*** in Autumn

Monday 7th October
The dark woods crackled behind her but she kept walking, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end but her feet wouldn’t stop. She could feel someone behind her, getting closer. The footsteps seemed so crystal clear, the resounded in her ear like bell tolls filling the entire forest. As they came closer Lisa broke into a run, the branches scratched at her face, tangling her curls. Suddenly she fell, pitching forward and landed on something warm, human. Her hands suddenly felt sticky and she looked down to find them covered in blood. She looked down to see what she had fallen on and instantly recoiled. Jenn lay under her, her face was covered in blood and bruises and her eyes were wide and glassy. She had a thick purple mark round her delicate neck. ‘’Help me’’ she said in a small voice full of pain.

Lisa jerked awake. She lay on her back in bed, she was freezing cold, her were arms flecked with goosebumps. She shivered and reached up to slam the window shut. Wind pressed round the house and rain pounded the window. Lisa shuddered as she remembered the nightmare she’d been having. She’d had one every night since Jenn’s murder and every night the persons footsteps seemed to get louder and louder. She shivered and rolled back over.

The rest of the night passed without any nightmares but nevertheless when the alarm woke Lisa for school the next day she couldn’t help be relieved. She got out of bed and through on her uniform. Her school wore pleated navy and red skirts with a blue blazer and white shirt. She pulled on thick leather boots and her ski jacket before going down stairs. This was the first day Lisa was going back to school after her sister’s death and she was almost glad to go back. It had been very lonely around the house. Her mother had mostly stayed in her bedroom and Ross had only arrived for the funeral. Everything seemed quiet without Jenn.

After eating her breakfast there was a knock on the door. Lisa licked jam off her finger and pulled it open to see Rory. He was a small boy, a bit on the chubby side with messy brown hair. Not messy in a cool styled-to-look-messy kind of a way just an uncontrollable kind of mess. He gave her a gentle smile which made her bristle. ‘’Urgh, don’t look at me like that. I’m not a five year old’’ she said slamming the door behind her.

‘’Sorry’’ he said grinning at her normally. ‘’It’s nice to see the real Lisa is back again’’ he said. ‘’So how was your time off?’’ he asked looking at her curiously.

‘’Awful to be honest, nothing like our skiving days’’ she said remembering the times Rory and Lisa would take entire days just to hang out at one of their houses and watch television. ‘’It’s so quiet without her’’ she said thoughtfully.

They continued to talk as they walked down the road towards the wrought iron gates with the sign that told them it was the entrance to ‘St. Michael’s High School’. The school, like most building in St. Michael Hill was gothic with tiny window frames that glistened like scales in the sunlight. As they walked through the gates Lisa could feel sympathetic eyes on her. It was weird as usually nobody paid any attention to her. She could usually slip unnoticed through the crowd whereas Jenn usually lead the crowd. She was always so charismatic that people flocked to hear what she was going to say.

‘’You’re Lisa right?’’ said a voice behind her. Lisa turned to see a tall boy that she instantly recognised. He was almost too good looking with wide dark brown eyes framed with long dark lashes, he had slightly tanned skin with chocolate brown curls. He was Bradley Kingston, Jenn’s boyfriend and he looked no less perfect and put together than when she had last seen him before Jenn’s death. She felt Rory tense next to her, Bradley Kingston had always been less than nice to him and was now completely ignoring him.

‘’Yeah, I’m Lisa why?’’ she asked, slightly defensive.

‘’Just wanted to say I’m sorry for your loss’’ he said running a hand through the dark curls. ‘’Jenn was great and I miss her’’ he said resting a hand on Lisa’s shoulder.
‘’Thank you, we all miss her as well’’ said Lisa smiling. Bradley smiled back, dimples appearing at each side of his lazy smile.
‘’I guess I’ll see you later then’’ he said before walking off, shouting at his friends to wait up.

‘’Like hell he misses her, he’ll be back to flirting with Darrell Hopkin’s before the week is out’’ said Rory glaring after him.

As the bell rang for lunch Lisa practically sprinted out of her lesson. She was starving and school had been just as boring as she remembered it, especially without Jenn. Lisa could feel herself getting more and more bored of hearing the words, ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ and ‘Jenn was a wonderful person/great girl/talented artist/amazing friend’ She couldn’t help but wonder if they would be so kind about her if she died.

She was about the walk down the art corridor when she overheard voices. One of them was Lydia Renner and the other was one of her friends. They were talking in low whispers about Jenn. ‘’Poor Jenn, I just can’t help but wonder if it was ..’’ Lisa leaned round the corner to see Lydia mouth a name to her friend that she couldn’t make out. ‘’Because of… you know what’’ said Lydia. Her friend nodded vigoriously. Lisa’s mind whirled. These people clearly knew something she didn’t, she needed to find out what.
‘’Lisa?’’ said Lydia catching Lisa. ‘’How are you holding up?’’ she said softly.

‘’I’m okay I guess’’ she said. ‘’Its hard though’’ she said.

Lydia nodded sympathetically. ‘’I bet you feel so lonely without her.’’ She said. ‘’You know if you need to talk to me any time then just let me know. I know you don’t exactly have any girlfriends’’ she said before walking off as her and her friend gave her gentle, slightly patronising smiles.

‘’What was that about?’’ said a voice in her ear making her jump. She turned to see Rory.

‘’They were just offering their deepest sympathy, you know as people do’’ she said bitterly. ‘’Come on I’m starving’’ she said dragging him towards the canteen.