14 YEARS LATER:

CHAPTER 1: NEW ARRIVALS

Mad woke up to a beam of sunlight creeping through the window of her bedroom. She sat up, still sleepy, and rubbed her eyes before getting out of bed. It was early enough in the day that her mother and grandmother were probably still sleeping, especially after the events of last night.

Mad and her family lived in an old house in a small village. Technically, it was her grandma’s house, but since Mad had lived there for as long as she could remember, she always thought of it as her own. The village had only a few hundred inhabitants and consisted of scores of houses, a bakery, an apothecary, and a small market that sold a variety of goods. There used to be a school, but it had closed down due to lack of students long before Mad was born.

That's why what had happened last night had caused such a frenzy. The house near Mad’s home had been empty since last spring when the old man who had lived there for the past sixty years died of pneumonia. Since he didn't have any known heirs, the house was likely to face the same fate as many others in the village, whose late owners had no heirs or whose heirs now lived in towns or cities far away and couldn't care less about a house that was worth next to nothing. But when Mad and her family were about to have dinner, they heard the sound of voices in the street mixed with what sounded like heavy objects being loaded in the ground.

Mad’s mom immediately got up and went to peek through the living room window, followed closely by Mad’s grandma and Mad herself. Outside there was a big carriage with two white horses and a family unloading wooden boxes and taking them inside the house on the other side of the street.

There were four of them: an older couple and two kids, and they were all incredibly beautiful. Mad couldn't think of another word to describe them. The man was probably her mom’s age and had caramel short hair, blue eyes, and sun-bathed skin; the woman seemed a few years younger and had jet black long straight hair and black eyes that accentuated her pale, immaculate skin. The younger kid looked just like his father, and the older one looked like the mother but with his father’s piercing eyes.

Mad was so concentrated on their beauty that she hadn't realized her mom had gone outside until she saw her through the window. She turned to follow her mom to presumably greet the new neighbors, but she only made two steps before her grandma grabbed her hand with surprise strength and said “Maddie, wait. It could get dangerous.”

Mad then turned to her grandmother and was about to ask if she was making a joke when she noticed how every color had leached off her grandma’s complexion. Mad then turned her attention to the window where her mom seemed to be speaking with the couple in hushed tones while both boys continued to take their boxes inside their new home.

A few moments later, Mad’s mom returned inside and refused to discuss what had just occurred. She simply instructed Mad to finish her dinner alone and then, turning to Mad’s grandma, said, “I need to have a conversation with you. In private.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The way her mom emphasized the word "conversation" made Mad realize her mother was livid, and the way her eyes kept darting between the window and Mad’s grandma suggested that whatever was happening was her grandmother’s fault. But how could it be? And more importantly, what was happening?

Mad finished eating while her mother and grandmother spoke privately in her mom’s bedroom. She attempted to eavesdrop on their conversation through the door, but the wood was too thick. She felt like a child, all over again, and couldn't help but wonder what was so secretive her own mother didn't want her to know. Mad was almost fifteen and had been through things most people her age had not had to experience; she could deal with whatever it was, and her mom had to know that.

Almost a full hour later, the door to her mother’s bedroom finally opened, and her grandma emerged. Mad gave her a questioning look and asked, “So, what was all that about?”

Her grandma seemed drained from the hour-long conversation, but she said, “Please, Maddie… give your mom some time. Today has been difficult enough for everyone, too many memories were stirred.”

“What do you mean? Which memories?” Mad asked, but her grandma only sighed and said, “We will talk about it tomorrow, now please go to bed.” And just like that, her grandma passed through her in the hallway and went to her bedroom.

Mad stood there looking at both closed doors, still debating what to do next, when her mom’s door opened again, and she appeared on the doorstep with an expression Mad had never seen on her. She looked as if she had aged ten years in the span of an hour. Mad couldn't count how many times people had thought her mom was her sister, but at this moment, she looked a decade older than 35 years old.

At that moment, Mad decided to swallow her curiosity for a few moments and just hugged her mom, who hugged her back. The two of them stayed like this for a while, and then Mad’s mom said, “I know I behaved strangely with the new neighbors and with your grandma tonight, but there's something about my past, about your past, that I am not ready to share with you just yet.” That made Mad’s arms stop holding her mom; she couldn't believe what she was hearing. After everything they had shared together, her mom was keeping secrets from her about her own past.

Mad didn’t even deign to answer her mother; she just stormed to her bedroom and closed the door. She sat on her bed, and for a minute she wondered if her mom would knock on the door; she didn't, which made Mad even more angry.

Mad had grown up without a father in a village where there weren't any kids her age, and through all that, her mom had been her family, her best friend. She had always made Mad feel like they didn't need anything or anyone else, even when the other villagers whispered about the fact that Mad didn't have a father, that she had come from a broken home; her mom made her feel like they were complete, just the two of them alongside her grandma. They were a family of three: three people, three women, three generations. And that’s why Mad couldn’t understand why suddenly her mom couldn't trust her with a family secret.

Mad fell asleep thinking about that, and a plan began to take form in her mind. When she woke up, she changed clothes as fast as she could and sneaked out through the front door of the house. If her mother couldn't be bothered to tell her the truth, she would find answers on her own.