Chapter 2

It’s been a week and Jason hasn’t talked to me since that night in the hallway. I don’t know why… I wanted to talk to him. But was afraid he regretted that night. “Mia, will you go dust Mr. Turner’s room” Lucy asked me quickly. As I walked out the kitchen door, Cassidy and her friends were coming through the door. They gave me a dirty look and went upstairs.

When I walked into Mr. Turner’s room there were pictures of Sarah everywhere. But only one of them stood out to me. There was one, a wedding picture. Next to Sarah, there was one lady in the background. But who was it? But there was another that caught my eye. It was on the night stand. The step-mother (Julie) and Mr. Turner (Rodger) were standing together in a garden. But there was a girl standing next to Julie. Right than I realized Julie was the women in the background of Sarah’s wedding. But who is the one next to Julie? “It’s Cindy, her sister” I turned around quickly and found Mr. Turner behind me with his hands in his pockets. He has a suit coat on and expensive pants. His brown hair was jelled down. “Cindy is Julie’s older sister” he said again. Looking back at the picture I could see that they are related. “Sorry sir, I was just cleaning” I said going back to cleaning. “No, its fine, I also find myself staring at all these pictures” he responded. I turned around to clean some more. But I had a question that just hit me. Once I turned around, Mr. Turner was gone.

After I finished cleaning Mr. Turner’s room, I went downstairs back to the kitchen. “Who’s Alex?” Lucy asked me, holding up an envelope. I grabbed it quickly in excitement. “She was my friend” Lucy looked at me confused, and then I remembered. I never told her that I had a friend. Only because I was afraid she was going to leave and I wouldn’t know where she went. And if she left, I wouldn’t be able to write to her. So there was no point in telling them about her if she was going to leave. “Alex was my best friend. We would stay up late talking and having fun. She was like the sister I never had” I said holding the letter in my hand.

As I read the letter Jason walked into the kitchen. I paid no attention to him because I was far in to my letter from Alex. As Jason was getting his food, he kept glancing up at me. But I had to ignore him; I wanted to finish reading my letter. I finally put it back in the envelope, but when I started walking and looked up. Jason and I almost ran into each other. I looked up to him and gave him a small smile. But he didn’t smile back. There was something depressing in his eyes. Right than I knew I hurt him. And I wanted to make it better.

* * *

He looked into her eyes and he just knew she felt bad. He wanted to smile back but it just wouldn’t come. Something was wrong with him. He was feeling different.

When he walked out the door he saw Mia go into his Dad’s work office. What was she doing in there? Jason thought. He had to find out so he followed her. Once he got in there, the curtains were closed so it was dark. He hid in the dark so Mia wouldn’t see him. All she was doing was dusting. But after a minute or two she started going through his desk looking at papers and pictures. As if she was looking for evidence of something. “What are you doing?” he asked quickly. She jumped and dropped some papers. “Fine, the truth is…I know you’re lying about what happened to you and your mom. Lucy won’t tell me the real story” she said quickly. He just stood there; he didn’t know what to say to her. “I want to know who this is” she said holding up a wedding picture of his Dad and Julie with Julie’s sister with them. “That’s Aunt Cindy” he said quickly trying not to give too much information. “Can you tell me more about her?” she asked again. “I don’t know much. The last time I saw her was at the wedding and that was 3 years ago. Cassidy says she doesn’t know much either. She said Julie and Cindy hardly ever talked, probably about once every 3-4 years.” Mia looked shocked from what he told her. “What are you trying to do anyways?” I asked quickly. She took a deep breath and sat down in a chair. “I don’t know! My curiosity is getting the worst of me. Lucy told me that someone purposely killed Sarah. And from that face your making it seems like you didn’t know about this” she said standing up slowly. “I want to help” he said stepping forward. “If someone really did kill my mother on purpose than I want to find out. And if someone did it, than they must have been close and even closer now.” Jason told her. Mia stared back at him for a while. “Okay, but I haven’t got a lot on it” she said as he followed her out of the office and up the stairs. They walked into her room; she pulled a huge envelope out from under her bed. “Now, Cindy, since we don’t know much about her and no one ever sees her. She is out of the picture” Mia said pulling out a picture of Cindy and dropping it on a glass table. “Then there is your step-mother, she use to be a good friend of your Dad’s. And her daughter, Cassidy, who seems a little…unusual. The third person is, well your Dad” she said pulling more pictures out of everyone. “My Dad? My Dad loved Sarah with all his heart! I doubt he killed her” Jason said quickly. “I know, but you never know, so far now we still one of your killers.” Mia answered back. They sat in her room talking about it for only ten minutes because Mia had to get back to work.

