They had been searching eighty-five years for her, Mary Alice Brandon. Though when they finally found her; they found much more than they ever expected. Hero had always had an aversion to doctors... Until she fell in love with one.
Carlisle Cullen X...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
BILOXI MISSISSIPPI, 1919
Hero Kelly sighed as she reached one pale, undernourished hand forward and placed her fingers delicately against her knight chess piece, it was a brilliant ivory colour and as her fingers enclosed around it, she found that in her years at the place, her skin had grown to be the very same colour. She forced the piece forwards and to the side before she could grow too fascinated with the withering of her own body, her eyes snapping away from her very obvious veins to stare upwards at Simon instead.
Her older brother scanned the board carefully with his careful light green eyes, that and his hair being his only colour now that he had been forced into wearing the plain, unisex grey scrubs. It had been four years, and the background screaming of the other patients in the communal area and general murky uncleanliness of the space seemed so familiar with them now that they didn't even flinch when Amelia slammed her head against the wall viciously or Trevor babbled nonsensical mutterings to the bars on the windows.
"You win again, brother." Hero sighed, not entirely minding the new development because it was yet another thing she had grown accustomed to- every single day they played and every single day, he won. It was just another cog in the endless machine of their life, all the days blurred into one in a sea of darkness, tasteless meals and bleak inhabitants. One thing was certain to them, they were never going to be free of that place. This wasn't about keeping them away anymore, Joseph Kelly paid excessive amounts of money to keep his children locked up tightly as punishment. Punishment for what they did not know.
When Simons eyes fell upon his little sister, they unconsciously shifted to something over her shoulder, a look of contemplation masking his face and Hero turned in her seat to follow the direction his eyes stared in intrigue. Standing in the doorway, looking incredibly nervous, terrified even and out of place, was a girl who could be no older than Hero herself, the two of them seeming the same height, both their hair falling down to their waist but this new girl was fuller, healthier and it was evident from the look in her eyes that she was new.
"Let's introduce ourselves," Hero decided, turning her grin to Simon and he sighed, rolling his eyes as if it was an inconvenience to stand- even as he had nothing else to do. Hero dragged him up with all her energy- award that he was purposely resisting her before dragging him across the room. This dark haired girl seemed incredibly alarmed the second they appeared in front of her with warm welcoming smiles- she was untrusting and they didn't blame her.
"Hello" Simon smiles warmly. "I'm Simon Kelly and this is my little sister, Hero Kelly." He gestured and his sister waved. For a long moment, the new girl just stared between them uncertainly and for a moment, they doubted her sanity- it wouldn't be unreasonable that she would be insane, that was what they were all there for after all.
"Hi, I'm Mary Alice Brandon... Are you... um" she blushed at herself, not entirely sure what it was she was attempting to ask the two red heads. It was clear from their bodies that they had been there for a very long time- they were like walking talking corpses but their smiles and hair were bright.
"Normal?"
"Sane?" Hero and Simon questioned simultaneously before laughing gently and Mary Alice blushed again at her own question.
"Yes, I do believe we are" Simon hummed, eyes scanning over his sister before he smiled at Mary Alice warmly. "Our father pays to keep us here" he shrugged and the new girl was shocked, though finding that it wasn't the furthest thing away from her own story- a tale she was itching to tell and actually have someone listen to. She wanted people to know that she wasn't crazy and despite where they were and her own fearfulness- there was something about Hero and Simon that made them seem to incredibly trustworthy to her.
"How long have you been here?"
"Four years. Since I was fourteen and Simon was nineteen." Hero smiles tightly, aware of the look of horror that masked their new acquaintances' face. "And no, I don't think that's legal but our father and his money...." she shrugged before laughing, shocking Mary Alice into laughing along. When she'd awoken that day, on her very first day in that wretched place, she could never have expected that within an hour- she'd be laughing. Maybe the asylum was getting to her already but when the two gingers linked arms with her and proceeded to tug her along gently to sit; she felt welcomed.
That day, as the Kelly siblings and Mary Alice Brandon exchanged their sad tales- a friendship blossomed; blooming like an unlikely flower in the darkness as they found smiles even in recollection of their darkest events. One thing became abundantly clear as they chatted aimlessly, uncaring as time trailed on- they were going to inevitably make one another's time their brighter. Happiness could be found anywhere, if only you have the right people at your side. They would certainly be broken down, shattered, pained and destroyed in that asylum- but at least they'd do it together now. Mary Alice Brandon became the third, unofficial Kelly sibling.
