Chapter Five

Esther committed herself to learning as much as she could about AnnMarie until Peter showed up.

The next day she decided to walk into town and visit AnnMarie around lunch. It was a long walk from Hallowed Ground, so she left a couple of hours early.

The place she worked at was called Sonny's Flower Shop. It was located in the old downtown area of the closest town, a place called Byronville. There weren't many buildings, even in this area, and the buildings that were here were starting to decay.

They were the mid century brick kind, close together and boxy. When buildings like this were being constructed, Esther was pretty sure she was in Virginia.

It didn't take long for Esther to find the building. It had a large, gaudy silk flower arrangement in the window which had the name of the shop painted over it.

Esther walked in to the sound of a rusty bell. There was a middle aged man at a desk up front who barely looked up at her as she walked in.

She cleared her throat and walked up to the desk.

"How can I help you?" He asked in a tired gravely voice, pushing his glass up.

"Uh, I'm looking for AnnMarie Keller." She said. "Is She here?"

The look on his face suddenly changed to something sour, something drawn up and tense.

"I think she's in the freezer. She should be out soon." He said. "You a friend of hers?"

"Uh, Yes." Esther said with a tight nod. "Her roommate, actually. Has she mentioned me?"

"No." He said curtly. "She doesn't talk to me. She doesn't talk to anyone."

Esther frowned. "Oh, uh—"

"That girl is weird." He said. It was painfully blunt. "There's something not right in her head if you're askin' me."

AnnMarie walked in through a door behind him just a moment later. She was hold an arraignment made of roses in a small glass vase.

"The Mason order." She said to him in cool and detached sort of way.

Her eyes travelled up to Esther, and her expression suddenly changed. Her eyes brightened, and a giddy grin spread across her face.

"Esther! What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out on your lunch break." Esther said.

AnnMarie looked down at the man at the desk.

"Whatever." He said. "Just be back in an hour."

She didn't respond. She instead walked forward and took Esther by the arm. They left to the sound of the same bell, out back into the streets.

"Do you want to get some food?" Esther offered. "I've already eaten, but I'll be happy to pay for your lunch."

"That's fine." AnnMarie said. "If you're not hungry I can wait until later to eat."

Esther was suspicious of this but tried not to let her face show it.

"Sure. What would you like to do, then?"

AnnMarie grabbed a hold of her forearm and started to walk a little bit faster.

"Here, I'll show you." She said with a smile.

The continued down for some time, and the old commercial buildings gradually faded into rows of much older family homes.

"I like to walk down here on my breaks and look at all the houses." AnnMarie said.

"This is probably the oldest neighborhood in Byronville, right?" Esther asked.

"Yes." AnnMarie said. "Most of these houses were built between 1870 and 1910."

Esther glanced up at the houses as she went, feeling slightly intimidated by the towers and turrets, like they were teeth that could be sunk into her flesh. They were the kind of home she has lived in, many years ago, though it felt odd for her to remember that she was probably a couple of decades older than most of these houses.

She could picture clearly how it had been a century and a half ago. It was a respectable sort of neighborhood, full of people who were pretending to be respectable people.

It didn't seem that way now. Many of the houses were damaged and derelict, some of them nearly destroyed completely. Those that weren't still didn't look great, as if a quick coat of new paint had been slapped on in place of actual repairs.

AnnMarie seemed to understand where her thoughts went.

"It's one of those, quote unquote, bad neighborhoods now." AnnMarie said. "It's kind of funny, though."

"What is?" Esther asked.

"Every neighborhood around here that was once the pride of the town is eventually delegated the title of 'the bad neighborhood.'

This one is the oldest, so it was the first to go. Then it was that woodsy neighborhood with all of the mid century homes. Now a lot of those brick homes by the football field are falling into the category.

Right now all of the snobs live in the modern paneled houses down by the river, but I'm sure it'll get the same treatment eventually."

"When the market goes down and poor people start to move in?" Esther added.

"Bingo." AnnMarie said.

They came to a stop in front of a buttery yellow house who's top floor had been burned out, so that there was nearly nothing left of it but a blackened crust. A few of the skeletal wooden beams were still poking out here and there. Esther thought it looked a little bit like a slice of toast that had been left in the oven too long.

AnnMarie giggled at it.

"I remember when this house caught fire." She said. "It was so bright that you could see it from the overpass! I remember everyone from the nearly the whole city came to stand in the street and watch it burn."

Esther frowned as she pictured the maybe few hundred residents of the town crowding the street, all looking up at the fire with a callous indifference.

"There's not much to do here." AnnMarie continued distantly. "People will focus on anything out of the ordinary for entertainment."

Esther frowned.

"AnnMarie?"

"Yes?" The girl looked up, instantly giving her undivided attention.

"Do you have any friends?" Esther asked. "Anyone to talk to?"

The girl reached over and grabbed her hand.

"I do now."