Drowning in Deception (4 page)

There were voices she didn’t recognize. She
heard someone finishing a sentence, “…the other side of the Wall.”

Someone else said, “We need to recruit
more people.”

“But how? Where do we find others that
know what we know?”

“Yeah. We can’t just ask around.”

“Are there others that know?”

She had no idea what they were talking
about. It sounded to her like a club of some kind. Clubs could be fun, so she
decided she wanted to join, and hurried down the stairs and bounded into the
room.

The basement was very dark, lit by a
single light-bulb that dangled from a chain overhead. The five people in the
room were huddled together on wooden crates as if they were having a secret meeting.
It reminded Clover of a book she had once read about spies. When they saw her, their
mouths all clamped shut as their eyes narrowed, glaring at her.

“Hi Zander,” she said cheerfully.

“What’s
she
doing here?” asked
the girl sitting beside Zander. It was Sera. She wasn’t a friend of Clover’s,
but Clover knew who she was. Her dark brown hair was cropped short and it spiked
in every direction around her head. She always wore holey jeans and clingy tank
tops, both ears were clustered heavy with silver and black earrings. Clover
usually avoided her because she was so different. So it surprised her to discover
that she was a friend of Zander’s.

Zander stood and rushed to her. “Clove,
what
are
you doing here? I told you I was busy tonight.”

She gave him her best flirty smile. “I
know, and I was fine with that. But then I saw everyone going into your house and
I thought your plans had changed. I thought you were having a party and I want
to join in.”

She was trying to be nice, to appear
friendly so these people would like her and let her join their club. But they
all just sat there staring like she was a big ugly bug, like they were silently
deciding who would get to squish her.

Apparently Sera won the squishing
privileges, because she spat rudely at her. “This isn’t a party and you weren’t
invited.”

She glanced around the room to see if
everyone else agreed. There was a boy she didn’t recognize. He was skinny and
had a mop of black hair on his head. His stare was blank. Another boy, she
recognized as Luas. He was a friend of Zander’s, though she’d never actually
spoken to him, herself. His uncle printed the weekly newspaper for Eadin. Luas
had dropped his head into one hand and was shaking it back and forth.

The final person in the room was a man,
somewhere in his thirties or forties. It was hard to tell because he was sitting
on a crate in the corner and the light from the lone bulb barely made it that
far. He was staring at her with narrowed eyes, but she couldn’t look back at
him for very long. Even in the dim light, she could see that his face was a
mess; both cheeks were grotesquely scarred - pinkish and lumpy from healed
skin. She’d never seen anything like it before, nor did she want to again. She
swallowed and quickly looked away.

Her attention focussed to Zander, as she
tried to ignore Sera’s comment. “Is this a club? Can I join? I heard you say
you needed more recruits.”

Zander took her by the arm with a big
sigh. “No, Clove. You can’t join. You shouldn’t have come.” He started to pull her
back toward the stairs.

“Wait a minute.” She yanked her arm
away. Clover was used to doing what she was told, but this was different. It
wasn’t her mother telling her to rake the leaves. This was Zander, her future
husband, and she didn’t appreciate him talking to her like she was a child. “Why
can’t I join?”

Sera stood now and walked toward Clover,
her eyes rushing up and down her body, as if assessing every part of her. She
stopped right in front of Clover, crossed her arms and tilted her head. They
were the same height, but it still felt as if Sera were looking down on her. “Are
you content?” she asked.

“Uh…” What kind of a question was that?
What did her contentment have to do with anything? Clover looked around, but no
one was offering anything in the way of explanation to the strange question,
not even Zander. “Of course I am. Aren’t you?”

Sera’s fists balled at her sides. She
looked so angry, so hateful. Where was all of this animosity coming from? “No,”
she shot back with such force that Clover could feel the word hit her in the
face. “
We
are not content.”

Zander grabbed her arm again, putting
his other hand on her back to lead her away. “You need to go, Clove.” He walked
her up the stairs and escorted her to the front steps. She was stunned speechless
the entire way.

When she was outside on the front step,
the cold air seemed to remind her that she was capable of speech. “Zander,
what’s going on? What was that all about? Who are these people?”

His gaze flickered to her eyes before
resting on the darkness behind her. “It’s nothing. Really. You’re right. Just a
silly club.”

“But…”

“I’m sorry, Clove.” He slowly closed the
door, leaving her standing there staring at it with her mouth gaping wide. Then
she heard the sound of the lock on the door click.

 That was the first time Zander had hurt
her. Unless you count the time he threw mud on her brand new dress, but they
had only been seven then. Although she was upset with him, she knew it wouldn't
last. She simply had to accept that he had made a new group of friends. She
didn't have to like it. She would be his wife one day, and would have to learn
to be content with his choice of associates.

The thing that stung the most though,
was not the fact that they didn't want to include her in their little club, but
that Zander didn't want to.

She pulled the sweater tighter around her
chest. Though the night air was getting chillier by the second, going home
didn't seem like an option. She needed to be around people, so she headed for
Hobarth’s Hall.

Mr. and Mrs. Hobarth liked to entertain,
so ten years ago they'd had the hall constructed by those of the citizens who
chose to work as builders. It was open every night, and was a place where
anyone could go to socialize, though it was mainly frequented by teens. There
was always music, dancing and games. Sometimes the Hobarths would have theme
nights and special activity nights. Clover was hoping she might find some
friends there, as she was in no mood to be alone.

Mrs. Hobarth met her at the front door of
the hall. She was a chubby woman with shocking orangish-red hair. “Oh, my dear,”
she said. “You're certainly not dressed for the cold tonight.” Her eyes looked
over Clover’s bare legs that stretched all the way up to mid-thigh. “I've just
the thing for you.”

