Different Directions - ch.01

Different Directions - Chapter 1

She remembered it so well. The moment she came back to town she came across an old neighbor. The man had walked over to her, recognizing who she was, and expressed his condolences. She had looked at him with a frown, unsure why he spoke to her like that. She ignored him and didn't reply or ask why he said that to her. Instead she walked up the property. She still had a key to the house where she lived. She was just away for a few weeks so why shouldn't she? It was completely silent when she walked in however. Her gut feeling told her something was wrong, that the man might be right, but she didn't want to believe that. Her father was all she had left. She still stood in the hall when the man gently touched her shoulder. She had barely processed his words and let herself be pushed further into the house. As she walked towards the living room she heard the door close and his soft footsteps follow her.  Her eyes found a picture of her and her dad and she picked it up as she looked at him. It was right there and then she swore she would take revenge on the person who had done this. As she traced her fingers on the picture she neighbor stood next to her. She looked up at his eyes and noticed something moving in the dark brown color. She opened her mouth to say something, but the moment he started smiling she let the picture slide out of her hands and with widened eyes walked back to try and get out as soon as possible. She was looking straight towards two pointy teeth and she knew this wasn't just a prank. Unfortunately for her, she didn't have a chance to get out.

Her hands traced the smooth grey gravestone and with her unnatural green eyes she glanced at the words written on it. They were meaningless. Had she been there, she would have made sure something with meaning would have graced the stone. "I know who did this, father." She whispered in a serious tone, not letting her emotions shine through, at least not anything else than her need of revenge. "I will get him for this. That I swear." Her min started racing as she thought about the guy's whereabouts. She used to be friends with him, so she was puzzled why he would even did what he had done. She would enjoy torturing him, making him talk, giving her the information she wanted before she'd kill him. She softly let out a sigh before she stood up and looked around. She had felt so alone these past few weeks. Even her old neighbor had left, probably afraid she would take revenge on him too even though they were the same right now. She hadn't discovered everything she could yet, hell how could she within a few weeks? It had been hard though. She had craved the new food so badly. The first few weeks she had been lingering in the house, looking at the blood stains on the couch and floor and cursing her neighbor for his actions. She'd trashed the living room in her anger and had closed every curtain she could find. When things felt calmer she decided to head out and look for the murderer. She put a strand of her brown hair behind her ear and walked away. Just in time as well as she saw a security guard walking around to see if nobody would steal anything from the graveyard. As crazy as that sounded, it actually happened.

She wasn't sure where to look for her newly found enemy, her past friend. Would he still live where he used to live? It wasn't that long ago since she'd been here, but she could imagine him being on the run after killing her father. The information she got from the police was quite unhelpful too. They only told her what happened, not wanting to go into details as she was his daughter. They were a bit surprised that she didn't come sooner and had questioned her. Luckily they believed her when she said she ran from home and after some checking she was allowed to get his personal belongings back. When she pushed them for more information, making them realize she needed to know the full story, an officer broke a little and told her slightly more. It was enough to make her realize who might have done this. For now, she decided to head home however. They had started making a plan for her so she would have something small for her own. She didn't have a job. Not yet anyway, but she knew she should apply for something and soon. Her father had enough to cover the costs for a while, but in order to keep it she should start bringing in some money soon. She wasn't sure if she wanted to move out of this house at all. Not yet anyway.

Once back in her house, she stood in the hall, looking at the girl in the mirror. She was pale, too pale and her eyes were a light shade of green, lighter than they used to be. It was as if they were mixed with lots of white and outlined with a darker line. Her make-up only brought them out more, but she couldn't care. She loved this make-up, she always had. Her hair hadn't changed. It was the same wavy, brown hair was it always had been. She was still slim and would probably stay like that with the lack of food. Regular food barely satisfied her, but she did try to eat that. Probably a force of habit and she already noticed that becoming less and less in the past few weeks. After a few moments of standing there and staring at herself, she brushed her hands through her hair, making it look decent again. She hadn't particularly looked at the marks in her neck, but she did see him before she walked away. Surely the internet could provide her with information about him. She wasn't a stranger to laptops and internet and within a few minutes she was browsing to see if she could trace him. It would be too good to be true to find him straight away, but she did recognize a name. It was a friend of his and she made a mental note to start there. This person would know where he could or would be and she would make sure he'd tell.

She shut down the laptop and looked at the white curtains. They were shining through a bit, enough to show her when it would be light outside. She resented the sun ever since she had changed. She cursed it and told herself she should move to a place where it was dark every day. Right now she knew that the sun would be rising soon though so she decided to collect what she needed and get through this day as good as possible. She had already cleaned the house, wanting the blood stains out, so she had to find something else to keep her entertained. The thought of knowing where his friend was, was enough for now however. She would make him talk, even if it would be against his will. She had quite a list she wanted to work through. After she collected what she wanted to take that evening she moved downstairs again. It had been a while, but before she knew it she ended up with the picture of her and her father in her hands again. She took it out of the broken frame and took out her locked that was around her neck. She opened it and glanced at a picture of a young woman. Her mother passed away when she was five. She didn't understand much of it at the time, but she did miss her ever since. She had been sick for a year before her body finally gave up. She smiled slightly and focused back on the picture as she walked to the kitchen. With a pair of scissors she cut out her father's head and put that on the other side of the locket, which was still free. Until now that is.

Being like this felt a bit boring. She didn't have any more friends she could call. Everyone she knew either supported the guy that was on the run – she refused to think of his name – or they were afraid they'd say something wrong after they heard what happened to her father. She hadn't made any move towards them either, but what did they expect? That she would come running to them, crying her heart out? Telling them every single bit of what happened? What kind of friends were they anyway? Surely they heard she was back in town and none of them tried calling her. They didn't need to stop by, but not even to call? She let herself fall on her couch, her eyes fixed on the small bloodstain she apparently missed. How could she miss that? She felt her teeth changing and her vision became sharper. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to concentrate for it to go away. Eventually she went up to her bedroom and stayed there for the rest of the day. She would clean that up later.