Virtue for the Soal

Chapter 2: Riannon

"Ri! Come on wake up"

It was a cold October morning, and Riannon hadn't quite woken up. Culled up in a ball and under the heat of a huge duvet, all that was visible was her dark brown hair.

"Ri! Come on it's moving day! We have to get a move on!"

Her father's voice sounded rushed, he had been up since sunrise packing and cleaning. Richard had been married for 20 years, but now was divorced, he was finding it hard to juggle being both parents. Bursting through the door of Ri's now old room "Ri, I'm not going to say it again you need to get up! We have a long drive and I want to get there in the light !"

Ri shoved the duvet off, the cold air pinched at her skin. "Uur, Dad just give me a minute..." cleaning her eyes of sleep, she looked around her room. This room had been hers, she painted the walls and stained the carpet. She was still frustrated that they were moving, there was nothing to be done, papers had been signed and lines had been drawn. Once dressed she carried her pre-packed luggage down the stairs, she ran her fingers down the wall, as she walked down the stairs for the last time.

"Hey, Stinky!" it was Ri's younger sister Sophie "Dad said I'm sitting in the front". Sophie always five steps ahead, had bagged the front of the car, the least cramped seat as well.

"Oi! Dad Said I was sitting in the front!" a deep-voiced growled out of the bathroom, Evan, Ri's younger brother. He had recently finished puberty and had gained a rather deep voice. "I've got the longest legs and I need the room"

"Well, Dad changed his mind, and besides I've got better music taste" Sophie flashed her premade mix tape for the car. While they were bickering, Ri was helping with packing up the last few items into the car, Ri hadn't really had the best relationship with her Dad over the past few years. That had been due to a number of factors, He was always at work, she had been at high school and they both had not made time for each other. The big elephant in the room of their relationship though had been Ri's mother and Richard's now ex-wife.

"Thanks for helping me out Ri" he looked at her, the sun bouncing off her very tired-looking face.

"It's alright Dad, I mean I thought I would be more helpful than just arguing about being in the front of the car" She smiled at him, thinking this is how I get the front seat.

"Ah, I like that strategy but your sister is louder than both of you and I don't want her kicking off all the way there! But we can swap at the halfway point" he smiled back at Ri.

"Ur, fine but you need to tell Evan that" Richard closed the boot of the car, it was done, their whole lives packed up into boxes and bags.

"Do you wanna...do you wanna say goodbye to the house?" Richard looked over at his eldest child, remembering her child-like smile and wispy box fringe she used to have.

"Dad if we do that we would be here all day, It's best we head off" Ri wanted to say something more along the lines of "Yes, that's a great idea" or "One last time" but in her heart, she knew that it would hurt too much to walk back over the threshold.

"Ok then, get in the car and I'll get the other two" Sadness brushed across Richards's face like a leaf being pushed across a road, It was brief but very noticeable. Ri felt bad for not going back in with him, all she wanted was for all of this to be over, this heavy feeling, the guilt all of it. She'd accepted the fact they would have to move, it was out of her hands, but what was to come was unknowable. The past year alone had felt like she had lived through ten, all she wanted now was for Richard to find his footing in life again, for her sister to get her high school qualifications, for her brother to get into university and for herself she wasn't quite sure of that yet.

Once everyone was in the car Richard started the engine, reversed, and drove down what was their lane. Ri looked out of her window as the house slid by, she pressed her face up against the side of the car and closed her eyes. Fashes of the past twelve years flu by, Ri's first day of the new primary school, to high school, and her first boyfriend, all of these life events felt somewhat overshadowed by emotion and loss.

It wasn't her father's choice to move, it had been her mother's "A woman that Hartless, doesn't deserve you, kids". Ri remembered what her Grandmother said "Why if your grandfather were still here..." He had only passed in the last two years, in a way Ri was grateful as she believed that if he did live he would have died during the whole divorce process. "It's a good thing he left your father Lle-Rhinwedd, it needs some love just like you children" Ri's grandmother's voice echoed through her mind again. She had never heard of Lle-Rhinwedd before then, her father and grandfather never spoke about it. All Ri knew was her great aunt still lived there and it had been in her family for some years, she knew nothing of the darkness, the myths and legends surrounding the Mannor or her own family ties to the place.