She led her to a door that went to a
kitchen area. Once inside, Mrs. Hobarth quickly produced a cup of warm milk. “Here,”
she said, smiling brightly. “This should warm you from the inside out.”

Clover thanked her and drank it down
quickly. She was right. It did make her feel warmer, and she also felt her mood
lift.

She located her two closest girlfriends,
Mella and Chantille, sitting at a little table in a corner, giggling and
whispering. They gave her big smiles as she approached.

“What's so funny, you two?” she asked as
she took a chair at their table.

Mella pointed to the far wall. “We're
watching Dante play darts. He's trying desperately to impress Chantille, but he
keeps missing the board. Every time he misses, his face turns red and he
glances over here to see if she saw his bad throw.”

Clover couldn't help but join in the
giggling as she watched Dante do exactly that.

It had been a good idea to come to the
hall. Clover and her friends spent some time engrossed in girly chit-chat,
discussing make-up, fashion, boys, and how perfect it would be if someday they
could all live close together and have babies at the same time after they were
all married. Chantille had a couple of games of darts with Dante, and she
purposely missed the dartboard so that he could beat her. Clover and Mella
laughed and cheered, knowing all along that Chantille was unbeatable at darts.
Clover was glad she had come. She could always count on her friends.

When Chantille returned to the table,
Clover grinned at her friend. “So, you and Dante? This is new.”

Chantille’s light hazel eyes, which were
currently surrounded by a thick coat of glittery green eye-shadow, lit up as
she looked at her with a shy smile. “Well, why not? He's very cute. I would be
more than content to sleep beside him every night.”

All three girls snickered with glee.

“Besides,” added Mella, tossing her
shiny brown hair over her shoulder, “Not all of us are lucky enough to have a
boy we've grown up with to marry. We're not getting any younger, you know. It's
time that Chantille and I set our sights on someone before all the good ones
get snatched up.”

Chantille bobbed her head in agreement,
and then asked, “Where is Zander tonight, anyway?”

“Oh, he's umm...” These were her closest
girlfriends. They had shared many secrets over the years, but for some reason she
was reluctant to tell them what had happened earlier. She wasn't sure if it was
her own shame or due to a sense of duty she felt for Zander. It was obvious
that whatever he and his friends were doing was something they wanted to keep
to themselves. But she was still feeling bad about having lied to her mother.
She couldn’t lie again. “…he’s hanging with some friends.”

“Oh? Who?”

“I don’t know all of them, but I know
he’s with Luas and Sera.”

“Who is Luas?” asked Mella.

Before Clover could answer, Chantille
exclaimed, “Sera? What’s he doing with her?”

Clover sighed, almost wishing she had
lied to her friends. She addressed Mella first. “Luas has been a friend of
Zander’s for a few years now. I’m surprised you’ve never met him.” She turned
to Chantille. “Yes, Sera. They’ve started some sort of club.”

Chantille placed one of her hands on Clover’s.
“Why would he be in a club with Sera? She’s so mean. She always calls us
‘pretty girls’, but she doesn’t mean it as a compliment. Clover, she’s bad
news.” Chantille turned to Mella who nodded in agreement. She focussed back on
Clover. “She’s up to something. Be careful.”

Clover wasn’t surprised. She already
knew Sera was bad news. But she had chosen to ignore her suspicions. Her
friends had now confirmed the nervousness she had almost successfully
supressed. Zander was part of a club that included Sera and not her. Her lifted
mood dropped back to sulky.

***

Clover woke up the next morning with a positive
attitude. As was typical for most Eadinites, she didn’t dwell on the negative
and easily found renewed contentment. Zander loved her, not Sera, and that was
all that mattered.

She arrived at the Watch Tower early,
wanting to pick up a new shoulder bag and a workbook so she could get right back
to her stories. Unfortunately, the kind of book she preferred to use was not
quite the same as your average notebook or sketchbook. Her books had thick,
parchment-like paper that ensured no bleed from one side of the page to the
other. She was told there would be one available for her in two days, so she
decided to hold off on getting a new bag until then as well.

It was another bright day. The clear hot
sun had melted all the cool overnight crispness from the air. She left the
building and was about to walk away when she heard someone call her name.

She cranked her head back to see that it
was her father. He was just leaving the building too. She sprinted to him. “Heading
home from work?” She grabbed him around the waist, inhaled deeply, always loving
the way her father smelled. It was a musky, manly smell that made her feel safe,
like all was perfect in the world - and it always was. She glanced adoringly up
into his face as he hugged her back.

She pulled away, horrified. The left
side of his lips, top and bottom, were split open and had swelled into an ugly
mass. “Daddy, what happened?”

“Oh, nothing for you to be concerned
about, my lucky Clover. I'm just fine.” His eyes shone adoringly at her.

She gasped as she realized what must
have happened. “Was it the monsters? Did they attack you?” Holding him at arm's
length, she worriedly waited for his response.

He smiled widely, and then winced when
he remembered his fat lip. “Yes, Clover.” He gently stroked her cheek. “But
there is nothing for you to worry about. I've taken care of the nasty monster that
did this to me and it won’t be giving me any more trouble, I can assure you.”
He winked.

She pulled herself into his big strong
chest. “You're so brave,” she gushed, and she meant it. Her father kept all the
citizens of Eadin safe. She was so proud of him.

“Well, I'll be heading off for home now.”

“I'll see you later,” she called, and
skipped off down the street. Life was good. She had a heroic father and a beautiful,
kind mother. She had a wonderful and handsome boyfriend, who would one day be her
husband, and she could spend her days doing whatever she wanted to do. Although
she couldn't write today, she could go to her writing spot and brainstorm more
about her latest story.