The Eyes Tell No Lies (6 page)

Now she was even more pissed at her body and
mind for thinking about how Cris
put her on fire in every way imaginable.
No, no, no stop thinking about him that way
,
think about how he stereotyped blind people. As far as thinking they cannot take
care of themselves. It is just like saying we are weak
,
Arie
thought as she focused her mind on something else
,
other than how Cris
turned her on.

The sound of someone banging on a window drew her out of her thoughts. She was so
focused on the transparent figure of
Grace
in a room on the second story
that
Arie
didn’t
notice Cris
had got
ten
out o
f the car and was talking to his
mother. She didn’t realize she had grabbed her purse, got out of the car, and walked
up the path to the front of the house all the while staring at
Grace
’s ghost. It was
as if
Grace
was trying to show her something in the room
,
but she couldn’t see it.
Arie
knew no matter what
,
she was going to get in the room. She was in
such
a deep tr
ance that she didn’t realize Cris
was introducing her to his mother until he nudged her a little with his elbow.

“Hi, how are you
, Mrs. Crow?” Arie
asked
Christoph
’s mother as she took the woman’s outstretched hand and shook it.

“I am
okay,
and call my Daya
,
Mrs. Crow was my mother-in-law
,
” Daya said as her eyes swept over
Arie
.

Wow, so that
’
s where he got his looks from
,
except she has jet
-
black hair
,
Arie
thought as she looked back and forth between mother and son.
Cris
looked like a male version of his mother except he had his father’s hair color.

“Come on
,
sweetie
,
let
’
s
go inside so you
can
meet Cris
and
Grace
’s cousins
,
” Daya said as she wrapped her right arm around
Arie
and guided her into her home.

As
Arie
walked into the house
,
she noticed out the corner of her eye a living room t
o the left, a staircase that le
d to the second floor straight ah
ead, and a family room which le
d into the kitchen as well to her right. She didn’t have time to look around as she
was ushered further into the house toward the family room.

Daya didn’t know how she would feel meeting the woman who now had a part of her daughter
in her. She didn’t know whether she would be sad or depressed but somehow she felt
herself being excited that her daughter somehow lived on in a bright young woman.

Cris introduced Arie to his two cousins, the t
wo
men looked so much alike that they were often confused as twins, except they were
three years apart and
one was taller than the other and had a green ring around his pupil. The
other brother’s
eyes were magnetic blue and
both men
immediately
perused Arie
and her shapely figure.

Cris
unconsciously pulled
Arie
closer to him when his cousins began to openly stare at her. He didn’t know what
was going on
because
he had never felt possessive or jealous over a woman
,
es
pecially one he wasn’t even dating
. He knew he had to hurry and catch the Daytime Killer before he developed any stronger
feelings for her.
Snap out of it and remember what we came here for
,
Cris
thought as his mother began to introduce
Arie
to his cousins.

Entering the family room, Daya began the introductions.
“To your left is Tate.” She pointed to the shorter brother with the green ring around
his eyes. “And this here is Mark. Mark is the oldest by three years
and Tate is the same age as Cris,
” Daya said as she motioned for
Arie
to take a seat at the brown rectangle table with six match
ing chairs.

“Mark and Tate,
this is
Arie,
the young woman who was giv
en
Grace
’s
corneas
so she
is
able to see again
,
” Daya said as she sat next to
Arie
in one of the chairs at the table.

Mark smiled at the mention of
Grace
’s name while Tate grimaced. No one but
Arie
seemed to notice the look on Tate’s face at the mention of
Grace
’s name. He also gave her
a
creepy feeling that sent electrifying currents deep into her bones.

“I still cannot believe our sweet, caring, fun loving, not to mention troublemaking
and prankster
,
Gracie
is gone. I remember the first time stay
ing
here for the whole summer. I was ten at the time s
o that would have made Tate, Cris
, and
Gracie
at the time
seven years old
. I woke up the next morning with a long hissing snake crawling up me. I immediately
screamed and heard Tate’s and Cris’s
earsplitting
screams at the same time. While we were screaming
,
Gracie
was laughing uncontrollably in the hallway.

“Back th
e
n
,
it wasn’t funny but now I can look back and laugh at the whole scene
,
” Mark said as he gave out a light chuckle throughout the story.

