Braxtonburg

Chapter Six

Chapter Six:

Tuesday September 8th 1938

Blaire and I stayed at Hannah's house for another few hours. We planned out our outing for tomorrow after school. Tonight, we would all tell our parents that we were assigned a project for school that required us to go to the City Hall. I would tell my parents that it was for geography, and that my task for the project was to compare how much Braxtonburg had changed over the course of the last few decades. We would meet in the school parking lot after school and walk to the City Hall and look through the newspaper archives from the early twentieth century. We were hoping to find information on Hannah's grandmother and discover the secret of her past.

After we had everything planned and we were all clear on what was to happen, Blaire and I thanked Hannah and her grandmother for their hospitality. We then stepped out into the cool September evening air. It was dusk. We walked down the street.

"Do you really think it's right to snoop in Willow's business? I mean, it sounded fun at the time, but I feel kind of guilty now." Blaire sighed.

"Now that you mention it, it doesn't exactly feel right, but we're all curious. And besides, how bad could it be? It's not like she'll find out." I told her.

"Still, I know why I'm interested and I know why Hannah's interested, but why are you interested? I've known you for a long time and you usually stay out of other people's business." Blaire asked.

I looked her right in the eye, recalling how Willow clammed up earlier that evening.

"There's something going on here, Blaire. Something about the way Willow said those things, the way she clammed up, there was something about it that put me on edge. I can't put my finger on it, but I think that there's more to her than it seems." I told her in a serious tone.

"Are you sure you're not overthinking this? You have a tendency to do that sometimes." Blaire asked.

"I'm positive. I know that something's wrong, and tomorrow we're going to find out what it is." I said, determined.

We walked for a few minutes and we found ourselves back at the school. Blaire and I lived pretty close to each other, but we didn't live on the same street.

"Okay, are you clear on what's happening tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yeah, I got it." She replied with a nod.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, Blaire." I replied.

"Bye." She said as she waved and turned around, heading home.

I walked in the direction of my house, retracing the route I took to school. I walked up the familiar street and retraced my route. I made it home after a few more minutes. I walked in through the door.

"Hey Max, how was your friend's house?" my mom asked from the kitchen.

"It was fun, Hannah seems pretty nice." I said casually.

My mom swung around the corner of the kitchen, leaning out to me. I kicked myself. I had told my mom I was going to a friend's house (I left out the fact that it was a girl) specifically to avoid this conversation.

"A girl? Is she pretty?" She asked in the typical excited mother voice.

"Mom!" I said harshly.

"All right, all right, sorry. Anyway, how was school?" She asked.

"It was good. Speaking of which, I have an assignment due. I have to go to the City Hall to find some newspaper archives and pictures and things like that." I told her.