HOW MANY DAYS LEFT

CHAPTER 3

Charissa woke up to screaming.

Not the concerning kind.

The annoying kind.

The kind that suggested somebody was having entirely too much fun before nine in the morning.

She groaned and shoved a pillow over her head.

The screaming continued.

Then came running little footsteps, then more screaming.

Then what sounded suspiciously like somebody crashing into a wall.

"What in the name of peace and quiet..." Charissa muttered.

A second later her bedroom door burst open.

A tiny human launched herself onto the bed.

Charissa nearly died.

"What the—"

"GOOD MORNING!"

Burgundy.

Of course.

The twelve-year-old menace grinned down at her.

"Apparently it would seem people always like barging into my room, I need to put a lock" Charissa mumbled.

Her braids were half-done.

One sock was pink and the other was nowhere to be found.

Chaos in human form was what she was.

"Get off me."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

Charissa stared at the ceiling.

"This is why some animals eat their young."

Burgundy gasped dramatically.

"You don't even have children."

"And yet somehow I'm suffering."

Breakfast wasn't much better.

Burgundy spent most of it talking and yelling and whatevering.

Nobody knew where she got her energy from.

Certainly not from normal human sources.

At one point she told a ten-minute story about a squirrel.

Nobody had asked.

Nobody stopped her.

Then the topic changed to talking about a lizard she drew. The sketches were immature and all over the place. You could barely tell it was a lizard too.

Aunt Leah seemed immune.

Charissa was not.

By the time breakfast ended, Charissa escaped outside for fresh air before her cousin could start another speech on wildlife and nature. All the things she definitely wasn't interested in.

Bellmere was bright today.

The rain from earlier in the week had disappeared completely.

Sunlight reflected off windows.

The ocean breeze drifted through the streets carrying a semi salted air.

People waved.

Still weird though.

Very weird.

Charissa wandered toward town with no particular destination in mind.

Which was how she ended up near the waterfront.

The sea stretched endlessly before her.

Blue. Calm. Beautiful. Waves she wished would take her away somewhere.

She hated how much she liked it.

"You're staring again."

Charissa jumped.

Then immediately regretted it because the voice was familiar.

Eli sat on the seawall a few feet away.

One leg hanging over the edge.

A book balanced on his knee.

He looked entirely too amused.

"Oh my God."

His eyebrow lifted.

"What?"

"You need to stop doing that."

"Existing?"

"Appearing."

A smile tugged briefly at the corner of his mouth.

"I was here first."

That was annoyingly fair.

Charissa rolled her eyes.

"Still creepy."

"Noted."

Silence settled briefly between them.

The ocean stretched endlessly ahead, waves crashing softly against the rocks below as wind tossed her dark hair amock.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Charissa glanced sideways at him.

Up close, he looked different from what she'd remembered.

His hair was brown, slightly messy from the wind, with faint blond streaks catching the sunlight whenever he moved. Not enough to be obvious. Just enough to notice.

And his eyes...those were strange.

Not blue. Not green. And not a normal shade of brown either.

A light onyx brown that seemed darker one second and lighter the next depending on how the sunlight touched them.

The kind of eyes people looked at twice without understanding why.

He caught her staring.

Again.

Charissa immediately looked away.

How wonderful.

Now she looked weird.

"You do that a lot."

"What?"

"Stare."

"I don't."

"You do."

"I was observing."

Eli snorted softly.

"That's just a fancier word for staring."

Charissa rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say, Eli."

The words slipped out before she thought about them.

Eli blinked.

Then frowned slightly.

"...How do you know my name?"

Good question.

Charissa hadn't actually planned that far.

She shrugged.

"People do."

"What people?"

"People people."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I'm coming up with at the moment."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"You asked about me."

"No."

"You did."

"I absolutely didn't."

"You definitely did."

Charissa looked out toward the ocean.

"I think you're being very dramatic right now."

"You know my name."

"So do half the people in Bellmere."

That seemed to annoy him even more.

Which, for reasons she couldn't explain, was kind of funny.

"Fine," he muttered.

"Fine."

A pause.

Then—

"You're still creepy."

