Deadly Hallows [Complete]

Chapter 10: Dirty Work

The sign on Sophie's room was a neatly painted piece of wood. It was white, and had delicately painted cherry blossoms around the edges. I wondered if the sign's style was indication of what was to come. Her room could be the color of cherry blossoms, white and pink; simple and pretty. With Mason I had his personality to go off of when I guessed how his room would look, and while I had been wrong, with Sophie I had no inclination to how it could look like. I had only met her once, and even then I didn't speak to her for very long. I left quickly after she saved me, both shocked at how closely we resembled each other, and what had just happened to me.

Another thing I noticed about the sign at closer inspection was that it didn't actually say Sophie. Instead, in neat cursive print, it said Sophia.

Sophia's Room.

I turned my head to look at Mason's profile. "Was that her full name?"

He cracked a smile and shook his head no. "We were on vacation in Seattle visiting some family, and my aunt Dorothy took us to this shop where they made all different sorts of things out of wood and then personalized them. Sophie wanted one, but we didn't have time to have one made, so she grabbed one saying Sophia and we bought it." He smiled wider. "I use to smile every time I saw it, but now I just walk past and pretend it doesn't exist."

"That must be hard."

Mason shrugged. "You know what's harder?"

Finding out that your little sister was murdered and disposed of in the middle of the woods? Thinking about the struggle she went through, or how terrified she was when she realized that she wasn't going to see any of her family or friends again? All of those would be harder, but I didn't say any of those out loud. Instead, I just asked, "What?"

He let out a deep breath of air, and scratched his chin, looking back to Sophie's door. "Going in her room when the last time you were in there she was alive."

I tried to imagine what that felt like, knowing that the last time you where in a place she was alive and well with no inclination of what was to come, but I just couldn't. Thankfully I had never lost any of my close family members. So I didn't know what the loss felt like, and to be honest I didn't ever want to find out judging from the deep mixture of pain and sadness in his eyes I raised an arm and placed my hand on his shoulder. I was trying to be supportive, but I think the action was more awkward than it was comforting because there was still a thick tension between us.

As we stood there staring at the door, Mason afraid to go inside, and me waiting for him to open the door, I wondered how Sophie had left her room. When she had left her house for the last time, she most likely didn't expect to never return. Maybe she had piles of clothes littering the floor that she had thought she would clean up later, and then had never gotten the chance. Or she had just cleaned expecting to make a few new friends and have them over later. That was a depressing thought.

Mason raised his hand to the doorknob, then breathed in and out so hard that I saw his chest rise and fall under his shirt. He looked extremely nervous, as if he was going to walk in and find needles and heroin sitting on her bed. I almost offered to open the door for him, but then he twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.

The room was bright, and looked just like the room of any normal teenage girl. It actually kind of looked like my room. Her color scheme was gray, white, and turquoise, and everything matched it. Her bed was neatly made, and nothing was out of order. Even her desk that sat near her window had everything on top of it organized neatly. There were photos of her friends, much like Mason's room, except her's had more of the family and separate ones with Mason. It was clear that she was closer to the family, and both of them were close to each other.