"CADE DIDN'T COME"
Cade didn't come.
It's been three weeks.
I've stopped looking out the window after lunch. Stopped expecting the red cart to roll by or his cheeky smile to flash at me through the fence. I'm getting used to this routine now—the silence, the stillness, the pattern of the days.
After my tutoring session, I return to my bedroom, pull open the drawer, and took out my sketchbook and pencil.I love drawing and I have been drawing since as long as i could remember. I sit cross-legged on the bed and begin to draw. I don't know what I'm drawing. . Lines turn into shapes, shapes into shadows, and sometimes into something that looks like a feeling I didn't know I had.
While absentmindedly shading, my gaze drifts to the shelf of porcelain dolls—glass-eyed and immaculately still. I rise, reach past them, and retrieve the jar.
The butterfly inside rests lightly against the glass, its wings fluttering softly.
"Beautiful," I whisper.
I still don't know if it's a he or a she. But does it matter?
It's someone. A presence. A tiny, quiet companion in this too-quiet world.
I hear footsteps outside my door and freeze. Quickly, I tuck the jar back behind the dolls, but my elbow knocks one over. It crashes to the floor with a sharp, sickening crack.
I gasp.
Before I can breathe, there's a knock at the door.
Panicked, I drop to the floor and sweep the broken porcelain and limbs under the bed. My heart pounds as I wipe my hands on my dress, inhale, and open the door.
Aunt Serena stands there, smiling softly. She's dressed like a painting—black v-neck dress that flows just below the knees, pearl earrings, embroidered heels, a structured purse hanging from her wrist. Her lipstick matches her calm.
"Darling, I'm heading out for groceries. Would you like to come?"
I blink at her, surprised. She rarely leaves the house.
"Yes… I'd love to," I say with a small smile.
"Wonderful. Get ready and meet me downstairs, will you?"
I nod and close the door gently after her.
I change into a white, long-sleeved blouse with a crisp collar and a sleeveless pale pink mini dress with a deep V neckline and a tapered waist. I tie my hair back with a matching pink bow and glance at myself in the mirror.
I look like something straight out of a haunted movie but cute i guess.
Downstairs, Aunt Serena is on a phone call—probably with Uncle Ethan, judging by the low, loving tone she's using and the way she's pacing. When she sees me, she gives a small nod of approval.
We head outside and get into the car—an Aston Martin DB12, slate grey, sleek and silent like everything else about this life. I slip into the back seat. The interior smells like new leather and something cool and expensive. Aunt Serena seems lighter somehow, just sitting behind the wheel. Maybe being outside affects her too.
My mother never had a car. She used to take the tube, always humming something off-key as we waited on the platform.
As Aunt Serena pulls out of the circular drive and onto the quiet street, I gaze out the window, half-lost in thought—
And then I see him.
Cade.
Dragging his cart along the pavement, just like before.
I feel the sudden, ridiculous urge to wave. But I don't. Not with Aunt Serena beside me. Not with her eyes always finding things they shouldn't.
I keep my hands in my lap and watch as Cade shrinks in the rearview mirror—until he's just a blur of red and gold and ..gone.