Travel Through Time // a MPHFPC fanfiction

A peculiar meeting

She ran. She ran as fast as she could. Away from that village that has now turned against her. Ethel knew she was in danger. How could she be so stupid? Turning into a cat in front of a human? She could curse herself.

She heard voices behind her, angry voices. Ethel ran faster, still in her cat-form. That was her advantage. She was small and as she couldn't run anymore she lay down, flat on the ground and hoped that the humans wouldn't notice her.

Ethel didn't know how much time has passed. It was already getting dark. She slowly sat up and listened. Perfect, the humans had given up and were gone. Now feeling safe Ethel transformed back again. She was tired but still didn't dare staying here, she had to go away, far away, as far as she was able to. And so Ethel went south (at least she thought it was south).

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Meanwhile James was going home, to his real home. He showed up at that little village a few months ago, starving and heartbroken. All this time he spent searching for his dearest sister Ethel, all this time... but he hasn't found her. He wouldn't admit it to himself but the hope he had all along, the hope that Ethel was alive, it was long gone. James realised that by now. So when a nice but lonely woman had asked him to stay with her in that village - he had accepted her offer. He had a home now. A home he never had before. And it was wonderful.

James was doing very well in this village. Everybody knew him by now and he even met a few boys that were his age and that he called friends. And he didn't have to think about Ethel all the time now. Because he was happy and this happiness shone so bright, so bright that there wasn't any space for those dark rainy clouds that had been there ever since Ethel disappeared. For the first time James felt truly happy.

As James walked home, he had spent the day with his friends, he thought about everything that had happened today. Because today something really strange happened. Apparently there was this girl that had tried to steal some clothes. Matt, the farmer, has seen her. He - apparently - has also seen how that girl had turned into a cat. Matt had always been a bit... well, crazy. For example he swore for his life that he saw a vampire once and naturally nobody would have believed him and his story today, hadn't it been for the fact that Milly, his wife, noticed the whole situation as well. After all her deafening scream was heard thorough the village.

James didn't know what happened afterwards. The girl, cat or whatever this thing was, had disappeared but some adults had searched for her. Unsuccessful as it seemed.

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It has been a few days now. Ethel was exhausted and goodness how she craved the old times now. She couldn't do that any longer. She couldn't be all alone any longer. It was awful, everything was awful. Ethel wanted nothing more than to turn the time back again, where all of this hasn't happened, where she still had her parents that she could make proud, where she still had her dearest brother James, where she still had a life to live.

It was time to rest now. Time to rest from everything that had happened the past months. Before Ethel knew what happened she sank down on the ground, sobbing and pitying. Pitying herself and the life that she could have had but couldn't live, pitying James because she was everything he had, pitying the village because she was a monster and had traumatised everyone, pitying the world because of the unfairness that it held. Pitying everything Ethel knew and pitying everything she didn't know.

Ethel was lost, after all this time that had passed and that she had hoped everything would be good at the end and turn out just as she wished, after all this time she fought to accept herself and adjust to her situation, after all this time she was lost. And the worst thing was that Ethel knew this, knew that she was lost. And that resulted in another breakdown and even more sobbing, but Ethel didn't care anymore. She just didn't care. Because after all there was nothing to care for.

So when Ethel heard footsteps approaching she didn't turn around, didn't run away, didn't care. She didn't care if it were the humans from that village again, should they just take her. Ethel had nothing to lose anymore, she had already lost everything. Ethel didn't look up when the footsteps came near her. But she did look up when a soft, warm hand rested on her shoulder. Ethel looked up expecting the angry humans from the village, but it wasn't them.

It was a woman.

Happy loop-day everyone 🙈🙃
I hope you liked the chapter, I suppose it's a bit messy, but oh well... I hope you liked it anyway, feel free to leave constructive feedback!
Αντίο everyone!❤️