Serenade Me [H.S.]

Prologue

Tuesday, April 21st, 2007. I was ten years old when my family decided to take a trip to England. Thank god my parents decided on this country, this day, this year, or I don't think I'd be breathing. Let me introduce you to my family at the time of the trip.

My mother. The highly intelligent 34 year old, Teresa Jones. A bright light in this dark, dull world. Her eyes are soft, like a mossy hazel dream, thank the lord she passed those genetics to me. She has the most beautiful chocolate brown hair. When she is in the sun it makes her look like a Greek goddess, the way the warm beams of light bring out her auburn undertones always made me admire her beauty when I was a child. She's tall for the women in our family, about 5'7. Although she didn't bless me with it, the silky soft olive skin of her hands always comforted me when I needed a back rub. My mother was the one and only woman I've ever trusted.

My brother is next. His name is Tommy, he is 8 years of age, and is always an absolute laugh. I hated my mother when I was younger for getting pregnant with him, but now I am his soul protector and would slaughter a fly that would touch a single hair on his head. He is my best friend and my only brother. I don't think I would be able to last a single day without him.

Then there is me, at the age of 10. I was a weird kid, I didn't want to be a princess like all of my other friends. I wanted to be a paleontologist. I was short for my age, but not too short. I had auburn hair that matched the hidden strips of copper in my mother's hair. I was quite pale and that hasn't changed in 12 years. I wasn't skinny, but I wasn't fat, I was stout for a girl. Thank god I grew out of that...

Lastly, my father, Ronald. How do I start this off? Damn, this is really difficult... I'm seriously having a difficult time figuring out how to describe such an awful human being. My father is the reason I might have died a week after stepping off the plane in England. This man, no, this, this absolute monster, now in a maximum security prison, was the one part of mine, my brother, and my mother's lives that I wish I could erase for eternity.

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My alarm goes off right on time Monday morning. It's 3:30 am and I have packed everything that my 10 year old self could pack. I can hear the two other alarms that my brother set through the paper thin walls adjacent to mine. Then, I hear a soft knock on my bedroom door. It's my mom and she greets me with a warm smile and a cup of water to go along with my allergy pill. She really is the greatest mom on the planet. I don't ever go without when she is around me.

"Good morning, Mommy," I say with a big stupid smile on my face after I down the small white pill she's given me. "Good morning, my sweet Alena," her voice is weak, and I know why, but she hides it with a soft smile. "Tommy is up," I tell my mom as I hear my brother's little feet pad to the bathroom for his morning pee. "Are you all packed, booger?" My mom asks after lightly rapping the bathroom door with her thin frail knuckles. "Yes, mommy...," he says with a crackly morning voice right before he flushes the toilet. After Tommy leaves the restroom mom kisses the tops of both our heads followed by a light caress of her hands on our cheeks. She tells us to get ready to leave by 4:00, in 25 minutes. Then, she walks back down the hallway to her and Ronald's room.

I decide to help Tommy make sure he didn't just pack all of his stuffies. By my surprise, he actually has packed all the right clothes and undergarments. He has also put all of his toiletries into a large ZipLock baggie that he has double bagged, just in case there is any leakage. I ask him for a high five and he accepts the offer.

Tommy and I walk to the sinks in our shared bathroom to brush our teeth and to make sure we don't forget to bring the brushes with us. By the time we are done there are about 20 minutes left to go eat a quick breakfast bar and have some apple juice. I grab two of the aforementioned bars out of the large pantry after we get downstairs to the kitchen. I then walk to the fridge and grab the apple juice and set it on the counter. Tommy was able to get two small kid cups out of the cupboard and poured him and I an even amount of juice. "Thank you, Thomas," I said to my brother with a little smile of pride.

As we are finishing our small meal, my mother and father walk down the stairs. My father behind my mom with both of the suitcases in his hands. "Morning, kiddos," my father bellows in his extremely low harsh voice. Tommy and I both say good morning to our father before he lets us know we have two minutes before we have to leave for our 6:00 am flight. I run upstairs to grab my cellphone and its charger along with mine and Tommy's bags. I dart back down the steps and roll both of the bags on the mahogany hardwood floors to the front door. "Dad, could you help me put the bags in the car?" He nods and walks over to open the door and unlock the trunk of his black trailblazer. I sit my bag and Tommy's vertically so that my parents' bags have as much room as possible.

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We arrive at the airport in about forty five minutes. Now a quarter to five and we have TSA preCheck and an early boarding pass. So, my mother decides to grab a couple of snacks for my brother and I before boarding.

Ten minutes pass after waiting for my mom to come back with snacks and just as they call for our group of passengers, she's back with two bags of snacks and waters. One for Tom and dad, the other for mom and I. We board and I get to sit right in between mom and Tommy. My mother gives me a little benadryl pill to make me and Tommy sleepy on the plane. She knows we hate the feeling of our ears popping when we are up in the air. As the two of us kids drift to sleep, the attendant says that the flight will be fourteen hours and twenty minutes due to a small storm that is north about an hour.

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AN~

Hi, everyone. So the first few chapters are going to be Alena's back story. The Jones family will arrive in England in the next part of the Prologue. Hold your buttcheeks, because there is major turbulence ahead...

There is going to be A LOT of Harry after that.

So, what do you think Ronald did to Alena for him to end up in a maximum security prison?

All the love, K.