Part 1
After all the months of anticipation, the numerous Facebook messages, the long wait for school to finish, and of course the long flight, Louisa finally arrived in America.
Her aunt Emma met her at the airport, with an accent that was still very close to her own Scottish one and a hug similar to that of Louisa’s mother. Sam was waiting in the car excitedly. They were born only seven months apart, yet this was only the second time that the cousins had met in person, the first being eight years ago, when they were only nine and seemed pretty similar.
Sam’s Facebook page had shown Louisa that they were no longer quite so similar. The perfect photos of her cousin with shiny blonde hair and a perfect dental smile gave her the impression that she was the stereotypical American cheerleader she had come across in her TV programmes at home. She wondered what Sam had thought of her own Facebook profile, the photo taken on the park bench, where she wore all black, except for her bright pink bracelets that matched the highlights in her dyed black hair. Despite all these differences, the cousins were still dying to meet.
Sam came running out of the car when she seen them approaching. It was getting dark, but still ridiculously hot. The small slim figure came running out of the car, her pretty white dress moving in the breeze as she approached Louisa for a hug.
“Did you bring your drawings?” she asked in her American accent, as they climbed into the backseat of the car, Emma forcing Louisa’s suitcase into the boot. Louisa nodded, patting the large black bag that hung over her shoulder. Inside there was a plastic folder containing all of the drawings that Louisa spent her spare time doing.
It was one of the common interests that the girls had continued to share over the years, that and their love of horror films. When Sam had visited that summer all those years ago, they had stumbled across “A Nightmare on Elm Street” on TV, one night long after they should have been asleep. They had watched, terrified and fascinated. Neither admitted to the other that if they’d been alone they’d have turned it off. They didn’t sleep well at all that night; every creak in the house sent them into a state of hysteria. Yet, the fascination remained. A few nights later, they actively went looking through the channels for another film like it, looking for the thrill in the terror.
It seemed to have created some sort of a bond between the two. Sam had seen some of Louisa’s drawings on Facebook, and insisted she bring them over with her. There was no need for her to bring any art supplies though, she had plenty. She promised to introduce her to her neighbour Alex, who had been her friend even when they were nine. He’d like the drawings.
After arriving at the apartment, phoning her mother to let her know she’d arrived safely and eating Emma’s spaghetti and meatballs, the two girls went to Sam’s room. The large room was painted a cream colour, with pretty posters of puppies and other animals around the walls. Her bedding and most of the accessories in the room were a pale pink colour. Cushions of different sizes and shades of pink covered the top half of the bed, a small brown teddy bear seated in the centre.
On the bedside table, there lay a drawing, done in pencil. It was a Labrador puppy, leaning on the outline of a cushion. The puppy looked complete, shaded lightly in grey pencil with some darker patches around its eyes. Some detail had been done on the large cushion, but it was more detailed at the top than the bottom. Louisa lifted the drawing. Her art teacher would love it. She didn’t encourage Louisa to submit her favourite drawings as coursework. They were “inappropriate”. There was nothing inappropriate about this. A poster lay under the drawing, of the puppy, leaning upon a pile of cushions.
