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Chapter Nine ~ Carol's Curiosities

The air outside was cold and windy. I walked quickly, trying to get all thoughts of the book and the murders out of my head. I was hoping Carol would be able to distract me somehow. Even though I was desperately trying to forget them, the thoughts kept racing through my mind.

After about a 15 minute walk, I arrived at the shop. I pushed open the rusted door and the bell above rang its usual tune.

As I quickly entered the shop, Carol greeted me with "The heart of a shrimp is located in its head!" I do always wonder what goes on in Carol's head.
"That's lovely Carol," I said unenthusiastically. I really wasn't in the mood for this today.

"Awful what happened to those two girls, isn't it," Carol said as she types something on the ancient computer. She must have been able to see that I wasn't in a good mood today.

"Do you think the murders are connected?" she asked, looking up at me.
"I guess. It's too much of a coincidence for them not to have been."

Carol paused. "What do you mean by that? They're just two murders that supposedly happened a few days after each other."

I froze. Carol didn't know about the book. To the average person, the murders wouldn't seem like a coincidence.

"Oh nothing," I said quickly "It's just so weird that they all knew each other and they lived so close together." I was really hoping Carol didn't suspect anything.

After what felt like a long wait Carol replied with "I Guess so". I was so relieved.

Carol then disappeared behind the bookshelf's muttering to herself "Tragic it is, tragic."

***

Just as I had started to become distracted by stacking books and sorting through piles of flyers, I heard the old bell ring and realised we had a customer. I maneuvered through the piles of books and scattered pieces of paper on the floor and made my way towards the counter.

It was Logan Wilson. I had liked him for a long time, he used to be in my class at school and I'd always thought we got along well. But he was with another girl. This girl was tall, blonde and walked around like she was better than everyone else. She looked like a typical mean girl, someone who would make your life misery.

"Oh, um hey Skye," Logan said. "I didn't realise you worked here."
I looked around awkwardly "Yes, I've been working here for the summer."
"Oh, that's cool."

He could obviously tell I was looking at the blonde girl with him. "This is Scarlett Williams, my girlfriend."

I was shocked. He had a girlfriend? When did that happen? I stared at Scarlett.

"Hi," she said in an incredibly fake voice "I'm Scarlett, Logan's girlfriend". She was obviously just trying to rub it in.

"Yes," I said in a cold voice. "He literally just said that". She looked disgusted by my comment. But do I care? No.

"Is there something you need?" I asked, probably looking and sounding fed up.

"Um, no. I think we'll just be leaving" Logan said, as he started to turn for the door. "See you later," he said quickly.

As they were leaving I walked back to my seat amongst the piles of books and paper. There wasn't time to be thinking about them. I had work to do.

***

I finished working at about 7pm. By this time Carol had already left, so I needed to lock up. I finished stacking the last of the books and locked up the cashier. After grabbing my coat, I pushed open the door and locked it behind me.

The sun was beginning to set and so the sky was a beautiful mix of oranges and reds. I decided to sit down on a park bench and just watch the sky. It had been a long, hard day and I just needed time to relax and clear my head.

By 7:30 the sky became dark and I decided it was time to be heading home. I quickly stopped at M&S to pick up a macaroni cheese to have for dinner.

By the time I got home, I decided I wasn't hungry and so I just put the macaroni cheese in the freezer and lay down on my bed. My head was aching and I just needed to shut my eyes for a few minutes.

The next thing I knew it was morning.