Something odd was happening in Mystic Falls. Now, I couldn't exactly tell what it was, but there was definitely a factor of strangeness going on around here. I mean, the number of suspicious deaths in the past few months alone? It was kinda freaky, if I'm honest. They were mostly penned down as animal attacks, but that didn't stop me from making sure my door was locked at night. My parents were both very wary people, which was also good, but that also made them a little too overprotective. Not saying it's completely a bad thing, but the smothering can get a little much sometimes.
I couldn't even decide who was worse, my mom or my dad. Mom always made sure I knew to come home before dark, always wanted to know where I was, who I was with and panicked each time a new death popped up, especially if it was a student or someone we knew. She'd completely overturned the alarm system in our house, upgrading everything and even adding security cameras. My dad was part of the neighbourhood watch of Mystic Falls, and everybody in our street seemed to be highly vigilant and we were often dragged out to meetings where we'd be given the same basic rundown of how to stay safe.
Don't go out after dark, lock your doors, don't invite strangers into your home, and so on. Still, I couldn't really complain. These incidents freaked me out too, so I wasn't all up for actually being out too late, though of course there were some cases I couldn't help it, like needing to study at the library and helping out at the school whenever there were events on. I still had my freedom, but right now I figured staying inside would be safer than being out with supposed mountain lions roaming the streets. Seriously, did they really expect us to believe that all of these deaths were animal attacks?
Animals didn't leave their territory willingly, especially not predators, so why the hell would they be wandering around schools and random parts of the town when they could be munching on some wild deer or something? Like I said, this down was just freaky. Anyway, sad as these deaths were, they weren't my problem and I never really knew any of the people. I guess death didn't really bother me much, since I'd experienced it as bad as it came before I was even ten years old.
You see, my parents I had now were actually my adoptive parents. My real family died in a house fire when I was eight years old. It was a night that completely shattered my reality, and I'd never forgotten the sound of my parents and little brother screaming in pain as I'd somehow managed to drag my younger sister out into the yard when the lights started to flash all around me, fire fighters, cops and ambulances arriving to try and save everybody. My little sister, Saffron, had died in my arms from smoke inhalation and I'd been in emergency care for the next couple of days. When I woke up, I hadn't even remembered what happened, and when I'd started asking for my mom and dad, the nurses had looked at me like I was a sad, pitiful, broken little bird before telling me my family had all gone to heaven.
That's when I'd felt a pain so excruciating that I didn't even know an eight year old child could feel that much hurt. I'd cried for days after that, thinking that everyone around me was lying and that it couldn't be true, but no matter how much I cried and begged, my parents never came for me. I'd lost them, as well as Saffron and Daniel, my little brother who had only been two years old at the time. It was the most inexplicable pain I had ever endured, worse still for how long it lingered, and no amount of therapy could make it go away. After that it was just an endless cycle of therapy and care homes with no end in sight to the cold bleakness that seemed to never fade.
That's when Ron and Clara Marsh entered my life. They had been married for twelve years already but hadn't been able to have any kids of their own, so they'd been looking to adopt. That's when they found me. There were so many other children that were probably more deserving of a home than I was, at least, that's what I'd felt at the time. I was a kid that lashed out easily, trying to make myself feel better from the utter pain I felt by hurting others. When I wasn't shut up in my room by myself to be alone, I was causing problems for the carers until they were practically begging for a foster home to take me in.
Ron and Clara came to me then, having chosen to adopt me out of all the other kids. I'd sat in an office to meet them, glaring coldly and as dangerously as a then nine year old me could, whilst they both just sat there and smiled at me. For a long time none of us said anything, and it had started to make the head carer worry until Ron finally spoke. "So kiddo, do you like magic?" Then he'd proceeded to show me all kinds of magic tricks with cards and props he'd prepared, and being a nine year old kid, I couldn't help but be fascinated, especially when he'd pulled chocolates out of my ears, supposedly.
They visited regularly, the three of us getting to know one another until eventually it was only Ron and Clara that I actually talked to rather than anyone else. I listened to them as well. Each time they'd leave, Clara would tell me to be good and get along with everyone, and since it was Clara who asked me, I did. There had been a humongous change in my attitude after that, something I didn't even notice until I looked back, and when Ron and Clara brought me home for the first time where I was going to live as their daughter, they'd prepared an entire street party for me with all the neighbours getting involved to welcome me.
That's where I'd met Matt for the first time, and we'd become good friends ever since. For five years we had been close as anything, but then when we reached high school as freshmen, it all started to unravel. There was never any dramatic argument or tearful goodbye like on TV, we just…drifted. Plans got cancelled due to obligations, our social circles began to include other people that didn't include each other, then before I knew it, we'd barely even talk anymore. I'd found myself closing off against everyone, until I didn't even really have any friends that I hung out with. I didn't mind it that way, I always functioned better with fewer people around me and there were plenty of kids in my classes who I talked to and said hi if we passed each other.
It was functional, and I was quite happy with it being that way, but I think right now Mattie needed to know that he still had other people he could turn to if he needed help since his sister was currently missing. My parents were both extremely sympathetic towards Mattie, and had already told me that I could extend an open invitation for him to come round any time of day or night if he needed. We weren't a rich family, but we were comfortable, and adding one more to the table wouldn't be any problem at all. My mom was a successful language and linguistics professor, teaching at Whitmore College whilst my dad was a tech analyst. "Hey guys." It was one of the rare days when they actually got home together at the same time. Mom must have rushed on over and dad snuck away before his boss could call him to fix more problems that he didn't get paid enough for.
"Great you made dinner, I'm starving." Mom breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that food was already set out on the table, literally having just been pulled out of the oven. "Ophelia honey, you are an angel." She said as she came to give me a squeeze, kissing my head. "How's Mattie? Have you talked to him at all today?"
"Has there been any news on his sister?" Dad asked me as he came in settled himself into the comfort of home, taking off his jacket and work tie, loosening the top button and putting down his work bag.
"I didn't really see him much today, but I was planning on calling around tomorrow with some food." I answered, getting the mash and peas in order to put the last of the food out on the table as my parents both washed up ready to sit down. "I'm not sure if he'll want anything though…I mean, there's nothing worse than sympathy food when you've been abandoned by everybody you love. What do you think I should do?"
"There's no harm in trying, sweetheart. After all, it might be easier on Mattie if he can come home and there's something already cooked and ready for him to eat without having to worry about cooking for himself, or about what's left in his refrigerator, or about his mother letting him go hungry." My mom's nose wrinkled. She had a very clear dislike for Matt's mom, and I had to say I couldn't blame her. She wasn't exactly mother of the year material, which was probably going to make things all the worse for Matt. "Just be a friend, Lia. That's all you can do."
"You two used to be close. Maybe he'll appreciate you being there for him despite you guys drifting apart." Dad said to me, already tucking into dinner with a healthy appetite. "Besides, if you showed up at my door with some of your famous dinners, I'd appreciate the hell out of it. Wouldn't last me until morning." Smiling at my parents, I resolved to make food and take it over to Matt tomorrow, maybe I'd make some cookies or something too for him to snack on. Just anything that might take his fancy, seeing as he probably wouldn't want to eat much right about now. I just hope that things calm down from now on, if the death rate and missing persons' reports continue to rise like this, I'm pretty sure Mystic Falls is going to become nothing but a ghost town.