Chapter One

People were moving around the Brien’s living room wearing various different black outfits on a Saturday afternoon, the mood was congested and could be seen on their faces. Some women even complimented with a black scarf around their head or fedoras, they were there to mourn the death of one of the daughters in the Brien Family and anyone who walked in would immediately be engulfed by the grief in the air.

The 18-year old Harley tried to cry but the tears weren’t just coming. Her eyes were dry, but hint that she had cried enough. She watched as the people who came in walked towards her parents to offer their condolences as she sat in one corner of the living room wearing a short black corset dress. She played nervously with her fingers and exhaled shakily with each breath she took. Was her sister really dead? She didn’t want to believe

She knew the body she saw was her sister’s, it was Danica’s. But somehow she was still waiting on a miracle. Harley’s parents were religious and so was she, but they didn’t do well to attend church every Sunday. Harley’s parents were rich. They were scientists. They had collaborated with many scientific minds and were well known. They were presently working on a project in the town. Harley was never the bratty type who was boastful about her parent’s wealth and neither was her late sister Danica.

They were pretty much alike, almost like twins and it was almost impossible for anyone to tell them apart due to their same personality and hair color. But one thing did distinguish them and it was that Harley had as an 1Q of 205 which mean she has never failed a class, Danica had good grades too but she had issues in some subjects and she was the one who always attends annual camp trips not Harley and apparently that last one she went for was her last and any other student at the camp.

It broke the hearts of her family when their daughter was brought back home laying lifeless in a body bag. Her throat was gone. It was slashed so deep that it was hanging by the little skin and bone. Her eyes were out of their sockets. It was a terrible sight and was definitely a horrible death for her.

The sheriff did state earlier during the church program that they weren’t going to rest till they had caught the culprit but I doubted.  Do they even know what they are up against? No and neither did anyone who lived in that town. Whatever did that wasn’t a person but it’s definitely something they weren’t ready for.

Harley finally got up and walked into the kitchen to get a soda, she stopped halfway when she noticed her parents having a conversation and it didn’t seem like they were getting along.

“Our daughter just died Grey, the least you could do is be here tonight with the rest of your family her mom fired as she was almost on the verge of tears. Her parents have been having issues before Danica’s death and since the news of her death it’s been worse.

Her mom has been on her dad’s throat like he knew something about Danica’s death that nobody knows.  “You need to understand Joan and lately you haven’t been very understanding” He gritted as he grabbed her by the arm and Harley flinched at the sight of the aggressive situation. Her dad has never grabbed her mom like that before, she knew they argue but it was mostly yelling. It never got physical till now.

“Get your hands off me! You can’t even take some time to mourn your own daughter, you just want to run back to Haynes and finish off what you and that crazy Bernard think is a new era. But let me warn you, if anything happens to Harley I will burn down Haynes technologies and anyone in it myself” her mom threatened

“Then you better be in it while it burns because we started this together and we must…” Grey stopped half way as he noticed Harley walking soberly into the kitchen

“Mom, dad..Anything wrong?” she asked as she tilted her head slowly to see her mom who apparently was trying to hide her face for some reason

“No sweetie, I was just telling your mom I have something important to catch up to so I must leave now” he kissed her mom on her forehead and walked towards her

“But dad you need to be here, for us and for Danica” she tried to get him to stop, Grey was a scientist but also a dad and he never fully committed to staying home for long with his family, he spent so much time in the lab and it’s almost like they never got to see him at all.

“I know sweetie but daddy needs to work and it’s the work daddy does that brings money home and paid for this funeral service. Just know I love you and Danica knew I loved her too” he rubbed her shoulders as she stared at him dead in the eye, she didn’t know who she was looking at but it was definitely not her dad. He had lost every ounce of compassion in him and she knew something was wrong, either he was hiding the fact that he was in pain or he wasn’t actually feeling anything at all

“Bye sweetie” he gave her a quick kiss on her forehead and walked out of the kitchen, she exhaled as he exited and turned to face her mom who was leaning by the counter and backing her.

She moved slightly towards her mother who seemed to be having a hard time, maybe even harder than Harley but she definitely didn’t look at peace at all. She seemed tired and all the colors had drained from her face, she almost looked as pale as a vampire who was just waking from a century of slumber.

“Mom, are you okay?” Harley asked with what was left of her cracked voice, it was almost gone. She had screamed at the sight of the horrific view of her sister and she had wept bitterly in her pillows.

Her mom inhaled sharply but refused to face her, instead she kept her face straight and stared directly at the wall. “Remember what happened when we first tried to move from los Angeles to California? And Danica didn’t want to go” she asked

“She hid the paperwork of the house for months” she chuckled softly

“And when the day to finally move came, she busted all the tyres of the truck” she giggled under her breath  “she didn’t like it here at all, maybe she knew something would happen or she knew this place wasn’t meant for her. i-I should have..Maybe if we didn’t leave she’d still be alive” her mom’s voice began to quiver and faced the other way to avoid breaking down in front of Harley but she couldn’t help it.