Chapter Six

"Trice, are...you okay?"

She raised her head to meet the amused faces of her husband and his friends, each holding a biscuit as they looked on at her in awe. Anna was not left out.

Was she hallucinating?

Still breathing hard, she walked briskly to the dinning and poured herself a glass of water to calm her worked up nerves.

"Well you look like you've seen a ghost." Nelly sneered, making Edward give her a quick nudge with his elbow.

"Ouch!"

"I'm fine." She replied, trying really hard not to slur her words."The bandage," Beatrice began, "Definitely not the Thompsons."

"We know." Alex spoke up. "Anna told us everything."

She switched her gaze from her husband to her daughter who sat, looking innocent as ever.

"She mentioned a boy, says he's a friend, or at least that's what he told her." Edward explained.

"Seems like we have more neighbours than we knew."

"Trice, why were you running like that, did the Thompsons say anything to you?" Nelly threw at her.

She thought for a bit.

"No they didn't,..they didn't say anything."

Later that day, Alex took Edward in his car to get the things left at their previous house, which was situated at the nether reaches of the nearest city, leaving Beatrice and Nelly to get the new rooms ready for use.

"Hey."

Beatrice turned.

"Could you pass me the duster?"

"Sure, here." Beatrice handed her the object.

"Thanks, the people who lived here sure did leave a lot of stuff, huh?"

"You can say that again."

The duo worked in silence, one changing the sheets and curtains, the other feigning dusting whilst seeking a chance to speak her thoughts.

"Need help with the curtains?" Nelly asked.

"I'm not daft you know, I can tell something is on your mind." Beatrice replied sharply.

"Yeah, of course you can." Nelly muttered while silently cursing herself for being too obvious. "Well, I just wanted to say sorry for acting up all cranky this afternoon, probably that time of the month."

"Probably not." Beatrice stated. "Don't worry, I'm no stranger to these things, I know exactly what's going on in that head of yours."