Ava - Chapter 2
With Samantha at work and the girls at school, Ava spent her morning cleaning up the house. Ava hated cleaning more than her father hated ducks, but somebody had to do it.
After she had finished cleaning Ava decided to invite Gabriel over. The only other person in the house to talk to was Toronto - who didn’t even know how to talk yet - and Ava wanted some adult company.
“So,” Gabriel said after a few minutes of silence, “how are you and Samantha doing?”
“We’re doing great, thanks,” Ava replied cheerfully. “It was the twins’ birthday the other day, and today’s their second day of school. They’re in the same class, and I’m pretty sure they’ve already come up with different ways of confusing their new teacher.”
Gabriel stared silently at his plate of gelatine. He knew it was a bad idea coming over. He knew it would hurt seeing how happy Ava and Samantha were together with their family. He knew it was a bad idea to let Chastity talk him into coming over, so why did he do it? Gabriel sighed. Life would have been a lot easier if Samantha and Kimberly had never moved to Belladonna cove.
“Gabriel?” Ava asked, concerned. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he replied, forcing a smile. “Just, uh, tired. I stayed up late last night to finish a book I was reading; The Cosmic Connection. Fascinating read, have you ever heard of it?”
“I can’t say I have,” Ava said, getting up to wash her plate. “Do you want anything else?” she asked, “Something to drink? More gelatine?”
Gabriel shook his head. “I’m afraid I have to get going. I, uh, have some errands to run. Thanks for having me over, though.”
“No problem,” Ava said, giving him a hug. “You can come over anytime you like, really. It’s nice having company that can actually talk.”
20 Minutes Later
“Gabriel? What the hell are you doing?”
“Thinking of what could have been,” he replied, sitting up.
“Why can’t you just move the fuck on already?” Chastity asked, “I thought you going over there would convince you that she’s happy with her wife and kids, and allow you to move on and find someone else to make you happy. Someone like me, for example. Evidently I was wrong.”
“I can’t move on,” Gabriel said, “I love her, and nothing’s going to change that. I know you’d be happy to be my girlfriend, Chastity, but you’re just not my type, and you never will be.”
“Fine,” Chastity said, turning around to leave, “go back to enjoying your little Samantha fantasies, I couldn’t care less.”
It was obvious, however, that Chastity cared quite a bit.
Chastity stood at an open window in her bedroom, staring down onto the street below. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the frame of the window. There had to be a way to get Samantha out of the picture, there had to.
She sat down on a couch to her left, still in deep thought. She would have to get rid of Samantha completely, because as long as she lived Gabriel would spend his days locked up in his bedroom, imaging how things could have been different.
Chastity suddenly came up with the perfect idea for getting rid of Samantha, one that would drive Gabriel right into Chastity’s arms, where he belonged.
The Coffee Cup
Kimberly Cordial sat in The Coffee Cup, listening to her date, Armand DeBateau, go on and on about his business plans. He would occasionally bring up Tara, his adopted daughter, and re-tell the story of how he first adopted her, but would soon switch back to his business.
“And so then I came up with the best plan of them all,” Armand continued, unaware of the fact that his date had stopped paying attention was now staring longingly out the window. “I decided to-”
“Will you excuse me for a minute?” Kimberly interrupted, getting up from the table.
Armand nodded. “Of course.”
Kimberly made her way to the bathroom, trying to remember why she had agreed to go on a date with Armand in the first place. He was nice, sure, but they had absolutely nothing in common.
Once in the bathroom Kimberly pushed open the door to one of the stalls, debating whether or not she should ditch him by transporting herself from here to her bedroom back at home.
At that moment Chastity exited one of the stalls, muttering to herself. “That Samantha bitch will wish she never moved here,” she said, turning on the taps at the sink.
Kimberley froze, straining to hear the rest of what Chastity was saying over the sound of the tap water running.
“I’ll send her an email, ask her to meet me someplace late at night. Preferably deserted, don’t want anyone else to see…”
“And when she’s gone Gabriel will need someone to console him, and I’ll be there, ready and waiting,” she finished, turning off the tap.
Chastity left the bathroom, ready to start the next step of her plan.
Kimberly waited until the door closed before leaving the stall. She was afraid of what Chastity would do to her if she found out Kimberly had overheard everything.
She walked back to the table, where Armand still sat, waiting for her. Kimberly knew she was going to have to protect her sister, no matter how much it put her own life at risk.
When she got home later that afternoon she started up the computer. She knew Chastity was going to send Sam an email, and she loaded the log-in page to her sister’s email account nervously.
