Heartbreakers: The Cursed Child- Book 1

Chapter 3

I don't know exactly how long I was asleep for but I knew that it couldn't have been for less than half an hour, I also knew I was too far from home to go back and stop what I was doing which I didn't want to do anyways. I got off of the tram and instantly knew where I was. I had previously came to this place and new that there were train stations nearby. I hadn't paid for the tram ride and was lucky to have not been discovered yet, I was now considered a criminal because what I had just done was considered a crime.

I ran down the stairs of the tram station and began walking through the almost empty, though I had been to this place I wasn't used to it, with the huge buildings towering over me, making me feel smaller than I already was, the scent of food from nearby takeaways wafted in the air making my mouth water and my stomach growl. The shops were huge with window walls and the insides were decorated beautifully, people were dancing around in some of the shops, probably were in parties. I instantly felt like I could belong here, the people in the parties were dressed strangely, but it was too close to my old home and I didn't want to be near, knowing the consequences of being too close.

I continued walking in the city and exploring the magnificent place with its modern architecture and the small open pubs that sat in the corners.

Desperate for an affordable snack, I managed to find a small, cozy looking inn that served food, drinks and had games.

As soon as I entered the shop, the scent of fresh goods hit me in the face, making me even hungrier than I had been before. The place was dimly lit with yellowish lights and it was full of people singing and eating. As soon as I'd entered a woman who was probably drunk came rushing to me with a huge smile on her face.

"You alright, love?" Her voice was croaky and I got the impression that she was an addictive smoker. She wrapped her arm in my own and dragged me towards a group of friends chatting. They all welcomed me warmly and asked if I wanted something to eat, and of course I didn't reject the offer. They brought me a slice of their traditional homemade pie, it was the most amazing thing I had ever tasted.
Everyone was enjoying the conversation until one of the younger men, around his mid twenties asked me a question.

"How old are ya, love?"

I didn't even hesitate to answer the question knowing well enough that there were people who were younger than me in this place.
"I just turned 19 this year." Almost instantly they all began to 'ooh' and 'aah' at me, interested in this conversation.

"So why did you come to this place? Not that we don't want you here, you're a darling. But you seem like an outsider, you from around here?" They all gazed at me with smiles on their faces as they awaited my response.

Taking a deep breath, I started, could I seriously trust these guys?
"I... uhh, I left my family. I'm going to go further south. They don't want me in their life and I don't want them in mine." Looking up, I saw the pitying looks on their faces, I hated it when people pitied me, but there was also a look of understanding.

"Ah, ya runnin' away, ain't ya?" A different man had spoken now, putting his glass of beer down and smiling.

"Us lot here all ran away. We're all from the South and we moved further North. We're the same." He continued as he looked me in the eyes.

"If you're gonna go further South, ya might as well stay here the night, darlin'. It's dark out there and the train station ain't a good option at this time. You'd have to wait till 5."

"Okay. That's fine." I knew they were right so I knew better than to argue with them.
"Connor, take her to the extra room, we'll be paying for ya, love." She winked at me before the young guy linked his arm with mine and literally dragged me up the stairs, skipping along the way as he chatted about himself, probably drunk because of his giddy mood.

"We all stay single, don't fuck with anyone. Trust me, it doesn't bring any happiness and Margery doesn't say anything without experience." He was only an inch or two taller than me but it still seemed a bigger difference.
He opened the door for me before giving an announcement in a formal voice, the ones you'd hear at the train station.

"Please stay in this room, we will awaken you at around 4:50 am, please be ready and waiting at least ten minutes before that time. Thank you and have a lovely night." He gave me a salute and winked before shutting the door and marching back down.

At least I had a decent place to stay in.

*****

Once I got to the train station, I made my way to the reception to book a ticket to Manchester knowing that it would be cheap enough to leave a lot of money for my trip later on to London.

When I stood in front of the reception, I saw a young girl with muddy brown curly hair with soft peach skin and blue eyes. Her plump lips were painted a bright red colour and she was slumped in the chair not even bothering to look up at me. She spoke in a bored tone that made it obvious she clearly didn't want to work there.

"Hi, how can I help you?" She didn't even look up when asking me.

"Umm... could I get a ticket to Manchester?"I questioned in my talking voice that I would only use when I was in public.

Once I had spoken, her eyes shot upwards and met mine, widening once realisation had hit her and she knew who she was talking to. My own eyes widened as I saw Serena, my only childhood best friend who had remained a friend since primary school till the end of high school. We didn't have any forms of contact and it was devastating without her.

I heard a loud squeal escape her mouth as she kicked the door open and ran to me in her black stilettos that would've been too high for me to walk in and grabbed me by the arms and pulled me into a warm hug as she began telling me how much she missed me and how much she was worrying about me. She knew everything about my childhood and how I'd suffered before she met me.

After a few minutes of squeezing the life out of me, she broke the hug and pulled me at arms length so that she could take me in properly. Her eyes trailed down my body as she was clearly searching for some clear sign that I had been hurt then back to my face before zooming into the mask that hid my face.

"What are you doing? Why are you wearing that mask? You know what, TELL ME EVERYTHING GIRL!" She didn't shout in an angry tone, more like squealed so she could hide her outburst to prevent any suspicions.
"You're an outsider to this town, I'm glad nothings happened to you so far."