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CHAPTER ONE memories of a time long gone
I never thought I'd return here.
The small northern town in England, half an hour away from the border to Scotland. A small, green place I'd once called home. It didn't feel like that anymore- it hadn't since I'd left.
It felt as if so much had changed, and yet at the same time, nothing at all. The roads were properly paved, accommodating the old cars that lined the small streets. Those once had been no more than dust paths, driven on by only the wealthiest of villagers. Walking through the main square, it was as if no time had passed at all. Each building stood the same, the only differences being in the name and printing of the small wooden posts that advertised each cafe or shop that hid inside the old walls.
I almost expected to turn the corner on the last lane and look out upon my mother walking back from the well, dress hikes up past her ankles, a bucket of water resting on her hip. I blinked my eyes, startled at the emptiness of the field, when Thomas should have been waiting down by the old farmer's fence, ready to throw me over the broken beam so we could escape into the town over for the fair.
At first, as I stopped by the edge of the untouched field, feet crunching in the snow, Alice kept her distance. But then, as I clenched my fists by my side, she stepped forward, spreading her hands through my fingers, forcing them open, the coolness of her skin comforting. She didn't say anything but her eyes were inviting. Talk if you want, if you're ready.
But she already knew all of it, each horrific moment of when I'd been turned, discarded bloody on the street to fend for myself during the changing. Somehow, for some miraculous reason, I'd done it- forced myself through the pain, the thirst, for no other reason than spite and pure, untainted hatred to he who bit me. She knew of each feeling I held toward him, of how I'd escaped, where I'd went afterwards. It was her family, after all, that'd helped take him down when he'd worked with Victoria. But it was I, who'd ended William for good. And yet Alice didn't know of the happiness this town had once brought me.
Her head leaned against my shoulder, arms wrapped around my waist as if she was scared I would either crumple or flee under the pressure. Had I returned years ago, I might've. But Alice was here now. She was my home. My comfort.
"I did love this place," I said after a while, noticing the melted snow that'd soaked through our shoes.
"I'm sure you did," she said sitting against the old stone wall, lifting her dainty feet. "It's peaceful."
"We always knew how to break the peace."
"Thomas..." she said, trailing off. She still didn't like to mention William.
I nodded. "We used to play a game, hopping over the farmer's fence, testing how quickly and how far we could run before the horses started chasing us. There was always this one mare who would chase the hardest, running rings until we had to throw ourselves into the brambles at the bottom of the field," I said, and she laughed at the thought of the memory. It probably made her think of her own brothers. "Thomas would get in trouble more than I ever did. He liked the girls- and the boys, but that was more secret. We were both good at keeping those secrets."
