Small town, parts of the new year,
Brought down by gravity, crystal-clear.
City fog and brave dialogue,
Converge on the frontier.
Owl City – "Rainbow Veins"-X-X-X-
Chapter Three
Everything New
Ashlin awoke to the sound of voices. She yawned, and sat up, blinking drowsily.
Ronan was talking to the boy she had met the day before…Henry, that was it. She got to her feet, curiously watching.
Henry spotted her and grinned. Ronan, who had his back to her, glanced over his shoulder.
"Oh, you're awake," he said. "I was just telling Henry here to wait until you woke up, but I guess I didn't have to."
"Hi, Henry." Ashlin smiled back at him.
"Hi," he replied. "I was thinking I could show you around, if you wanted to."
"Don't you have school?" asked Ronan. He ran a hand through his dark blond hair, stifling a yawn.
"It's a Sunday, so there's no school," Henry explained.
"Well, sure, I'd love to come," Ashlin said. She looked over at Ronan. "Ro, what are you going to be doing today?"
"I don't know. I'll probably look around for a job I can get or something." He brushed off his sweatshirt. "We could use the money; we're broke."
"All right, I'll come back here when Henry's finished showing me around," Ashlin said.
"Have fun." Ronan busied himself with attempting to return a level of neatness to his rumpled clothes.
Ashlin followed Henry through the field. "I never caught the name of your town; what is it?"
"Storybrooke," Henry replied. "There's a special reason for that. I'll tell you about it later."
"Okay." Ashlin sped her pace so that she was walking beside Henry. "Are the people in town nice?"
"Most of them are," Henry replied. "Only a few of them are actually mean, and they don't come around town very often; they live on the outskirts." He didn't mention his mother.
"Well, that's good," Ashlin remarked. She climbed over a fence, landing on the stone path on the other side. "The townsfolk in a lot of other places me and Ronan stayed at weren't very nice at all."
"Storybrooke is a great place," Henry promised. "You'll like it here."
"I'm sure I will," Ashlin said.
A few minutes later, they reached town. Henry stopped outside of the town shrink's office and started to say something, when suddenly Ashlin felt someone put a hand on her shoulder. She nearly jumped a foot in the air, and spun around, jerking away from whoever it was.
It was one of the men from the day before. She didn't recall his name; maybe she hadn't heard it in the first place.
Henry heard the commotion and turned. "Oh. Ashlin, this is August. He's a writer."
Ashlin regarded August with some nervous curiosity. He gave her a reassuring smile.
"I'm sorry if I startled you. It's nice to meet you. I talked with your brother yesterday; really nice fellow."
Maybe it was simply Ashlin's imagination, but August sounded a little awkward. Maybe… she thought. Maybe he's just as uncomfortable with me as I am with him.
The possibility emboldened her slightly, and she nodded. "He is. I'm very lucky to have a brother like him." And she meant it.
"You certainly are." August glanced at Henry, and it looked as though an unspoken conversation was going on between them.
August looked back at her a moment later. "I'd love to stay and talk some more, but I have some things to do back home. I'll see you around, Ashlin."
Before she could think of a suitable answer, he had gotten on his motorcycle and sped away.
"August is one of my best friends," Henry told Ashlin.
"Don't you have any friends your own age?" she asked bewilderedly, following Henry as he began to walk down the street again, forgetting completely about the shrink's office.
"Not really. They're scared of my mom," Henry explained.
"Who is your mother, exactly?"
"Mayor Regina Mills. She was the dark-haired lady in the group of people that met you and your brother yesterday. But she's not my real mom; she adopted me." He spoke with lighthearted tones, which slightly confused Ashlin.
"Oh…I guess I can understand why they're scared of her. She looks rather strict and unfriendly," Ashlin said. Then she caught herself and blushed, extremely embarrassed. "N-no offense meant, of c-course."
"None taken. You're right about her anyway," Henry answered. "It's okay. Look, this is the library. It's one of my favorite places to go."
Ashlin peered at the small building. It looked more like a church than a library. She noticed a sign hanging on the door that read: HELP NEEDED. She filed that away in her mind to tell Ronan about later on.
