Crestfallen Lane

Chapter 3

The next morning I skipped breakfast and the deafening silence that would've inevitably come with it. Mother and my siblings had made their position on the matter quite clear.
I walked across all the old roads, just as I had done when I was a child, to get to town. I entered the library with laptop and notes in tow sitting down at the nearest table. It was a small space with such a lack of reading material that 'library' had really just become a token name the townsfolk had assigned to it. However it would have to do. I began searching through my emails and the latest in the e-journals I subscribed to for the three words that haunted me. 

      "Lianna?! Is that really you?" A distant yet familiar voice shook me from the trance I had been in. I turned to see who it was, shutting my laptop quickly. "Alistair mentioned you were coming back but no one believed him." I smirked, it was Clive, a fellow Descendant and Alistair's closest friend. And here he was telling me Alistair had started a rumour. So much for keeping silent.
"Really? I didn't realize Alistair did anything but cast shade and glare."

 "Nah, Alistair's a joker. You must remember that Li, plus he talks about you all the time."

 "Now that I highly doubt. Alistair abhors my very presence." I informed Clive as I gathered my stuff, not wanting another Descendant poking around. Especially my brother's best friend.

 "Not a chance, Alistair is so proud of you for getting out. Even more so for coming back." He said tagging along behind me as I left. 

"Could've fooled me. Aren't you supposed to be keeping the town or something by the way?" I asked without looking back.

 "Keeping the town? Well yeah, why do you think I'm here? Alistair wanted me keeping you today, you're part of the town after all. I just thought he was kidding around though. Never thought you'd actually return."

I turned around sharply cutting him off. "Alistair told you to do what?!"

 "You know, keep the town."

 "By keeping me?!"

 "Well yeah," he replied cheapishly looking down at a puddle near his shoe.

 "Typical," I muttered, "you know I'm not one of the townsfolk. You don't get to keep me or whatever it is you people do. I was born a Descendant too and you can tell Alistair he can take that fact and suck it."

I turned back around, practically marching home. I felt bad for how I treated Clive, he had been the first person to be kind upon my return. But, he had been spying for The Descendants, so maybe his easygoing kindness wasn't even remotely genuine. However Alistair proud of me? Talking about me? Missing me? Why would Clive say or even lie about all that? My brother was distant and cold, not kind and loving. At least that's what I had thought. I wasn't so sure anymore and part of me hoped Clive had been being genuine.

    Unfortunately for him, Alistair was the first person I saw as I entered the house that evening, he looked at me with the same cold expression as he attempted to pass me.

   "I ran into Clive today at the library, we had a nice long conversation. Very informative." I was baiting him and it was working, as he stopped in his tracks, and turned around slowly to look me in the eye.

 "You don't know what you're stepping into Lianna, this is much bigger than your intrepid curiosity." 

"So tell me exactly what all this is and maybe I'll back down."

 "You never back down, you don't know how too." There was a warning look settling into his face now. One I had never seen before, it wasn't cold and it wasn't threatening. I was about to reply when we heard steady footsteps entering from the back of the house. It was Mother.