Escaping the Enchantment

Chapter One

2:37pm
Amesville
McGregor's Home

"So, make yourself at home," McGregor said.

He gave me yet another one of his toothy smiles and I couldn't help the shudder that passed through me. After nearly three months of knowing him, this guy still gave me the shivers. I don't know what about him creeped me out so much.

Maybe it was his head, it was so round and his cheeks were so full, and plump, and pink. Or perhaps it was his eyes. They were beady and darker than night. Or his smile. Yes, that had to be it. His smiles were alway so wide that you could see his set of straight, unnaturally white teeth. You could even see his feint dimples showing and his eyes crinkling every time he did so. He smiled so much, it started to creep me out. Even when my mother and him fought that one time, he smiled. That's all he ever does — smile.

It's weird.

Speaking of my dearest, darling mother, I am currently angry at her for packing up our lives and hauling us out here to stay with a man she barely knew, a man that I barely knew. After less than month of dating, mum decided that McGregor was the one for her and then she disappeared for two weeks and came back saying that they were married. Then, after selling our house, car and furniture, she quit her job and woke me up this morning telling me we had a flight to catch.

Honestly, I don't know what McGregor did to my mother. Before, she was very normal, mediocre even. There was nothing out of the ordinary, until she met McGregor. I'm thinking he gave her some sort of love potion. Either that, or my mother is dying.

She randomly stopped sleeping in and instead woke up every morning to jog and she'd usually dragged me with her and McGregor. Then, she stopped drinking coffee as it was apparently a poison to her body and instead, she started drinking herbal tea every day, not only that, but she stopped letting me watch TV as it was damaging to my brain and made us listen to healthcare audios every night.

Now, those little changes, I was okay with. She just wanted to change her lifestyle, who was I to judge? However, that acceptance didn't come as easily when even her whole personality did a one eighty. She went from the authoritative, hands on deck mother to a laid-back, go with the flow type of person.

But still, I learnt to accept the new her, I did. I made peace with it, but uprooting my life suddenly and forcing me to leave all my friends behind, that's something that I can't just make peace with. Maybe if the place we moved to was warm and sunny like California or sweet and romantic like France or Italy, or something, I'd try to embrace the change, but no, she brought me to some random town that I don't even know of.

Have you ever heard of Amesville? No, right? I bet you didn't even know there was such a place. Not even Google Maps knows of this place. Apparently it's McGregor's home town. It's strange, just like him.

Amesville is beautiful though, I won't lie. The view everywhere is spectacular, magical almost. The people on the other hand, are strange. Once I had talked to a few people here, it was clear to me where McGregor got it from. I feel like these people are taught from birth that all you must do it smile and be free like water. On the plane, the captain told us that he wasn't in control, the aeroplane was. Then, the air hostess told me to embrace the turbulence.

Later on, as we were walking out of the airport, I could feel all the airport workers just staring at us with those silly grins on their faces. They made me want to run to the safety of McGregor's car which, thankfully, had tinted windows. Finally, we drove through the beautiful town, which by the way, only had two bars of cell reception, and then reached McGregor's surprisingly nice house.

It was a double story home with a beautiful garden that had white and red roses plus a little shaded swinging bench. Quickly, I entered the home and asked where my room was, not bothering to look around and here I am now. Since the house had three extra rooms, I got to choose my favourite and I chose the one which was fully furnished and designed rather tastefully. It even had a seat by the window and given how much I loved rain, I'd be able to write my music as it rained. That was, if it rained here of course. For all I know, we get rainbows at night. Yeah, this place has the potential to be that abnormal.

After throwing my duffel bag with the few clothes and books I managed to grab earlier this morning on the floor, I allowed myself to fall face-first onto my bed as I let out a groan of frustration and mild anger. This was all so hard to believe. I was actually living with McGregor in Amesville. Thinking about it now, my mum had mentioned us moving here once or twice, but I never actually thought she was being serious.

But then again, I never thought she'd forget my dad so easily, but she did. At this point, I don't even think she remembers that she was married to my dad for eighteen years because if she did, she wouldn't throw away almost twenty years of marriage just like that.

Rolling over so that I was sleeping on my back, I stared at the dotted ceiling and sighed. A rogue tear trickled down my cheek as I whispered saying, "I hope it doesn't all go downhill from here dad."

But something told me that it would. I believed that that feeling was my gut and my gut was usually always correct.