His Lady in White - Ace Merrill

Cora Boyd

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Chapter 1 - Cora Boyd
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Cora's bare feet walked slowly along, as she felt the dirt, mud and leaves crunching underneath her. Looking down she saw her normally pale skin becoming dirtier with each step, as twigs cracked under her weight.

The woods of Castle Rock were quiet, apart from the soft sounds of the birds tweeting and singing. A few small woodland animals scampered around as Cora looked around, while walking.

A long white dress covered her, decorated in lace so intricate one would have to look so closely to see each detailed flower and petal. A white sash wrapped around her middle, ending in a neatly tied bow on her lower back.

Her normally dark blonde hair had been braided and wrapped around the back of her head and pinned in place with a multiple clips. What little make up she had on, had been smudged and now formed the smallest of black marks around her eyes.

Yet she didn't stop walking, she didn't stop walking as she crossed the small wooden bridge that was placed over the stream leading to Castle Rock lake.

Until she reached the other side and felt a small sharp pinch on the underside of her foot. A faint yelp came from her as she took a couple of hops before sitting down on the dirt.

Lifting her foot up, she tried brushing at the dirt on the underside to see.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Immediately she put her foot down and looked up as she saw a guy standing near her. His eyes piercing as they looked down at her slightly confused.

"Something bit my foot." Cora grumbled as she took in his appearance.

He had messy blonde hair, though it looked like he'd attempted to style it Cora just thought it looked like he'd been electrocuted. His clothing was completely black, from his top to his trousers to his shoes. Aside from the brightly coloured shirt he had in his hand.

"Something bit your foot?" He asked, almost scoffing at her answer as he did so.

"Okay well not bit, but it stung me." She tried to change her answer.

"Something stung you?" He asked again, once more in a tone that made it seem like he saw her as quite pathetic.

"Are you going to help me or just be a hinderance?" She asked with a sigh as she was trying not to glare.

"What's a hinderace?"

"A hinderance." She corrected. "It means something causing an obstruction, basically being of no help whatsoever." Cora finished with what sounded like an exasperated sigh.

"Oh... then yeah I'm that one." He spoke as he nodded, clearly somewhat of the idea that he was being labelled as unhelpful.

Cora grumbled to herself before looking back down at her foot, trying to brush off the dirt, all while trying to see what had pinched her.

"Who's the unlucky fella?"

"Excuse me?" Cora looked up as she raised her eyebrow at him.

He had pulled a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and was in the process of putting one in his mouth to light it.

"I said-" He paused to light his cigarette and take the first inhale. "Who's the unlucky guy?" He asked again as he gestured down at Cora's wedding dress.

"He might be lucky, you don't know." Cora answered with a small scoff as she let go of her foot and looked up at him.

"I can think of one aspect that makes him lucky." He mumbled, taking another drag of his cigarette as there was no debating his eyes roaming over her body.

"So who is he?" He asked as he leant against a nearby tree, keeping his attention on her.

"Not important." Cora mumbled as she looked back down at her foot. "Look if you're not gonna help me then you can go Mr..." Her voice trailed off as she briefly looked up at him.

"Merrill." He gave a small smirk. "Mr Ace Merrill."

"Ace?" She asked, once more keeping her attention on him.  "What is that, like a nickname?"

Ace nodded. "You gonna tell me yours or you just gonna keep commenting on mine?"

"Cora... Cora Boyd..."

Ace nodded again silently as his eyes once more scanned her, while she went back to trying to look at the base of her foot.

"You need a hand?" He asked with a small laugh, somehow now seeing the funny side of watching this girl in her wedding dress sitting on the dirt as she tried to look at the base of her foot.

"I don't need your help." She mumbled.

Ace laughed as he took another inhale of his cigarette and continued to watch her. "Oh yeah because you're doing so well on your own."

"Oh I think it's a splinter." She muttered as she continued to look down.

"Oh come here I can get that out." Ace quickly blurted out as he put his cigarette in his mouth and moved closer to her.

Cora leant back slightly as she watched Ace crouch down in front of her.

"I got a great way to do this, I do it all the time." Ace mumbled as he kept the cigarette between his lips, tossing his shirt at her. "Hold this."

Before Cora could question it, Ace had reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black switchblade. Flicking it open as his other hand to grab at her leg.

"You're not going to stab me are you?!" She also panicked, trying to pull her foot away.

"Quit your whinin' I'm try'na help your ass!" Ace continued to yank her foot closer to him.

"I don't need your help!" Cora tried to yank her leg free from his grip.

"Would you quit bitchin' and hold still?!" Ace snapped as he gripped her foot tighter and held the blade up. "If you keep wriggling I'll slice your foot off!"

"I-"

"Shut your face and hold still woman!" Ace snapped again as he lifted her leg up slightly as he began to bring his blade up to the base of her foot.

"Do you know how to speak to someone with respect?" Cora asked, almost with a scoff as she stared at him.

"Do you know how to hold still?" He mumbled as the cigarette hung from between his lips.

Cora went to fidget and retaliate but finally chose to stay silent and still.

"You should learn to talk to women politely." She muttered as she leant back on her hands but kept her foot still.

Ace rolled his eyes as he focused more on using the tip of his blade to get the splinter out of the base of her foot.

"What you gonna do? Get your husband on me- oh wait." He answered as his eyes flickered up to her and a small smirk briefly came to his lips.

"I could still have a husband." Cora muttered under her breath.

Ace scoffed as he took another drag of his cigarette that was hanging between his lips. "Yeah right, and I could be polite."