High School Mysteries

Six Years Later

1 September 2023

Little Hilton Town

It was a bright late summer morning, and the air was filled with the scent of freshly moaned grass and the sound of birds singing. Throughout the neighbourhood, there were small activities as people were waking up to get ready for a new day. Mary was sleeping soundly in her bed with not a worry bothering her; she was lost in beautiful dreams that had fairies and magical creatures in them. It was so good to escape from reality, which was both horrible and heart-breaking.

Suddenly, the alarm on her clock turned on and woke her up; it was the most irritating sound in the world. Mary opened her eyes and turned the alarm off. She lied in bed, trying to remember the dream she was having; it was a nice one. She wished that if only her life was as good as her dreams, she would be the happiest person alive.

She got out of bed and took a moment to look around her room. There was her dressing table, which she hardly ever used for anything other than combing her hair; she never really learned to take care of her beauty as she was always so focused on her studies. Then there was her wardrobe, filled with nothing other than old clothes she had been wearing for over a year.

Other than that, the room was filled with things she liked, like the book shelf that covered a whole wall filled with books on different subjects, manga, and novels.

The ceiling was decorated with glowing stars, and her bedside wall board was covered with college fliers, study schedules, and all the fliers of up-coming book and art events. The walls of the room were decorated with paintings she had painted herself, and there was the old study table that used to be her father's, which he had moved to her room a few months after her dad’s death.

Her father was a writer, and most of the books in her room belonged to him, so she moved them to her room so that her mother wouldn’t sell them in the garage sale.

What Marry liked the most about her study table was the hidden compartment built in one of the drawers, which her father had only revealed to her and whose contents she treasured with her life, but that is a story for another time.

At the moment she had to get ready for school or she would get late. She whet into her bathroom and looked in the mirror. She was a mess. She had strawberry blonde, slightly wavy hair, but it was so unkempt and dry that she hardly used any hair products on her hair except for shampooing it. Her eyes were bright blue with sky blue flecks in them that looked like snowflakes, but they were hidden behind her golden rimmed glasses as she didn’t like wearing contact lenses.

There were dark circles under my eyes. Her skin was cream white, and she had dimples on her cheeks when she smiled, but her face looked so worn and tired that it was no wonder no one paid attention to her. She was a mess, and she didn’t have the time or luxury of using beauty products to take care of her.

She could barely remember when the last time she had smiled was. She tried to smile, but it felt like an effort. She had a grim look about her, as though she were a young girl with the look of an older, mature woman who had faced hardships in life and had grown quite a bit in a short amount of time.

She just focused on getting ready and picking up the brush to brush her teeth, got dressed,

She went out of the house without making any noise careful not to wake her brother and mother up. She gathered all the news papers and put them in the cart behind her bicycle. The neighbourhood was as quite as it could be not a single person was in sight the weather was peaceful. Mary took a deep breath of the morning air “Let’s get to work" she said out load and rode through the town delivery newspapers. Mary enjoyed the ride, the thrilled chase of the morning air filing her nose and the wind rushing through her hair.

As Mary took a turn around the first street, she saw the local milk delivery guy. She had just raised a hand to say “Morning Mike” when a loud car horn sounded from the right and

Ahhh

Mary fell hard on the pavement, bruising her knee and elbow, which sting with pain. Her bike had been hit by a black Mustang that had barely stopped after hitting her.

Mary tried getting up, but she was still in a little shock, and she felt dizzy.

“Are you alright, miss?” came the panicked voice of a boy from the car, along with the sound of a car door closing and his hurried footsteps.

He grabbed Mary by the shoulders and helped her get under the bicycle.

“My knee, ouch, ouch, it hurts," Mary said in pain.

“I am really sorry. Let me help you,” the boy said, helping her sit on the nearest bench.

“My glasses are gone," Mary said, realizing that she had lost her glasses and her vision was slightly foggy.

“Let me get them for you," he said and rushed towards the bicycle, while Mary examined her bruises. Once she was steady, she looked up at the boy who had returned with her glasses.

“Here you go.” He said, handing her the glasses.

"Thanks,” Mary said gratefully, putting the glasses on and looking at the boy's face properly for the first time.

He was taller than Mary. His emerald green eyes had a piercing look in them, and he had jet-back silky hair. His face was pale and slightly pointed, which had an almost bored look on it, but at the moment the smile he was wearing was so charming that Mary was sure he had many girls fall for him right after seeing that if they weren’t already impressed by his handsome features and strong build body. He was. almost the same age as Mary. He was wearing a black and green hoodie and blue jeans, but that was not what Mary was noticing.

