Junior year has begun for Mike and Roxie. Will this year be different than the last two? Will the heroes of Hiraeth get a shot at being normal teenagers?
The chances seem ever-smaller as a curse spreads across Hiraeth and political unrest grips Idyl...
Rebeccah's life seemed like a film to everyone she met.
She operated a very successful bakery in the heart of Bijou City. She was Lovingly linked to a handsome husband. She was even expecting a child at the same time as one of her twins.
But what her friends and Loved ones did not see was the evenings she spent comforting a spouse that had no ability to comfort himself, whose emotions were like violent waves that nearly drowned him every time they crashed to shore.
When Rebeccah linked with Dolen, she had already grown accustomed to his illness. She didn't see it as a part of him, but as something he would eventually be rid of as long as she stayed by his side and did what the doctors instructed.
So even as the baby's arrival date approached and Dolen was beginning to lay motionless in bed for longer and longer each Day, Rebeccah kept her cool.
She hired help for the bakery. It was no problem; business had been booming for long enough that she had the money. And she appreciated the extra time to tend to her beloved.
Each Day she phoned the psychologist. Each Day she gave Dolen his medicine. Each Day she watched television beside him on their bed. It was almost as good as their usual talks.
And then one paralyzing Night she awoke to find Dolen missing from beside her.
The soon-to-be-mother raced out of their bedroom, frantically searching the upstairs until it dawned on her.
The knives in the bakery.
She nearly tore the phone from the wall to dial 000, extending the cord as far as it would go down the stairs before abandoning the operator and racing into the back kitchen.
She screamed when she saw Dolen just about to open the drawer she used to keep locked, back during the bad days.
The authorities arrived and she agreed to have them take him where he would be safe.
They said he would be safe.
They promised.
But only a week later, the phone rang with the news that their promise had been broken.
And after sixteen agonizing Days had passed, Rebeccah gave birth to a baby boy. Alone.
The moment he came into the world, the darkness was banished from his mother's life and instead a glow filled the room wherever she took him.
And so she named him after an old forgotten word for "road," for he had lit the path ahead of her when it seemed most desolate; Derek.
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Derek grew into all that Dolen had never been for Rebeccah. He was bursting at the seams with joy. He was independent, hopeful, and innocent. And he Loved like her lost one had Loved. He was as kind as he had been. As caring.
And so it was no wonder that Rebeccah's Sun found the Moon.
The Moon's name was Michael.
She knew the moment that she first saw them beside one another that the whole of Hiraeth had moved winds and oceans to bring them there.
And the Moon reminded her so much of her lost Love. He held the same terrible sadness in his eyes, carrying an unfathomable weight within his ribcage.
Rebeccah welcomed the Moon into her home like she had before, and this time she knew that no promises would be broken.
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