Chapter 1 – Starting Anew
The cottage perched just on the edge between the woods and the hustle and bustle of the campus was just that: a cottage and it was our cottage. Mismatched furniture, open fireplace and stone walls; it had the whole shebang.
"I love it" a voice sighed wistfully behind me.
"Yeah, perfect for us, don't you think, Sasha?" I responded without breaking my gaze from our new home. A pair of arms came around me and pulled me into a hug.
"That's why I chose it, genius" Sasha teased me. "Come on, we should probably start unpacking if we want to be ready by tomorrow" and with that my best friend was gone. I gave one last glance around me before following her out the door.
Sasha and I had nearly finished our unpacking. We each had bought our cars (in my case a truck) full of our possessions to take to the college we both chose to go to. To support each other Sasha had told me, but I knew the truth; it was to make sure I don't slip up. Sasha had been to college millions of times. She didn't need support.
Lifting the last box out of the tray, I turned to walk back into the cottage.
"Hey!" I spun around to a girl striding confidently from another small cottage not 100 metres away. "I'm Tami."
"Bella Swan" I smiled, shaking her hand and forcing the monster down within myself.
No I chanted mentally, you're not a bad person. You don't hurt people. You promised.
"You just moved in there?" Tami questioned with nod in the cottage's direction.
"Yeah. Me and my best friend. Sasha!" I called into the cottage.
"Yeah?" She came outside and instantly came toward us after seeing Tami.
"Tami, this is Sasha, and Sasha, this is Tami" I introduced them.
"Tami?" Sasha asked with a smile.
"My mother" the word dropped off her lips as if it was dirty, "called me something long and horrible. Please don't make me say it. I'm trying to start anew" she said with desperately. We winced in sympathy for her.
"What are you guys majoring in?"
"We're both Literature freaks" I grinned at Sasha.
"Hey, same here!" exclaimed Tami. "Maybe we'll be in the same classes".
"That'll be great"
Tami glanced at the darkening sky. "I better get going. Anyway, nice meeting you guys!" And with that she was gone.
In unison, Sasha and I both stared up at the moon. It was a half.
"It's getting close" I whispered.
"We'll be right" she reassured. "Come on, let's go inside."
I gave my fear one last glance before following my salvation inside.
Flashback
The pain was horrible. But it was also confusing. What was happening to me? It felt like I was being skinned alive, ran over by a train and stretched on a rack all at once.
I could feel my bones shifting, hardening and growing deep inside me. Feel and hear each little miniscule change within me. Crunches and groans of my body rearranging itself, barely heard beneath my screams and pleas for death.
Through my haze I was briefly aware of the daylight growing, the dark fading. The sun was rising. The full moon sinking. And then the pain stopped.
My eyes snapped open. It was time for school. And it was time to start anew.