𝐑𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐬 » 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲 (ON HOLD)

01. The Cabin

There was a time in Elle's life where she had everything she had ever wanted. Irreplaceable friends who had stuck by her side for years, through the good times and the bad. A home in which the walls withheld so many memories. The undying love of a father, who although was taken away from her for twelve long years, still showed her that same love long after his return. It was a life she wouldn't have dreamed any differently... but then those walls came crumbling down, leaving her with an agonizing numbness.

She stared blankly at the girl looking back at her in the still waters of the pond, noticing how her dark hair fell over her shoulders as she brought her knees to her chest, how her eyes were filled with so much affliction— the bags under her eyes indicating that she hadn't slept well in weeks. She couldn't find the words to describe the numbness that had expended her body, making her feel everything but nothing all at once.

As if noticing her loneliness, a crisp autumn breeze wrapped around her, whistling through the branches of the trees and playing wistfully with the ends of her hair. It was almost as if it were whispering to her, telling her it would be okay. She liked to believe it would be in due time.

It had been nearly three months since the death of her father, but the memory of that night still burned in the back of her mind, making it almost impossible to forget.

She could remember every detail of that night. The way her dad had shown up with help just in time, stepping in front of his daughter and godson as the fight between good and bad broke out. How just when they thought they had won, Bellatrix had emerged from the darkness with an evil grin. When she had shouted the killing curse and pointed her wand directly at Elle. How she stood breathless, completely frozen in fear as Sirius stepped in front of her, causing the curse to hit his chest. When the last breath escaped from his lips as his body floated backwards into the veil... Yet, Elle stood frozen to the ground, unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to think.

Elle tried not to blame herself for what had happened, but how could she not when that curse had been directed at her, and ended up taking the life of her father? She had lost him once before, those twelve years seeming like a lifetime, but this time, there was no bringing him back. Had she had known it would be the last time she'd see him, she might have held on just a bit longer the last time he hugged her.

Preceding the feeling of rain droplets speckling her pale skin, Elle looked up to the sky, which had grown obscenely dark within the last few minutes. It was almost as if the whole world had gone darker since the death of her dad, and the black clouds swirling above only seemed to manifest that.

She stood from the rock she had been sitting on, deciding it'd be best to head back before the brewing storm had time to progress, and before her Uncle Remus found out she had left the cabin. Remus had set ground rules when they first went into hiding— the first being not to leave the cabin... more specifically not to leave the cabin alone, which she had.

Their cabin sat hidden on the outskirts of the city, deep within the forest. They were surrounded by wheat fields and plenty of trees, making it the perfect place to stay undetected from whomever may be searching.

As she began the short hike back, she heard a loud rustling from the bushes and stopped dead in her tracks. Her skin almost immediately broke out into goosebumps as she turned to the shadows of the forest. Deer and coyote were quite common in the area— in fact, she had seen almost a dozen of both since they'd been there. Surely that must've been the rustling she'd heard.

Before she could get a closer look, a loud crack of thunder rolled across the sky as a flash of lightning followed suit and she jumped. She hated storms. Elle took one last glance at the shrubs and shrugged it off as the rain began to pour around her, realizing that whatever was there had vanished.