DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters from Howl's Moving Castle. Kthnxbye. :]

FREEDOM

Easily finishing her last exam, Evelyn Asher sat trembling at her desk. Summer anticipation was killing her. She ran her long fingers through her long chestnut colored hair. Practically everything on Evelyn was long: long hair, long fingers, long legs, long neck. She was just an overall lengthy girl. Not that it pleased her, or anything.

Evelyn looked over at her beautiful best friend, Lita Pierce, who was spaced out. Her perfectly manicured fingers were laced around the golden heart pendant. She never took that thing off! Something about "it holds the heart of my true love" type of deal. Evelyn cleared her throat loudly so Lita would hear. When she finally looked, Lita twitched her head toward the clock, daring Evelyn to look at it, her short black bob flowing with the quick movement. Evelyn's stone grey eyes met the silver clock that was happily ticking away. Five minutes. Five extremely long minutes to complete freedom.

Evelyn and Lita were edging closer and closer to the end of their high school careers; edging closer and closer to their lives as free women. That is, until college came along. Just the thought of college brought chills to Evelyn's spine, followed by nervousness… then finally nausea. If she didn't puke first, she could sit here and think about it all day.

The agony, the torture of waiting, it was slowly killing her. Evelyn knew as soon as she heard that piercing ring it would all go away, but that didn't make waiting any better.

Finally, the bell rang. That shrilling ring that brought joy at the end of the day filled their ears. Oh how they were going to miss that bell… not.

Evelyn was the first out the door, so quick to her feet that the hallway was still empty and the classes buzzed with eager students. She breathed in that stale air that has filled her lungs the past four years. It felt good to be finally leaving, but deep… deep down she was going to miss this place. Kind of, maybe.

Lita's boney shoulder collided with Evelyn's back as she walked right though her stand-still friend, practically knocking her over, "Come on Ev, what are you doing? We need to get the hell out of here before the lunch ladies find us and insist on reminiscing."

Lita was one of those "I'm better than you and there's nothing you can do about it" girls. But she does have an excuse… or two. For one, she's absolutely gorgeous. She has a fox-like face and a figure to die for. She has curves in all the right places, unlike Evelyn… who is nothing but a washboard. Her dark brown eyes are big and doe-like, but don't be fooled. Lita is nothing but innocent. She is… how do you say… very experienced. She's had an unhealthy amount boyfriends; she needs both her hands, feet and eyelashes to count them. And if she were to count hook-ups Evelyn would need to help.

Evelyn, in contrast, would only need one hand to count her past boyfriends. Not that they really counted, after a week or two they would just give into Lita's spell. But, for some odd reason, Evelyn doesn't blame her. She says they were big fat jerks anyways.

Now, don't be deceived by her lack of experience, Evelyn is a beautiful girl. She was just picky about who she wants to spend the rest of her life with. Yes, you guessed it; Evelyn Asher is a complete sucker for romance. She doesn't just want a random hook up, or a guy to fill her boyfriend status. She wants true love and nothing less. This obsession might have been caused by the massive amounts of romance novels she reads. To be honest, Evelyn just reads a lot. She always has at least two books with her. She is a genuine bookworm.

Evelyn gave a quick nod to her best friend and caught up to her. Their strides were long and their steps were quick. They were nearly running. But they needed to get out, they needed to be free. And with a struggling push to the heavy front door, they were.

They stopped dead before the stairway descent. Lita breathed in heavily, closing her eyes like she was thoroughly enjoying it, "Smell that, Ev?"

Evelyn sniffed the air lightly, looking confused as she did, "Smell what?"

With that comment, Lita rolled her eyes and began descending down the stairs, "The smell of sweet freedom, dumbass." Her words were quick and sharp, like a blade, cutting Evelyn's words in half.

Evelyn cleared her throat, "Oh." She said quietly, more to herself than anyone. She followed Lita down the steps.

Again, the scene before them was vacant. The large fountain at the bottom of the steps bubbled away. "You're still looking for a job, right? Tell me again, why do you even need a job?" Lita asked Evelyn.

Evelyn sighed with disappointment in herself, "Unfortunately, yes. Some people actually need to work to get the things they want. Unlike you who gets everything handed to her on a golden tray."

Lita only shrugged and smiled at this comment as if to say, "Yes, I'm a spoiled bitch. Now get over it." Now it was Evelyn's turn to roll her eyes.

Evelyn and Lita departed ways when they reached the student parking. As Lita got into her shiny new car she asked if Evelyn wanted a ride, but Evelyn refused. She'd rather walk then hear Lita boast about her perfect life one more time. Plus, maybe if she took the long way and walked through town she could find a decent job.

