Raindrops at Twilight (Jasper Hale)

Prologue:

1920

The sound of the leaves rustling in the wind was the only sound that couldn't be heard over the giggling of a little nine year old, a pre-teen of thirteen, and a young adult of nineteen. All three were pink in the cheeks as they jumped into pile of fall leaves, crushing the brittle plants underneath their weight and force .

Mabel was the first to pop up, the smell of must and the clean crisp air, trees almost bare to the bone, and the brown color of dying grass that was across every neighbors yard as far as she could see, meant that summer was officially over and autumn was now in full force. And the thought of snow that would soon make the streets and houses white, made Mabel throw herself back into the pile of leaves with glee.

"Ouch!" A girls voice said as her head popped out from underneath the foliage, her small dainty hand rubbing a small circle on her forehead.

Mabel's eyes widened and looked over to her elder sister Mary Alice, who now was giving her younger sister a devilish glare, but a ghost of a smile on her lips. Mabel gave a sheepish chuckle, with a shrug of her shoulders as if to say 'sorry'.

Hearing the commotion the third Brandon daughter who was also the youngest, poked her head up from the leaves to look at the two. Not seeing the playfulness that Mary Alice was hiding quit horribly, Cynthia got up from the leaves and started running towards their house, on what the young child thought was going to save her second eldest sister from total destruction.

"Anna-Marie! Mary Alice is going to try and tickle Mabel!" She screamed, her brown hair flying behind her in soft waves and ran through the front door, the slam echoing, signaling she was now inside.

Mary Alice who was now holding her stomach from laughing too hard at Cynthia's actions, was distracted. Mabel now realizing she had the chance to try and crawl away from her sister, who she knew would certainly extract her revenge. Was shortly stopped when she heard the voice speak.

"And where do you think you are going?" Mary Alice asked Mabel who then stopped her planning to escape, turned to pout at the eldest girl.

"That's not fair, I hadn't even started escaping yet!" Mabel knew her sister was different, by being able to see things before they even happened but she made a promise to both Mary, her mother, and herself that she would never tell anyone else about the special gift because if she told the wrong people, they would come and take her sister away.

"Well, that's not my fault you decided to be slow." She said with a laugh and stood up, brushing off any dirt or crumpled leaves off her clothes and then walked over to Mabel.

There was always something that made Mabel almost jealous of her older sister. While Mabel was awkward and clumsy, Mary Alice moved with a lithe of dancer, graceful and beautiful.

"Come on Mabel, let's go inside. I'm sure the Wicked Witch of the West, is just brewing up a storm after Cynthia ran in." Mary Alice had said with a resigned sigh, and Mabel quietly groaned and stood up brushing off any dirt or leaves from her clothes as well and fixed her hair. Retying the bow at the top of her head.

If there was one thing besides everything else that Mabel and Mary Alice could agree on, was that their new stepmother Anna-Marie, was a horrible human being. She treated Mary Alice, very coldly, almost like one would treat a lowly servant, while Mabel and Cynthia were treated like a pampered pet. Mabel, being a very attentive thirteen year old, and with the help of Mary Alice, she knew the truth about her mother's death.

The two then linked arms and walked into their house, the smell of tobacco hit them, and both almost had to resist the urge to cough in front of their stepmother who held a cigarette in a fancy holder and was laughing with a group of friends in the foyer, with Cynthia sitting at her feet playing with paper-dolls. Hearing the door close, the noise stopped and Anna-Marie's head whipped to the two girls.