Stone Cold

New Boy

Chapter One: New Boy

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Brigitta "Brigs" Turner was considered to be a peculiar presence in Mystic Falls, Virginia. Whispers had followed her every movement the moment she had arrived in the small town that had yet to cease in the two years she had been living there. The town wasn't known to have newcomers showing up at random, only the occasional family of tourists that would wander through during a family trip-- sometimes a historian or two that were researching the town's involvement with the Civil War. 

What the town wasn't used to was the sudden arrival of a young twenty-four year old woman that had decided to pay the town a visit after leaving behind her life in New York. When residents had first caught with of the city girl stopping in town they had all expected her to grow bored of the place and head back home within a week, but that wasn't what Brigs had had in mind. Instead the woman took it upon herself to get a lease for an apartment and start a job at one of the local restaurants. Still, people had been certain that she would grow tired of the town's slow pace and take off for another busy city before too long. But that never happened.

Two years after arriving in the town and Brigs found herself still as fond of the place as she had been when she first moved there. When people asked her why she didn't leave she claimed to enjoy the quiet and calm atmosphere that the town offered. She said that she had been in desperate need of some fresh air after living in a place as chaotic and stuffy as New York. Still, people thought she was crazy, including the various Mystic Falls residents she had befriended. 

Despite being an 'outsider' there she still managed to find herself falling into step with the locals. She was always one of the first people Carol Lockwood would call if she needed volunteers for one of the numerous events the town held every year. Her name was always on the list of chaperones for school events, despite the fact that she hadn't nor did she have any family that attended the high school. And when the high school was in need of tutors for some of their struggling students, she had quickly offered to assist with English and History. Perhaps that is how the young woman had ended up befriending several high school students and their families. 

One thing that no one in town could understand though was why the Turner woman paid a visit to the local cemetery every Thursday without fail. It sparked everyone's curiosity but no one dared question her as to why she would disappear into the cemetery every Thursday for nearly two hours, taking a single purple flower with her every time. 

And so that September afternoon the woman weaved her way through the numerous tombstones as usual, the vibrant flower held carefully in her hand. Her tawny locks had been pulled back from her face in a bun and she adorned a simple pair of jeans, black tee shirt, and black boots for her shift as work that evening. She paid little attention to her surroundings as she headed towards the back of the property where an old and weather beaten tombstone rested. The stone was clearly one of the oldest on the property, but was still in decent condition due to the careful upkeep it had received over the years. Etched in the stone were only a handful of words, no dates added like the others surrounding it. It simply read:

Alexander

may you fly high and rest easy

"Hello again." A small smile graced Brigs' lips as she knelt in front of the stone, placing the flower on the grass in front of it. Her voice was gentle and could have easily been lost in the breeze that tugged at the few locks that had fallen from her bun. For several moments she simply sat there in silence, just as unsure of what to say as she was every time she visited the grave. After all, what were you to say to someone you have never had the chance to meet?