Havermouth, Five Years BeforeAislen woke at midday and fought down a wave of nausea. Her stomach rumbled, demanding food, adding another layer of discomfort to the nausea. She broke out in sweat, breathing heavily in an effort to maintain control. “F-k,” she slapped a hand over her mouth and dashed across the room, and down the hallway to the bathroom, to vomit miserably into the toilet bowl.She could hear her parents talking in the kitchen, and the clink of China and silverware has her mother washed the dishes. She brushed her teeth and showered, before tiptoeing back down the hall towards her bedroom. As she reached the door, her father stepped out, with her suitcases in his hands.“What…?” She frowned. “What are you doing with those?”“Get dressed Aislen,” he replied grimly and carried them out to the front door.“You are very lucky,” Tiffany said from the kitchen doorway. “That there is a room available for you already. Considering the drama last night, this morning Mr Mason cal
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen began to feel shitty about herself as Heath continued the drive to where Charlotte would be found, and by the time he pulled up out front of a farmhouse deep in the countryside, she was contrite enough to push her pride to the side. “I’m sorry,” she said to him as he undid his seatbelt.He looked at her in surprise. “You are?”“Yes, I’m sorry,” she said and put her hand over his. He released the seatbelt and took her hand in his, his hand so much bigger and stronger than her own. She looked down at their linked fingers for a moment, before meeting his eyes. “I shouldn’t get angry at you about this. You’re a symptom, not the cause. You have been raised believing something, and that’s not something that a person lets go of quickly. I can’t expect you to agree with me straight away.”He leaned forward and kissed her, cupping the back of her head with his free hand. The kiss was sweet, gentle and hopeful. As he eased, he stroked his knuckles over her cheek.
Rideten, Five Years Before The Rideten School of Art was set in what must have been one of the original estates of Rideten, the mansion set well back from the road, with an expanse of green lawn, ornamental wrought iron fencing, and truly massive, ancient fig trees separating it from the road. The gates were open when they arrived, and they followed the long drive to a carpark. The original building was used for the school, and a series of outbuildings, barns and coach houses had been converted into accommodation for students. Aislen was allocated to a room in the groundskeeper’s cottage, a quaint little house with low lintels and tiny, wood-smoke-stained rooms. The front door was unlocked and opened into a small snug dominated by a chalk board that declared: “Artists contained within. May Bite. Enter at your own risk!" "Well, that explains a lot," Patrick observed dryly. “Oh,” a young girl poked her head into the room. “Are you the new girl?” “Hi,” Aislen said warily. “I’m Aislen
Havermouth, Present TimeIn the car, Heath did not immediately start the engine and Aislen watched him curiously. He sat with his hands on the steering wheel, staring unseeing at the dash, a muscle twisting in the corner of his jaw. “Sometimes,” he said slowly. “A small decision has a weighty consequence on your life. You were…” He gestured with a hand and then closed the fingers into a fist, before bringing it down to his lap.“We could not tell you about us,” he tried again. “Five years ago. It was my job to…” He closed his eyes and drew in a breath through his nose, picking his words as carefully as walking black ice. “To convince the pack that you were not a risk. Every time that I thought that I had made progress, you would pull the rug out from under me. I was young, hot headed, headstrong and… And I was scared,” he admitted. “Of what would happen if I failed to the Triquetra, of what bringing a human into the pack would mean…”“After you left us that Sunday in front of half the
Rideten, Five Years Before Aislen fought her way through the press of students all seeking their own recess break-time locations, trying to avoid being touched by any of them, but failing miserably, the bubbles bursting around her, almost drowning her in noise. (F-king whore! Triquetra’s whore.) (Got what she deserved.) The bursting bubbles released a flood of black water and for a moment, it threatened to drag her under, and she saw in the depths Toby’s bloated face bob by. She fought her way to the surface, breaking free, to find that she stood, dry, in the school yard. (Pregnant slut!) Aislen looked down to find that her stomach had swollen into a round ball, pushing up her shirt and jumper and down the waist of her skirt to revealed skin stretched tight. She tried to tug her shirt and jumper down to hide it, to cover it with her hands, shame and humiliation flustering her, but it was too large and growing every moment. She knew that there was no way that she could hide it, an
Havermouth, Present TimeOn their way back to the house, Heath pulled in at the Havermouth’s farmer’s market for produce. Whilst he debated over the menu for dinner, Aislen drifted the nearby stalls, buying things that caught her fancy but that had no practical value. Soy candles, little lavender bags to scent drawers, and twisted wrought iron candle holders. She was examining an antique painting of a still life and trying to decide whether she actually liked the image, or just the age of the image, when someone cleared their throat behind her.She turned and looked up at Mr Graynor, immediately mentally reverting to the almost eighteen-year-old caught smoking at the bottom of the oval. “Oh, hi, Mr Graynor,” she stuttered.“Hmph, I thought it was you, I had heard that you were back in town,” he snorted through his nose in amusement. “I’m not going to put you into detention, Ms Carter.”She laughed uncomfortably. “Yeah, I guess not, but deprogramming the indoctrination hasn’t caught up
Rideten, Five Years Before The mood in the house was vastly different than it had been over the week, with music pumping out to greet Aislen as she walked up the path after her last class for the day. In the kitchen Helena and Christine were making margueritas, the whir of the blender barely audible over the music. Both were semi-dressed, mid-preparation for the night out. Aislen made her way up to the room that she shared with Bianca, who was styling her hair and looked up as she entered. “Happy Friday,” she saluted Aislen with a cocktail. “You’d best hit the showers quickly and get yourself glam. We’ll leave in an hour or so, just as soon as it gets dark.” “Okay,” Aislen hurried to grab her toiletry bag and took it with her to the bathroom. As she showered, she debated what to wear. She had the dresses that she had bought with Tiffany, however, due to Dr James and the rush to leave, Tiffany hadn’t altered them. In the bedroom, she posed with the options before the mirror. “That
Havermouth, Present timeAislen headed to the master bedroom, despite all the furniture being pushed together in the center of the room and the strong smell of the gloss paint that they were using on the skirtings and edges. Tyler having slept in the single bed the night before made it feel like an intrusion to go into the smaller bedroom.Talen set his bags to the ground and scooped her off her feet, carrying her over to the bed and sitting on it with her on his lap. “They do not see the damages that they have wrought,” he said softly into her hair. “They only see that which they have wanted hovering at their fingertips, without understanding that in order to possess it, they need to repair that which they have broken.”“They are impossible,” she said in frustration, turning grief into anger. “Heath will defend the pack beyond all logic, and Cameron thinks that sex cures everything and that we should all go back to the river house and play happy families right now. As for Rhett, well