She close her eyes back and concentrates.
"Kid, it's Mama, where are you?"
Damn it! She feels like going back to third grade with that plastic Ouija board.
But she continued anyway.
Then a few seconds have passed, she heard a knock on her door.
It's as if a light of glory flashes in her mind's eye. Quickly she runs to her door, bare feet hitting her body on the furniture.
"Hi! I'm Helen and I'm your new neighbor."
Helen didn't know how the doorbell works. But she keeps her sarcasm in her thoughts.
"Hi! I'm Isabel, welcome to the Cove."
But inside her, she was displeased by the interference.
"Come in!" She brightly invites Helen.
In Isabel's calculations, she must be middle-aged, possibly forty and up.
"Oh, your hut is so much more beautiful!" She looked around.
She wondered why everyone tells she has a more beautiful house than the rest? Like they were asked their design preference right?
She remembered Alex asked her that.
"You can actually ask your guide for your design preference." She informed Helen. Forcing herself to look and sound polite.
"Can we? That's good news. Oh, look you have liquor collections too."
She has to avoid unwanted suspicions, so she needs to carefully tread the waters.
Helen is now helping herself with a glass of Bailey's.
"Feel at home." She said, smiling.
"Oh, this tastes good! Do you have ice cubes?"
Helen is now checking her fridge.
"May I?" S
She remembered to ask!
Isabel needs leverage to throw this woman away from her house. She is getting stressed with her.
"Do you like pets?"
Helen speaks casually, like they've known each other for a long time.
"I have allergies." She might want to make Isabel the babysitter. So she has to have an alibi.
"Don't worry, they'll just be outside. I'm sorry I don't have a yard like yours. Haha." Helen's fake laughed triggered the hypertension she didn't have.
She is about to lose her cool when Amy calls her attention on the two-way radio.
"Isa! Honey, are you asleep? Cindy needs, wants a book to read and-"
Isabel cut her off by saying "I have I'll bring it to her."
She wanted to kiss her friends for saving her from this different human species in front of her.
"I'm sorry Helen, my friend is in bad condition and we need to nurse her. Can we talk tomorrow?"
She gave her best performance in acting nicely. But she would like to harshly push her out.
"Okay!"
That was easy, she thought. But it bothered her even more.
Holding the glass of alcoholic drink. She exits her door, then said:
"So can I let my pets out in your yard?"
Isabel is speechless. She is out of patience, so she made an ironic chuckle.
Then pushed Helen out and shut the door on her face.
"Ames sorry Love I'm so tired that I can't lift a finger."
She didn't need to pretend with her friends.
"That's what I've thought. Okay, good night!" Amy responded.
She jumps into the bed after talking to Amy.
She closes her eyes and attempted to call on the boy.
She gave up eventually and slept.
The next day Cindy could go home and they all hang out at her house.
Cindy's hut is a rustic barn-style design. It looks elegant.
"I love your aesthetics." She complimented her friend's taste of beauty.
"Thanks! Would you like to have someone bring food here or shall we cook?" Amy asks. That obviously didn't care about aesthetics and only thinks about food.
"We can go to the grove, grab as many as we can and bring it here!" She suggested.
"That's a great idea! Let's go!" Her bespectacled friend raised her hand, marching out of the cottage.
"Wait can't Cindy stay?" She worries about her friend's condition. She just came out of the hospital.
"She'll be fine! And needs to stretch!" Amy pushed their shoulders.
"Isabel!" That voice is too irritating to forget.
She turned around, made a fake smile, and called to her. "Helen."
"I didn't find you at your house. I wondered where you went. Haha." But the barking of her dogs topped Helen's voice.
They hated her and her friends. Amy and Cindy looked at her. Their facial expression is asking her who this woman is.
"Helen, these are my friends. Cindy and Amy."
She is one of the doctors on the Island."
Pointing at Amy. She at least has to maintain a civilized manner to introduce her friends.
"Good morning! My name is Helen!" She takes each of Cindy's and Amy's hands and shakes them hard.
"I'm also a patient and a neighbor to Isabel." She grinned like she won a raffle.
"Hi! We're heading to Hasher's Grove would you like to come?" Amy naively invited the woman.
"Sure! What is in the Grove?" Helen looks genuinely interested, but still has a raffle contestant attitude.
Amy lively answered, " Off we go!"
Accompanied by the comical raising of her hands.
Helen catches up with her marching. They gave each other a sunny smile.
"You look familiar!" Amy looked like she was trying to remember where she saw Helen.
"Don't think too much, dear. I have a pretty common face." She said, while pulling the leash of her dogs.
They stopped talking until they reached Hasher's Cove.
"Hmm. So this is Hasher's grove." Helen murmured.
In a split second, Isabel saw an expression of deep sadness in Helen's eyes.
But now she's back to being annoying.
"Can a dog eat some of the food?" She asks Amy.
"No, we love our pets and we don't serve human food," Amy answered, half humor, a half-truth.
"Well, they can just lick some cucumbers." She said while squatting down to stroke her Chihuahuas' head.
"Poor you, I'll give you plenty." The dog licks her face while she talks to them.
"Helen, there's a hut behind those mangroves that babysit pets. You can bring them there."
Amy has pointed out the mangrove forest.
"Oh! That's a perfect plan! BRB!"
Helen is almost skipping out.