Chapter Three: Discovery

By the time they were finally home it was late afternoon, Charlie changed into his bathers and rushed out into the water. Amber Lynn pulled out her Mac and uploaded her photos onto it. The photo of Charlie sitting on the park bench popped up onto screen, her stomach was flooded with butterflies, quickly she minimised it.

 

         Charlie waded out into the ocean; the feeling of the water against his body was calming. After he was waist deep, he duck dived into the water and swam a couple of metres further out. Floating on his back he went over the days events. The way Amber Lynn looked when she was concentrating behind her camera lens. A smile spread across his face. Closing his eyes, he lay back and let the water wash over him. All of a sudden he could feel something approaching him. He opened his eyes slightly and saw Amber Lynn in a spotty bikini making her way towards him. Suddenly she faded away. Again? Really? That was twice today, they were getting closer. He stood up and shook his head, water flung from his hair. He had started to drift further and further from shore. He could just make out the image of Amber Lynn sitting on the front porch. Wading back to shore, he waved,

“Join me?” he asked

“Why not,” she shrugged.

Amber Lynn came towards him, still wearing her dress, she slid out of it, wearing bathers with white polka dots she waded out towards him. She rushed passed him, turned around and splashed water all over him.

“I’ll get you back for that” he laughed, chasing after her.

The two friends mucked around in the water until it began to grow darker.

 

         Charlie’s stomach was growling by the time they finally went in. Standing just out of the water, Amber Lynn wrung out her long hair and twisted it back up into a bun. Charlie offered her his towel and she dried herself off and slipped back into her dress. She followed him back up to the shack. When they walked inside, Eloise was standing at the stove,

“I made a pasta bake” she said, holding the casserole dish full of a delicious looking meal out towards them.

 

After the meal, both of them cleaned up the dishes for Aunt Eloise. By the time they were finished, Amber Lynn had soap suds throughout her hair and Charlie’s t-shirt was soaked. Amber Lynn’s camera was on the kitchen table, skilfully, with one hand, she grabbed it and took a snapshot of the two of them after the washing up disaster. A wide grin had spread across Charlie’s face, it was making Amber Lynn’s skin tingle and the familiar feeling washed over her again. She was sure that she had just had de ja vu again. But that was impossible, she’d only known him for a couple of days.

“You alright? You’ve gone pale again” Charlie stood up straight and looked at her.

“Yeah, I’m just light-headed again,” She brushed it off and started walking away, “I think I’ll have a shower,”

“Oh okay,” Charlie said quietly.

Amber Lynn made her way upstairs slowly. There it was again, it washed over her and made her heart beat excellerate, she was almost gasping for air, she had to sit down. The sent of lavender was strong in the air, it swept all around her, played with her hair and wound itself in circles around her face. Then just as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared and she was left breathless. Hurrying up the stairs she raced towards her bed. Sitting on her bed, still open, was her mac. She opened a word document and typed away, writing out all her experiences of the day. Once she was done, she saved it and hid it away in a folder that hopefully none of her friends would find.

 

The water washed over her face, washing away her fear. The faint scent of lavender was still clinging to the edges of her hair. Filling her palms full of shampoo, she attempted to rid the smell from her hair. Soon her hair smelled of frangipani’s and she could breathe easily again. What was happening to her? She couldn’t handle the smell anymore, she had to find out what was wrong.

 

Charlie stood, leaning on the kitchen table, watching as Amber Lynn made her way upstairs, she stopped abruptly, halfway up the stairs. Her face drained itself of all colour, not that there was all that much colour in her to begin with. His heart made a little pang for her. No. This couldn’t happen. Never. He had to stop thinking of her in this way. He needed to clear his mind again; it was too late for him to go swimming. That’s when he remembered, he walked up stairs and made his way over to the window. Climbing out over the ledge, he took in the view, it was just after sunset, the sky was still a little pink. He could see a sailing boat making it’s way back to shore on the horizon. The air felt peaceful and tranquil. Amber Lynn’s footsteps were light on the carpet, he could hear her go to her bag and unzip it, the sound of her rummaging through the clothing inside made Charlie panic a little. She probably had no idea that he was up here, he had to make himself heard. He scraped his sneaker along the side of the iron roof. All of a sudden he heard Amber Lynn go quiet.

