Tale of Two

Chapter 1

The train was gliding through the hills like a blue snake in the silky grass, leaving the little villages behind in a blur. As far as Cora Henwood was concerned, the English countryside showed its most attractive face in the late summer, so being the very beginning of September meant that Cora was immensely enjoying the journey from Leeds to Manchester. Not that she was a boring or precocious person who had no better idea than amusing herself with such a panorama, but she felt like she could finally relax a bit, even if it was only for an hour or so.

During the last week, she barely slept to get her things ready for the move to Manchester and the break up with Will made everything a hundred times worse. He said they wouldn't be able to keep up the relationship once Cora left Leeds and he didn't want to take a risk. The most horrible part of it all probably was the fact that he made it seem like it was Cora's fault, like there was an actual risk of cheating on her side. That was impossible of course, Cora loved him with all her heart and the last year was the very best of her life until she figured out that Will had cheated on her. Nevertheless they managed to get through it together and their relationship was stronger than ever when Will came up with the brilliant idea that it had to be over.

Cora still felt the continuous ache in her chest, but after a week of packing and avoiding each other, all she wanted was some sleep. Besides being hurt, she was furious too, because she spent the whole summer in Leeds for the sake of Will's good mood, instead of going on a vacation or simply drinking her nights away with her old friends back at home. Will said they had to spend their summer together since Cora was moving to Manchester in September to start her M.Sc. studies, while he was going to stay in Leeds, in his hometown. So Cora did as he told, got a job in a little café and spent two and a half months in complete bliss with the love of her life just to be broken up with at the end of the summer.

She was more than happy now that she got admission to the University of Manchester. It was closer to her hometown than Leeds and most of her friends from home were studying there, so she thought that would be a good start in her new life. Although she hadn't seen her old classmates a lot during the last three years, they occasionally run into each other at home and they were friends since forever.

She couldn't believe she only visited her family five or six times in three years. The reason behind it wasn't the distance, Leeds and Holmes Chapel weren't really that far away, but she always found some excuse not to go home. First year she was sulking because her parents hadn't let her to take a year off hitch-hiking in the States, wherefore she was genuinely grateful now. Second year she went home three or four times, but that year she really had a lot of uni work, mostly making up for the wasted credits from the previous semesters, when she had been living the student highlife, partying every second day and not giving a shit about anything but 'YOLO'. And third year there was Will, consuming her time as well as her heart.

Now that Cora was facing the master degree, she made a resolution to be good. She would concentrate on her studies, she would find her old friends and apologise for her absence in these last years and maybe she would find love too. Real love, not the kind that's paralyzing, that ties you up so you can't move, can't breath and can't even realize that you're not yourself anymore, but the kind of love that makes you beam with happiness, makes you thrive and exfoliate, shapes you into a better person. She was an intelligent and opinionated girl, and she didn't really understand how Will could affect her so much that she surrendered her every plan, every desire to him. She wanted to please him and she forgot about taking care of herself in the process.

There was a lot to figure out, but she was willing to make an effort and find herself again. She never was an insecure, fragile little girl who didn't know how to handle life, but it felt like she lost her way, lost focus and needed to find it again. She was fortunate. Her family always stood by her side and wanted what was best for her. Even now, when she was an adult, a young woman with a promising future, they did everything to make her feel better. Her mom actually suggested her to move back home for a few months before starting the master degree, so that she could get over the nasty break up, but she refused. She would bore herself to death in Holmes Chapel.