Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the great and powerful Disney. Obviously.
III
Prologue
Farewell, this blackened eye
You learned your lessons falling down
Far behind and tracing footsteps home.
- The Birthday Massacre, "Falling Down"
She was up with the sun again, the first streaks of pink coming into the sky as the tendrils of nightmare loosened their hold on her mind. It was with a gasp that she woke, asleep one moment and suddenly, abruptly awake, the feeling of fingertips on her shoulder fading only as she sucked in that first breath of clean, fresh air.
It was perhaps slightly too cold outside to be sleeping with the window open, but she always left it cracked even just a little, letting in the smell of saltwater and trees along with the crisp chill. This morning, she needed the certainty that freedom was still in her hands, and so she threw open every window in the apartment, tugging on a sweatshirt to battle the numbing breeze.
She slipped into her sneakers and grabbed her iPod on the way out the door, setting her usual playlist to shuffle. The strong opening notes filled her world as she stretched on her building's front stoop before taking off, her chestnut ponytail trailing behind her as she flew along the streets of her sleepy little town.
There was only a flicker of movement in Granny's Diner, the early morning crew getting ready for the breakfast rush that wasn't quite awake yet. Lights were on in a few windows as turned into the residential areas, the citizens of Storybrooke blearily stumbling onward toward their weekend, so close they could almost taste it. Her steps slowed just slightly as she neared a familiar pink Victorian home, glancing into the windows of the front rooms in hopes of spying that face she knew like the back of her hand.
He wasn't there. Not this morning, it was still too early on the fine spring day, he would be sleeping in until the sun was higher in the sky and it was closer to time to open the shop. His absence behind the panes of glass was a disappointment, but she refused to let it weigh on her heart – it was Thursday, and she would be seeing him very soon.