"Do you want to go inside and look around?" Henry asked.
Ashlin shook her head. "Maybe another time. Right now, I'd like to see some more of town."
"All right!" He continued leading her down the street, pointing out each establishment and who owned it.
They stopped briefly outside of a medium-sized building that would have appeared to be abandoned if not for the plethora of items that could be seen through the window. Henry gestured towards it. "This is Mr. Gold's pawnbroker shop. He kind of seems to be unfriendly at first, but he just likes to keep to himself. He's not really that bad; no one is."
Ashlin disagreed with that statement—there were people in the world that were downright bad—but, timid as she was, she said nothing and instead peered through the window.
Mr. Gold was inside, behind the counter. He was preoccupied with something—several pieces of paper that he held in his hand—and hadn't noticed the two kids outside. There was no one else inside the shop, and nothing to indicate that anyone else lived there; there weren't any children's toys lying around, and the place looked ramshackle and dusty, suggesting that there was no woman around to clean up.
Ashlin stepped back before she was spotted. "Maybe he's just lonely." She knew how that felt, and she had seen many people who were lonely—they often seemed unkind or unfriendly. Even Ronan had gotten that way for a time, after their parents had died.
Henry shrugged. "Maybe. Come on; let's go back to the diner. My mom gave me some money for lunch. There's enough to buy something for both of us."
"No, I couldn't…" Ashlin protested weakly, but Henry tugged on her arm, refusing to listen.
A few minutes later, they were once again seated at a booth at the diner, waiting for their food. Henry reached into his backpack and pulled his book out.
"Do you want to keep looking at the book?" he asked.
Ashlin hesitated, remembering the day before. The Little Red Riding Hood story had caught her attention, but when she had come to 'Alice in Wonderland', something strange had happened. She had gotten a bizarre sense of déjà vu; as though everything that was happening in the story had already happened to her. That she had actually been there.
It had been frightening, but so fascinating at the same time.
"Yes," she said to Henry. "I'd like that."
He moved over so that he was next to her and slid the book into a position where both of them could look at it.
Henry didn't turn the pages, so Ashlin assumed he wanted her to. She slowly began flipping through the book. Most of the stories sounded familiar—'Sleeping Beauty'; 'Cinderella'; 'The Little Mermaid'; 'Pinocchio'; and several others.
But again, just like yesterday, she stopped turning pages once she reached 'Alice in Wonderland'. It was almost instinctive; she hadn't even thought about it, it had simply happened.
"Do you like that story?" asked Henry.
"I'm not very familiar with it…" Ashlin murmured, reading through the first page and moving onto the next.
Henry waited patiently until Ashlin stopped reading.
"Ashlin," he said. "I have something to tell you. I don't want you to be upset by it, or at least try not to panic."
Ashlin eyed him anxiously, then nodded. "All right."
"All of these fairy tales, like 'Little Red Riding Hood' and 'Beauty and the Beast'—they're real. Everyone in this town is a character from those fairy tales. Mary Margaret, my teacher at school, she's Snow White. And my mother…she's the Evil Queen."
Ashlin stared at him in disbelief. "I—I don't…" she stammered.
"Please don't say that you don't believe me," Henry pleaded. "It's true, I swear!"
Ashlin buried her face in her hands for a long moment before gaining the courage to look up. "I've been lied to and tricked too many times in my life," she said. "I can't risk believing you now, especially not when it sounds so…so outrageous."
Henry's expression was one of desperation. "But it's true! And you—didn't you feel something when you read 'Alice in Wonderland'? Something like…like when something you see or hear reminds you of something you had forgotten long ago? I think you might be Alice!"
"Me? Alice in Wonderland? It's too unbelievable!" Ashlin burst out. Her throat was tightening; she was close to tears. "I'm sorry, I have to go." She got out of the booth and hurried out the door.
The last thing she heard was Henry's voice calling after her, "I'm sorry! Don't leave…!"
-X-X-X-
Author's Note: I don't remember whether Mr. Gold lives in a house or in his shop, so I decided to pretend that he lives in a room above his pawnbroker store. Don't flame me if I'm wrong; just let me know so I can change it.