Recall

Chapter 1

             She felt the crisp, cool air play with her hair. The birds chirped a song as the sun peeked out of the horizon. It shone on her face as if telling her that morning had finally arrived. She stood up from the ground, her pants damp from the morning dew that lay on the grass. Feeling delighted, she spread her arms wide and breathed in the sweet scent of dawn. Nothing was better than starting her day with this one simple pleasure.

            As the sun continued to rise, Aria could see the people of Neville groggily make their ways out of their warm, comfortable beds and into the kitchen where they prepared their breakfast. Aria felt completely refreshed, so she decided that she would head back inside the house to start preparing breakfast. Everyone inside this small cottage was still asleep, but as soon as Aria dropped the egg onto the pan, people began to roll out of bed one by one to the sound of sizzling eggs. The first one to be down would be Jack. He would drag his little sleepy head out of bed with his nose up, sniffing out the delicious scent of eggs. When he’d successfully made his way down to the kitchen, he would stand next to Aria and simply watch the eggs sizzle with sparkling eyes and occasionally drool.

            A few minutes later, the rest of the family would trickle down. Flynn being first, Jane next, and lastly Warren. As soon as Aria surrendered the eggs she made to Jack, Jane smiled and then frowned, “Oh Aria dear, you know that you don’t have to do this every morning. Making breakfast for us I mean.”

            “It’s no problem Mrs. Clark. I enjoy cooking” Aria looked over to Jack, “and it seems like he’s enjoying it very much.”

            “Aria. You know,” Warren started, “there’s no need to feel obligated to –”

            Aria interrupted, “Its fine Mr. Clark. Like I said, I like cooking so it’s no trouble at all.”

            The conversation led to awkward silence. Aria could see the worried look on all of their faces. Even though she had told them that everything was alright, the Clark’s couldn’t seem to stop worrying. She hated this about them. She didn’t want them to worry about something that had nothing to do with them. She didn’t want them to feel as if they needed to give her “special” treatment or extra care. She just wanted to live a normal life.

            Jane broke the silence and smiled at Aria. “Well anyways, Aria dear. I’ll finish off the cooking for this morning and you go on and relax today. Today is your birthday.”

            “Wait. It’s not –” Aria begun.

            Jane started pushing Aria towards the door. She gently untied Aria’s apron and hung it on the apron rack in the kitchen. She then started pushing Aria out of the kitchen and urged her to relax. Suddenly, she was stopped in her tracks when Flynn started to speak. “Aw, mom! Why do you always have to get Aria out of the kitchen when she makes breakfast? I thought I would finally be able to get a taste of her cooking.”

            “Oh stop whining! I can make eggs just as well as she can. Now sit down and quiet that mouth of yours!” Jane exclaimed.

            Flynn gave a sly smile. He neared Aria and put his arms around her, shocking her. His dark brown hair covered a part of his face as his cool grey eyes stared into Aria’s. He lowered his voice’s tone and spoke so that only Aria could hear, “But I want Aria to cook for me.”

            Aria looked at Flynn, a little bit confused and a little bit disgusted. Slowly, she turned her gaze to Jane and her eyes opened wide. Jane’s face was red with rage and her fists were clenched tight. She chattered her teeth and her eyes twitched. If she looked closely enough, Aria swore she could see a vein popping out of Jane’s forehead. Jane spoke with clenched teeth, “Get. Your. Hands. Off. Of. Her.”