Once Upon a Time
Remember a Time
Chapter Three
Alice gazed out the carriage window, watching the forest move past, her chin resting in her hand. When she was woken up this morning she hoped to sit in the meadow about a mile from the castle and just read or write or draw until dusk. But here she was, on her way to the market to try and up lift the people of the kingdom she had been brought into. She knew why Abigail really wanted to go there and it wasn't to be close to her "people" or make a purchase.
"Snap out of it Alice, we're here." Abigail's voice had a giddy excitement to it; something didn't seem natural to Alice. "Look at them, how could they possibly leave their homes in such…rags?"
Alice rolled her eyes as she reached to open the carriage door. "We all can't look as lovely as you Abigail."
"Well, I'd have to agree with that little fact." She flipped her hair as she was helped down by their driver. "They're almost cute, like little stray cats."
"That's obscured Abigail; they're people just as you and I are. And not to mention they are people your father loves and cares for very much. I don't think he'd be happy with the way you talk about them." Alice turned and began to walk through the people, looking at the various booths set up with a soft smile.
Abigail followed Alice through the market. "Alice, you need to understand that we aren't like the people that live here. I know it's hard for you to get used to because this is the type of place you came from but you're part of a royal family now. We are better than the people we rule over, we have everything we could ever want. It's a life few are able to enjoy and you are certainly not enjoying it."
"There are people who live with nothing, who can barely feed their families. We should be trying to help them not here looking at them like they're on display for your enjoyment. You realize the things you have or the fact that you can buy almost anything you'll ever want isn't anything that can make you happy for the rest of your life. These people, your people, have so much more than you or I have."
"Alice please, lower your voice people are starting to stare at us." Abigail glanced around, giving the eyes on them shy, polite smiles.
"So you do recognize that they are in fact people; that is absolutely fascinating. Here I thought they were cute stray cats, I'm actually shocked to hear you say that."
Her sister turned to her with a glare on her face. "I don't find that funny at all Alice; watch what you are saying and who is around when you say it."
"Please Abigail; you should want nothing more than to be honest with your people. You should share everything with them, tell them that you think very little of them, that they are nothing more than pest you wish to never see or deal with. I would much rather spend the day with people here, that I don't know, then walk are around without a real purpose other than to make myself look better." Alice turned on her heel and began to walk off.
"Alice, don't you dare walk away from me. No one speaks to me the way you've just don. If you walk off know I am not going to wait for you to get back, I'll be leaving you here and you'll get your wish to stay here."
"Good, make sure to tell your father every detail but I'm sure you'll leave out the part where you became heartless and cruel. I won't be needing your home anymore; it's not as if I've ever really been welcome into it anyway or into your family especially since the passing of my mother."
"Is that what this is all about, not feeling welcomed? Oh Alice what a petty little thing to get angry over."
"Petty? My mother was everything to me and she is gone and with her my whole family, my whole world. Maybe your father was upset but not as a husband should be, he didn't mourn her, didn't shed a single tear for her and you…you just found it to me another reason to have a gown made for you. Not once did you see if your father was alright or even me, you turned it all around onto yourself when it should have been about the memory of my mother. You acted as if it was the greatest tragedy to happen in your whole life to get the attention of everyone around you."
"You're upset because everyone had forgotten you when it was your mother who had died? Oh, Alice I never meant for it to seem like that at all. I-"
"No! You don't get to turn this onto yourself again; you are not a victim Abigail! You are the one who causes the pain! You believe you jewels and gowns are everything, these people here they have all they'll ever need though they might not all see it now. They have their family, they have love. I would give up every privilege in the world to have my mother back here with me. You should be grateful you still have your father but you treat him like he just the man who gives you money, nothing more. I see no love in that place, there is no sense of family. Not when it comes to you. Your father has tried, even a little with me, to be nothing more than the greatest father to you and you ignore him like you would a fly."
Abigail's eyes began to water, fury written on her face. "How dare you! You know nothing about my father and me, we have a fine relationship! You act all high and mighty Alice but the truth is you are nothing without my father, you could be living under a bridge with a troll but he kept you in our home."
"And I appreciate him for all that but I don't want to feel like I'm a guest in a place that should be my home. He tries to act as a father to me but I can see it is forced; he is a good man. Tell him thank you for me would you, I don't think I'll be seeing him again for a very long time." Alice turned once again and continued walking through the crowd, who had all stopped to listen to the step-sister yelling.
