Drowning in Deception (5 page)

Her place at the edge of the forest was
as it always was - quiet and peaceful. She plopped herself down in front of her
favorite tree and absently started playing with the tassels on her new silky,
pink blouse.

Sighing with contentment, she scanned
the area. There was not a soul to be seen or heard. A hint of a breeze gently blew
the very tips of the wild grasses. A ladybug landed on her knee and seemed to
smile at her before moving on. She sighed again. It was such a beautiful day.
She would be seeing Zander that night. Who cared if Sera had been at his house?
Other people had been there too. It was just a silly club. And it was nothing
to worry about.

As her eyes dreamily scanned her
surroundings, they caught something colorful just on the other side of the
boundary line. She recognized immediately that it was her shoulder bag, so she
jumped up and sprinted to it. It had been placed right on the other side of the
white stones. She could pick it up without even stepping foot over the line.
For this, she was grateful, because yesterday's events had left her feeling
rattled. Breaking the rules was not something she would ever do again.

She snatched her bag up and happily
headed back to her tree. Feeling thrilled that she would be doing some writing
after all, she wasted no time and quickly dug into her bag. It only took a
moment to discover that her book was missing. It seemed strange to her that
someone would steal something that she would give away freely once it was
properly printed and bound. Everything else in the bag was where it usually
was, with the exception of one other thing - a small bag of nuts she had brought
along to munch on. It figured. The only thing she really wanted back was her
book. She didn't really care about her bag or the rest of the contents.

Still standing by the tree, she placed her
hands on her hips and searched the area across the line. “Bring my book back
too,” she called loudly, interrupting the quiet air. Of course, she didn't get
a response, so she threw her bag onto her shoulder and turned to leave. She
suddenly wasn't in the mood to be there anymore.

As she was walking away, she could have
sworn she heard a rustling somewhere behind her, like the sound bushes make
when someone walks through them. She stopped and turned to look back, but all
was still; all was quiet.

***

That night, Zander picked her up after
supper. This time she was prepared for the cold night air, and had dressed in
warm pants and a patterned, thick woolen sweater that her mother had made. She
made a point of doing her hair in perfect ringlets that flowed down her back. Her
make-up was impeccable with blended artistic colors and glitter. She wanted to
look pretty for Zander, and to let him know she held no hard feelings about the
previous night.

They strolled arm-in-arm through the
streets, watching their breath take form as it hit the air. He didn’t bring up
anything about his club, nor did he apologize for having kicked her out of his
house, so she thought it best to just leave it be. Causing unnecessary
discontentment seemed like a silly thing to do at the start of a date.

Eventually they ended up at the doors of
Marvin’s Playhouse. Marvin was a loud, booming man, who loved to play act. He
had assembled a group of other people who shared his love for the stage, and
from time to time they would put on shows for the people of Eadin to come and
watch.

“I heard this play is very interesting,”
said Zander as they entered. “It’s the story of a man who travels to the stars.”

Zander knew how much she loved fictional
stories, and he smiled proudly at her approving grin of interest.

They settled into their seats in the
middle of the playhouse and waited for the show to begin. Zander fidgeted for a
few minutes before turning to her. “I’m sorry about last night, Clove.” He
looked at her when he spoke, but he didn’t reach out to take her hand as she’d
expect him to do when apologizing.

It was plain to her that he was nervous,
and she wanted nothing more than to soothe him. “It’s okay. You don’t need to
explain,” she said as chirpily as she could manage.

“No. I do need to explain. I hurt your
feelings, and I didn’t want to.”

She said nothing, nodded slightly.

“Those people are…” He was struggling
for words. “Well, do you remember when I was going to school a couple of years
ago?”

She nodded again. There was one small
school in all of Eadin. Children were taught the basics at home by their parents:
reading, writing, and basic math. Many of the jobs in Eadin were learned
through on-the-job training, but some work required studies in a school
setting. This education was only for those who were interested in learning
something specific and only if that particular subject was being taught at the
time. Although, it usually wasn’t difficult to find a person willing to teach
whatever one might be interested in learning.

Clover had gone to school briefly to
take a course in drawing so she could add good quality pictures to her books.
Zander had gone to school for almost a full year to take many courses, although
she wasn’t certain what subjects he was interested in. She had never asked.

“I remember,” she said.

“Well, those people were friends I met at
my courses. We decided to start a group to further study and discuss our
subjects.”

“Oh, okay,” she breathed.

“It’s all stuff you wouldn’t be
interested in, anyway.”

Now she had an explanation and it made
perfect sense to her. The conversation she had overheard made a brief
appearance in her mind. It had been something about the Wall, the other side, and
people knowing something about something… She shrugged. He was right. She wasn’t
really interested.

A blast of music started as the lights
dimmed for the play to begin.

It was a wonderful story. Whoever had
written it had a great imagination. Who would have ever thought of flying to
the stars? Clover thoroughly enjoyed it, even though the entire time she had
the nagging feeling that someone was watching her. She glanced around to the
rows behind her in the dark a few times, but all eyes appeared to be focussed
on the production.

Zander had taken her to the playhouse a
number of times before. They would always sit and hold hands, or he would drape
his arm across her shoulders so she could snuggle in close to him. This time he
didn’t even touch her. It felt odd, like something was amiss.

And much to her surprise, he walked her
straight home after. No leisurely strolls, no kissing on a park bench, and no
stargazing as they would usually do. After having just watched a play about the
stars, Clover had expected and hoped that’s just what they would do.

