Past Memories ~ Julian Devorak

Capitolo 1

I woke up to the early morning sun shining on my face through the curtains on the carriage. I sat up and poked my head out of the door. "Dad! Dad are you awake yet?" I said, groggily, to the front of the carriage.

There was slight rustling in the seat in front of me as my aunt sat upright. "Charlie, please, if you're going to talk to your father you can get out. We aren't moving yet."

"Right, sorry Aunt Miley, but good morning!"

"Good morning dear." She said as I clambered out and stumbled to the front. I saw the horses sleeping in front of the carriage, but no sight of my father anywhere.

As soon as I was about to start yelling for him, as an impatient 16 year-old would, I saw him sprinting down a near-by hill. "Charlie! Charlie! I went on a run! Guess what I found!" He started yelling from a distance.

"What have you found?" I shouted back, running towards him.

We met half-way and he grasped my shoulders. "I found out that we're a week ahead of schedule. Charlie, our new life is about to start! Are you excited?"

"Yeah... and a little nervous." I said with a small smile, glancing at the place father had just come from. There's a light layer of fog, but if I squint hard enough I could make out the pillars of a large palace. "Do you think mom would like this place?"

He smiled and squeezed my shoulders. He waited a pause before pulling me into a hug and sighing out. "Yeah... I really think she would. You and her were very similar, so if you like it, she definitely would." He pushed back and looked over my shoulder. I turned around and saw my aunt waking the horses. She saw us looking at her and waved to us. "I think if Miley likes this place... that'd be a feat." He said, waving back with a chuckle.

We made our way back to the carriage and I sat back inside. "I can coach it the rest of the way, you need to rest, even if it is for a little while..." I heard my aunt say to my father. the rest of their conversation was muffled and inaudible, but shortly after, my dad entered the carriage.

"I'm gonna take a quick nap. I know it's a challenge for you, but can you try to be quiet for the little bit of trip that's left?" My father asked, jokingly. I rolled my eyes with a nod and brought my legs up underneath me. As the carriage started and my father drifted off, I pulled out a book and started to read. I've started to take after my father more with a new interest in medicine. My mother and aunt have already taught me everything they knew about magic, and my aunt teaches me the new things she learns. The book I decided to read was a detailed novel about the human anatomy and its functions.

Most of it was really boring and slightly outdated, but it kept me quiet and busy. My father does so much for me, and even more now that my mother passed, he deserves to at least get some rest. My aunt is doing her best with helping him to raise me, but she's a young bachelorette who's never been around kids for longer than a couple hours, let alone living with us in Vesuvia until we're all settled in. Aunt Miley used to travel a lot before my dad became a widower, so she owns a house in every place she's been, including Vesuvia.

I felt the carriage start to slow and I peeked out of the window. I saw the cityscape of Vesuvia right in-front of my eyes. I gasped while looking at all of the townspeople ogle my aunt's traveling carriage. I smile and wave excitedly, but no one returns the favour. The carriage rolled to a stop and I clambered out to look at the two-story building.

"Isn't it so quaint?" Aunt Miley asked, wrapping her arm lightly around my shoulders and admiring her home. "The lower half I cleaned out for your father to use as a medicinal shop, the upstairs is your mini apartments. I'll be staying with a friend that lives around here. I haven't seen him in awhile, I hope he hasn't missed me too much." She paused for a second before coming to a realization. "His child is like a year younger than you! I wonder if either of you will meet?"

"Does your friend live around here?" She nods and points to a small booth with a man kneading dough on the marketplace street near-by.

"He works right there, lives a little down the way in a large apartment building. His kid joins him sometimes, he's even got an apprentice now from what I remember." She nudged my side as I glanced around.

"What's that place?" I pointed to a long one story building with large windows. Inside there were people sitting around coughing, or sneezing, or both. "Some kind of doctors office?"

"Exactly that, my dear! That's why I decided to buy this place off your aunt, so I could sell medicines to the people who go to this doctor instead of them having to travel across the city to get what they need!" My father said, walking up behind us with three bags. "Come get your things, Charlie, we're going to try to have shop set up by this weekend."

My aunt dropped her arm and left us to talk to her new friend. I decided to try out some new magic Aunt Miley taught me while my dad quickly hustled the expensive things and breakables inside.

I drew a circle on the ground and got everything ready as I was previously directed, and started placing things into the temporary portal. As soon as I was finished moving heavy stuff in through there, I closed said portal and carried my lighter belongings into the shop. There I saw my father climbing the ladder to stack some shelves. "I haven't checked the upstairs yet, but it sounds like everything made it's way up there. I'll let you arrange it yourself since I'm working down here!"

"I'll make sure everything is nice and tidy." I assured him as I raced up the stairs, only to see a large mess of everything I tossed through the portal. "Aye... I have a lot of work to do."

As I worked to clean for a couple of hours, I thought back to how my mother and I would clean together. She'd do fancy little magic tricks to make a dirt tornado that flew right into the trash, and she'd make my toys dance around the room until "they got tired" and she'd put them to sleep in my toy bin. She was always singing this small tune while she cleaned, and when I asked her what it was she always said it was a folk-song from where she grew up. Of course, the only people who know where that was is my father and his sister. The day slowly turned into night as I examined my work.

"Charlie! Let's go! Miley is taking us out to dinner!" My dad yelled as he climbed the stairs. "Charlie- you did amazing! I'm so proud of you." He said as he pulled me into a hug.

"Thanks, dad, but shouldn't we get going?"

"Of course, grab your scarf, it's a bit nippy out there."

I did as told and followed him out of the door. The shop had way more boxes than before, so they must be the medicines waiting to go on shelves and everything. Aunt Miley was waiting for us outside the door with two strangers.

"Charlie, Harley, this is my friend Selasi and his daughter Maddi Alonzo. Selasi said he wants to treat us all to dinner tonight!"

"I would love if my new neighbour's would join us at my home for a meal. It's been so long since we've seen Miley, and even longer since we've seen..." He paused for a moment before looking around. "Where would she happen to be, by any chance?"

Miley whispered in his ear and he bowed deeply. "My sincerest apologies. I didn't realize that-"

"It's quite alright! If you're friends with both my sister and love, then you're certainly friends with me. How about you, dear? Are you okay with going to eat with our neighbours?" My father asked. I looked from him, to my aunt, to Selasi, and lastly at his daughter Maddi. She was only slightly taller than me, and her light blonde hair was intricately put up into a braided bun.

"I would be happy to go. I could use a new friend or two." I said with a small smile. Maddi's face went from a shy, blank look, to a happy smile with bright eyes.

She stepped from hiding behind her father to stand next to me. "I'm happy to be your friend. My dad has told me tons of stories about Miley and your mom. I heard you two were really similar." Selasi smiled down at his daughter and we all shortly made our way to his home.