Page 28 of Driftwood Daffodil 3

The yellow cupboards in her kitchen reminded me of the terror on her face when I carved my name in her hip. Nova really didn’t like knives and I bet I could find a nice sharp one in there. Then I could carve my name somewhere else on her body. Now, that I liked the sound of. I could almost taste her sweet blood on the tip of my tongue.

Excited for a little knife play, I walked into the kitchen, and began rummaging through drawers.

Finding what I was looking for wasn’t a simple task. Nova had a lot of useless shit in her kitchen. Random beads, paper, and toys. Everything I came across were things people would find in other rooms of the house.

One drawer housed nothing but brushes and combs. The collection of corkscrews was the only thing that fit in. I didn’t even find the utensils until I started opening cupboards. Who organized this shit?

Nova must’ve heard me, because her voice floated down the hall. “What are you doing?”

“Come here and find out.” I said as I pulled open another cupboard.

Bingo.

Sitting on the second shelf was a metal basket with various blades.

“I’m not falling for that.”

“Suit yourself.” I held up a butcher knife and examined the sharp edge.

This was too big. There was no control. I needed something smaller. A steak knife, maybe? No, the serrated edge wouldn’t allow for clean cuts. That’s when I spotted a small paring knife. It wasn’t as good as my switchblade, and I could do without the pink handle, but it would work.

“You better leave.” Nova called out.

I snorted. “Make me.”

She wasn’t in control here, but I’d let her hold onto that delusion for a few minutes. This was the first time I’d actually been inside Nova’s house, and I wanted to look around.

This place wasn’t very big. The entire trailer could probably fit in my bedroom. How four people lived comfortably here was beyond me. It wasn’t well decorated either. Whoever had that job had no idea what they were doing.

Everywhere I looked there was some flaw. Mismatched furniture, worn out carpet, and frayed curtains. But I was more interested in the little touches. Things I couldn’t see by peering in the window. Pictures on the wall, various knick knacks – a lotof which were gnomes. As if there wasn’t enough in the yard – and kids drawings.

The front of the fridge was littered with them. Pages and pages of smudges and scribbles that were clearly creations of Nova’s nephew. Nothing spectacular. However, one picture in the back did catch my eye. It was partially covered by other drawings, but yellowing of age on the edges made it stand out.

Lifting my hand, I moved the other pictures out of the way to reveal a crayon drawing of a family. There were distinct figures of parents, a little boy, a little girl, and a baby. That and the name printed in the top corner – Veda – told me this wasn’t one of Nova’s nephew’s creations.

My eyes zeroed in on the figure with Daddy written under it. He was off to the side, away from the rest of the family, just standing there and staring with his black eyes. It was kind of creepy.

I could understand not liking your father, but this was more than that. He looked like some kind of monster or boogeyman. Veda couldn’t have been very old when she drew this. Six or seven maybe. What would make a child see their father like that? What kind of man was the late Edward Ford?

The only thing I knew about him was that he was in the military and died overseas. Nova was young. I doubted she even remembered the man. So I never looked into him. I didn’t look into either of her parents. My father probably did. If nothing else he was thorough. Maybe I should ask him about it?

Oh well, I could worry about that later. Right now I was much more interested in his daughter.

“AlrightGattina…” I looked down at the paring knife and grazed my thumb over the blade. “Here I?—”

I froze as the distinctive click, click of a bullet being loaded into the chamber ranged through my ears.

“Get out of my house.”

A smirk curled the corner of my mouth. Nova went and got a gun. How fucking cute was that?

“You sure you want to do this?”

“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”

Alright.

I spun around and damn near came when I saw Nova standing behind me with a rifle in her hands. That look of determination on her face made me think she might actually shoot me. How fucking hot was that? Now, the game was interesting.

---