THE CUP OF TEA

Alix Galzin, Perla Fedeli, Roxane Gramaglia, Gabriel Fabre, Ilian Chelih

2023 Miss Aubert

Billy started to get a little bit stressed, but continued the conversation :
‘’How surprising ! I found this place so welcoming.’’
The landlady smiled strangely at Billy, but her smile faded away suddenly.
‘’I think you should go to bed, it’s getting late…’’
The landlady said seriously. Her face was grave, and she was staring at him, paralyzing him.
Billy didn’t know what to answer. A loud silence filled the room. He began to find the
atmosphere heavy, oppressive.
‘’ Yes you’re right it’s time.” Billy said, tense.
He put his cup of tea down and stood up. The landlady kept staring at him without saying a
word. He began to ask himself if he was dreaming.
At this moment, the rain started to beat against the window and woke Billy from his thoughts.
A violent storm made him jump. It was like the setting described in books…

Even if he was feeling quite sick, he decided to go upstairs. He reached the door of his
bedroom, nevertheless, he could not stop thinking about the words pronounced by the
landlady. Instead of opening the door, his head turned at the third floor’s stairs. His curiosity
gained the upper hand, his feet started walking on their own.
While climbing the stairs, a creaky noise was heard. Billy was scared that he would be
caught red-handed.

On the third floor, he discovered an old wooden door. Unfortunately, it

squeaked when Billy spinned the handle. He was astonished that the
landlady didn’t join him with the noise that he made. An
evil for a good, in the end.

Once the door opened, Billy couldn’t see anything except a gloomy attic, he
thought. Indeed, the place was really dark and sinister. The moon was
slightly lighting the attic through a little window. The thing that struck Bill
was the horrific, foul smell that invaded the place. Billy recognized this
smell : it was the stench of a corpse, the stench of death itself. It was so
disturbing, and unpleasant but oddly, Billy kind of liked it. He walked
through the room, slowly, one step at a time. He wasn’t expecting to come
across a hand that seemed human ! Billy laughed, curiosity killed the cat like we usually
say…
Then, Billy's footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, gradually
reaching his bedroom, but he caught the light on from the ground floor.
However, no sound reached his ears. The young man decided to go
check on the landlady, after all, she was an old and harmless woman.

Arriving at the living room, the only thing you could hear was a deep
breath. A body lying on the sofa, a spilt cup on the table, some eyes
closed, it was a simple scene. A vicious smile stretched the lips of the
only thing still alive in the room. The storm was getting harder, and the
rain was beating faster than ever.

Who could have guessed that the cups had been exchanged once the old woman had her
back turned ? That is right, Billy, a young but intelligent boy, had guessed that the landlady
wanted him dead and poisoned his tea. He was smart enough to do the right thing. The right
thing, huh ? Such a murderer psychopath could have thought of that, instead of running
away…don’t you think ?

An important quote that you can learn from this story is to never judge a book by its cover…
In fact, nobody is what you think they really are, right ? How could you judge someone by the
way he looks ? Who knows, a dangerous killer may be hiding behind… The people walking
by you in the streets, the ones sitting next to you in the bus, the ones you talk to in the
supermarket, it could be anyone... Even those close to you may be hiding things you don’t
want to know.

They are everywhere.