Then there was silence after so much talking, awkward elevator music began to play from the radio, and clearly, everyone was way too exhausted to comment on it. I leaned my head against the window and watched the tall oak trees pass by in the distance.
When we arrived at the cabin there was already someone waiting for us there, a middle-aged man with pale skin and jade-green eyes. He had a pocket watch and was wearing an old brown trench coat. He looked like a character straight out of Alice In Wonderland. Geneviève rushed out of the car to give him a hug and he chuckled.
"It's been a long time ma fille, you're all grown up now." The man beamed and I could've sworn he had tears of joy in his age-old eyes.
"Maman and I haven't been since I was a girl, it's so nice to see you again tonton Claude." Geneviève smiled, she seemed so at home already.
"Are these the friends of yours you told me about?" He asked,
"Ah yes how rude of me, these are my friends Keomi, Merilla, River, Armani, and Fabian, they'll be staying with me this weekend." She introduced and a part of me felt strange that she'd said I was her friend.Was I?
We all said our pleasantries before Monsieur Claude handed the keys for the log cabin to Gene and wished us all a happy holiday away. River and Fabian began to load all of our luggage inside all by themselves and we couldn't help but find it quite amusing.
"Aww look at our strong men." Geneviève cheered as Fabian lunged her three suitcases in,
"Always taking such good care of us," Mer added and River flipped her off as we laughed at the irony.
The cottage was placed low on the lake like a child in the elements trying to keep warm from the winter chill. Its sturdy walls were made from the finest oak and although it was old and clearly wasn't as enchanting as in its prime days, it was still ever welcoming and I still couldn't believe I was staying there. I made my way over to the front porch and leaned against the log pillar, staring out at the lake in the distance.
I thought about how my family and I had rarely gone on vacations growing up, it was an expense we simply couldn't spare. My parents never believed in wasting their money on fleeting travels anyway and whenever I brought it up I'd be almost immediately dismissed or told I was ungrateful. That I should see it as a privilege that we'd managed to escape the fate of our brothers and sisters back home in Nairobi- not that I'd ever seen living in Nairobi as anything less than going home. But it was clear to me that what I saw as a safe haven, they’d seen as a prison.
I wrapped my arms around myself as the autumn breeze caught me off, guard.
"Get inside." I heard Rivers's voice say from behind me, he was leaning against the tall wooden door. "It's cold outside."
"You're not my dad River, you can't tell me what to do." I retaliated.
"Oh but Armani, I don’t need to be your father to tell you what to do?" River taunted and I decided it was best not to fight him on this one and walk past him to go inside, I could feel the flush in my cheeks as it began to spread.
River watched carefully as I went by, his gaze never tearing off of me and making me feel aware of my every move. He did that more often than I'd realised, watching me. I made my way into the cosy-looking living room, it was petit and had a taxidermy moose head pinned up on the wall. River cringed at the sight of it.
"It won't resurrect and eat you." I joked and he rolled his eyes playfully.
"Taxidermy is gross." Gene scowled poking at its antler,
"Some of the locals consider it art." Fabian contradicted and everyone looked at him like he was out of his mind,
"It's the furthest thing on the planet from art." River scoffed,
"Yeah it's animal cruelty, people need to learn to let the dead be dead." Gene countered.
But I had a strange feeling that that sentence carried a hidden meaning.
Chapter 11
Little Truths
KEOMIFOUNDahalf-usedjar of hot chocolate in one of the kitchen cabinets and put a kettle on the stove, everyone else was playing some old Swiss board game Geneviève claimed she used to play as a kid with her cousins when their parents weren’t around. The objective of the game was to get your partner to tell the truth, it was called l'interrogatoire, or interrogation in English. If you managed to break your partner you got a point and the person with the most points at the end was the winner.
"I'll go first, River you're with me," Geneviève announced and Merilla nudged my shoulder knowingly,
"Armani you're my partner in crime," Fabian suggested and I gave him a high five,
Just then Keomi came into the living room with a tray with that held white mugs of steaming hot chocolate. Placing it at the centre of the coffee table for everyone to get some, River hesitated.
"It's vegan, I think," Keomi assured him and he took the mug sceptically, but he could tell Keomi wouldn't sit down unless he at least took a sip.
"Come on Kennedy it won't kill you." Fabian chided and River took a small sip of it and Keomi smiled, it warmed my heart to know that he did that just to make her happy.
