Don't Open That Door - GoM 1

13

The fair spread all over the town square across the street from the City Hall. Along the different lanes, stalls displayed all kinds of things: food, clothes, tools, seeds, crafted object from Bold Peak, Concrete and Burlington. The whole town would visit the fair over the weekend, ignoring the cold. On Saturday, people would gather for the parade, to then spend the afternoon walking up and down the fair, waiting for November's early nightfall and the Anniversary fireworks show.

Claire and Kat strolled down a lane with stalls offering young shots, plants and seeds, and found Bass asking about gardening tools for his father. The girl noticed the smile he traded with Kat. Yup, chemistry in the making. She swallowed a smirk that Alex would've labeled as 'despicable'.

"Wanna join us?" she asked Bass. "We're on our way to meet Al and Tom."

"Sure! Wait, Tom...?"

Samuel looked up at him to clarify seriously: "My dad."

Bass nodded, as grave as the boy. "Oh. Of course."

When they reached the food lane, they saw the small crowd pressing around Sophie Malher's bakery stall. She and three more girls tried to deal with the orders raining on them, but she saw Claire and waved at her.

"Come try the chocolate cake, Claire!"

"Coming!"

Sophie handed them a paper dish with small sample portions. They were about to grab them when Samuel cried, "That's Dad!"

"And Al!" cried Felicity.

Before they could do anything, both children sprinted away together and disappeared among the people. Claire gave the cake back to Sophie as Kat and Bass hurried after the children.

"We're coming back for this," said Claire, and followed the other two.

"Sam! Bunny!" Kat called out, looking around in growing fear. But the children were nowhere to be seen.

"There!"

Bass pointed out and they saw Felicity show up higher than the heads around her, laughing. A moment later, Alex and Tom came out of the crowd. She carried the little girl on her shoulders and he held Samuel by the hand.

They headed all together to the end of the lane and took the first free table they found. It wasn't easy, but they managed to have their early lunch while greeting neighbors every few seconds. After lunch, they decided to seek shelter from the cold in the bookstore and wait there for the parade to start.

While they walked across the park toward Main Street, Claire found herself paying an unusual attention to the faces around them. The heartburn was back, and she knew it had nothing to do with what she'd eaten. Her stomach twitched and she realized she was looking for somebody, even if she didn't know who or why.

Alex traded places with Tom and asked her niece about the Hilux. But Claire never got to answer, her throat suddenly squeezed when she got a glimpse of a pale, dark-haired girl in the crowd. Claire knew it couldn't be her, but the name escaped her lips anyway.

"Lila...?"

A firm hand on her shoulder startled her back to reality, and she found Alex's questioning frown. Claire shook her head with a forced smile and pointed ahead. On the street opposite to the City Hall, the Hilux was parked right outside the police station, behind the cruisers and Graham's Jeep. She hadn't noticed she'd slowed down, and Alex with her. They pressed on together to catch up with the others, almost at the corner of Main Street.

As they walked toward the bookstore, Claire understood that the upsetting anxiety she'd felt wasn't vague anymore. It was very defined: something inside of her couldn't wait to see Sophie's cousin Lila Malher, whose last known legal address for the last four month had been-and should still be-the cemetery behind Father Jason's church.