Prologue

A Chapter by Annabelle Sears

This is Alyssa's life before chapter 1. It gives you a bit more detail on her background.

Ever since I could remember people would stare at me. When the kids went outside to play hopscotch and jump rope I would be off playing by the forest with the squirels and birds. My mother Rosalie always told me different is a good thing.

I remember, at six years old going with my mother to pick Luculia, a winter flower that bloomed in the town's forest. And a flower that my mother had given to be my middle name. We played out in the frost for quite a while, then it started to snow.We rushed back to the house laughing together. After we got inside I could tell she wasn't feeling well.

At first she only had chest pains, but it got even worse. Mom would sit there at night coughing, and throwing up. Father said that mom would get better, that she only needed time. But over the next several days mom didn't get better, if anything she got worse. She couldn't leave her bed anymore and could barely speak without coughing. After that my father sat there day and night with her, telling her she was going to get better.

And one morning we woke up, but she didn't. That was the first time I had ever seen my father cry. From then on my father changed. Father walked around talking to himself. He seemed to think there were others around. Little people, but not kids like me… little people that no one could see.

Of course at the time I thought it was amazing. But soon the town started to talk. And my father would defend himself claiming there were such things as his little people. The town thought he was a complete loon, and I became the loon's daughter.

The town's people began to tell all the other children that they were to stay away from me. My classmates had started to throw paper at me, and call me names like “Loony Lyssa”. Even some of the boys began to throw rocks. No one was my friend anymore, and whenever someone tried to be nice to me they would get bullied as well. So they all left me. Even when the other parents came to pick their kids up, they gave me the meanest looks. Our neighbour Agna was the only kind person left for me. When I came home to her crying with bruises, she as the one to patch me up. She was the only friend I had. When my father went out on his trips to go discover new creatures, Agna would be the one who would look after me.

Over the years school didn't improve, I was still a freak to everyone around me. Then when I thought things couldn't get worse, they did. I had just turned seventeen, and my father after returning from a day in the forest was riding home in the winter frost. The ice on the roads were too much, and he spun out of control.

At first when the police came to my house I wouldn't believe them, I thought it was some cruel joke. I ran over to Agna's house crying. I never thought father would leave too. That I could end up alone...

Now I am alone. The town knows I'm old enough to take care of myself so they didn't bother helping me.

I'm left alone in this house that feels so strange now that my father is gone, no more of his muttering as he walks the halls. With countless books and random pages.

And I can't help it but I have a feeling like ...something is coming, for me.

© 2013 Annabelle Sears

Author's Note

First off I re-wrote my earlier prologue because I didn't like how it turned out. I look forward to seeing comments on the text, and would much appreciate any advice that you can give, thank you very much for reading.