CHAPTER 3

Chapter 3

The new neighbours

DANIELLE

At the end of the day, everything is okay, now that we have our bedrooms, while I am hungry and considering that in the pantry there is only milk and the cereals for the breakfast, we opt for the pizza.

Also if we make it very often, I want to say that we eat the cereals for dinner.

“PIZZAAAAA!!!” Jay screams like he won something, but he is like that, he gets excited for nothing.

He orders the two maxi pizza stuffed to no end, and he is able to flirt with the girl on the phone.

“Five minutes? Oh, you are a treasure. I will come by. Maybe we will have a drink.” he sneers, and he winks.

With calm, he places on the sofa, dragging me. Oh, how much I love these moments. All together as a true family.

Jay’s arm holds me in an infinite hug. “Yes, honey. We will see you. Thanks for your kindness.” and he hangs up.

I look at him, admired. How can he be regardless of everything without problems? How can he tolerate everything? How can he tolerate me?

“Will you eat the pizza, right?” I whisper, joining his forehead with my temple.

“You need a good and hot shower.” I say.

These are my first words from months, but they are well-spent. He pouts and with a jump, he takes the cushion, hitting me.

“Insolent young. However, it’s better that you remember the summer courses at school. You will achieve great advances, considering the change and the absence. Now that you are better, I will try to find some jobs. Maybe I will pop into the pub that we frequented” he replies.

As if they are useful to fill the gap of those were before.

“I love you Jay.” I say, crouching down in his harms.

I feel that he is sniggering, I feel that he is happy for my change. From now, I want that my life is more easy.

“Are you fine?” he whispers between my hair.

I limit to nod. More than fine, I’m okay.

“Everybody scoots, a little scoot down. The sofa isn’t only yours.” Mark interferes "Fortunately the college is closed for the summer. I had enough of exams" he murmurs low. I look at him and I catch him yawning, immediately after, he winks at me, and he stretches out to take the remote control to turn on the television.

The doorbell rings and it interrupts our false harmony.

“Is the pizza just here? Wow! Not at all, ‘Pizza Express’.” Jackson grumbles, amazed.

He is hungry, his grumbling belly confirms it, and he can’t wait to eat. He stands up, he opens the door, and he is taken back when he sees three people in front of him, instead of the errand boy. He turns towards us, frowning, only for a few seconds. He looks at Mark, and he slightly nods before to look at me. His breathing is strangely rapid. Also, the one of Mark.

He doesn’t bear my look and he turns towards the people, which rang the doorbell. Why did they have this reaction?

Mark stands up, and he goes towards the bookcase, seizing the book that he placed when we arrived.

I take the opportunity of appearing. I am able to see a middle-aged man, beautiful, distinguished, clean-cut, in a suit, with the light amber skin tone, attractive brown eyes and black hair, but slightly greying, he isn’t English for sure, but he comes from a region of the Mediterranean or thereabouts. By his side, there is a blond woman, a coiffed ‘bowl’ haircut, bright sky-blue eyes, dressed with a navy blue jogging suit but elegant in any case. Her skin tone is light rosy. Typically English, I can say. There is also a little girl which is similar to the father. Same eyes, same black hair and same skin. She fashionably wears a blue-and-white-striped dress, navy style.

As soon as I look at her, a chill goes down my back. A flash happens before my eyes, making me lose the sight. Why? I turn up my nose and I wink, hoping to recover immediately the sight.

“Hi, we are the Breenlys, your neighbours. We welcome you on behalf of the entire neighbourhood in our district. Considering that you just moved, we have taken the famous lasagne of my wife. By the way, my name is Andreas, she is my loved wife Lisa, and she is Linda. Our son is missing, he isn’t with us at the moment.” the distinguished man says, standing at the door of the house. His smile is dazzling and… scary.

“Who knows!” Mark whispers, making me smile lightly.

It seems that we have just entered into one of those religious communities. Or in a district as ‘Desperate Housewives’ where everybody knows everything, but nobody minds his own business.

They are the perfect copy of the perfect family, so happy to make everybody envious, and disgusting for someone. For example, me.

My eyes stare the little girl. She looks familiar. I think I have already seen her before. But, where? She realizes that I’m looking at her, and she imitates me. Her eyes stare my eyes, and she smiles with affection. I don’t understand, why is she so familiar to me? Why don’t I remember her? Why can’t I look away? Why am I so attracted by her person?

“Mum, there are the neighbours. And they are terribly candy, they give us diabetes only to see them, but they have a pan of hot lasagne, and I’m hungry. Very hungry. What do I do?” Jackson says with a disappointed voice, but willing to eat that lasagne.

Everybody is quite embarrassed for his words, but neither Mark nor me, we move to stop him. We are very amused to see him appearing ridiculous.

Mum quickly runs to the door to stop the destructive hurry caused by Jackson’s hunger, and she pushes him away.

“The pleasure is all ours. We are sorry, but we are waiting the pizza. In any case, if you don’t mind the disorder, and you want to come in, please. In this way, we know each other better.” mum says while she is trying to push away the one meter and ninety of muscle of her son. A scene makes more funny by Mark’s comments.

The only adult person of the house has just invited the winners of the competition 'The best family of the year' to come in. Damn, they can be serial killers, and they can eat their victims after killing them, cooking them and serving them to new neighbours, unaware of their hobbies, in the form of lasagne. In any case, I will not eat that lasagne.

The woman is the first to enter and mum immediately embraces her. The girl joins the mother, but she doesn’t expose herself for an embrace, she limits to the handshake. The man moves some steps, trying to reach the wife, but he inexplicably stops next to Jay. He stares at me and he closes the jaw. My brother slightly looks down, and he nods before continuing towards his wife.