Most seemed impressed at the way she stood up to her sister for them; there was one face in the crowd in particular who had his eyes on her. Alice looked up, as if she felt the single pair of eyes on her, and met his eyes. She paused for a brief moment, watching him in that small second feeling something she had never felt before.
"You'll get lost out here Alice!" Abigail yelled out to her sister.
"I'll find my way out on my own." Alice walked away from the market and through the tree line, away from the people and away from her sister.
Addison left her sister's house, running down the street to her apartment to get her school work. Reaching her door, she dug through her purse to pull out her keys and go inside but didn't seem to be having much luck. "Seriously? Tell me I didn't lose my keys again."
"Addie, you okay there?"
Addison spun around, not realizing there was anyone else around. "Hey Mary-Margaret, yeah everything is fine I just can't find my keys and I'm running so late. Ruby's grandmother is going to kill me."
Mary-Margaret laughed softly, taking Addison's purse from her. "Relax Addie, okay? Let me give you a hand, I'm not freaking out about being late to work right now. Oh, here they are they were buried in the bottom of one of the zipper pockets."
"What zipper pocket?"
"The one that was zipped shut." Mary-Margaret smiled at Addison, handing her keys and purse.
"You have no idea what I'd do without you across the hall Mary-Margaret, you are a true lifesaver." She went inside her apartment, leaving the door open to her friend as she gathered a couple books and a notebook. "I have to try to find time at work to finish my English Comp paper for tomorrow; I haven't had a lot of time to even really get started on it because I've been at Kathryn's."
"How it she?"
Addison turned to Mary-Margaret with a sad smile, arms full. "She'll be okay; I think she's starting to realize that she and David would have ended sooner or later. I don't think it's you she's angry with really, it's him. Just…try not to think or worry about it too much, this will all blow over soon or something else crazy will happen and everyone will have their eyes on that."
Mary-Margaret nodded. "Do you need help carrying anything?"
"No, I'm alright this is all I need but if you could grab my keys and throw them back in my purse and close the door for me that'd be great."
"Yeah, got it." Mary-Margaret followed Addison out the door, closing it behind her. "Here, your keys will be right back in the pocket I found them in. I'll leave it open for now, hopefully you'll be able to find them when you come back home tonight. I have to go; Emma and I are having a girl's night thing. Good luck with the paper, call me if you need help with it later."
"Thanks Mary-Margaret." Addison made her way down the stairs and out the front door of her building. She stopped right outside the door to look up at the clock, the only way she was able to check the time with her arms carrying her heavy books. "God I am so dead." The loud ring of the clock rang out, notifying the whole town it was 5 o'clock. Addison, now two hours late to work, darted down the road toward the diner.
The air was cleaner then he remembered, though closing himself off from the rest of the world kind of numbed everything outside his doors. Jefferson had no destination in his mind; he just knew that he needed to get out of the mansion that was created for him. He walked down his long driveway and made his way toward the center of town, about a 15 minute walk. For the first time since he had woken up in this new world Jefferson felt relaxed, calm, sane even. He finally felt completely normal, not some character in a story he knew wasn't real.
Once Jefferson reached the clock tower, he stopped just across the street from it just to look at it. He'd seen it a thousand times through his telescope in his room; it was so much different seeing it in person while it was actually working. The loud chime startled him slightly, being so close to it as it went off, he turned his head to the side, flinching as he covered his ears.
The ringing of the bell seemed like it lasted a lot long than any other time he had heard it. When it finally stopped, Jefferson opened his eyes and looked around him a little. It was getting hard to remember what everything had looked like all those years ago when he had first arrived in Storybrooke but from what he was able to remember everything was exactly the same. Though, there was no reason for anything to be changing in the first place seeing how no person in the town changed themselves. The saw faces that he recognized, mostly from looking through his telescope but a few he remembered from his home village like his neighbors he had sent Grace to before leaving to see the queen. Scanning the street his eyes were drawn to one person in particular but it wasn't that he had recognized her it was more of her resemblance to someone that caught his eye.
There's no way that this is even possible, how on Earth would she even be here. Jefferson thought as he watched the young golden hair girl jog down the road. It's must be some game of Regina's, some trick. But…She moves the same, looks the same. Looking like a crazy person, he shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the thoughts in his mind. Some leisurely stroll, I come out to relax and breath and I end up making my mind go insane that much quicker.
Walking in the opposite direction of the girl he had seen, Jefferson wander around for close to two hours before he found himself moving toward an actual destination. I'll get to the bottom of this; find out who that girl really is. Within ten minutes Jefferson was walking into town hall full of anger and hate, his mind had convinced him of something that wasn't possible.
His wife was alive.
