In the Beginning

The Mayor's Office

I knew it in my gut that this 'Danielle' was my mom. She lost her daughter, as I lost my mom. She was ill during winter, as am I with my night terrors. "Danielle is a gardener, she is responsible for all of the city planning within our town and she used to work closely with Zach, well that is until she unfortunately lost her baby." Helen told me. She continued, "Danielle doesn't get out much now and I don't blame her. Especially during the winter, it's almost as if she's hibernating. I invited her to the party last night, but I knew she wouldn't come. I feel for her." I had to ask, "That is so sad, how did she loose her baby?" Helen looked like she wasn't sure, she turned to Valentina and she shrugged her shoulders because I guess she wasn't sure either. This was all so weird. Why didn't they know anything about anything? Could In the Beginning be true? No. It can't be. Helen finally answered me, "I'm actually not too sure. It was about twenty years ago, so I don't remember too well. Sorry Stephanie." She lost her baby twenty years ago, and I'm twenty, but when I was adopted I was one year old. This has to be a coincidence. We continued talking about New Mount and their lives, but suddenly Helen had gotten a call. 

"Excuse me, Stephanie and Valentina, I must answer this call. I'll be right back." She got up and stepped outside. Valentina turned to me, "So Stephanie, I know you've only been here for three days, but how are you liking so far?" I responded, "It's honestly so beautiful, I've always wanted to get out of Boston and live in a close knit town like this. But maybe this town is too close knit." She giggled and replied: "You're not wrong, and I'm sorry about this morning. I saw how badly Zach, Henry, and Helen upset you." "Thank you, and it wasn't anything I couldn't handle." She smiled at me. "That's good, I'm glad they didn't put a damper on your trip here. But anyways, what would you like to do after we finish our drinks. We can walk downtown or get lunch?" I was just about to answer, but then Helen came back. "I'm sorry, but that was the one of my clients. And now I'm even more sorry." Valentina interrupted her, "Was it Olivia and Amber?" Helen replied, "Yes, they need an emergency session." Valentina looked a bit upset, "I'm so sorry Stephanie, but they are one of most important clients. I really wanted to talk to you more, but-" I interrupted here, "Valentina, it's okay. I swear, we will definitely talk again soon!" As she was packing up her things she asked to grab drinks today with Amy and Aiden and I agreed. Helen also told me we could talk more back home, "Yes, Stephanie I am so sorry to cut this short, but we can talk more once we're at home. But would you like me to drop you off home or downtown?" I replied, "No, I would love to walk downtown and see it up close in person. Thank you." "If you want to, I'll see you later and sorry again." Helen said as she and Valentina quickly walked back outside where their limo was waiting for them. 

I wanted to take a closer look at the garden, but I wanted to give downtown a closer look more. I drank the rest of my latte and headed to downtown. It wasn't too far away which was great but even if it was, I already used to it. I was already downtown after about eight blocks and to my surprise, this town wasn't too cold. It was like a whole different dimension. Since it was close to New York City and it was December there should at least be a couple inches of piling snow, but it was warm and windy. Like it was Spring or Autumn. I reached the Mayor's office. I wanted to go inside, but I remembered about Zach and Damon. Ew. 

I waited outside the doors hesitating on whether to go in or not, until I saw Henry walking up to me. "Stephanie, I didn't think to see you here." I rolled my eyes."Why? Because you think I'm only capable of talking about Hayes?" He replied, "Well, Hayes does come here sometimes." My eyes widened in surprise. Henry laughed. "Come on in," he told me as he unlocked the doors. We entered the empty lobby which was expected because it was Saturday, most people have their day off. Except for Henry and the Mayor, I'm guessing. The building was clean and looked exactly like a government building. White walls with signs guiding you to where you need to go. I turned to face Henry as we walked past the lobby, "You said Hayes comes here, so is he here now?" I didn't want Henry to think he was right, but then again I did want to know where Hayes was. "I told you I'm always right," he said arrogantly. He continued: "But Hayes comes here because he talks to the Mayor about... well, let's just say important town business." I was intrigued, "Okay, I'm not even going to try to understand what you meant about 'important town business' but why? Hayes is a club owner what does that have to do with the mayor?" He looked confused, "You do know that Hayes, Zach, and Damon are all brothers right?" I was shocked. Truly! Hayes isn't like Zach and Damon at all, but I can see the family resemblance. They are all very attractive. "I did not know that, but okay. Where are we going?" And as soon as I said that we reached our destination. Henry pointed to the sign on the door, which read The Mayor's Office. I got a bit upset because I didn't want to see Zach or Damon. "Henry, why did you bring me here?" He looked at me, "I didn't bring you here. You followed me inside." He wasn't wrong. 

Henry began to ruffle some papers on Zach's desk, while I was trying to look around the room to capture everything new I was experiencing. After about two minutes, one of the back doors opened and there was Zach, wearing what looked like a very expensive suit. He looked me up and down, and then turned to Henry. Henry started talking to him, "Zach, I was trying to find that report you had to give me." "I have it in the back, you can go grab it." Henry left to go to the back room. Zach came closer to me and I backed up. He started to lean on his desk. "Stephanie, I thought you'd be with my wife and Valentina the whole day." "I was supposed to be, but they had to get to work." He giggled and rolled his eyes. "Of course they have work, all they do is work, work, and more work." I don't why he would say that since I literally have seen him work every day for the past almost week I've been in New Mount. I was getting uncomfortable and I think he noticed. "Stephanie, I'm sorry my brother and I over stepped our bounds during the town party. I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable, especially since you live at my house." This made me feel a bit better, but I was still going to keep my distance. "Now that I've said that let's move on. Are you enjoying yourself in New Mount?" I wanted to ask my questions, like why does nobody remember anything about this town? Or how come they can't leave? Screw it. "I really like it here. Everybody is nice. But somethings aren't adding up..." He furrowed his brow and stood up. "What isn't adding up?" "Well for starters, why does can't residents leave? Or why doesn't anybody know anything about the town?" He walked up to be. He stood closely to me. I feel his breath on my skin which was unpleasant. Honestly, I was scared. 

He moved my hair behind my ear and whispered something I would never forget.