Haven's Ridge

Part Three: The Storm

AN: Trigger Warning: This chapter depicts scenes of domestic abuse. Reader discretion advised. If you have no interest in reading the scenes of domestic abuse, send me a PM and I can send you an edited version. Just be aware that there will be scenes of abuse in future chapters.
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Regarding aspects of the book: On one hand, I'm a little bit enjoying the chapter titles of "The (insert relevant setting/thing here)", but I don't know if I'm really attached to it. What do y'all think? Should I get a bit more creative? I sort of just throw something in there when I post it.

Also, regarding Shiloh, our main character. I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been intentionally leaving out any sort of physical descriptions for her. I've been toying with the idea of writing the entire book avoiding any sort of description of what she actually looks like. I do really enjoy describing people beyond just physical descriptions, so I'll just be keeping with those for now. I really like the idea of Shiloh having a unique appearance for each person reading this book: inevitably, we tend to put our own placeholders there.

On the other hand, I can see this bugging some readers. If you're curious to know how I picture Shiloh, then you can always shoot me a PM and ask (but I might give each of you a different answer xD ).

Anyways! Let me know! And as always, on with the show.

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On entering the building, the first thing that hit Shiloh was the smell of freshly baked bread. Instantly, her mouth watered. Gran used to make sourdough every other morning. Hearing the crust crackle as they cut into it for the day, spreading butter and homemade jam on it, were some of her most cherished memories. The smell now brought a sharp pang of homesickness; and she had to blink away the sudden dampness in her eyes.

The entrance was comprised of a wide hall with two small rooms branching off the left and right. The left was doorless, and she could see tables and chairs folded off to the side. There were also poles and shelves along the wall, with a few old jackets hung up and forgotten, now that the warm weather was here. The right hand had a door. It was proped open, and through it, she could see a sink with a mirror and rightly assumed it must have been a bathroom. Ahead, the large room seemed to be mostly situated to the right. She couldn't see it, but Shiloh could hear the murmur of people and the clatter of cutlery and glasses.

Advancing on, the room made itself more apparent. There was an impressively large table laid out with the red and white tablecloth she had seen Nina carrying earlier. A motley of sitting arrangements were mostly occupied by people; there was a long bench on the left side of the table, nearest to them, and six people already covered the length. On the other side sat an unoccupied high chair with a steaming plate of spaghetti and broccoli on it, as well as two occupied folding chairs and three old-style wooden chairs; a woman hovered over the high chair, cutting up the long spaghetti strands. At the head of the table sat an empty brown-cushioned desk chair, straight out of the 90s. Adjacent to it was another empty wooden chair with generous sweeping arms on either side.

Even with the odd motley of seats, the table was laid out rather lovely, and the chatter was light and pleasant as they came in. Shiloh recognized Todd and Mary sitting on the far side, a small bassinet rocking right behind them; she assumed Ellie must have been asleep in it. A few of the others at least glanced up as they walked in, but continued their conversations with a smile and nod from Stuart.

Something small and green came running up to them, stopping abruptly and stomping its feet.
"Roar!" It raised its small arms up and stomped again.

Stuart knelt down and pushed back a green hood that sported knitted spikes going down the back, revealing a little blonde head with a mop of curly hair. The small child roared at him again, then rather proudly said, "I'm a dinosaur!"
Stuart chuckled, then said seriously, "You're a very scary dinosaur, Bohdi. You don't bite, do you?"
Bohdi shook his head no.
"Oh, that's very good. I wouldn't want to scare Shiloh away. Would you like to say hi to Shiloh?"
Bohdi turned to her with a large toothy smile, "Hi Shiloh!" And with that, he turned and ran off around the table, stomping and growling under his breath as he went.