“You’re on the roof. Aren’t you?” she asked, holding her yet to be put on pyjama top against her chest.

“Yep” came Charlie’s reply from the roof

“Just give me a sec, okay,” she replied, hastily throwing her top on.

Pulling on a pair of track pants and her sneakers, she walked over to the window and hoisted herself up, Charlie giving her a hand here and there. Once she was seated next to him she took in the fading view.

 

         There it was again. The smell of lavender grew stronger and stronger; it made the hairs on Amber Lynn’s arms stand on end. Charlie too could sense the aroma. He began to go a little pale as Amber Lynn shivered.

“You okay?” he whispered

Amber Lynn jammed her eyes shut and nodded quickly.

“You look cold,” he added

“Yeah, I’m just cold, that’s all.” Amber Lynn forced her eyes open

“Here,” Charlie removed his hoodie and handed it to her.

She pulled it gracefully over her head and hugged herself tightly, “Thanks.”

Charlie nodded in reply. They sat out there together for another few minutes when they heard a loud bang from downstairs. Charlie rushed to his feet and climbed back through the window, followed closely by Amber Lynn. He hastily made his way downstairs to find the bookshelf tipped over and books strewn everywhere.

“Aunt Eloise?” Amber Lynn called out to an empty room

“In here dear,” came a reply from the other end of the house.

Eloise shuffled her way towards the sound of the commotion.

“What happened here?” she asked as soon as she entered the room.

“We were hoping you could tell us.” Said Charlie, looking up at her.

“Oh dear,” muttered Aunt Eloise.

“Don’t worry Aunt Eloise, we’ll clean it up.” Added Amber Lynn.

“Okay, be careful,” she nodded, walking out of the room.

 

Charlie heaved the bookcase back up into a standing position, as Amber Lynn grabbed an armful of books and started placing them back onto the shelf. At the bottom of the pile was a photo album that had fallen open on impact. Carefully Amber Lynn turned it face up and took it over to the couch.

“Hey Charlie, look at this,” she said turning back to the first page.

Charlie came over and sat next to her on the couch. The first picture in the book showed a smiling twenty something woman who was the spitting image of a slightly older Amber Lynn.

“Oh my god,” she whispered breathlessly, “who is that?”

The writing next to it said ‘Eloise, my darling wife.’

“Oh wow, you look exactly the same,” Charlie commented.

“Yeah,” she replied distractedly.

Amber Lynn flipped the page over, the next photo showed a smiling couple on their wedding day, ‘Clarice and Harry’s Wedding Day’ said the description.

Grandma was so beautiful, she thought to herself

“She was, wasn’t she,” Charlie agreed.

“Did I say that out loud?” Amber Lynn questioned

Oh no, he thought, now I can read thoughts too.

What did he just say? Amber Lynn thought

You can hear me? Charlie asked her, knowing now that she could somehow hear his thoughts.

Yes… She returned.

‘This is just weird’. Charlie shook his head in disbelief.

Suddenly the smell of lavender completely filled the room, as if a small whirlwind had began, books fluttered open and a box tipped over revealing letters that had to be decades old. The smell was now stifling and Amber Lynn paled. Her body began to weaken, she could feel herself going feint. Charlie quickly stretched out his arms and caught her as she fell. He carried her limp body out of the room, out of the house and onto the shore. Placing her gently on the sand he started to gently shake her.

“Amber Lynn?” he cooed worriedly.

Slowly she began to stir and her eyes flickered open.

“What happened?” she whispered faintly.

“You fainted.” He told her, giving her a hand to stand up.

“I have to ask you something,” she said, the question had been niggling at the back of her mind all afternoon, ‘Who’s Evie? Is she your girlfriend or something?”

Charlie looked at her a moment and then burst out laughing.

“What?” Amber Lynn replied embarrassedly.

“She’s my little sister” he giggled.

“Oh,” she mumbled. I thought she’d be some stunning girl with long legs and perfect skin she thought to herself.

“Unlikely, she begged me to stay and play with her all summer instead of come here. So there wouldn’t even be a chance for me to have a stunning girlfriend to hang out with and if I did I wouldn’t be here…” he said with a huge grin.