A Paige from a Closed Book
Hi everyone! Firstly I don't own Charmed or any of the characters and secondly, this is my first FanFic! Feel free to leave me constructive criticism as it will be greatly appreciated; it all helps me to become a better writer. ;-) Also any tips would be great as computers and I don't really get along. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter One.
Paige Matthews absently circled her index finger around the rim of her hot cup of coffee, her thoughts drifting back to the events of the night before. Had he really said that? Did he really think she was a closed book? She gave a tiny sigh and took a sip of the scalding coffee, the hot liquid moving down her throat and warming up her insides. She had thought it was going so well. Dean was everything a girl could ask for, he was cute, and funny, and smart. And, apparently, very sensitive. She had really liked him, maybe not to the point where she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but a few more months, at least. She enjoyed having him around. But then, the night before, he had just ended it, his only explanation being he didn't feel like she was opening up to him, that their relationship wasn't going anywhere.
'Why did it have to go somewhere? Why couldn't he just be happy with the way it was?' Paige thought to herself.
She looked up, startled, as her older half sister, Piper Halliwell stumbled sleepily into the kitchen, heading straight for the coffee pot and pouring herself a mug. "Morning," she mumbled sleepily, rubbing her tired eyes.
Paige looked up and raised her eyebrows. "Exhausted from all that sleeping you did last night?" Piper looked at her younger sister, narrowing her eyes.
"Rather, the lack of it it. For some reason Wyatt kept waking up crying every half hour." Piper took a gulp of the strong, black coffee, before remembering to add milk.
"I thought he was through that phase and on to sleeping through the night?"
Piper sighed and opened the fridge, grabbing the carton of milk. "So did I. But apparently not." She stopped and turned to her sister, who was staring into her mug, distracted.
"Honey, are you okay?" Piper poured some milk into her coffee and put the milk back into the fridge.
Paige looked up and plastered a smile on her face, "I'm fine, just having some thoughts."
Piper was about to inquire further when Phoebe burst into the room from the back door, wearing clothes that looked suspiciously like the ones she was wearing the day before. Her tan skin was glowing and her eyes were bright. She set her purse on the table and took the coffee from Piper's hand, taking a huge gulp. Piper's eyes danced mischievously. "Where were you last night, missy?"
Phoebe grinned like a five year old who has discovered the cookie jar and clasped her hands together. "I went to this incredibly sexy guy's house last night, his name is Collin. He's the guy I was telling you about, the one from the café where I go to have lunch. You know, the one who winked at me?"
Piper smiled, "Ooh, so you're on a first name basis now?"
Phoebe nodded, excited, and proceeded to tell Piper all the details. Paige tried to follow what was going on, but she didn't understand anything that her sister was saying. It all seemed to involve knowledge of prior conversations between Phoebe and Piper.
Finally, Paige got sick of listening and stood up abruptly, leaving the sunny kitchen, her mind swirling.
Phoebe stopped her ranting to look at the back of her departing sister, a little hurt. "What's up with her?" She asked Piper.
Piper shrugged, she too was puzzled at the strange behavior her sister was exhibiting lately.
Paige sat down slowly on her bed, looking around the room. 'My room.' She told herself. She looked at a box labeled 'photo albums' that was sitting in her closet and went and grabbed it down, heaving it onto her bed. She sat down next to it and, pulling the lid off, she took out the album that was sitting on top. It was one of her adopted mother's. Paige had received all of her Parent's things, including photo albums, when they had been killed in a car crash when she was a teenager.
Opening the first page, she looked at a photo of a younger version of herself and her adopted parents. It was her tenth birthday and she was sitting in front of a blue and white cake that her mother had made for her.
Paige ran her fingers over the picture, simply remembering. She looked closer and noticed that she was sitting separate from her parents, there was a small gap between them. She turned the page over and looked at the next picture. Eight year old Paige and her parents at the beach. There was Paige, playing down by the water, and her parents, laughing as a friend took the picture. Again, she was separate from them, distant. As she looked through the rest of the album, she noticed that every picture was like that; Paige, and then her parents, slightly apart from her. She closed the album softly, feeling the cover beneath her fingers. She felt sad, alone, and she wondered why that was.
'Maybe Dean was right', Paige thought, sighing 'Maybe I am a closed book.'
She lay back down on her bed, not bothering to move the box, and closed her eyes.
She let different thoughts envelop her, let them surround her. She thought of her parents, of her sisters, of magic and the charmed ones. She slowly felt herself being pulled into slumber, felt the heaviness of its touch against her head and her breathing slowed. She lay like that for awhile, living comfortably in the stage between sleep and awake, in limbo.
Suddenly, there was a crash from downstairs and Paige quickly snapped out of her semi-slumber, sitting up a bit too fast, her head spinning. She stood up, slower this time, and ran out of her room and down the stairs to the source of the sound.
Her sister's reached the living room the same time she did, skidding to a stop and looking with surprise at the scene before them. A room which had only seconds ago been empty of people, now held two complete strangers. A small girl, about 10 or 11, was lying still on the couch; a scorch mark covered her body, blood splattered across her white dress. Long, curly brown hair delicately surrounded her tiny face, which at the moment was pale and sweaty, creating a shiny sheen off of her porcelain skin. And, standing over her, was a man. One whom the Charmed girls had never seen before had never seen before.
"Piper! Quick, freeze him, it's a warlock!" Phoebe jumped to the conclusion, gesturing wildly to the stranger.
Piper raised her hands and flung them out, as if to freeze him, but to no avail.
"Ooh! It didn't work, why didn't it work?" Phoebe babbled hysterically, squeezing her older sister's hand.
"That's not good." Piper said, eyes wide, as the strange man realised he was not alone and turned to face the girls.