Amelie's Daughter

A New Arrival

Chapter 3 (Unknown)

"A drop in the ocean, a change in the weather..." Ron Pope blares out of my car radio. The song from The Vampire Diaries is my favourite, I love The Vampire Diaries. I'm on my way to a place called Morganville, I'm moving into a nice big house (a bit like a mansion really) which the old owner called 'The Glass House'.

I need a new start. My mother died when we went on holiday to France, she drowned when we was on a boating trip and the boat overturned due to the change in the weather (ironic considering the song...) My father, brother and I managed to swim to the shore but my mum...my mum was trapped under the boat and couldn't get out. When we returned my father was overcome with grief. He didn't come out of his bedroom, he locked both of his children out. He took his own life in the end. My brother went away to join the Army but his life was taken in an Afghanistan tour.

So you see, I am all alone in this lonely world. Why do humans have to kill each other? Why can't we all live at peace? This escapes my mind, after all how am I supposed to know? I am but a mere 18 year old girl just out of school, unable to find a decent job, no family, no place to call 'home' anymore...everything has been taken from me. The world is a cruel place.

The song ends and "The Last Goodbye" by Billy Boyd comes on. I used to be a sucker for The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and other similar movies...Infact they were some of the things that I could not bring myself to leave behind in New York. I turn off the highway onto a back road, the sun is beginning to go down beyond the horizon. I flick my headlights on, realising that I had not done so.

A sign looms in the distance. It says, "Welcome to Morganville" in large letters and underneath in smaller print it says, "You'll never want to leave..." A Police car is parked at the side of the road and signals for me to pull over. A young woman with a scar down her left cheek is standing next to the car. She tells me to get out of the car.

"Officer," I say, "Did I do something wrong? I wasn't speeding or anything was I?"
"No, no you weren't speeding." She reassures me, "I just need to know your details. Its procedure for new arrivals to sign in at the border."
"Um...ok. I am Alyssa, I am 18."
"Alyssa what?"
"Alyssa Collins." I reply. The Police Officer's mouth drops open but she quickly composes herself.
"Right. Alyssa where are you headed?"
"I'm moving into somewhere called the Glass House."
"Will you please sign here and write all of your details on here with your medical details?"
"Yeah sure." I take the pen and sign the paperwork. I don't have any medical issues, my eyesight is perfectly fine, my hearing is good and I've never been to the hospital for anything other than a minor burn wound I received when I was twelve. I hand the clipboard back to her.
"You know my name, what is yours?" I ask out of curiosity.
"Hannah, Hannah Moses." She replies, "Now if you will. I'd rather you would not be out after dark." She gestures to my car.
I look at her confused, "Why? What happens after sundown?"
"You really don't remember do you?" She sounds shocked.
"Remember what?"
"It doesn't matter. Go now while you still can." I climb back into my little Ford Fiesta and pull away from the kirb, well that was...weird.

Chapter 4 (Alyssa)

I don't know what Hannah Moses was going on about, nothing happened. I arrived in one piece. The house is dark and feels empty when I first walk in keys in hand, suitcase by the door. When I came to view the house it had been filled with furniture and possessions, but now most of that had been moved. The plush red sofa is still there but it is pushed carelessly against the wall, the dining room table has piles of papers stacked messily and the chairs lie on the floor.

As I walk through each room I see the same thing; furniture (what little is left) overturned, floors stained with what looks like blood and the plaster peeling off the walls. This house has not been lived in (or cared for) for a very long time...its going to take some work to get it back to its former glory on my own. I look upstairs, which is in much the same mess, and try each door. One is a bathroom (probably one of the most clean rooms in the house) and the other four are bedrooms. Three of the bedrooms are messy but the fourth is clean and tidy, it has a ghostly feeling to it. I leave it and shut the door, I am not sleeping in that one! I decide to have the one first off the landing, in the wardrobe are Gothic clothes...girl clothes. I shrug and fall asleep on the bed.

Morning comes bright through the open curtains. I look around. Wow this room is much messier than I first thought! I'd have to do a mass of house cleaning today starting upstairs and working my way downstairs. I can't move my own stuff in here until all of the house is declutterd. I find black garbage bags in the cupboard under the sink and a notepad (a strange thing to find under the sink!) I write down that I need to go shopping at the top of the page, grab my suitcase on the way up the stairs and, dumping it in the landing, I get to work.

By midday the room is bare. It has taken me more than five hours to clean out one room!
"So there is a floor!" I exclaim as I glance around the room. I heave my suitcase in and empty it, I put the empty suitcase under the bed. I'll find the attic later (I put that on the list too.) My stomach rumbles. I haven't eaten today. I saw a coffee shop on the way here last night I can go to get something to eat and then go shopping afterwards.

I lock up on my way out and tuck the rushed shopping list in my pocket along with my money. I vaguely remember where the coffee shop is but I find it eventually. A young woman is at the bar. She has short dyed black hair, white face makeup and is dressed in clothes similar to those I found in my bedroom. She smiles at me as I order a large white mocha and a sausage roll. "Hello Eve." I don't know what made me say it, I don't know this person...do I? She looks up at the mention of her name on my lips.
"How did you-" she breaks off trying to place my face, "Who are you?" She eventually gets out.
"I am Alyssa. Alyssa Collins." Eve's eyes widen. She takes a break and goes to a table with me.
"How is this possible? How are you alive?"
This question throws me, "Um...I'm not sure what you mean, I'm breathing I guess?"
"You...we thought you'd died, when you was twelve...there was a fire."
It starts to come back to me now; I'd gotten into the bad books with Monica Morrel who had decided to burn our house down, my parents thought I had died but actually I was rescued by none other than Amelie herself.

"You are kidding me right?" She looks at me and sees my expression, "Oh my God. You aren't joking. Amelie rescued you and then what?"
"She sent me to live with a guardian, when I got news that my mother had died I went to the funeral but then when I returned I found out that my adoptive mother had drowned in France. I has no one. My real father had gone crazy and my brother the same, you see they didn't know that I was there at the funeral...that is to say they thought I was a friend of my mother. My adoptive father had killed himself and I got word a few years ago that Shane, and my real father, had died."
"Wow, your life seems confusing. I am sorry that you lost everyone that you loved. I know how that feels. I just lost my husband, Michael Glass and I lost my friend Claire a few years back."
"Wait...Michael Glass...as in the Glass House?"
"Yes, I couldn't bear to stay there alone. I sold the house a few weeks ago."
"I know, you left it in a mess."
"Yeah I feel sorry for the new- wait you are the new owner aren't you?" I nod in reply.

"Eve where do you live?" I ask her, "You know if you want you can move back into the Glass House. I know we've only just met but-"
"I don't live anywhere, I normally sleep in the office." She points to the back, "I'll have to think on the living together though, as you said we don't know each other." She stands up, "If you want we can meet here tomorrow at midday?" She doesn't wait for a reply. So I've kind of made a friend! I eat my now cold sausage roll and mocha and head back home.