His Sunlight, Her Moon

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

— WREN'S POV —

The radio softly played in the background as I made my way down the winding road, trees flying past that seemed to continue on for miles. The morning sun streaked through their mostly bare branches as the new leaves seemed to stretch towards it in a warm welcome. As the treeline started to thin, the small town of Lockwood started to come into view. Rolling down my window as I slowed the vehicle, I took in the still slightly crisp morning air, a sign that spring was slowly making its way upon us. All of the snow had melted but a light coating of frost stuck around making the ground shimmer as the sun shone across it.

I had eventually made my way to the small cottage, pulling into the driveway and placing my car in park, taking a moment to take it all in. After my grandparents passing, they had left their home to me. Somewhere I had spent much of my childhood baking with my grandma and exploring the outdoors with my grandpa. My grandpa had passed a few years prior which had left my grandma here alone. Making the trip here had been difficult to plan around my work schedule lately, but I still tried to make my way out here when I got the occasional long weekend to spend some time with her. At 23, the opportunity to finally have a home of my own out of the city was more than welcomed aside from the solem nature of the reasoning why. I had quit my office job and packed up all of my belongings from my small apartment and made my way here without second thought.

Wrapping my sweater around myself a little more, I stepped out and made my way to the front door, the third step creaking just as it always had. It still looked just as it always had, most of my grandparents belongings and furniture still strewn about. I plopped on the couch and let out a sigh as I let myself relish in all of the good memories I had here with them.

This was my home now.

Moving 3 hours away from the rest of my family was hard, but I was ready for a new beginning, a fresh start in a place I truly loved. Taking a deep breath I got up to open all the curtains to let the sunlight in, my mood perking up slightly as the cottage slowly became encompassed in light.

-

The sun was just starting to set as I finished moving all my belongings in and tidying up. After having a quick dinner I made my way out to the sunroom and grabbed a random book off of one of the piles on the floor. After cracking open a few windows I happily curled up on my grandma's favorite reading chair and quickly became engrossed in the story. That was one reason we had always been so close, we were both bookworms which had led to weekly phone calls discussing the books we were reading and had finished recently, giving eachother new recommendations constantly that only added more to our growing collections.

As darkness started to coat the small room I placed my book down making sure to mark my page to continue on tomorrow. Stiffling a yawn I stretched my limbs as I unwraveled myself from my the position I had twisted myself into. I stopped at the windows, listening to the sounds of the night. The crickets chirping, late night frogs croaking, and the occasional wolf howl. That was one thing about this area, the pack that made the nearby forest home. While my grandparents had never run into any issues with them, my grandpa had always been adamant about me not playing outside after sunset as a child. My grandpa was an avid hunter and fisherman back in the day and had told me stories from when they first moved here about the wolves following him back through the woods.

Closing the windows and locking the doors, I made my way up to the bedroom to get ready for bed. After showering and changing I climbed under the covers and stared out the bedroom window. As my eyes started closing against my will and tiredness overtook my being, I slowly fell asleep to the chorus of howls in the distance, making a song like a lullaby.

-

I awoke to the sunlight shining in my eyes as I groaned and pulled the blanket up to cover them. Another day of packing and cleaning.

Pulling myself out of the warm confines of the bed, I made my way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. I dressed and completed my routine before making my way downstairs and eating a quick meal. Planning out what I wanted to try and complete today. When my grandma had fallen extremely ill and ended up in the hospital she had told me about her plans to leave to cottage to me when I had gone to visit. After her passing and the funeral I had begun to prepare as names got switched over and paperwork was completed. I had gotten in contact with the local flower shop we frequented often and had secured a job that I was due to start at in a few days. I wanted to get as much done as possible beforehad as I knew most of my time would be taken up working again soon.

I proceeded to spend most of the morning packing up more of my grandparents belongings, carefully placing them securely packed away in the upper level of the cottage. A small room that couldnt quite be considered an attic, but had been large enough to sleep me and a small bedroom set when I visited in the past.

After some more unpacking and rearranging and mixing of their decor and mine to my liking, I made my way outside to clean up the yard as it warmed up outside enough to be comfortable. I grabbed the rake and weeding tools from the shed and got to work filling the yard bags with the scraps. I smiled and gave a small wave at an older couple as they made their way down the sidewalk in my direction nearing the cottage and stopping in the driveway.

"Good morning honey! You must be Wren I'm assuming? Claudia had told us you may be making your way here eventually."

I brushed off myself and made my way toward them, smiling at the woman. Her hair was graying, but her green eyes sparkled with a youthful glow.

"Yes ma'am, how did you know my grandma?"

"We were close friends with your grandparents. I'm so sorry about their passings dear, it hit many of us around quite hard as well, they were close with many of us." She came over pulling me into a tight motherly hug. I froze for a second before hugging her back before she pulled away.

"Oh dear I'm so sorry, where are my manners! You can call me Trina and this is my husband Ben. We live down the road a bit more in the gray house." She stated before motioning for her husband who had been standing back and observing. He took a few steps towards us, wrapping his arm around her waist before giving me a small nod and hello to which I gave a small smile back at. He didn't seem to be as open as his wife so I left it at that.

"We've got to be on our way but I wanted to stop over and say hello after seeing a car parked in the driveway. We'll have to get together for dinner sometime soon and get to know eachother a bit more if that sounds good to you?"

I couldn't say no to the hopeful glimmer in her eyes and agreed, saying goodbye as they continued on their way. I returned to my task I had been working on before eventually continuing on the same routine I had the day before.