Chapter Text
Abigail opened the door to the cottage, that compared to mine was a whole house, and before going inside I took a look behind us, at the long way we had come to get here.
"Scarlett honey, I was waiting for you!" A redhead cheered, greeting me with a big hug, as if we'd known each other our whole lives, or as if she knew me at all. I let myself be hugged by who I assumed was Robin and patted her back when I thought it had gone on for too long.
She nodded in Abigail's direction, and in turn she smiled at both of us before I lost sight of her as she went down a staircase, to the basement I assume. Curiosity spikes in me and I start making theories.
"I dared go take a look at the cottage before you got here, so I already know what to fix and improve. Hope you don't mind."
"Oh that's nice of you."
"I thought about fixing it as a surprise, but then again maybe it was better for you to see it with your own eyes and choose whether to upgrade it or not."
"Thanks for that, I do wanna rebuild it but maybe not a full-on remodelation... Could you upgrade the kitchen though?"
"Of course I can, it will take me a few days but I can do it. Give me a minute to think up a budget and I'll tell you. But hey, tell me, did you already meet the townsfolk?"
"A few actually, counting you there's... Four? Yeah, four."
"Only four!? Let me help you a little, I'll introduce you to my husband, come with me, he's over here in his lab..."
"Lab?"
"He's a full-time nerd. Really into science."
So much white space out of nowhere struck my retinas, that were getting used to the natural colours of the valley. Giving his back to us was a tall black man, working carefully with substances I don't know the name of.
"Demetrius, that's my bun's name."
"Oh hey, nice to meet you, you must be Scarlett. Robin has talked about you non-stop these past few weeks."
"She did?" I asked, feeling a swirl of emotions in my chest. To think they'd been expecting my arrival enough to talk about it for so long...
"Maru, come to the lab for a minute!"
Robin yelled, leaning into the doorframe before looking back at us. Demetrius spoke for a few minutes about a very interesting investigation about pufferfish. It was really interesting, however the atmosphere was making it awkward, but I really would like to hear more sometime else.
"I'm here."
A dark-skinned girl appeared at the door, attentively waiting to know the reason she was called here. Robin caught her by the shoulders, dragging her into the room with a big smile.
"This is Maru, my little baby. She's just like her father, really into science."
“Oh! Aren't you the one who just moved in? I've been looking forward to meeting you!" she giggled. "You know, with a small town like this, a new face can really alter the community dynamic. It's exciting!"
"Cool, I'm Scarlett."
I wasn't going to say it out loud, but her looks alone spoiled that she was a big nerd. Another one. The silence after my words was short, but extremely uncomfortable. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one that thinks so.
Laughter came from the basement, not in a creepy sense, more so like people were having fun down there.
"And that's Sebastian, you're lucky if you ever see him, he's in his room all day long."
Robin gave her a scolding look, seems like she didn't want her son to be introduced in such a manner. Connecting the dots, it wasn't hard to realize Abigail must be in something with Robin's son.
Eventually the conversation started flowing better, even though my participation was rather lackluster, at least it didn't feel as tense. The kind carpenter gave me a budget for fixing my house and upgrading my kitchen, and winked an eye at me as she said that if I invited her for some spaghetti sometime she would make a sizeable discount on my next remodelation.
The sun was already setting by the time I left her house, and being honest, I don't exactly remember the way back to the town.
I walked along the faded grass path, a sign that people often go through it. I tried to keep track of the sound and lights of the town, but shit, this town didn't make a single sound, and the strongest light was that of the stars.
At least there's an upside to this lack of pollution, I can clearly see Yoba's nebulosa.
I lit up my way with my –old– phone's screen light, but the road was slowly vanishing up to the point were it seemed to end in the middle of nowhere. My breath ran faster, having found myself lost in a forest in the middle of the mountain, in a place where I know no one and no one knows me.
I thought my only choice, as humiliating as it would be, was to call Robin and ask her to help me, but the call didn't even go out, the signal up here was nonexistent.
So I stood in the middle of the greenery, looking around without even knowing what to do, unable to believe this was really happening.
I heard something — I took a quick step back and stepped on a branch, falling to the ground. I got up quickly, but damn, it hurt. I tried to soothe the ache as I cursed.
"Are you ok, miss?" A mature voice asked, a man. I clutched the phone in my hands to my chest, trying to hide the screen light.
I looked around, trying to find the speaker, but if I could barely see with the light, imagine without it. I tried to keep my breathing as quiet as possible and stop moving.
What are the odds that I get murdered on my first day here?
"I know you're there, don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you. Turn left and go straight, you'll get on the main road to the town center."
I heard as he moved away, and as soon as my soul got back to my body I decided to heed his instructions. Take a left and go on ahead, all straight, all straight.
If he knew where I should turn then he should've seen me, no? The mere thought sent shivers down my spine.
I let out a sigh as I found the main road just like the man told me, and I thanked the fact that I trusted him.
"Hey girlie, you're still around!" Someone shouted from a distance – Abigail, who seemed to just be getting back from Robin's house.
She got closer until we stood side by side, and I looked her up and down. As I said, she was almost perfect, but since she's not completely perfect I could notice that unlike in the morning, her makeup was smudged.
"Yeah, I kinda got lost in the mountain, but I'm ok now."
"That sounds fun."
She folloewed my slow pace and stopped when we reached some glass doors, «Pierre's» was written in the big sign outside. The purple haired girl turned her mouth into a thin line as she got ready to speak again.
"Pierre is my dad, I live here with him and my mum, her name's Caroline..."
"Your dad's got a shop, nice."
"Yeah, we also have a church in there," I stared at her, disbelieving. "And on Tuesdays the moms get together and exercise on our living room."
"So you have a pretty social house, I see."
"It's not that I like it, but it's what I got stuck with... Whatever, you can come here whenever, my father has fair prices and whatever money you spend stays in the town... Ugh."
"What's the matter?"
"It's just– I'm copying my father's whole anti-Joja blabber, ignore me, please."
I giggled and shook hands with her, before I got back on the path I don't get lost following, a path I'm starting to get familiar with. The path to my grandpa's cottage.