When I was little, my mother used to read me stories. Stories about love and magic. Fairy tales. I was told that she read them to me before I was even born. Which may be the reason why my head is so filled with stories. I came to Storybrooke to become a writer. I needed some time away from all of the hustle and bustle of the city. I was hoping that maybe a small town in the woods would be just what I needed to find some new ideas. But what I found was much different. Actually, he found me...
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The clock on the wall was starting to drive me nuts. How long had I been sitting there? I groaned in frustration. The page that I had been staring at was blank. It had been for the last hour and at the rate I was going it was not going to get filled. This was my first piece for the local paper and I had been assigned to write an article about world issues.
The problem was that I didn't care about world issues. I had seen plenty of those back in New York. That wasn't what I had come to Storybrooke to write about, but this job was the only thing keeping food on my table at this point so I decided it was best to take the offer.
There was a knock at the door and I jumped, knocking a glass off the desk and sending pens scattering everywhere.
"Shit!" I swore, dropping to my knees to clean up the mess. For the first time I glanced around the room, and I groaned as I realized what a mess it was. My apartment was not that big so most things were cramped together. The living room, my office, the dining room. Everything but the kitchen and bedroom were conjoined in two spaces. So as it was, not everything was as neat as I would have liked.
The knock came again and I lifted my head.
"Coming!" I called giving up on organizing the pens and instead just scooping them up and dumping them back into the coffee mug that served as my pen case. I made my way to the door, struggling with the lock for a moment before tugging it open to reveal my best friend.
"Marie!" I smiled opening the door more. "Come in!"
Marie smiled wide before strolling into the room. Marie Felicia and I had been best friends ever since I moved to Storybrooke. We had met on my first day in the new town, back when I had still been wandering aimlessly around looking for a job. I was frustrated and had given up for the time being and decided to take a walk down to the river. I was sitting by the bank, tossing rocks when there she was, seeming to appear out of nowhere.
"Hello." She had said, giving me that same big smile that I had come to know her for. Marie always seemed to be smiling. It was the one thing that kept you from being thrown off by her otherwise strange appearance. She had long hair, dark black except for the one streak of purple that ran through it, and these giant eyes that always seemed so curious.
At the moment those eyes were busy sweeping glances around my living area.
"I see you've cleaned." She said and I blushed in embarrassment.
"I meant to clean but I was too busy writing. Besides, you should be used to it by now."
"True." Marie said, settling down on my couch and sprawling her legs across the coffee table, ignoring the mess of newspapers and magazines that were littered across it.
"So what's up?" I asked, busying myself with clearing dishes off the kitchen table. "To what do I owe this lovely visit?"
"Nothing." Marie said, swiping the remote off the arm of the couch and starting to flip through channels. "I was bored."
I snorted a laugh. "I'm flattered."
"You should be." She shot me a cheeky smile. "I don't grace just everyone with my presence."
"Oh I'm well aware of that." I called from the kitchen. "It's only me who is lucky enough to see your smiling face everyday."
"This is true."
"Hey," I said, coming back into the living room so I didn't have to yell, "have you heard from Emma lately?"
Emma was another one of my good friends although she, unlike Marie, was not from StoryBrooke. I guess we shared that one thing in common.
"Yea. She called today actually, wanted to see if we wanted to go out for a drink or something. Said she could use a break."
I laughed again. "Who doesn't need a break? I could so go for a drink though. You in?"
"Hell yea." Marie clicked off the t.v., tossing the remote back onto the couch. "But first I say we get you out of this house."
And before I could say anything she grabbed my hand and tugged me into the hallway, slamming the door behind us. I had no idea what she had planned, but knowing Marie it would be somewhat of an adventure.