I pick up the bottle of orange juice and pour each one of us at the table a glass. Aunt May's situation is confusing. Her kitchen is clean. Her fridge is stocked. Her cupboards aren't bare. It seems that she only lives in the kitchen. The rest of the house seems dusty and dark. The smell of cigarette smoke in the house is almost overwhelming. The curtains and carpets probably need a good wash.
As I sit down Aunt May crosses her arms over her chest and sits back in her chair.
"Everything about everything seems wrong" She states in her crackled voice that seems older than her years. She shakes her head a little and looks me in the eyes.
"How do you mean, Aunt May?" I ask softly. I look at her aged skin and the drooping under her eyes. This woman used to be supermodel material. How did she get to where she is now?
"I mean, nothing of anything makes sense!" She sits forward in her chair. The other girls are watching her with wide eyes. They are clearly as freaked out as I feel.
"Did you notice that we were being followed all the way here? Did you see the shiny black car and the suited man standing under the tree at the grave yard? Or the woman in the church? Lurking in the back." Aunt May looks at each of us as she speaks.
I didn't know that she noticed these things. I noticed them but haven't been able to focus my mind on them to really think about it.
"I saw the woman at the church and the man at the grave. I didn't see anyone following us here." I tell her as calmly as I can.
Aunt May points to the door with a bony finger. "Even if you look out now there will be a black car across the road, watching the house" Aunt May sounds tired.
"What happened to Ellie, Aunt May?" Bailey blurts out. The question takes me a bit by surprise. We are all burning to hear the answer to the question but it seemed inappropriate to ask.
Aunt May focuses her gaze on Bailey. It looks like Bailey is trying to shrink into herself.
"I just mean, she had such a good plan for the future. We all did. I can tell from experience that things don't always work out the way you plan but I was wondering what happened to her?" Bailey asks in a softer voice this time. Almost as if she is trying to apologize for asking but still want the answer to the question.
"The same thing that happened to all of us" Aunt May states in a dry voice and stands up from the table. She walks out of the room. I look at Bailey and Rachel. "Is she coming back?"
"I don't know" Rachel mouths as she picks up her glass or orange juice. She takes a sip of her juice and places the glass back on the table.
"Bad luck happened to all of us" Bailey says softly.
Aunt May enters from the other door leading to the hallway. In her hands she is holding an envelope. She places the envelope in front of Rachel.
Rachel takes the envelope in her hands and turns it over a few times. She opens it slowly.
Her hands are a bit shaky as she opens the envelope and pulls out a key and a small note.
"Take whatever you want, donate the rest to charity" Rachel reads slowly.
"Ellie told me to give this to you should she die before me. Apparently, it's a key to her apartment." Aunt May sounds very unimpressed.
We finish our orange juice in silence. When the last glass is empty Rachel stands up.
"It is time for us to go now. Thank you for having us Aunt May." She greets the old woman and starts to walk towards the front door. Bailey gets up quickly as if she is afraid to be left behind. I smile at Aunt May, who is not making any effort to get up, and walk out of the kitchen after the other two.
At the front door Rachel stops to look through the window next to the door. It isn't hard to spot the black vehicle across the road. It does look a bit out of place.
Rachel opens the door and starts to take the steps towards the pathway that leads to the gate. We follow her in silence. I pull the door closed when I leave last. When Rachel exits the small gate leading to the sidewalk a car pulls up in front of us. Rachel opens the door and indicates towards Bailey to get in. I follow as soon as Bailey is inside. Rachel gets in last and closes the door. She gives the driver an address to go to and turns back to us.
"The note didn't say what I read. It said to be careful of Aunt May and to get to her apartment as soon as we can. It said all the answers we want is in the apartment." Rachel sounds worried.
"Does that make sense, Rachel?" I cannot believe the turn of events.
"The note?" Rachel shakes her head. "Why would you leave a note with the person you are warning someone about. How would Ellie ever have known if Aunt May had opened the letter and read it? Why risk the person you mistrust reading your warning?"
That is exactly what I was thinking.
"Are we then going to the apartment?" I ask Rachel. She did give the driver an address to go to.
Rachel looks out the back window of the car. The black vehicle that was parked across the road from Aunt May's house is indeed following us.
"I do not know what to do." Rachel looks at me. It looks like she wants me to give her good advice but I just do not have any to give.
"You know me, Rachel. I want to stop the car and confront the person following us." I look out the back window. By this time, he had to realise that we have noticed him. He is still not backing down or falling behind.
"I gave the address of the apartment. You can confront whoever it is as soon as we stop there" Rachel says nervously.
As the car pulls up to the apartment building the other car pulls up behind us. We get out of the vehicle. Rachel pays the driver and comes to stand beside us. As I walk over to the car that followed us the back window opens a slight bit. A mans voice comes from inside.
"Go to the apartment. I will meet you there" The window closes. I did not see who it was. The voice sounds familiar but I cannot place it.
I turn and walk into the building. The other two follow me without asking questions. We walk to the elevators. Bailey presses the button to call the elevator down. As soon as it arrives and the doors open, we step inside and turn to watch the doors close. The person has still not gotten out of the car that followed us.
Rachel checks the number on the note. She leads us to Ellie's apartment. When we reach the apartment Rachel looks at us as she takes the key out of her jacket pocket. She slips the key into the lock and unlocks the door. She turns the knob and opens the door wide.
The apartment we enter is beautifully decorated. It looks clean and roomy. The big windows let in a lot of light. It makes the apartment look peaceful. We walk into the large living space. On one side is an eight-seater dining table with a large vase of fresh flowers in the middle of the table.
To the other side of the apartment there is a large corner lounge with an extremely large television mounted against the wall. Everything in the apartment is decorated in different shades of cream. The other furniture is made of light wood.
On the far end of the large open living space is an open plan kitchen.
Rachel walks to the doorway between the kitchen and the television area and peeks down the hallway. She looks back to us and indicates that we should follow her. On both ends of the hallway are bedrooms. The one bedroom looks untouched. The other looks like it may have been Ellie's room. There are personal items on the dresser and on the floor at the foot end of the bed is an open box with papers strewn around it.
Rachel walks to the box of papers and bends to pick one up. She reads it and puts it back in the box. She takes another and reads it also. As she places the second letter back in the box, she goes to sit on the floor next to the box.
"Guys, Ellie never went to university as planned. She received a letter before the courses started stating that her application has been cancelled and her place have been given to someone else."
We all move closer to the box and take up different documents in our hands.
I hear the front door to the apartment click closed. I look up at Rachel nervously. Her eyes are wide.
I look over my shoulder to the door of the bedroom. The man walks into the doorway. He is wearing a suite and black shiny shoes. My mouth goes dry as our eyes meet.
"Adrien"