1. Coven Groves

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(Aurora)

Aurora didn't imagine those turns of events when her father had called for a family meeting exactly a week ago. Her father was into things like family bonding, sharing and she didn't mind it. Not at all.

She loved her parents, her home, and her life with them. They were the best parents a girl could ask for. So, she had made a bowl of popcorn-sometimes the family meeting would be quite funny and amusing- but what came out of that particular family meeting was something Aurora didn't believe at first. She couldn't.

She had laughed at her dad, asked him not to joke like that. His poker face didn't give away anything, and then he nodded sternly and said, "Rory, I am not joking. We are moving away. It is about time."

Her mother had looked at her with a soft sigh of defeat as Aurora stared at her father as if she was seeing an alien. He shook his head and sighed and asked sorry. All the while, she wanted to ask, 'it's about time for what?; But she was too tongue-tied at that point of time.

After flurry of packing, stuffing, hiring movers, days of fights and tears and angry words later, here they were –a small town out of nowhere, called Coven Groves. She immediately though about witches coven when she heard the name. The town looked eerily witchy, as well. 

The board was ancient, scarred and it missed 'W' in the welcome.

elcome to Coven Groves, Illinois, population 4100.

She sneered. 4100?! There were at least two thousands in her high school alone, back in New York.

The car came to a halt in front of a big house. No. It wasn't a house. It was a mansion and it looked like it belonged in medieval era. The walls were clutched in a strong hold by wisterias and the windows were awning and wide, the front door was red wood with ornate metal knocker with a wolf insignia on the front, and tall trees flocked the driveway paved in cement. Aurora hated it immediately.

She got out of the car, her face in a sullen pout as stared at the house her dad had been talking about and her heart flailed. Panic engulfed her.

What the hell was she doing here? This town was not her home, not where she belonged.

This was an alien space.

She missed her home, already, missed its soft blue exterior. She missed her best friend Amanda, and her calming brown eyes, soft and loving. She missed the noise she once hated so much, the crowd.

This place looked deserted, slow, and haunted. Full of shadows that lurked in the darkness and vile secrets, ready to sink its teeth when it was the right time. She shivered.

'Damn it, stop doing it again. This is just a damn place out of nowhere and there is nothing wrong with this place.'

It was her overactive imagination, it was. It always was.

Her imagination had long since become her enemy, her ruin. Once she had wanted to become a writer, with that imaginative brain of hers, but now, she would give anything to give-up that unwanted skill.

Her imaginations were the reason for continual sleepless mid-nights, where she'd sit and watch the shadows move across her white walls, wearing horns of the monsters. She'd hear the crash of the waves –when no oceans were nearby, would feel the sinking claws of cold wind ripping across her tender flesh, even when her windows were shut with the curtains drawn.

She had long since deemed her imagination as one terminal illness she couldn't escape no matter how hard she ran.

Sometimes she did wonder if she was just giving excuses-what if it wasn't always her imagination-but that course of thoughts was trouble that she necessarily didn't need. So, she often ignored them without considering them.

She looked at the second house flanking the one she was staring at, one that was supposed to be theirs. Her father said they would be staying near a family friend they had known once.

Aurora had never known they had friends. Her parents had always been elusive and closed off and secret. Sometimes, Aurora wondered why they didn't even have any family. They spent holidays alone, Christmases alone and there were no mentions of anyone else, ever. Aurora never asked, though.

The second house was painted a dark brown, and it looked ugly in the sunlight. She smirked to herself. Whoever decided that brown was the color for this house had no sense of style at all.

She studied the houses again. They looked alone in the middle of nowhere, but it was as if the houses were content with each other. There was stillness in the air that Aurora rather liked, but the overgrown woods a turn away from the houses was something she had to avoid at all costs.

Once upon a time, she had wandered into scattered trees nearby her friend's house and dreamed about the trees squeezing the life out of her for almost a year–the dream was still recurring, but was less frequent these days.

