Author's Note: Sorry the first chapter was four words long, but there is reason for it, and a recurring theme to that reasoning. I promise all the chapters will be quite long.
Thanks so much to my Beta reader.
Hope you enjoy.
Please R&R!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story!
Chapter 1
I'm not a believer.
I never have been. My dad always told me to be myself and not follow anyone else, believe what I want about the world and 'God' and his plan for us all. He said all of this, even though he was a part-time Pastor. My mother on the other hand, was the complete opposite. She taught me everything about God and how the world should be compared to how it actually is. Always, I was torn. I was undecided on whether to adopt a religion for my mother's sake, or stay true to myself for my father's sake. What made that decision even more difficult was, unlike most people who have to make such a decision, my parents were happily married. They had been for the past twenty years. Then, came the fatal day. They died in a car accident. They were picking me up from a party when their car careered off of Wickery Bridge. They drowned in that car. They were on their way to pick me up. That's how I survived.
I've been living with my brother Jeremy, my aunt Jenna, and her boyfriend/lover/almost fiancé Alaric. Who just so happens to be my history teacher. I mean, I love him and everything, he's like a second father to me (he actually quite literally IS a second father. He's one of my two legal guardians) but he had this intense NEED to check to make sure I'm doing all my history homework. He doesn't care about my other subjects. As long as I ace History. Jenna could never argue against him. Not that she would want to. They are hopelessly in love. And Ric is a hopeless romantic. Although, he'd never admit it.
Exactly a year ago, my parents died.
Exactly 8 months ago I found out that I was adopted and that Jeremy was my half-brother.
Exactly 6 months ago, Ric moved in and asked Jenna to marry him.
Exactly 4 months ago Jeremy moved in with his girlfriend Anna.
Exactly 2 months ago, I graduated high school.
Exactly 1 month and 3 weeks ago, I got my acceptance letter for university, which meant that I would no longer be living in Mystic Falls, Virginia. In fact, I wouldn't even be living in the U.S. Or the continent of North America. It meant that I would be moving to England. In fact, I would be moving to the north of England. Past Leeds to North Yorkshire. Just outside Whitby to be precise. To the small town of Ruswarp, which is a 30 minute walk from Whitby, if you're slow. It takes me an average of 10 minutes to walk in, and 15 minutes to walk back.
Exactly one month and 2 weeks ago, I flew over here with Jenna and Ric to buy/rent somewhere off-campus to live. I chose a small but very homey cottage in Ruswarp. It is number 2 in a row of 5 cottages overlooking some of the moors from the back windows. If I walked down the road to the train station, I can cut across fields alongside the railway then walk following the railway for 10-15 and come out in the south corner of Whitby.
Jenna and Ric stayed in Ruswarp with me for two weeks until I got settled. Then, they had to get back to Mystic Falls. They had jobs there after all. And lives outside of me and Jeremy. Jeremy stayed for another two weeks, 'for the scenery' apparently, although I overheard him on the phone to Anna saying that he was staying to give me moral support, which I really appreciated.
Two weeks ago, he left and I was left to fend for myself. Jenna and Ric said that they would come back in a couple months to visit. Jeremy said that he might bring Anna next time.
In all honesty, I miss them like mad. I've never lived on my own before. I quite like it. The independence, the feeling of responsibility, the serenity that you can only find when you are by yourself in a house, enjoying the quiet while curled up on a sofa with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book. It's…nice.
Whitby is gorgeous. It's full of cobbled streets that stretch for ages, and little traditional and old-fashioned shops. You walk over the bridge and there is a little café and sweet shop Jane's Rock Shop and Jane's Café. You keep walking past the Café and you come to Venus Trading, which sells all sorts of clothes and trinkets. You keep walking and you come to a market square, keep walking and walk past two neighbouring book stores and you come to a set of stairs. The 199 Steps. You walk up them and you are at the bottom of a graveyard. There is a sort of serenity as you follow the path through the graveyard. When you get to the end of the path, there is Whitby Abbey. Follow the wall and you come to the ruins of the Abbey. You can enter them and you are able to stay for as long as you like. The first time I visited the Abbey I stayed there, just sitting on the grass and enjoying the peace for around about two hours.
I'm in Whitby almost everyday, walking the cobbled streets and visiting the shops.
Whenever I am going into Whitby, I have a routine. First I wake up at about 8 30am, go and have a shower and then get dressed. All of this is done by about 9 am. Then, I take 10 minutes to walk into Whitby. I have breakfast at Jane's Café before going shopping. I spend two hours from 10 am to 12 midday shopping, before going back to Jane's for lunch. After lunch I go shopping again for 30 minutes. At 2pm I walk up the 199 Steps, through the graveyard and to the Abbey. I walk into the Abbey ruins, find a place to sit down and stay there, either listening to music with my headphones while reading, writing or drawing or I just sit there, enjoying the relative solitude and the silence that exists in that area. At four, I walk down the past the headstones, down the steps, back through the streets, over the bridge and I follow the railway line back to Ruswarp station, where I walk up the road to my front door, unlock and walk in, dumping my keys into the bowl on the table just inside the door before unpacking my shopping.