Chapter #41Girls of a Suspicious Sort by: rugal b.   You should wholly dismiss whatever it is that Ursula wants to talk to you about and probably under normal circumstances you would. However, there's a nagging voice in the back of your mind that you can't quite shake; two of them, actually. She seems so serious and while I don't know if I believe all of her fortune telling, the fact she's so put off is in itself kind of off putting, says one of them.
There's something odd about this girl and it's not just the interest in divination, reasons the other. She seemed to be studying me earlier. She was studying me again just now. It could be nothing but something about her is making me uncomfortable.
Though the logic is a bit different, the conclusion that each voice reasons is the same: meet up with her. So you resolve to do that, first by sending a text to Alyssa telling her that something came up and you'll have to meet up with her a little later than six. She answers that it's fine and tells you to text her about wen you think you'll be ready so she can do what she needs to do.
With that done, you turn your attention back to Ursula. "Alyssa business, again," you say. "Anyway, you wanted to hang out?"
"Yeah," she nods, "after work. Maybe at my house? It won't take long but it's related to the reading. I just need to clarify some things, that's all."
"That's fine. But I don't actually know where you live."
"Right, yeah, of course you don't. You've never been out to my house," she mutters. She then takes out her own phone and taps away and soon your phone chimes and shows a new message. You look at it to see an address; Ursula's address you figure.
"Anyway, my lunch is just about done," Ursula says as she pushes herself out of her seat. To your surprise, you actually see a bit of excitement showing on her face. "I've never encountered anything like this before," she says quietly. "Don't you think it's thrilling?"
"I don't really know what to think," you state truthfully.
"Neither do I," she replies as she looks at you with wide eyes. "I'm kind of shaking just thinking about it. What happened to cause this? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't anxious to try and get some answers. Anyway, I'll see you in a bit."
* * * * *
With nothing better to do, you head back to Maddy's house for the first time since you've put on her mask. It's a nice though unpretentious house not terribly far from Eastman itself.
The inside is decorated as any other house with nothing that really stands out. Maddy's mother is in the living room, a book in hand and the television on providing background noise and you both acknowledge each other though not much is said. She doesn't even ask you where you were though since Maddy typically doesn't get in trouble and does well in school, she's given a relatively large degree of freedom.
Maddy's room is as low key as the rest of the house, save the large collection of makeup and, as you see in the closet, clothes.
You lay down on the bed and look at your phone to see what's going on. There's the typical wrap ups and fallouts from the parties and gatherings last night but one message on x2z, directed towards you, catches your attention.
austins playing w/ fire & his ass is bout to get roasted lmao
It's a message from Audrey Cervantes, one of Maddy's friends and a member of the tennis team. You message her back asking what happened now.
the dumbass brought rose out to the warehouse last night. me & courtney & lorraine were there n saw the two of them.
You're going to tell Alyx? you ask.
no way! itll get back to her anyway n i'm not boutta get in the middle of it lol
It's probably the one bit of drama and gossip that Maddy reliably provides to Alyssa and the rest of the group. Due to the fact that Maddy herself was a member of the tennis team until stepping back this year to focus more on her studies and getting into a good college, she's managed to maintain her ties to the team.
Thus she's well aware of the current kerfuffle taking place on the team as Rose Willingham, a sophomore and the team's prodigy, has recently started a relationship with Austin Olsen, a member of the soccer team. The issue comes from the fact that Austin is a horn dog who likes to use his position to score more than just goals and seems to have no desire for a long term, committed relationship. So Alyx English, the captain of the girls on the team, is worried that the whole thing will be a distraction for Rose and send her into depression when he inevitably breaks up.
Not helping matters is that Rose's older brother and Austin's teammate, Ryan, is Alyx's boyfriend and neither Ryan or Alyx like him all that much. So if, or when, either of them find out that Austin is taking her to a place like the Warehouse then that's a powder keg waiting to blow up.
If you're going to be Maddy and part of this group she's in, it's something you'll have to deal with.
* * * * *
You spend the rest of the afternoon alternating between your phone and studying for a statistics test coming up next week when you finally get a message from Ursula a little after six stating that she's off of work. You put your study materials away, say goodbye to Maddy's parents (as her dad has now joined her mom in the living room) and drive out to the address you were given earlier.
It's out in Acheson, to your surprise, and you wonder why someone who lives there would be going to Eastman. Probably her family just moved across town after she started high school and didn't find it necessary or prudent to have their daughter switch schools. It's a nice looking house that you pull up to and when Ursula invites you in and takes you to her room, you're surprised at how normal it all is. Maybe because of her interests, you were expecting something weirder.
You engage in some small talk before Ursula, out of nowhere, drops a bomb on you.
"You're Maddy Caron, aren't you?"
You're taken aback by that and give her an odd look. "Yeah?" you say in a tone that indicates you're weirded out by the question. "Who else would I be?"
"I don't know. Maybe you are Maddy, I mean you look like her and everything, but maybe you're... I don't know. Someone who's not Maddy," she mutters.
"Ursula, please hold on. You're kind of weirding me out," you say.
"Sorry, I'm weirding myself out," she admits. "I want to believe you're Maddy, but..."
You kind of want to think she's crazy and maybe she is but if she's thinking you're not who you appear to be... "Okay, well, why would you believe I'm not?" you ask.
"The horoscope I did earlier for you that I said felt like it was for someone else, you remember right?" she answers. "Well, I noticed something afterwards. Your aura, Maddy. It was different."
"My, uh, what?" you ask dumbfounded.
"It's," she falters. "It's something that people have like, I don't know, a scent or a fingerprint. It's theirs and unique to them. I use it in my divination, like the path I follow to navigate inside the forest of fate. Oh god, that sounds lame but... but I don't know how else to explain it."
"So what are you saying?" you ask.
"I know your aura, Maddy, because I see you often enough," she states. "But the aura I was seeing today... I don't think it belonged to you and I don't know why."
* * * * *
The whole conversation continues for about fifteen minutes and though Ursula doesn't ever outright accuse you of being an impostor -- she seems to always hedge her bets and stay away from declarative statements you notice -- but you come away knowing that she probably does not think you're who you're appearing as though she'd have no clue why, how or who you'd be. For the time being, she at least says that maybe she just doesn't know as much as she thought she did as she's "still learning".
You send a message to Alyssa afterwards telling her that you're done. She says she'll be over at the meeting place -- the Donna Motor Courts -- and asks that you come out of the mask. From Maddy's mask, you know the reputation of the Donna so you know what this likely means so you make a quick stop at Walmart to buy some cheap clothes -- a plain t-shirt, sweatpants and flip-flops -- and head to the Donna. In a far parking space, you slip into the backseat of the car, strip out of the clothes and remove the mask.
By the time you come to, Alyssa's texted you a room number and you head there. When you knock on the door, it's opened and you're greeted by the glorious site of Alyssa clad only on her underwear. She says nothing, simply smiles slyly, grabs your arm and pulls you in. She's strong and practically flings you on the bed but before she can do anything you stop her and explain what's happened today with Ursula.
"Mmm, yeah, that's definitely odd but baby, I don't care about that right now," she says as she sits splayed across your lap and strokes your face. "I mean, she's just eccentric so we can ignore her but I guess if you're worried we can look at people other than the group for our coven. Spread it out, you know?"
"What if we made her into a member of the coven?" you ask.
"Maybe. Hell, we can always talk to her. She's into magic, maybe she'd want to join us," she says. "But we can discuss this afterwards Will, she says as she moves, pushes you down onto your back and straddles you. "We have more important business right now."  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author