I flinched a little as I looked over at Raven as her hand softly rested on my shoulder as Hyde walked over to the large battalion of frames on a shelf by the mantle, she just motioned to keep quiet and to go with her. As she stepped away from the couch, trying to be quiet as she walked on the front of her feet to avoid her heels from clicking as I followed along the other side of the table.
“You see, all of those kids…Raven is the eldest, but Ichabod has always been the most more studious one, Raven is incredible with people, people want nothing more than to do as she wants, get on her good side and everything like that” Hyde rattled off as he rifled through the photos. Raven softly held my shoulder as she snuck me out of the room before leading me through the house back to the foyer.
“I am…so sorry about that.” She said with a soft laugh, the parasol she had been carrying beforehand, placed in an umbrella holder beside the door as she held her hands up softly. I laughed softly.
“It’s fine, Raven” I said she sighed as she brushed a few pieces of hair off her face before shaking her head softly.
“Literally, whenever we have someone over, no matter where we are, who they are or anything of that sort…he always breaks out the photos, thank you for coming with me, if you didn’t, he probably would have bringing out the albums of baby photos” she said, “So embarrassing” she added at her own expense as she pinched the bridge of her nose a little before sighing as she motioned towards the front of the house, “I’m sure you’d…wish to get back to whatever you were doing, I can…sense your hesitation and lack of comfortability with being here, I wouldn’t want to stress you even further.” She said
“I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome” I said
“Please, be careful saying that, if Grandpa heard you, he’d start getting a spare room ready” she said holding her hands up a little making me laugh, “Let me at least walk you to the gate.” She added
“Okay.”
She grabbed the parasol as she opened the door, rising it as I walked past her so, it was open before she even stepped out from the cover of the shaded front landing. She was entirely comfortable walking along the uneven pavers in those stiletto heels, completely comfortable with the steep angle of the driveway as it swept down towards the front gate, even when I could feel my work boots starting to loose purchase on a particularly smooth paver, she was entirely fine, properly on her feet and unfazed by the angle.
“Is it even comfortable wearing those?” I asked
“Oh, I’ve always worn heels, at least sense I was seventeen or so, Auntie always dresses nicely and in heels, same with Mom, so I just…it felt natural to always wearing them.” She said, softly shifting on her feet showing off the long, thin heels of her boots. “Plus, I mean, I usually have to wear these for work, so I am very used to spending a lot of time in heels.”
“Doesn’t it hurt after a bit?”
“Not really, my feet are probably pretty numb to it.” she said
“What’s happening over there?” I asked to where one corner of the front yard still had a lot of construction things going on.
“That’s a garage expansion, the house only had garage space for three cars.” She explained
“How many does your family have?”
“At least five” she said, maybe a little unsure, “I think Mom and Dad bought two for Adora and Barty for when they get their licenses in the next few months or so, but I’m unsure o the state of their drivability.”
“Is that one yours?” I asked nodding back towards the black/red muscle car parked in front of the house.
“It is” she said before nodding to the other side of the lawn, “Dad’s also having a subsidiary greenhouse put in: the house has two, but he wanted one that is built to his specifications for some more…oddity plants he has, ones that need like specific humidity, specific temperature and die if the Ph gets a tenth od a degree to acidic or basic.” She explained with a shrug. “The pond is nice too, but we don’t have anything for it, Mom and Dad already had our boats kept in a proper mooring area at that lake a few hours north of here.”
“Blackdrift Lake?” I asked
“Something like that” she said, “Why is something wrong about that?” she asked probably because of the tone I used.
“Just the stories. There’s a lot for this area, a lot of people think this house is haunted.”
“We heard, that actually made my parents adamant about getting this place.”
“Why?” I asked extremely confused.
“They like a place with character, they don’t like normal places or places without a story or something.” She said with a shrug,. “What’s the deal with Blackdrift?”
“Just that there’s some like weird monster in it or something, it’s a very decent sized lake and all with the beaches and everything, everyone who has money here has a lake house out there too, but there’s an area that’s absurdly deep, there’s always been rumors and stories of people who swam or boated into that area going missing or something.” I said with a shrug
“Sounds interesting.”
“Really?” I asked looking over towards her.
“It’s always interesting to hear and learn about like all of those weird stories, like what really happened to make people come to the conclusion that it’s a monster and not literally anything else.”
“You do have a point there.”
“I’m…sorry that my grandfather startled you there. He was well meaning and all, but he made you uncomfortable and I’m sure he is truly sorry about making you uncomfortable or made you feel unwelcome.”
“It’s fine, Raven, it’s…not your fault that you didn’t know, I mean, it’s my fault I have all of my issues and shit.”
“Your issues are not your fault. What happened to you to give you those issues are at fault, but not yours. The only thing that can be at your fault or my fault is how we respond to the things that trigger those issues. It’s not your fault if you are uncomfortable about talking about your issues too, you don’t have to preface every conversation with notifying people about what triggers you.” She said with a shrug, I smiled a little as I looked towards my feet, having…it actually felt very nice to hear someone just…say it like that, not beat around the bush about how it’s all in my head, that I have nothing to be sad about or anything like that, someone who just…honestly and truthfully understands what it’s like to have various issues.
“James!” A voice snapped making my blood instantly go still, as we got to the bottom of the driveway, I looked up to the open gate to the figure standing there.
“Father” I said in a mixture of terror and just…wanting to flee.
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