They stopped in front of her house and she
turned to look at him. She brushed a stray strand of sandy hair from his eyes
and chuckled, “You need a haircut.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He seemed so stiff
standing there with his hands stuffed in his pockets. This was usually the time
when he would pull her close, his height just right to easily sprinkle kisses
onto her forehead. Something was definitely off.

 She reached down and pulled his hands
from his pockets, clasping them in hers, and began swinging them gently back
and forth. “What’s wrong, Zander?” She made a point to widen her eyes and play
the part of Zander’s sweet young girl.

His hands went limp in hers. “Nothing’s
wrong,” he muttered.

She sighed heavily. “We’ve known each
other for a long time, Zander. I know when something’s bothering you.” She gave
a loving smile. “You know you can tell me anything…”

He chewed his cheek. “I just have a lot
on my mind right now, that’s all. I really don’t want to talk about it. You
understand, don’t you?”

“I guess,” she breathed, pulling him
closer so they could kiss goodnight.

Before she could react, he quickly bent his
head and pecked her on the cheek. “Goodnight, Clove. Talk to ya later, okay?”
He started to walk away.

“But Zander…”

He looked over his shoulder and offered
a whimsical smile before turning and continuing on down the road.

She stood and watched after him for a
long time, stunned. He wasn’t acting like himself, and it was making her feel
weird. Things weren’t as good as she’d thought earlier that day. Maybe he was
just tired, or maybe there was more going on with his new group of friends than
he had let on. Maybe there was more going on with Sera. She felt the teeniest
bit of jealousy flutter in her stomach when she thought of that girl. But she
quickly suppressed it. It was so silly to think that Zander could be interested
in Sera. He loved Clover.

She would let him get a good night’s
sleep and go to see him in the morning. They’d fallen out of touch these last
weeks. That was all. So, Clover would rectify the problem by spending as much
time with him as she could.

Clover knocked on Zander’s door mid-morning
the next day, but his mother answered and told her he was out, and that she
didn’t know where.

Her new workbook wouldn’t be available
to pick up until the next day. She sought out her friends, but Chantille was
out with Dante and Mella was helping her mother with some baking. So, she found
herself wandering around aimlessly.

Low, grey clouds were looming above,
making the day feel gloomy, and although there was a slight breeze blowing, it
wasn’t overly cold. Clover had a long-sleeved striped top on that kept her arms
warm for the time being. She decided she would go home if the wind picked up.

She stopped by Mrs. Dancoup’s place to
see if she had any new books printed that might interest her. There was nothing
that appealed to her, but she stayed to chat with Mrs. Dancoup for a while. She
wasn’t married and had no children. She often referred to the books she printed
as her babies, so Clover assumed she must get lonely. They talked about nothing
of importance, small talk mostly, before Clover decided to say good-bye.

With nothing new to read, no workbook to
write in, and all of her friends busy, she was bored. She had woken up
determined to find Zander. They needed to spend more time together, but he was
nowhere to be found.

It was no surprise that she ended up at her
writing place again. She was longing to write, to get back to her story about
the yellow-eyed monster and the pretty girl with the golden locks. To be able
to write would have soothed her, and would have helped her take her mind off Zander.
Sure, they had pads of paper at home, but the words didn’t flow for her unless she
was writing in a proper workbook. The paper was thicker and very smooth. Maybe
it was silly, but it was what worked for her.

She sunk down to the ground with a sigh,
resting her head against the great tree’s wide trunk. There was no glare off
the Wall today, no shine. Maybe it was her less-than-content mood or maybe it
was the grey sky, but for the first time ever, the Wall looked to her like
nothing but a gigantic eyesore.

She told herself to focus. This line of
thought was only making her feel miserable and it was very unlike her to have a
negative emotion last so long. She needed to get past it. Everything between
her and Zander would work out. She knew this.

She concentrated, trying to remember
where in the story her mind had left off. Yes, the monster…

“Psst.”

Her head shot up and she looked around,
but didn’t see anything. Every tree and blade of grass was in its usual still
and quiet place.

“Psst.”

This time she realized the sound was
coming from somewhere across the boundary line. Her heart stopped for a few
seconds as she scanned the trees and bushes that grew on the other side of
those white stones. Her eyes flitted back and forth, searching. Her heart started
to pound a little in her chest.

Suddenly she saw the top of a head peek
out from behind a thick tree trunk. She froze and squinted. It looked like the
boy she had bumped into in the dark woods, the one who had stolen her workbook.
He stepped out from behind the tree. Now that she could see his drab pants and
plain shirt, she knew for certain it was him.

Getting to her feet, she tentatively
walked to the line of white stones, stopping there to see what would happen. He
had returned her bag and now she wondered if he had come to return her book.
But she wasn’t going to step over that line again. No way. He would have to
come to her.

She watched as the girl he’d been with in
the woods stepped out from behind a different tree. She was dressed as she had
been before, in her boring, flowing skirts and apron. This time she carried a
burlap sack over her shoulder. Clover watched her scoot quickly to the boy to
grab his hand. They looked around cautiously and cocked their heads as if
listening for something. Then the boy motioned for Clover to come to them.

She crossed her arms and shook her head.
She refused to break the law again. Besides, she had no idea who these
characters were or what they wanted. The boy, especially, had a dangerous look
about him. It was much safer for her to stay put.