The Serrated Edges of My Heart

"Billy, this has to be the wrong house!" I said, shrugging my bag up higher on my shoulder.

He had pulled up in front of a monster of a house, at least 5 floors and 2 castle-like towers.

The house did look like a castle with it's inlaid gray brick.

"Nope. This is it. Gorgeous isn't it?" he said from behind me.

I glanced up at him and grinned.

"This is gonna be fun," I laughed.

I pulled my bag up the long stretch of gravel, up the pathway and then finally up the porch steps to the front double doors.

My finger hesitated in front of the doorbell.

I couldn't believe they'd actually talked me into running away from my problems and made me take a year long break from school to "recuperate" as Dave put it…

"Ellie?"

I glanced up and nodded, pushing the button and listening to the doorbell chime.

"Is that…?" I asked horrified.

"Yup, the Mario theme," William laughed.

I shook my head.

At least I was getting to see Aunt Ruth again after such a long time.

The door opened.

"…You're not my aunt…"I said.

The lady laughed and ushered us both inside.

"No, I'm the maid," the lady said laughing, "You must be Eleanor, I'm Marie. Your aunt just won't shut about you."

I grinned.

"I go by Ellie nowadays."

Marie nodded.

"Brought your boyfriend along did you?" she winked.

My throat tightened.

Evan…

I tried to make my tone as light as possible.

"No, Billy here's just an old family friend that I happened to meet up with," I said.

Billy nodded.

"I'll be leaving soon though."

I have to admit, I did panic a little.

Sure, I was okay for now, but who knew what was gonna happen when I was alone and had time to dwell on things.

"You'll stay for a while though right?" I pleaded, "You haven't even seen my room yet, and we've got 4 years to catch up on."

He grinned at me.

"Of course I'll stay for a little bit."

I smiled, satisfied, until I heard a booming bark coming from down the hall.

I glanced up at the dog bounding down the hall towards me.

"Ripper! No!" I said, putting up my hands to black the Great Dane now tackling me onto the stone floor.

William stood by laughing while Ripper practically licked off all of my make-up and Marie tried to pry him off of me.

"Ripper! Get off of her you silly mutt!"

Ripper got off of me and walked off in the direction of the voice.

I propped myself up on my elbows, wiping my face with my shirt.

"Sorry about him, hun," Aunt Ruth said, "He's just happy to see you."

Aunt Ruth looked almost exactly like I'd remembered except her hair was grayer and she seemed smaller. She was already a tiny stick of a woman.

"Hey Aunt Ruthie," I grinned at her.

William stuck out his arm and pulled me up from the floor which wasn't really very hard when you weighed around 102 pounds.

"Do you wanna see the house?" she asked.

I nodded and followed her out of the room, pulling William by the hand behind me.