“What was that?”

Queenie’s eyes were bugging out of her head as she lowered the box to the ground. Her eyes switched between the door and me for what felt like hours but had to have been seconds because the lighting against her window didn’t shift. I know because it was beaming in my eye for entirely too long.

I leaned over to shut the blinds with my right hand but before I got there I felt Queenie’s hands wrapped around my left. She was cold and shivering. I could feel her veins thumping.

Our eyes met and I'd never known blue eyes to look so desperate.

According to society, blue eyes are those of the elite. The strong. To see eyes of that stature quiver before me gave me this exhilaration that made me crave more.

I yanked her hand away from mine and ran towards the curtain. I looked back eager to see the face of a loser but her eyes weren’t facing my direction. They were facing the door.

So I too looked to the door to figure out what piece of the puzzle I’m missing.

It was in that moment of calm, calamity ensued.

My eyes danced across every part of the door. They scanned the beginning of the door frame which had cracks running along the top of it. She wasn’t looking there. They ran down to the middle of the door, near the doorknob, which I had only just noticed was hanging on by a wire. She wasn’t looking there. No, she was staring at the large shadow at the bottom of the door. I felt this darkness I’d never felt before arise in my heart. It felt like I was falling out of a window but my feet were on the ground.

“Queenie?” I whispered hoping for a perfectly normal explanation for someone else to be here right now. Hoping for a perfectly normal explanation for the fear in her eyes. Hoping for an explanation.

She turned to me with a look of disgust across her face. It felt as if she knew something bad was about to happen and it was all my fault.

Her disgust turned into a smile as she opened her mouth but she didn’t need to say it this time, this time I knew. “The calm before the storm”