* * *

It’s been about a year now and I think I’ve already gotten use to this place. “Sorry Lucy, I picked up my book and couldn’t put it down” I said walking into the kitchen and grabbing the apron in Lucy’s hand. Lucy just laughed and said; “They need help with cooking” I was so excited! I love to cook especially in a kitchen like this! Chef Brandon called me over to the stove, where he was. I pulled my hair back and into a hat. “Okay Mia, do you know how to make Cordon Bleu?” he asked. “I’ve heard of it but never made it” I said. Brandon grabbed some uncooked chicken and showed me how to cut it. Hours went by as we took our time making dinner. We kept laughing and playing around with the food. Right then, I felt like I was part of a family. Everyone was so kind to me and made me laugh. They treated me like I was part of their family. We all stopped smiling and laughing when Julie came walking in with tears down her face. She grabbed a cup of milk and some cookies, then left. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked Brandon, “Her Dad died a month ago and she still can’t get over it” he replied as he poured some soup in a bowl. “Here, it’s about time you have something to eat.” I grabbed the bowl and sat down by me. We all had different kinds of foods. My soup was amazing! “It’s potato cheese soup with a hint of onions in it” Brandon explained. It was amazing, so much better than the soup at the shelter. Brandon was having a twice baked potato. The others had a medium rare steak (just a small one), Chicken Alfrado, orange chicken and Teriyaki Chicken.

“Okay Mia, I need your help with the laundry” Lucy said walking into the kitchen and tasting all the different foods. I stood up and followed her to the laundry room. “Did you hear that the family is throwing a ball sort of thing” Lucy asked. I shook my head and hoped that Jason wouldn’t make me go. “Oh, well every two years Mr. Turner throws a little dancing party/ball kind of thing. People all over come to this ball. And that means they will need your help in the kitchen. And help our here cleaning. It is on Saturday, so in 6 days” Lucy continued. This must be a very fancy party if so many people from all around would come to it.

Four days went by and everyone was running around trying to get ready for the big night. “Mia we need help in the ball room!” Lucy called. I was running all ever. In the kitchen, to the ballroom, doing the laundry, getting bossed around by Cassidy, couldn’t I get a break? Apparently I couldn’t. I’ve been here for about a year now and I can tell this was a huge thing to the Turner family. “I need you to get a mop. We need to clean this floor so it looks nice in 2 days.” Lucy said pointing to the ballroom floor. The room was huge! It would take me all day. But I had to do it anyways.

After about an hour of so I mopping, the ballroom doors opened and Jason walked in. “Long time no see” he said. It was true though, with this dance coming up I had barely anytime to see him or find out anything on Sarah. “Yeah, sorry, I’ve been so busy with this dance thing coming up.” I replied. “Don’t worry about it. Are you going to be at it?” he asked quickly. I paused for a moment then said, “I have to…they need my help in the kitchen that night” Jason looked disappointed. “You know it’s a Masquerade ball” he said. “Now, that I didn’t know. So if I went no one would really know it was me” I said. Jason laughed and stepped closer. “Except me…I’d know those eyes anywhere” I didn’t know what to say to that. I didn’t want to get involved with him that much. So I just told him I had to get back to work.

Finally, I finished, after two and a half hours. It took so long. I was sick of cleaning now. I wanted to cook in the kitchen more. And I actually got to. Lucy put me in there to help cook and taste the food with Jason and Rodger. Chef Brandon started explaining what food he has planned to make for the party. He had samples of each on for us to try. The food was amazing and I loved it a ton. But I knew this was the only time I would get to try them. I wouldn’t be able to go to the ball. Only if I got a dress and a mask; but I had no money. Everyone could tell Mia wanted to go to the ball. They could see it in her eyes and how cheerful she was this whole week.

The day finally came. And everyone was rushing around cleaning and cooking. People were coming in putting tables and chairs in the ballroom. Cassidy was yelling for someone to get her laundry. Lucy told me to go get everyone’s laundry. I walked upstairs and got Mr. Turner’s first. As I walked past Jason’s room, his door swung open and he pulled me in quickly that I dropped all the clothes on his floor. “What are you doing?” I asked quickly about to pick up all the clothes but he pulled me away from them and towards his bed. He told me to stay there and clothes my eyes. A few minutes later he told me to open them. In his hands he held a box which had the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. There were ruffles below the waist, leaves and flowers were sewed in. there was a lighter color of fabric under the ruffles. The sleeves were just a little ruffled and barely went below the shoulders. It was a big puffy dress but beautiful. White gloves were lying under the dress when I picked it up and held it next to me. the mask was white with gold lines spinning all around it. Leave like fabric was hooked to the top and sticking up above the mask about an inch. White and gold strings were curled and hanging off the mask about 6 inches. “Oh my! Jason this is so beautiful!” I said. I couldn’t stop smiling, it was so pretty. “It’s for you to wear to the party” he said smiling back. “I can’t take this, Jason” I said putting the dress back in the box. “Yes you can. And you will. I’ll put it in your room for you to change into tonight.” He said smiling and taking the box from me. He helped pick up the clothes I dropped and take them downstairs.