“Not to mention she came into each of our rooms,
and
picked up the snakes out of
the
beds
w
hile laughing at us and
then
kissed them on the mouth before
walk
ing out of the room
,
” Tate said as he shook his head
then
got the same look on his face he got earlier before quickly blinking it away.

Cris
’s family was suddenly engrossed in recalling
many of
Grace
’s pranks
or
how she would cheer someone up with just a smile and twinkle in her eye. At first
Arie
felt uncomfortable but as the stories about
Grace were told,
she was just as engrossed as the family until someone whispered in her ear.

‘
Remember what you are here for
,
’
t
he voice she now knew belonged to
Grace
spoke to her after a few hours of listening to stories about her.

From the look on Cris’s
face when she turned toward him made her suspect
that
he had got
ten
the same message as she did. Her suspicions were quickly confirmed when he spoke.

“Mom, how about I show
Arie
,
Grace
’s room while you finish lunch
,
”
Cris
spoke up as his mother excused herself to go finish the lunch she had started for
them.

“Sure
,
I was just about to suggest just that
,
” Daya said before disappearing into the kitchen.

Arie
rose out of her chair behind
Cris
as they passed the living room and headed for the stairs. The living room was filled
with photos from the time
when Cris
and
Grace
were babies until adulthood. There were also pictures of
Cris’s
parents from their wedding. A fireplace s
a
t along the wall with a bear rug in front of it and a black sectional couch
, which
surrounded the fireplace.

Cris
took the stairs t
w
o at a time with
Arie
quickly f
ol
lowing closely behind him. They headed down a long hallway that held a floral design
and another set of family pictures.
Arie
found herself wondering which room was
Cris’s
until they finally reached the end of the hallway.

“That door over there leads to my old room
,
”
Cris
said as he pointed to the door on their right.
“And this right here is
,
well
,
was
Grace
’s room
,
”
he
said as he open
ed
the door on their left.

Arie
cautiously stepped into
Grace
’s room
,
not wanting to break anything. As she looked around
and
Cris
was looking for
Grace
’s notes
,
she noticed the walls were a lilac
color with
a family portrait painted on the walls from when they were younger. Making her think
Grace
hadn’t changed the color in her room for a long time
;
either that
,
or the portrait and color was significant to
Grace
. In the middle of the room was an oak wood bed with matching dressers and nightstands
on either side of the bed.

The
nightstand closer to the window suddenly began to move from side to side
, Arie and Cris
both looked at each other in shock. It looked as though it was walking on its own
as it moved forward
,
swaying. Neither one of them moved until
Arie
saw
Grace
’s spirit urging her forward toward the moving nightstand.

“Can you come mov
e this for me?” Arie asked Cris
when she noticed how heavy the nightstand was.

Cris
quickly moved forward
,
lifted the nightstand into the air
,
and placed it in front of the bed.
He couldn’t believe what he had seen and was starting to believe in what his sister
and mother had been telling him his whole life. Yet in the back of his mind there
was still some doubt lingering.

Arie
could see a floorboard sticking slightly up where the dresser had been just a few
moments ago. She quickly moved toward it, crouched down
,
and pried it open with both her right and left hand. A yellow and red folder
s
t
u
ck out of the floorboard.
Arie
immediately picked up the folders and placed them in her purse when she heard someone
walking up the st
airs. She quickly moved toward
the door as
Cris
closed the floorboard and moved the dresser right back into place.

When Mark and Tate ent
ered the room, Arie and Cris
w
ere
looking over the portrait painted onto
Grace
’s wall.

“Did I tell you
Grace
started paint
ing
this the night
our father died?” Cris
asked when he noticed Mark and Tate trying to sneak into the room out of the corner
of his eyes.

“No, how did your father die?”
Arie
asked as she traced her hands along the clouds.

“He
died
suddenly from liver cirrhosis
a few years ago,” Cris
answered as his eyes roamed the life
-
like photo of his father.

He closed his eyes tightly and tried to will away his feeling about his father
’
s death as t
hey bubbled to the surface. Cris
took slow
, deep calming breath
s in and out
,
as he closed his eyes tighter.