In which Amelia meets familiar faces in an unexpected way. |
"October thirty-first," Amelia thinks to herself as she jerks awake heart pounding loud and rapid in her ears breathing suspended for just a moment before she lets her body slump back against the headboard. "Just two more days and it'll be November and I can try again, can have my curiosity sated again." She's wide awake now and won't be going back to sleep any time soon as she casts a wry glance at the alarm clock sitting on the dresser adjacent to her cast iron bed. The time alerting her to five past one a.m. "Thank God I have the day off! I'm sick and screwed up from all the cold pills and nyquil" Amelia thinks letting her thoughts go back eleven months, back to the beginning of a fire, no, not the beginning of a fire. The continued feeding of the fire by the one man who consumes her curiosity. A life cut short by choices that a twenty-five year old in any decade should never have had to make. Of all that could have been and futures that may have been, but, I digress...She concedes rather dejectedly. Startled as she the hears the radio begin, she sings along: I've been cursed I've been crossed I've been beaten by the ones that get me off I've been cut I've been opened up I've been shattered by the ones I thought I loved You left me here like a chalk outline On the sidewalk waiting for the rain To wash away (Wash away) You keep coming back to the scene of the crime But the dead can't speak and there's nothing left to say anyway All you left behind Is a chalk outline Turning up the radio a little louder trying to drown out her thoughts about the blonde haired blue eyed World War One legend and her tall and willowy dark-haired hazel eyed great-aunt Evelyn. Unaware of the two figures standing side by side in her open bedroom doorway. I've been cold In the crypt But not as the cold as the words across your lips You'll be sorry baby Some day When you reach across the bed where my body used to lay You left me here like a chalk outline On the sidewalk waiting for the rain To wash away (Wash away) You keep coming back to the scene of the crime But the dead can't speak and there's nothing left to say anyway All you left behind Is a chalk outline All you left behind Is a chalk outline "Funny I don't recall falling asleep with radio on or the door open and come to think of it the hall light on either." Amelia looks up with a frown on her face and the beginning of a headache from her ever constant and racing thoughts. Freezing cold with chills and shock her eyes go wide as she stares straight at "or better yet, through" she thinks at seeing two figures standing in the once empty door way: a nurse and a man in military uniform staring back at her. The radio plays in the background, You left me here like a chalk outline On the sidewalk waiting for the rain To wash away (Wash away) You keep coming back to the scene of the crime But the dead can't speak and there's nothing left to say anyway All you left behind Is a chalk outline "Oh Woah! Ok, what the hell? I know I'm hopped up on cold meds, but this! This is disconcerting even for me! Cautiously getting off the bed and taking a tenuous step towards the figures in the doorway, she stops short, before pacing " I mean am I dead? Can you even see me or better yet hear me? Are you devils or angels or something? And you! You can't be here! Am I going to hell? She can't be here! You're scaring me here, seriously." Amelia's ranting continues to go from low panic to panicked shouting or as loud as she can with a sore throat anyway. Her pacing stops, momentarily, and she blinks rapidly barely comprehending when he speaks, "We came to see you. I've been watching over you, you know. I know how well you sleep or rather do not. I... grew....concerned when you have not been yourself this past week or so. You look different, your hair is shorter and you're more beautiful without the....make-up. Amelia blushes, running a nervous hand through her hair cut in choppy layers with both sides and back shaved close to her head. "Oh." It's all Amelia can think staring slack jawed at them both continuing his explanation "But now I know you are just ill and not something more ominous." "Yeah ok, that's it, I don't care I'm never getting this hopped up on cold meds again. So, you've seen me and I'm sick as a dog, look like death warmed over and haven't slept well in almost two weeks. Sorry I'm cranky." Amelia apologizes while mentally berating herself "Get ahold of yourself woman! This is a person you've lionized for well....ever! Don't be rude! A feminine voice with a southern tint breaks her mental reverie "It's nice to meet you, it's wonderful to know that the family line has continued and so beautifully as well. I'm Evelyn Hill. Amelia doesn't think she's ever been so shocked in her life, apart of course, from successfully summoning the infamous Red Baron. Author's Note: This is a companion piece to
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