Kimberly hesitated for a minute, and then typed in the password. She had hacked into her sister’s account any times before as a teenager, and Sam still hadn’t changed her password.
One new message. Kimberly closed her eyes, and clicked on it.
She opened her eyes again, and read the message. Chastity wanted to meet Samantha at East End Park later that night.
Slowly, Kimberly typed out a reply to the email.
She paused, and then hit send.
Kimberly logged off Sam’s account, and shut down the computer. She got up from the computer desk, and stood at the window. She could just make out Samantha’s house in the distance.
Samantha would have a fit if she knew what Kimberly was going to do, but it was for her own good.
Ava and Samantha’s House
It was time for Toronto to grow up into a toddler, and Samantha had managed to leave work early so she could come home and celebrate before it got too late at night.
Toronto grew up into an adorable toddler, and looked a lot like Ava.
10:30 pm, East End Park
“So, you decided to show up after all, eh?” Kimberly heard Chastity call out from behind.
Kimberly reached into her pocket and quickly pulled out her wand, its tip glowing green in the dark night.
She suddenly felt something hit the back of her head, hard. She dropped her wand, and it landed on the damp grass below. Her vision blurred, and suddenly everything went black.
Chastity ran away from the park as fast as she could; her job was done.
11:00 pm, Ava and Samantha’s House
With the kids in bed, Ava and Samantha sat down and turned on the late night news.
“Hello, this is Jeremiah Strong, reporting live from East End Park, Belladonna Cove. At approximately 10:30 tonight a murder was committed, and was eventually reported by a concerned citizen to the BCPD. Said citizen chooses to remain anonymous at the time.”
“At first glance the victim appeared to be Mrs. Samantha Voyage, but upon further investigation by the paramedics it was revealed that it is actually her sister, Miss Kimberly Cordial.”
“The police have not yet determined who murdered Miss Cordial, and encourage anyone with information to come forward.”
“Police Officer Jason Cleveland has more to say on that in the next-”
Samantha sat staring at the TV screen in shock. Somebody had wanted to kill Kimberly. That somebody had killed Kimberly. Kimberly was dead.
Ava quickly turned to television off, and turned to look at her wife, who was slowly getting up from the couch.
Samantha started to cry, burying her face in her hands.
“Oh Sam, I’m so sorry,” Ava said sadly, wrapping her arm around her wife.
“W-w-why wou-would t-they do that?” Samantha managed to choke out, her voice muffled by her hands.”
“I-I don’t know,” Ava replied, wishing she could think of something comforting to say. Nothing came to mind. What did you say to your wife after she just found out her sister had been murdered?
“It’ll be okay,” Ava said after a while, pulling Samantha into a hug. That was a lie, of course. Everything wasn’t going to be okay. Kimberly’s murderer was still out there, and they could be coming for Samantha next.
The Next Morning, Belladonna Cove Art Museum
“Okay, class,” Miss Atkinson said, “remember that we are at a museum, and we need to be on our best behaviour.”
“I don’t want you guys touching the art work, or fooling around, or complaining, or asking to go to the gift shop. We are not allowed to take pictures of the art work, and I don’t want to see any cameras out, or I will confiscate them.”
“If you need to use the bathroom you will ask me first, and then I will let you go to the bathroom with a buddy. No going alone, it’s a big museum and I don’t want you to get lost.”
“Now, I’m going to be the guide for today. You are to stay in the same room with me at all times, and are not to wander off. Everyone understand?”
The class nodded. “Yes, Miss Atkinson.”
Their teacher smiled, and led them through an archway into the first exhibit.
Most of the kids in the class were responsible, and followed their teacher’s instructions.
There were some kids, however, who decided it would be much more fun to explore the museum on their own, even if it meant going against the rules.
“Alberta!” Victoria whispered, “Do you see that man over there? He’s glowing.”
“Yes, yes I did see the news last night,” Julien Cooke said into the phone. He listened for a few moments before replying, “Yes, I did hear about Miss Cordial’s unfortunate-” the man on the other end of the phone cut him off, speaking in rapid French.
Julien listened to the man’s careful instructions. “You want me to resurrect her? Into a zombie? But why-” the man on the other end cut him off once again. “Yes, Monsieur, I understand. I will do as I’m told,” Julien replied after a few minutes. “Au revoir.”
He hung up, and shut off his phone. He exited the exhibit, ignoring the twins, who had been eavesdropping the entire time.
“Did you hear that?” Victoria asked after the man had left the room. “He’s going to resurrect aunt Kimberly into a zombie!”
“But how is he going to do that?” Alberta asked.
