LOVE BUG

CHAPTER 57: CRIMES

"Oui, everything you want." Anastasia smiles, though the grin may be more addressed to her phone and the text appearing there than to the one imposing her what she will have to do today.

"Great! So you'll also come with me on the Pendulum ride."

'Pendulum ride', the words make Anastasia snap her head up with a turn of her stomach.

"I need an adult with me, and it's sure Mom and Dad won't go there. But you will." Archie's hazel eyes are unequivocal; Anastasia recognizes the same look as when she knows she has already won. 

However, today, it's Archie who is winning. It is happening more and more these days, and the irk growing on the tip of her tongue is tempting her to make his excited smirk disappear. She is about to when her gaze falls for a second on her phone's screen again and the reply she has been about to send.

'Of course, I'll be front row to watch your demonstration!

And maybe after we could get a few minutes alone so I can congratulate you ;)'

This sight is enough for her to bite back the words on her tongue, and she swallows the screams of revolt and her ego as she puts up her smile again. "Of course, anything for my little brother."

"Thank you! It's gonna be so fun!" Archie grins before running out of the room, leaving her alone to not only gulp her annoyance, but also another turn of her stomach.

Pendulum ride... It's gonna be 'so fun'...

"I must have misheard!"

The thrill is already too much for her when her mom appears down the stairs, and she almost drops her phone with the jump she makes.

"You? On a Pendulum ride?" Her mom's lifted eyebrows are enhancing the clear green of her wide eyes, which Anastasia is avoiding carefully as she nods. "One of those attractions that swing all the way up to spin you around and go back even lower?"

"Yes." Anastasia swallows again as her stomach is already picturing the journey from the high peak to the abrupt fall, and she can see how pale her face is turning with the images as she pretends to arrange her hair in the mirror, even though she has already checked her whole appearance more than necessary while getting ready. "Why not? Archie has no one to go, so I'm just trying to be nice."

"You would never go on those things even if your life depended on it." Her mom catches easily her gaze through the mirror.

"Maybe I'm changing, you know, getting older..." She shrugs, trying to convince herself at the same time. 

After all, she has tried a lot of new things that she would have never imagined recently, and the frisson can be exciting. Flying high and feeling your head spinning, she already knows these sensations. It is kinda the same thing, isn't it?

"That much, I think it's impossible!" Her mom shakes her head with a knowing smile, almost as if she could hear the protests in her daughter's stomach. "So what does your brother is threatening you of? Is he blackmailing you? What crime have you done? I need to know if he helped you bury someone in the garden!" 

Her tone might be light, but it falls on Anastasia's chest like a ton of bricks, and her playful smile doesn't last as she realizes her joke doesn't pull out the laughter expected.

In a just few seconds and drops of cold sweat trickling down Anastasia's back, the warm hallway of the house is turning into a suffocating interrogation room.

"Well... I haven't killed anyone..." she mumbles, yet it is loud enough for her mom to widen her eyes, the same way Anastasia's own eyes grow larger with shock.