* 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 * - 𝓼𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶

1. 𝒫𝒶𝒾𝓃𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝒶 𝓅𝒾𝒸𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒

The dark, wooden door swung open as Bella arrived back to the Kincaid residents. The house was large, but full enough to not feel empty.

"Hey Sid" Bella spoke as she returned from her afternoon shift at the bookstoore. The older woman smiled as she spoke, "Hey Bea, how was work?". Bella had been given that nickname from her sister, something in her slightly stung when she heard the nickname, the memories would often come flooding back to her, always there to remind her of her trauma.

"It was so quite today, no one was around, it was honestly like a ghost town" the girl replied.

"Well i'm glad your back" the woman spoke. "Hallie and Tatum have been asking me where you are all afternoon, its like they're attachted to you or something!" Bella couldn't help but feel a sense of responsibility for the two girls. She felt as though they were her sisters, not in a weird way, but instead she had a feeling of protectiveness over them, she truly cared for them just as much as the girls were in awe of her.

Bella smiled and let out a light laugh, her eyes scanning the room for the two young girls, only to hear a everygrowing sound of small footsteps coming from the second floor. The footsteps were getting faster and faster until she could see the two brown-haired girls running down the stairs.

"See I told you Bea would be back-" Sid was soon cut by the two younger girls.

"Beaaa!!" The two brunette girls screamed in unison. The older girl was bombarded with a tight hug from them both, forcing her to stumble back slightly into the kitchen island. Tatum was older than Hallie, although they both looked very alike. Tatum was 6 while her younger sister was only 3, so Hallie was still learning new things about the world around her.

Bella giggled at the scene, "hey you two, did you have a fun day?" The two girls immediately stepped back as the older of the two children held something behind her back. "We made you something!" Tatum said, proudly. "Bea, close your eyes!" Hallie squealed. "3, 2, 1" the girls said in unison.

As Bella opened her eyes, she was met with an A4 peice of lined paper with a crayon drawing on it. The drawing consisted of a big house, presumably the one they lived in, two big questionable looking trees and 5 people stood outside. A very odd looking tall man, probably Mark, a not-so-tall woman with brown hair and big eyelashes, two small girls with brunette pigtails and a taller girl with long, brown hair and equally long eyelashes, rounded off with a sun in the top right corner, and 4 big clouds in the blue sky.

"Wow! Did you make this today?" Bella said in a soft tone. The two girls were grinning from ear-to-ear. "Do you like it?!" Tatum asked.

"I love it!" Replied the older girl. Sidney watched the scene play out from the kitchen counter, smiling to herself as she started to prepare dinner for the girls.

Hallie's attention span had run out as soon as Tatum started to ramble on to Bella about how long it took for her to draw her dad in the picture, so she soon ended up 'helping' her mother making dinner.

Bella changed the subject as she knew Sid would soon be done making dinner."Hey sweetie, why don't you go get changed into your pj's? Then we can put some cartoons on the TV while you wait for dinner, hm?" Tatum quickly agreed and skipped back up the stairs.

Bella pinned the drawing to the front of the silver fridge with a magnet Mark had bought when he worked on a work case in Canada. She then was quick to put the Sunday evening cartoons on the TV for the girls as Hallie left her mothers side and sat on the couch.

"Don't forget i'll be gone for a few days, I'm going to see Uncle Dewey in Woodsbro" Bella explained to the woman. "Just promise me you'll be careful?" Sid started. "I know it's been nearly 11 years, but I can't even begin to imagine you hurt again." She stated, with a serious but somewhat soft expression. "Ofcourse" Bella stated, returning the same expression.

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"Daddy's back tomorrow, if you get a good nights sleep, you can tell him all about the fun you had with Bea!" Sidney said as she tucked Tatum into bed with her yellow and orange blankets. "Is Bea asleep yet?" Tatum asked. "Not yet sweetie, do you want me to get her to come and say goodnight?" The young girl returned her mother's statement with a big smile and nodded. Sidney soon left the girl's bedroom, shortly after she returned with Bea.

"Tatum Kincaid-Prescott, it is way past your bedtime!" Bella said as she sarcastically pointed her finger at the younger girl, who was just giggling. "Goodnight Tate, I'll see you in the morning" said Bella as she placed a light kiss on Tatum's forehead. "I love you" the young girl said in a sleepy tone. "I love you too, Tate" the older girl replied, pulling the door closed as she left the bedrooom, leaving a crack if light to escape into the room.

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A/N - first chapter y'allllll
Hopefully frequent updates cause i'm off school for like a week :)))

Not all the book is gonna be like this chapter, its gonna get messyyyyy