Evelyn waved goodbye to Lita as she drove past, beeping the horn obnoxiously. Evelyn laughed as she swerved into the other lane and quickly back into the other. She was probably looking behind her, still waving, and didn't notice where she was driving. Even though she seems perfect, Lita can still make mistakes. This pleased Evelyn to some extent. Knowing her best friend was human was comforting.

As she took the longest possible way home, Evelyn decided to look around for a job. She looked at this small diner, then the local grocery store, and even a rundown spa, but she couldn't find anything. The places that she wanted to work at (like the huge library at the center of town) weren't hiring and the places that were hiring were so very strange. Seeing how she was completely off the track to get home and couldn't find a decent job for her life, Evelyn decided to head for home.

But before she could even turn around, a young girl with wildly curly hair caught her eye. She was kneeling down, back against a small ice cream shop's front wall, hands covering her face. Evelyn could tell she was crying. With two large strides, Evelyn stepped towards the child, "Hey, are you okay?" She asked the little girl with a soft, sweet voice. The little girl looked up at her, tensing up as Evelyn got closer. Her intensely blue eyes were rimmed with a red ring. Evelyn reached out a hand, "No, no, I won't hurt you. I promise. I want to help. What's wrong?"

The girl just looked at her hand, she seemed hesitant, but spoke, "I-I'm trying to find my br-brother's house." Her voice was shy, sweet and a bit hoarse, as if she had done a lot of yelling in the past hour.

Evelyn took her hand away, not trying to scare the child. She then smiled at her, "If you tell me what his house looks like, I can help you. I know this town pretty well." The girl's hair bobbed in the wind. It reminded Evelyn of cotton candy. "What's your name?"

The girl shook her head violently, "My name is Madison, but you won't be able to find his house." Her words were quick, hard to decipher. But her sapphire eyes burned into Evelyn's, daring her to tell her otherwise.

Evelyn was put back by this. What was this little girl trying to tell her? Her eyes gazed into hers with such passion. Evelyn held out her hand again, "Well, it looks like you can't find it either. You know, I've heard that two heads are better than one. Want some help?"

"Actually you're right," Madison replied. She looked at Evelyn's hand again, then back up at her face. With this, Evelyn felt a small, warm hand inside of hers.

They walked like this for awhile, hand in hand, getting further and further away from the center of town. Suddenly, Madison's sweet voice shattered the silence that has fell over them, "Hey," her eyes were set on Evelyn, "you never told me your name!"

Evelyn's grey eyes widened to their extent, "Why, yes! You're absolutely right." She turned her head and looked Madison in the eyes, "My name is Evelyn, but you can call me Ev if you want." Her smile was wide and welcoming.

"Evelyn?" Madison head cocked to one side as she persisted forward, "That's a strange name." With this, Evelyn just shrugged. Madison continued talking, "My brother calls me Madi. I'm not sure if I like it that much."

Evelyn emitted a small giggle, "Madi, huh? I think that's adorable. But if you don't like it, I don't need to call you it." Evelyn's legs burned with lactic acid. She began to wonder how far she was from her house.

Madison shrugged, "It doesn't matter. I'm used to it. You can call me that if you want." She was now skipping, making Evelyn's arm jerk up and down.

Evelyn nodded, "Alright, Madi, sorry for asking but… do you have any idea where your brother's house is? Or are we just walking aimlessly?"

Madison looked hesitant to answer this question, but after a short pause and a long sigh, she did, "Well, you probably won't believe me when I tell you."

Evelyn stopped walking, causing Madison to jerk at her arm once again and abruptly stop skipping, "What do you mean?"

With a small smile, Madison rubbed her head, "Uhm, I can kind of, sort of… feel where my brother's house is. It has an aura of its own and my whole family can sense if it's near. It works better when I have you with me, though." She smiled weakly at Evelyn, hope filling her innocent eyes.

Evelyn's brow furrowed and her eyes squinted into little slivers. She was trying her hardest to figure this girl out. Was she telling the truth or was this whole thing just a game? And what did Evelyn have to do with the "sense"? Either way, she decided to go along, "Well, is it near? Can you feel it?"

Madison's little finger pointed over a large hill that Evelyn didn't notice before this point in time, "It should be just over this hill."

And with that, they attacked the hill at full force. Evelyn's already tired legs burned under the weight of the hill. Naturally, Evelyn made it to the top way before Madison. But she couldn't go anymore. Her legs stopped working. Not from fatigue, but shock. Her jaw dropped as her eyes set on the sight in front of her.