"Matthew, Paula, oh my God, you are really here. Welcome. Oh, it is so nice to see you two after a long time." A woman hurled herself at Aurora's mom and they both hugged and kissed and blubbered and laughed and shared meaningless words. They both looked exhilarated. 

They held hands and stood there for a second and Aurora almost thought they were talking without words. It was strange to see them like that.

It was almost heart-warming to watch how her mom transformed with just a meeting as if she was finally full again, but Aurora had no intention to admit it. They pulled apart a little and continued the chatter. It was as if someone had dabbed sunlight to her mom's eyes. Her mom's eyes sparkled, glittered and she looked really happy for the first time in her life. 

She felt a small portion of her anger melting, but she wouldn't give in.

'Oh, not yet. They must make it up to me for this sudden move.' Aurora thought with a smirk. And make it up, they would!

She wanted to go back home, go back where she belonged. This place was new, strange and she hated to be a stranger. Her school, her friends, her life, everything was back in NY.

This small town with its rundown buildings, darker mornings and fewer people with no KFC and Starbucks in sight was not her, not her at all.

She screamed at her dad inside her head, for the hundredth time today for interrupting her life and hauling her all the way to this quaint little town with its 4100 residents.

The woman, after another kiss on the cheek, disentangled herself from her mom, and gave a kiss to her dad and then turned her bright green eyes to Aurora. Uh-oh. Trouble.

"You must be Aurora. God, you have grown up to be a beautiful young woman. You were this tiny when we last saw you." She said as she stepped forward. She then gave Aurora's mom a look as if she was asking about something and her mom sighed and shrugged and shook her head no. 

Were they just talking about her? 

The woman came closer as if she was going to hug, but Aurora pulled back with a polite smile. She was not one for hugs, and not definitely from strangers. "I'm Janessa Hennessy." The woman looked crestfallen for a moment before she smiled fully. There was something in her that made Aurora curious. She looked different, not in an obvious way, but something- something about her was different.

Her green eyes sparkled, and Aurora was reminded of the green lake she often envisioned herself drowning in one of her many versions of the 'drowning dreams.'

"Hello Mrs. Hennessy." Aurora put her hand forward. Hug was a little too much for a first meeting, but handshake wasn't. She wasn't rude, not normally, but she was always cautious with new people, even if they were old friends of her parents. It was another drawback of having overactive imagination always riddled with the lingering thoughts of bad, bad things, which would end either in death or blood. Or both. Or equally bad.

"Oh, so polite." The woman waved a hand. "Call me Janessa." She grabbed Aurora's hands in hers and squeezed, looking quite ecstatic.

"Hey Matthew, Jonah wanted to be here, too, but something came up in the grove. He will be here by noon. Here's the key to your house. It is already cleaned. All you have to do is unpack and settle in. Welcome home." She looked at them with a smile. "It is about time." She said with a smile as she grabbed mom's hand and swung it up. They both looked like they had spent their childhood together.

'Again with the about time?' She thought.

Janessa and her mom must have been best friends before mom moved away, Aurora thought. The three laughed and shared a look full of nostalgic memories. Their eyes sparked and there was a soft glow around them.

Aurora shrugged, and with arrogance in her step, she walked forward towards the towering house.

The house suddenly beamed, as if it was a welcoming beacon. It looked like it was bathed in gold. It was glowing.

Breeze ruffled her hair and the violet wisteria danced and it felt like someone tousled her hair with affection. Aurora heard laughter, and then she heard the voice, soft and smooth and raspy.

'Welcome home, little Aurora. I have been waiting for you.'

It was a familiar voice, but she had never heard it before. She shook her head, hugged herself and looked at the house again.

No beaming light, no golden glow, no breeze, no voice. Not anymore. It was only a house, a white, sprawling house, chained with wisterias.

Aurora was sure that this time it was not her imagination, though.

"What the hell is happening here? Why am I seeing strange things everywhere?"

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