Looking for Wildflowers

Chapter 12

The following day, the couple was awoken by the sound of clanging dishes. Taylor hated being woken up and already knew what was going on, despite Riley being confused and sleepy.

Angry, she tossed the blankets aside and headed to the kitchen, where her mother was clearly trying to find something. Pots and pans covered the counters and she was holding two of them, looking for a place to put them.

"Oh, good, you're awake. Don't you have a tea kettle?"

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Trying to make tea but I can't find your-"

"It's five in the morning."

"Yeah, but I just-"

"Go to bed, mom. I'll find it for you in the morning." Taylor complained as her mother laid the pans down and placed her hands on her hips.

"Now you listen here, I may be at your place, but I'm still your mother. You will show me respect." Taylor had to hold back from rolling her eyes.

"You woke us both up looking for something that could have waited a couple of hours. Please, just wait." Taylor calmed her tone down and tried to be reasonable.

"I think I'm close to finding it, and once I do, you two love birds can go back to sleep."

"Oh, my god." Taylor lost her temper as she grabbed a step stool and reached on top of the fridge, pulling out an old tea kettle. "There." She shoved it toward her mom, who took it as if nothing was wrong. "Now please, be quiet." Taylor stormed off back to the bedroom, pushing past Riley who just stood there watching, pissed and half asleep.

"Taylor-" Riley started as he shut the bedroom door.

"Don't." Taylor threw her hand up as she stormed back to bed and got under the covers. "I'll talk to her in the morning."

Riley just stayed silent as he adjusted his pillow and the two fell back asleep.

"Mom, you can't just start throwing pans around at five in the morning." Taylor argued. They had been discussing the event for a while now, making no progress on either side.

"I just wanted a cup of tea. I didn't know where the kettle was, so I looked for it."

"That's when you wait for me or Riley to wake up and you ask."

"But I didn't want to wait and I sure as hell didn't want to disturb you two over a cup of tea when I can just look for it myself."

"Well, you disturbed us anyway with all the clanging." Taylor snapped as she gave up and walked outside to see what Riley was doing.

She noticed he was digging holes and planting seeds.

"What are you doing?" She walked over and stood next to him as he patted the ground down.

"I'm planting you some bushes and trees."

"But we didn't have any seeds."

"I went into the woods and found some blueberries, blackberries, and a walnut tree. I figured we could plant them and then we'd be growing our own. I'll get more seeds tomorrow to finish it up and maybe look into buying cattle."

"Oh, that's nice." Taylor responded, slipping her hands into the pocket of her dress.

"Listen, Taylor, about last night-"

"I already talked to her."

"Well, it better not happen again. You know I didn't want her to stay here to begin with, I'm not going to tolerate her waking us up at all hours looking for stuff." Riley was gentle with his words but Taylor knew he meant what he was saying.

"I'll do the best I can, but at least she won't be here long. I'm going to my grandma today to talk to her about it, actually. Do you want to come?"

"Of course I do. I don't want you making a trip like that by yourself." Riley pushed himself up and they both headed back into the house. Once they were ready, Taylor packed them a light lunch and they headed toward the door.

"I can't let you go." Lindsey jumped in front of them, sending a wave of heat through Riley.

"You don't get to choose." He pushed past her and the two made their way outside.

"You know, Maria told me she didn't want any visitors."

"It's just a well check more than anything, Mom. We'll be back." They mounted their horse and began the trip. It wasn't too far from where Taylor lived, maybe a three-hour walk, at most.

Once they arrived at the little cabin in a small field, they unmounted the horse and took a look around.

“That’s weird. My grandmother loves gardening, especially with the weather is nice like it is today.”

“Maybe she’s just not feeling well.” Riley answered. The place was quiet and nothing dared to move and disturb it.

They made their way up the old, creaky stairs that lead to a small porch that had a typical porch swing on it. Taylor opened the screen door and knocked on the door that was covered in peeling paint. They waited, but there was no answer.

Taylor knocked again. “Grandma, it’s me! Taylor!” she shouted as she knocked. They were still left in silence. Taylor turned around, letting the screen door slam shut as she quickly went down the stairs.

"What are you doing?" Riley asked and then he noticed Taylor move a rock in the garden and pick up a spare key. "Whoa, wait. Maybe she just doesn't want company." Riley tried to reason with Taylor. They knew she was home because her horse was still in the stable and the porch light was on, shining up the now-darkening area.

"Riley, my grandma would never ignore me. There's got to be something wrong." Taylor pushed his to the side and opened the door, both slowly stepping in. "Grandma!" Taylor called. She was answered with silence.

"It sure is quiet in here." Riley noted. The fireplace stayed unlit, all the lights were off, and everything was quiet. Too quiet. "Maybe we're wrong, and she's not home." Riley shrugged.

Taylor completely ignored him and continued into the house, checking the bedroom and bathroom, both were empty and untouched. The bed was perfectly made and the bathroom looked like no one had used it in a while.

"What the f**k is that smell, though? I thought Grandma's house was supposed to be welcoming. This is just terrible, Taylor." Even she couldn't deny that there was a strong smell of death, but she brushed it off as a raccoon in the attic or something similar.

They made their way back into the living room and took a look around.

"Something's not right." Taylor said as she stared into the fireplace. "I'm going to go check the kitchen, and see if she left a note or something." As she walked through the dining room and entered the kitchen, she felt a strong pang of dread in her stomach.

Once she walked through the doorway, she noticed a few things were off. Firstly, there was no dessert anywhere. Her grandmother always kept cake, cookies, or pie ready at all times.

Next, she noticed that a knife from her knife set was missing. Checking the sink and the dishwasher, she couldn't find it anywhere. It wasn't like her grandmother to just lay things around and lose them, especially something like a kitchen knife.

She didn't see a note or anything, but something else caught her attention.

On the refrigerator door handle, an almost impossible-to-see line of red lined the top and where the screw was.

Taylor felt like she had been punched in the gut but tried to keep herself calm.

"Riley," She called out, trying to keep her voice steady. "We need to go. I need to talk to my mom." Her voice was filled with panic but Riley didn't ask any questions. As they were mounting the horse to head back, Taylor told Riley what she had seen.

"Sounds like your mother has some explaining to do." Riley simply stated as she kicked the horse off and they rushed back home.