The House In The Forest

Chapter XIII

Chapter Thirteen

The day had ended without anything happening, he didn't show up on our doorstep or anything. I did have another nightmare, but it was just that girl that wouldn't show her face. She wasn't walking away from me this time, she was just sitting in a chair, refusing to look at me in an unfamiliar room. It was a short dream, and it didn't really tell me anything. I still don't even know who she was.

After school though, after an entire school day of Amber convincing me, we met Giselle after her shift at the coffee shop.

"I know it's asking a lot, but my great grandmother went to class with you!" Amber spoke, pushing the cake pop she had bought towards Giselle, like a sugary offering. "Just meet her once, just once."

"Hattie being a great grandmother is crazy to imagine," Giselle spoke, sipping on the coffee cup. I was a bit surprised that she likes coffee black but if that's what she likes.

"See, she used to tell me all these stories about the Roses of Rubin, and I didn't think about it, but you were in that group right?"  Amber asked, and the mention of those words unnerved me.

Giselle laughed though. "The Roses of Rubin? I didn't think people would still talk about that, Sasha still calls me a rose sometimes though, yeah we were in that group." She smiled, thinking about the past I was sure. "Me, Beatrice, Hattie, Lynnette, and Molly, we had all been in the same class since elementary you see, and we were all athletes who brought home a lot of trophies to the school, so somebody just started using that phrase for us since we were all seen together quite often."

Amber smiled and then had that curious look on her face. "If my grandmother was so close to you two, why did she never tell me what actually happened?"

"I heard none of them ever talked, it's like a safely guarded secret, to protect our honor and maybe the truth too I suppose," Giselle spoke, staring at the cake pop on the table in front of her. "I guess I will meet her."

"You will?" she asked happily.

I glanced at her, but Giselle just smiled. "Yeah, I will, Hattie has always kept my secrets, so what's one more?"

While I wasn't sure about this plan, it's not like I could tell Giselle no. Plus, I was sure if I was in her situation, seeing someone I knew would be comforting. Or, it would have a negative impact. Which I was slightly worried about.

Nonetheless, we found ourselves at a knitting store across town, where a bunch of older ladies were shopping. Some younger ones too I guess, but mainly old ladies. In the back there was a table where the woman who must have been Amber's great grandmother sat, she had to be in her late eighties and yet there she sat. She was knitting something that looked complicated.

"Gram," Amber spoke, sitting down at the table.

The older woman glanced up, staring at the three of us for a moment before glancing back at her hands. "Can I help you and your friends, Dear?"

"Yeah, this is my friend Beatrice," Amber told her. "I thought you might know her, see-"

"I don't know any ghosts Amber, now you go fetch me some more yarn from upstairs, this color," she spoke quickly, showing her the yarn she was holding.

The girl narrowed her eyes confusedly before shrugging. "Of course gram." She obediently left to go do what she was told. Leaving us standing there unsure what to do or say.

Not that we had to worry about it for long. "Well, go on and sit, no reason to stand there like you're lost."

"Yes ma'am," I spoke, pulling out Giselle's chair before sitting down myself.