mistake by going there, how many times do I have to apologize before you just let me be! Let me get over it!" She locked her tearful eyes with his.
"Give me some more time, Alright? I need time to trust you again." He said starting the car and drove.
"How much longer? I'm tired of this arguing between us." She said wiping her tears with a tissue she took out from her bag.
"I know. I should never have hit you. It's like something comes over me. I really am sorry." he said with regret in his eyes.
He took a turn towards Maxwell Street. They played with kids here a long time ago, years back. The houses here were still considerably quiet than the town road their house was in. Time was passing, but the memories were still vivid. She wanted to forget, but even when she did forget her brother was there to remind her. What can I do? she thought. Things had always been normal. Till she went to that dreadful party. She did not want to brood over it. But she had no choice. Having Dennis as her brother didn't help her in looking past all of that either.
They finally reached Alabaster square; their home was next to Mr. Foster's huge mansion. It made their three-story house look like sparrow's nest atop a tree. She got out of the car, and he parked it inside the garage. She was about to head inside when Dennis stopped her.
"Hey, let's not talk about, all of that with Mom. Okay? You can't trust anyone Matilda. Keep reminding yourself of that every day. No matter what."
She let in a breath and spoke the words she had wanted to for months.
"I just don't even think I can trust you. After how you've been with me."
She left him in silence.