Finding Alex

Chapter 2

Zoe's house was quiet.

 Her mum was almost always away, with a guy she just met or drunk in a bar down the coast. Zoe didn't have any siblings, so mostly it was just Zoe and Birdie at home. Occasionally Scott and some of their other friends would come over. 

Tonight it was just Zoe and Birdie. 

Zoe was perched on the kitchen counter drinking a tea, her phone in her hand.

It was already dark, and they were waiting for a pizza to be delivered.

"Eric said that Jacob is throwing a party on the weekend," Zoe said disgusted by the thought of Jacob Bacon.

"We should go," Birdie said from her spot on the couch.

"Are you kidding?" Zoe scoffed, "are you forgetting what he did to you this morning? Absolutely not!"

"It could be good, take my mind off of things," Birdie wondered. 

A loud crash of thunder sounded from outside making both girls jump slightly. 

"Weather is shit," Zoe said standing up to close the blinds, she peered into the darkness, convinced she saw something. She shook her head, her mind playing tricks. Another loud crash and the lights flickered. 

Zoe looked at Birdie,

"No scary movies tonight," she warned. 

The dining table was full of textbooks and notepads. They had spent a few hours after school getting ahead of their work. It was after all their final year, grades were important. After a lot of study they had decided to take a well deserved break as they waited for thier dinner. 

"I am proud of you," Zoe said walking over to sit on the couch next to Bridie, "for getting through today."

Birdie grabbed Zoe's hand and squeezed it,

"Proud of us," she corrected.

 Zoe smiled back at her. Thunder crashed again and the lights flickered for a second then cut out completely. There was a loud knock on the door. Zoe and Birdie looked at each other uneasily.

"Crap the lights!" Zoe groaned. 

"It's probably the pizza," Birdie said finally. They walked to the front door together, Zoe grabbing her purse and some cash for the pizza from the hall stand on the way. They opened the door just as a loud crash of thunder sounded, the sky lit up with lightening in a split second Birdie thought she saw him. She thought she saw Alex. Zoe screamed but as the lightening subsided, Birdie saw it was not Alex. But it was someone familiar.

"Pizza?" The boy said offering a cardboard box to them. Zoe removed her hands from her mouth, an attempt to stifle her scream and reached for the box.

"Sorry," Zoe apologised, "the thunder, and then the lights!" She motioned to the dark hallway behind them.

"Did you lose power?" the boy asked. Zoe nodded handing him some cash.

"Where is your fuse box? I could take a look at it for you?" The boy offered.

"Um, sure. I mean if you have time?" Zoe asked, as much as she didn't like the idea of this strange boy entering her house, she hated the idea of being in the dark. The boy nodded and shrugged at the same time and followed Zoe into the house. Birdie shut the door behind them and as she turned, she caught the eyes of the boy.

 Piercing blue. 

Zoe placed the pizza box on the kitchen table and walked to the closet off the side of the kitchen.

"It's in there," she pointed. The boy followed her and opened the closet.

"Do you have a torch?" he asked. She grabbed her phone and used the torch function, shining it in his direction. She turned to Birdie and behind the boys back she mouthed,

"It's him!"

Birdie frowned. Monarch was a small town. Everyone knew mostly everyone; it was odd to walk down the street and not know the people you passed. So who was this person?

"You go to our school, right?" Zoe asked, making conversation. 

"I guess so, just started," the boy said reaching into the fuse box.

"Did you just move here or something?" Zoe asked again.  

"Yeah," the boy said. 

Zoe pursed her lips and nodded, he wasn't much of a talker. The boy fiddled around for a few moments and the lights flickered and turned back on.

"Oh thank god!" Zoe said turning off her torch. 

Birdie looked around the room, relived herself. It's not that she was afraid of the dark, she was afraid of what hid in the dark.

The boy turned around and for the first time Birdie could get a good look at him. He had blonde hair, wavy that sat on top of his head. He looked shabby but in the attractive kind of way.

"Thank you," Zoe said. She wondered how she could repay the boy, "would you like some pizza?" she asked. 

Birdie shot her a confused look, she held up her arms in response.

"Okay," the boy responded. Zoe busied herself getting three plates from the kitchen draw and placing them on the table.

"So you work for Jo's?" Birdie asked, her voice quiet. The boy gestured down to his uniform, a t-shirt with a large Pizza on the front that read 'Jo's Pizza bar'.

"Right," Birdie nodded, 'It's just I haven't seen you there before."

"Do you get pizza a lot?" the boy asked raising his eyebrow.

"No," Birdie answered quickly, "like the normal amount."

"Fair enough," the boy turned and took a seat at the table. Zoe followed sitting down across from him. The only seat left was between Zoe and the boy, at the head of the table. Birdie sighed and made her way to the chair.

"So, my name is Zoe. That is Birdie," Zoe said nodding to Birdie.

"Birdie?" the boy asked a small smile playing on his lips.

"It's actually Bridgette, Birdie is just what people call me," Birdie said as she sat down and grabbed a slice of pizza.

The boy nodded, satisfied with the explanation but did not offer his own name in return. Silence fell across the table once more. Birdie looked at Zoe, she could tell Zoe's brain was ticking, trying to find some conversation starter.

"Where did you move from?" Birdie asked.

"A lot of places," the boy answered, "my parents are researchers, their work takes them a lot of places."

"Their work brough them to Monarch?" Zoe asked raising her eyebrow.

"They grew up here, wanted to move back. Not work related this time."

"So did you move into the new development? Birdie lives there, it's so fancy. Very different from the other houses and streets around," Zoe said gesturing to her own humble home.

"Actually my parents got a really good deal over on Kinsley avenue. A grand old house, apparently the owners couldn't get rid of it," the boy shrugged, he locked eyes with Birdie who swallowed slowly.

Zoe put her pizza down on her plate.

"Oh really?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, moved in this morning."

Zoe looked in Birdie's direction.

The boy wiped his mouth on the serviettes that came with the pizza and stood up.

"Anyway, thanks for the pizza. I best be off, this was my last run and I have to get back and close the shop or Jo will have my head." 

Zoe mumbled a 'no worries' and took his plate to the sink. Birdie walked the boy out, the boy turned to go but not before saying,

"Bye Bridgette, I'll see you tomorrow. At school." He walked off into the darkness and Birdie shut the door behind him, locking it.