A Loud Thud and a Splash of Blood [Wattys 2017]

Chapter 13

We left the park and returned home. I was silent the entire time. Risa paid no attention to me.

She parked the car on our driveway then got out. I got out as well and sluggishly walked to the door. Butterflies flew around in my stomach. I worried that my mom would be awake. I never got up early in the mornings, so me coming home at 8:45 AM fully dressed, might raise suspicion.

Risa went to the garage door. She motioned to the keypad. I punched in the code then hit entered. The door rose up with the sound of a thousand elephants. Yeah, that definitely wouldn't wake Mom.

Before entering the house, I grabbed a hold of Risa's shoulder. She turned to look at me.

"What?" She asked, removing my hand from her arm.

"Do we have a cover story?" I asked her. I didn't look her in the eyes. Instead I stared up at the door to the house. The tall white door installed fear into my heart. If Risa didn't have a cover story, I was screwed.

"Library," She said, "Isn't your cover story for the research that you were writing a book?" The night before, when Risa decided that she would join me, I told her about the document I had made and the research I had done. She had seemed cool with it, apparently she had researched something similar before. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Ms. Pigvin wasn't her first murder.

"Yeah," I said. She turned her back to me, then twisted the doorknob. The door opened and my mother ran to the opening.

"Risa, Dillon!" She exclaimed. She wore her raggedy bathrobe and her hair was pulled up in a bun. Obviously, she had just gotten dressed. The spatula in her hand shouted that she was in the process of making breakfast.

"Hi Mom," Risa said. She pushed past our mother and into the house, I followed her lead.

"Where in god's name were you?" She exclaimed, furrowing her brow at me.

"Library," Risa said. She walked to the kitchen table and plopped on down. "What're you cooking?" She asked.

"Scrambled eggs for two," She said. She then directed her gaze to me. "Michael called, he wants to know if you wanted to do something later, he said you weren't answering your phone,"Mom said, she held one hand on her hip and stirred the eggs with the other.

"Oh okay," I said.

"Why weren't you answering your phone?" She asked me. I turned to Risa, hoping she would throw me a lifesaver. She didn't do so much as look in my direction.

"My phone died," I said.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. My phone in my pocket began to violently vibrate. There goes that excuse.

Mom raised an eyebrow at me. She then turned to Risa.

I left the room without another word, I put the phone to my ear and answered it as I walked up the stairs. I heard my mother say something to my sister, I prayed to God that Risa wouldn't sell me out. She quite the tattler.

"Hello?" I asked, answering the phone call.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Let me know what y'all think!