𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄 ¹

i.

✷.*• 1 •*.✷

quiet before the storm

[ 8271 words]

A ravishing, young woman ran ahead, dodging through a maze of trees. Her midnight black hair seemed to dance away from her porcelain-pale face as she tried to increase her speed. The Enchanted Forest at night looked much more frightening than she remembered it. The uneven ground below her bare feet was keeping her sane by its low temperature from the rain. The numerous trees surrounding her observed her as she fought the last battle she would ever fight. The battle for her life. Running away from a demon was not what she had imagined when she decided to return home.

"Cassandra, don't hide," an unfamiliar, female voice whispered behind Cassandra Sonitus. The witch knew that if she stopped and looked back she would regret it. Therefore, without stopping, she shouted:

"How do you know my name!?"

"I know your name because I wanted to know it, I caught you because I wanted to catch you." The voice replied with a giggle.

The forest covered in darkness began to echo with laughter. Before Cassandra understood the meaning of what she had just heard, the laughter multiplied by the forest's emptiness made her stop. Suddenly Sonitus forgot why she was running.

A pitch-black smoke appeared between the trees. The shrill giggling was getting louder and louder. Cassandra watched it all as if in a trance. Sonitus had already been practising black magic for years, but she had not seen such a phenomenon in her entire life.

The fog grew thicker. It began to devour Cassandra whole. When the witch couldn't feel the ground beneath her feet, a chilling scream escaped from between her lips.

✷

Cassandra's scream in Hope Jones' head slowly faded, transforming into her alarm going off. Jones groaned quietly and hid her face under her duvet. Despite not having any interest in getting out of her bed, she slowly sat down and reached for her phone. The girl finally turned the alarm off and sighed tiredly.

"Hope! It's seven a.m, if you don't get out of your bed right now, you're going to be late again!" Hope's mother shouted from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I know! I'm coming!" Jones replied loudly, though she was pretty sure that Emma would hear her words even if she whispered them.

Hope's mother — Emma Swan-Jones was the sheriff of Storybrooke, their hometown. She governed the police station with her husband and Hope's father, Killian Jones. Having sheriffs as your parents was great until you tried to sneak out of the house or hide something from them. They always saw and heard everything!

Hope shook her head to get rid of the thoughts about her parents' odd skills and walked up to her closet. She picked the first clean clothes she could find: classic mom jeans, red Converse, a white top and her mother's favourite red leather jacket.

After putting mascara on her eyelashes, combing her long, brown hair with her hands and throwing a few things into her backpack, she was ready to go. Jones quickly ran down the white, wooden stairs and stormed into the small kitchen, where her parents were having breakfast.

"Good morning, I gotta go. Love you, have a nice day!" The brunette girl said in one breath. She took a banana from the table, kissed her mother on the cheek and exited the house slamming the kitchen's back door.

Killian and Emma exchanged amused looks before Emma asked with furrowed eyebrows:

"Was that my jacket?"