“Shh! Jeez, Alberta, not so loud. Do you want other people to hear?” Alberta shook her head. “And how do you expect me to know how he’s going to do that? I know as much about it as you do!
“But we’re going to find out, right?”
“Right. I’ll you my plan later.”
“There you are,” Miss Atkinson said, entering the exhibit. “It’s time to move on to another exhibit. Please try to stay with the rest of the class this time.”
“Yes Miss Atkinson,” the students replied.
“Good. Now, follow me.”
A couple hours later it was time to leave the museum. Miss Atkinson herded everyone onto the bus, and took attendance to make sure everyone was there, and that no one had gotten lost in the museum.
There had been the usual fights of who got to sit with who, and who got to sit by the window seat, but Miss Atkinson had managed to get everything worked out in the end.
“So are you going to tell me your plan now?” Alberta asked quietly, so no one else would overhear.
Victoria nodded, “We’re going to call the man at aunt Kimberly’s house, and make him tell us his plan.”
“Uh, Victoria? That doesn’t sound like it’s going to work. Are you sure it’s a good plan?”
“No, but it was the best I could come up with,” Victoria said.
“Oh, okay,” Alberta said smiling.
Ava suggested that Samantha should take the day off, which was why Samantha was sitting in the nursery, trying to help an extremely frustrated Toronto put a block into a hole in his toy.
“Here,” Samantha said, placing a finger on the correct hole. “try putting the block in here.”
Toronto shoved the block in, and clapped his small hands with delight when the block disappeared. “It work!” he said, grinning up at Samantha.
Samantha clapped as Toronto managed to fit another shape into one of the holes. “Good job, Toronto,” she said approvingly.
When the girls got home to first thing they did was race upstairs to tell their mom about the man they saw at the museum.
“MOM! MOM! MOOOM!” Victoria yelled, pushing open the door to the nursery.
“Wait for meeeee!” Alberta called out from further down the hall.
The girls waited patiently for their mom to finish potty-training Toronto before telling her about the man that they saw, and what he had said.
“Hi girls,” Samantha said, turning around to face them. “How was your trip to the Art Museum today? Was it fun?”
“We saw a strange man!” Victoria said, “And he was glowing, mom!”
“Glowing?” Samantha repeated. The girls nodded.
“I’m pretty sure it was just your imagination,” Samantha said after a while. She didn’t think it was a good time to explain to her daughters about witches; they were much too young to properly understand.
“But we weren’t imagining it!” Victoria protested. “He said he was going to resurrect aunt Kimberly into a zombie!”
Samantha froze. That wasn’t possible, not unless the man was an evil warlock. “You said the man was glowing, right?”
“Right,” Alberta replied.
“Do you believe us now?” Victoria added.
“What colour was he glowing?” Samantha asked, ignoring Victoria’s question. “Was he glowing green?”
The girls nodded.
“What does that mean, mom?” Victoria asked.
“Nothing, sweetie,” Samantha replied. “I’ll explain it to you once you’re older. Don’t worry about it, okay?”
“Okay,” Victoria said, sighing.
“How come she won’t believe us?” Victoria asked her sister after her mom had left the nursery.
“I thought she did believe us.” Alberta replied.
“No, she doesn’t, she probably just thinks we’re playing some stupid imagination game. Our other mom says she’s still in shock from the news, she probably doesn’t even know what she’s saying.”
“That’s not very nice, Victoria.”
Victoria shrugged. “We’re still going to go ahead with my plan, though,” she decided. “We’re going to prove that I’m right.”
“Don’t you mean ‘we’re’?”
“That’s what I said, didn’t I?”
The girls made their way downstairs, and into the kitchen. Alberta walked over to the phone, and picked it up.
She dialled her aunt Kimberly’s phone number, and put the phone against her ear. She heard someone pick up, and quickly handed the phone to Victoria.
Victoria glared at Alberta. “Hello?” she said into the phone.
“Who is this?” A voice sounding a lot like the man art the museum asked.
“YOU’RE NOT AUNT KIMBERLY!” Victoria yelled into the phone. “WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HER HOUSE?!”
The man on the other end of the phone panicked. “I, uh, I’m-”
“Tell me now or I’m calling the police!” Victoria demanded.
There was silence on the other end of the phone. Victoria waited patiently and heard a small click noise. “He hung up,” she announced.
“Are we going to call the police?” Alberta asked.
“Nah, I was just trying to scare him,” Victoria replied. “Besides, he’s probably gone by now.”
“Oh,” Alberta replied, watching Victoria hang up the phone.
* * * * *
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