"I'm sitting down."

"Exactly."

For a second, Eli just stared at her.

Then he laughed.

A real laugh this time.

Not the small amused huff she'd heard before.

And it completely changed his face.

He looked younger somehow.

Lighter.

Less like the quiet, tired boy she'd seen in the bookstore.

The sound caught her off guard.

"So," he said after a moment, closing his book. "You're Aunt Leah's niece."

Charissa blinked.

"Oh, so you know who I am?"

"People do."

She groaned immediately.

"You are so annoying."

"So I've been told."

"By who?"

"People people."

Charissa actually laughed.

Unfortunately for her, that seemed to make him smile.

Which felt unfair.

Because now she couldn't decide whether she disliked him or not.

"CHARISSA!"

She winced.

Oh no.

Not here.

Not now.

Burgundy appeared out of nowhere.

Again.

Like a tiny emotional support demon. she wished she could exorcise.

She sprinted toward them carrying an ice cream bigger than her face.

"THERE YOU ARE."

Charissa sighed.

"I've been gone two hours."

"I got worried."

"You forgot I existed yesterday."

"That's different."

Burgundy finally noticed Eli.

Immediately.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Oh."

Charissa didn't like that tone.

"What?"

The girl pointed dramatically.

"You're Hoodie Boy."

Silence.

Pure silence.

Then Charissa started laughing.

Eli looked offended.

"Hoodie Boy?"

"You always wear hoodies."

"That's not my name."

"It is now."

Burgundy nodded firmly.

Decision made.

Apparently.

For a second Charissa expected Eli to get annoyed.

Instead he laughed.

Actually laughed. Again.

And Charissa found herself smiling before she could stop it.

The three of them ended up talking longer than she expected.

Mostly because Burgundy asked questions nobody else would dare ask.

Questions like:

"Why do you read so much?"

"Do you have friends?"

"Why do you look sad all the time?"

Charissa nearly threw herself into the ocean.

"Burgundy!"

"What?"

"You can't just ask people that."

"Why not?"

Eli looked surprisingly entertained.

"It's okay."

"No, it's not."

"It kind of is."

Burgundy pointed at him.

"See? Hoodie Boy understands me."

"Hoodie Boy does not understand you."

"That's because you're old."

"I'm nineteen."

"Ancient."

Eli laughed so hard he nearly dropped his book.

And for a second—

Just a second—

Charissa noticed something.

The laugh ended abruptly.

Like someone had switched it off.

His hand tightened briefly against the cover of the book.

A flicker of discomfort crossed his face.

Gone almost immediately.

So quickly she almost convinced herself she'd imagined it.

Almost.

The rest of the afternoon passed quicker than expected.

When she finally headed home with Burgundy, the sun was already beginning to sink lower into the sky.

Orange light painted the streets.

People sat outside cafés. Some others walking in and out of bookstores or tiny restraurants.

Bellmere felt warm.

Comfortable.

Almost familiar.

And that seemed very dangerous. To her.

Because familiarity was exactly how places tricked you into staying.

As they walked, Burgundy skipped beside her.

Then suddenly asked:

"Do you like him?"

Charissa nearly choked and tripped at the same time.

"What?"

"Eli."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I've known him for approximately twenty minutes."

"That's not a no."

"Burgundy."

The girl grinned.

Charissa considered leaving her in the ocean and this time the thought was actually winning.

That night, after dinner, she found herself sitting by the bedroom window.

The town glittered softly below.

Her phone buzzed.

MAYA: How's exile?

CHARISSA: The child is trying to destroy me.

MAYA: Good.

CHARISSA: I also met Hoodie Boy again.

The typing bubble appeared instantly.

Of course it did.

MAYA: OH?

CHARISSA: Don't start.

MAYA: Too late.

Charissa smiled despite herself.

Then looked back toward the window.

Toward Bellmere.

Toward the town she wasn't really supposed to like.

And for the first time since arriving—

She realized she wasn't counting the days until she left anymore.

The thought should've bothered her.

Instead, she found herself wondering whether she'd see Eli again tomorrow.

And that bothered her much more.