The little, which calls Linda if I remember well, sits on the armchair near the sofa.

She only makes questions and questions, as if she is curious to know everything about us. Jay answers because I don’t want. She doesn’t stop to talk us, but I am too busy trying to remember her and I don’t listen her.

“I’m glad that you are 17 like me, and that we will attend the same classroom” she says. What? Did he tell her also this?

“She will turn 17 on July” Jay reveals “Instead, your birthday is in September, if I understand well”.

I don’t even look at her, I keep my eyes down not to attract her attention. I can result an unsociable person, but I don’t care.

“The oldest usually don’t get to know the freshers, and not even with the newcomers. Unless there are tall, blond and curvy girls, and more importantly, if they are a cheerleader or if they do something memorable.” Jay answers with an amused voice, I don’t know about what question.

I ear that she is offering to take me to the school every single day when the lessons will start. But I don’t answer at her, Jackson does it on behalf of me, and thinking to do me a favour, he accepts with a lot of manners.

With the corner of the eye, I see the man, Linda’s father, which is staring me. He is up between the two women, which are talking about something, and I bet that he doesn’t even know. I turn to better look at him. His black eyes are on me, and his look is too serious and threatening. What does he want from me? Why is he looking at me in this way?

His look hypnotizes me.

What I have heard between a silence and the next one, it is that the man, Andreas Breenly, is a famous and esteemed chief of the big hospital in Birmingham. Nothing less than the Queen Elizabeth.

The wife Lisa is the prosecutor of the town instead. All things pass on her eyes, and they must have her approval. In other words, he misses nothing.

So, it is partially explained our presence in that town. So I believe. And everything matches with my theory.

They are serial killers, and they have chosen their next victims, making them come near at them.

It’s explained the reason of the gigantic house.

I don’t know these people, but the last thing I want is to be with them and be accepted by them it's the most remote of my problems.

“What do you do with a long-sleeved T-shirt in the middle of the summer?” Linda suddenly asks me, I start and I look at her. PANIC!

“Nothing" I snap, terrified "I hate the short sleeves and the tank tops” I answer to her, throwing a terrified look to Jay.

I pull even more the edges of the sleeves, to grip them in the fists. I feel ill at ease.

“Ah, I believed that you were hiding something, I don’t know, like a baby bump.” she laughs, breathing a sigh of relief, and sitting down well on the sofa.

“Don’t worry, it was only to attract your attention”

I look at her, perplexed.

But, what the devil?

“Danielle pregnant? Don’t make me laugh. She doesn’t even know how some men’s parts are, imagine if someone has the courage or, the decency to get her pregnant. It’s more likely that an asteroid hits us.” Mark says, starting to laugh.

To his claim, we get caught. Jay looks him, incredulous. Mark, from laughing, has preferred to abandon the sofa.

She is no more interested to ask questions about my obsessions to use the long sleeves. It was enough to have the confirmation that I’m not pregnant. Whose then? I don’t even know if I have never had a boyfriend, no one told me about that.

The doorbell repeatedly rings, interrupting the different discussions.

“Pizzaaaaa!!! At last” Jackson screams once again.

“Don’t scream it, maybe they are other neighbours.” Mark softly answers, appearing from the kitchen.

The girl smiles for Jackson’s exclamation, without hearing Mark’s comment.

Jay goes to open, and he discovers with great pleasure that there is the pizza guy.

Hurrah! We eat, assuming the neighbours will leave.

I hate to eat with people that I don’t know. I’m afraid to be judged also about this.

“We were delighted to know you, I’m happy that our paths crossed in some way, someone with the school and someone with the work. I hope that you will accept a dinner invitation at our house one of these Saturdays.” Andreas says while he goes towards the door, but, before to go out and close the door, he turns back to stare at me. He smiles as he is proud of something. The look is sweet this time, almost fatherly. I don’t understand him.

“It was nice knowing you” he repeats.

My mother separates our eyes, which closes the door before that the man could go down the mat. When she finally closes the door, everybody whispers, and I mean everybody. It wasn’t a planned thing, I swear, but it was natural.

We don’t waste time, and we rush to the pizzas, eating everything, until the last crumb. Well, I’m successful to eat an entire slice. It was good.

“Do you know what you need?” Jay asks while he is chewing, “a beautiful photo. To capture our new beginning. For a good luck.” he continues.

“You and your ‘good luck’. They are always bad news.” Mark answers to him.

“What are you speaking about?”

“You have done a ‘good luck’ for every school year, and it always went wrong. You have done another one for the day of the driving licence, and you almost hit an old lady which was crossing the street on the zebra crossing and with the green traffic lights. Not to mention the one you have done for the graduation day.” he starts to list.

“Okay, okay, okay. You convinced me. So, how can we call it? Like, new life and that’s all?”.

“Photo?” Mark says with an obvious voice.

“No, too banal. It would take more...more… personality.”

“I got it! Painting with oil and tomato” Mark teases him, drawing a semicircle with the hand, and indicating the brother’s T-shirt. Just to underline this pathetic thing.

“It’s your… ‘Oops, I’m too snob to eat with my hands’ it would be better” Jackson answers.

“I could be a snob, but I don’t transform the table in a battlefield, at least.” he says, “Pathetic”.

“Mum, Mark called me pathetic” he moans with a child’s voice.

“Mum, Mark called me pathetic” he perfectly imitates him.

“Cut it out, you two. You will make me crazy.” she tries to stop them, but not before that they show their big mouths each other.