“Are you feeling OK? I am sorry about what happened. I am Charles. He tried to introduce himself but was cut by Mary.

“So you are the one who hit me with your car, right?" Mary asked with an angry look. Now that the shock was over, she was scanning the scene of the accident. There was the black mustang standing outside an open garage door and her bicycle; the car had no driver, and the only person present here was this guy.

“Well, yes, but I didn’t do it on purpose. You were looking in the wrong direction, and I did blow the ho---.” He tried to explain defensively but regretted it instantly because Mary was wearing an expression of such fury that only an i***t asking to be murdered would say anymore. Instead, he changed tactics at the speed of light.

“I am extremely sorry. I shouldn’t have been driving so fast. I wasn’t thinking. It was all my fault. I am sorry.” He said all this really fast and looked very flustered.

“Thank you for admitting your mistake, Charles, but I don’t need your apology, so if you don’t mind, I would like to get back to work.” Mary says haughtily and stands up to leave. But Charles blocks her way by saying.

“You can’t go like this.” Surprising Mary, she didn’t understand what he wanted with her.

“Why not?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You are hurt; let me at least give you something to apply to the wound or it will leave a scar.” He said worriedly. Mary wasn’t used to such kindness, and this doubtfulness showed on her face, causing Charles to add, “Please.” Pleadingly withal an innocent smile.

"Ok,” complied Mary, sitting back down on the bench as Charles rushes into the garage and comes back a moment later with a first aid kit.

“Buy the way what are you doing at the Mackenzie House.” Mary asks, noticing for the first time where she was.

The Mackenzie’s had lived in this house for ages. The house was a three-story British old building larger than the rest of the houses on the street with a large garden that looked grim, and so did the building.

They were a highly respected family, but six years ago, due to their daughter Marie's mysterious suicide, the couple had been somewhat isolated. People used to come to pay their respects at first, but soon they started avoiding the family and the house due to the circumstances of their daughters deaths, Mrs. Mackenzie’s mental condition, and Mr. Mackenzie’s cold behavior.

"Oh, I live here; I am new in town. I just moved in with my aunt and uncle.” Replied Charles happily. Sitting down and opening the first aid kit.

“Oh well, welcome to the town, Charles.” Said Mary, formerly, there was no welcoming tune in her voice. Charles noticed this as he applied a bandage to the bruises on her knee.

“Is something wrong? You look like you are not happy with me being here.” Charles asked, perplexed.

"Oh, it’s nothing like that. I was just thinking you might get a cold shoulder from some people due to...“ Mary broke off in midsentence, feeling awkward and struggling to find the right words.

“Due to what?” Charles asked, looking up and urging her.

“Your family’s---” she tried to say awkwardly, but Charles finished the sentence for her. “Tragedy”

“I was going to say reputation.” Mary corrected him with a sober expression.

"Oh, I am not worried about that; it’s not like I had a better reputation in my own home town.” He said while putting bandages on her elbow and suddenly looked wide-eyed as if he hadn’t wanted to say that but blurted it out accidentally.

“What do you mean?" Mary began to ask curiously, but he cut her in mid-sentence.

“Well there you go, all done.” He says loudly, getting up and looking proudly at his handy work with a bright smile. Indicating that he was done talking on this topic.

“Thanks.” Mary says gratefully with a weak smile and goes to her bicycle, and after adjusting all the newspapers, she begins to leave, but Charles one again stops her way and asks, "Hey, would you like to show me around town or get a coffee or something?” Well, he is fast, Mary thought to herself.

“No thanks. I am sure you will find many girls who would want to show you around town.” She says it with a fake smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

She would have said yes a year ago if she was in the same situation. Charles looked cute and was sweet, but after the horrible love prank, she had learned her lesson. She had learned not to trust people so easily.

"Ok, can we at least exchange numbers? I still need to apologize to you for the accident.” He says as earnestly as he can, but Mary replies with a rude “No need, please move out the way.”

Charles steps aside, giving up, and she starts paddling away.

“At least tell me your name.” He asked hopefully as a last try while realizing he forgot to ask earlier.

At hearing this, Mary stops midway and turns to say loudly.

“I almost forgot. Here’s your newspaper.” She throws the newspaper hard, and it hits him straight in the face while she hurriedly paddles away, giggling to herself.

Charles stands there open-mouthed and confused, then shouts out to Mary.

“What’s your name, glasses? Seriously, what’s your name?”

After delivering all the newspapers, Mary goes back to her home for breakfast. Her mind was lost in thought about this weird encounter with the new neighbour.