Never Truly Lost

Chapter 1

"How can you work with these kids every day? They seem so immature for fifteen year olds." I looked up at Carrie who was marking the essays that she had assigned for this past week. She seemed really in engrossed in the essay that she was reading. I looked at the paper in my hand with a torn edge and what looked like a coffee stain on another corner. I shook my head.

Carrie looked up and laughed at me. "First of all, they are children. Kids are baby goats, get it right. And to answer your question; it's simple. You don't realise it but I do. After all, I have been teaching for two years now. Children are complex mechanisms. You don't realise at first glance but they have such deep thoughts and seem to find the most unique questions between things. I love to read these essays. I prescribe a vague topic and then I enjoy seeing how each person interpreted it. It tells you a lot about them and you learn to look at the world through different eyes. Take this one for example. The topic was 'Childhood, a dream or a lesson?' Now, some will interpret this directly and define a dream and a lesson, give some personal stories and come to a conclusion. Others will see something with potential to write stories. This one, Abigail, wrote a story as told from a child's perspective and from an adult's. She showed how adults would view something as illogical or made up, they would try to rationalise it. A child would make the most of the situation and revel in the imaginary side of things. Thus, childhood itself, is a dream to the child and a reality to the adult. The adult learns a lesson from the child about how we grow up and grow out of our dreams. It's so deep that it is almost philosophical!"

Carrie and I were spread out on the rug in my TV room. She was marking the essays for her classes and I was meant to be reading but I couldn't stop myself from picking up an essay to see what her students had accomplished. I shook my head and just grinned at my friend as she returned to reading the essay. I looked down at my book.

I thought about my friend for a moment. I don't know what I would do without Carrie in my life. She was a fun loving person who had barged her way into my life thereby making her my closest friend and my only confidante. I laughed to myself as I remebered the way that we met. In true Crazy-Express fashion, she made an appearance in my life.

(Knock, knock!)

I looked up at the clock on the wall above the stove. Who could be at my front door at ten o'clock in the morning? Surely the people in this town had to work. I turned the stove onto low, gave one last stir to the soup boiling away in the pot and put the wooden spoon onto the holder next to the stove plates.

I wiped my hands on a cloth as I walked through the house towards the front door. I was still getting used to the big house- empty and loud. It felt strange but at the same time it was comforting to have so much light and space around me. I felt free. I smiled a little as I reached for the handle of the door, though not before I had put my eye to the peephole in the center of the wooden door. I saw a pretty blonde woman standing on the other side, a dish in her hands and a smile on her face. She seemed harmless so I turned the locks on the door. Yes, locks, as in plural. I have three on the front door. One at eye level, one by the handle, in the normal position and finally a bar right across the wooden door below the handle. I had every reason to have those locks there. In fact, I was thinking of adding another one in the future.

I pulled the door open hesitantly and smiled at the woman standing on my front porch. She barely gave me the once over before smiling brighter and opening her mouth. Later, I would find her behaviour normal, but at the time I was stunned by her. Not in a scared or a judgemental way, just simply because I had no idea how I should react to her.

"Hi there! My name is Caroline Prescott, though don't you dare call me Caroline; my mother is the only one who thinks that that name is perfect for me and I certainly don't want to do anything that would please her. Not that I could seeing as how I will forever be a disappointment in her eyes. You know what? I am just going to start again and introduce myself properly-
"Hi! My name is Carrie and I am your next door neighbour. I saw you had finally moved in and I decided to come over to welcome you to the area. Welcome to Littlebrooke! More importantly, welcome to The Rise. I wanted to bring you a little something to officially welcome you so I made a cake for you. Usually I can be good with the sweet stuff but ever since I started baking this morning, I knew that I would find a way to have a slice of this cake." She said all this in a rush and as she said the last part, she went to push past me. Still in stunned mode, eyes wide, I stood back for the slender woman to pass by me. Caroli- sorry, Carrie, continued to speak. "So I decided that I will just have to come over here and we would get to know each other right now over a piece of cake. Where is your kitchen- oh, there it is! Great, and now your plates are where?"