❝SHE BURNED BRIGHTER THAN YOUR FUTURE ❞
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Liana Holly's life was a mystery, a puzzle and in some aspects, a down right disaster. With the disappearance of her parents when she was barely seven years old to the discovery that her family was not as sh...
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FEBRUARY1984
THE streets of little Hangleton were alive that sunny Sunday. The late church goers rushing towards the white steepled building in the distance, clutching their hats in the breeze as they walked briskly.
But for the Holly family this was just a form of mild entertainment as they idly watched the flow of brightly dressed people stride past their front garden, where they sat on a picnic blanket.
Christina, aged fourteen sat right at the edge of the blanket, her eyes screwed shut under the bright sunlight that beamed down on her face. The only sounds filling the air was the rustling of leaves on the nearby trees and the soft flutter of the pages being turned by her mother in the books she was reading. It was a blissful kind of peace that the whole family enjoyed, especially given the constant peril they had been put in, it felt nice to sit outside in the sun.
"Mum?" Christina asked as a thought occurred to her, her eyes opening a fraction to squint at her mother.
"Yes Chrissie?" Smiled Aubrey Holly, looking up from her book to smile widely at her eldest daughter. Beside her, Liana stirred slightly in her sleep. The small four year old girl was curled up in a nap, her red curls like a glowing halo around her face and her little fists gripped around the material of the blanket beneath her.
"Why are we hiding? Why can't we go out for Sunday lunch like we used to?" Christina questioned, biting her bottom lip as she sat up, brushing the stray leaves and grass from her skirt as she gave her mother a rather shy look.
It was a touchy question to ask. Christina knew that much. Every time she had tried to ask previously her mother had changed the subject fast enough to give anyone whiplash, or had shut down the query with a blunt 'you're too young to understand'.
The question was so innocent it was almost painful for Aubrey to hear her daughter say nowadays. Aubrey frowned as she swivelled to face her oldest daughter, trying to figure out the most delicate way to phrase the truth.
"Christina, there are some people in the world who are very special, just like Liana here. They don't choose to be special, but sometimes accidents happen. If people find out how special and gifted she is, they get jealous, feel threatened," Aubrey explained slowly, her hazel eyes focused on Liana, who continued to toss in her sleep, as if dreaming vividly.
"How is Liana so special and why does everyone want her?" Asked Christina, a slightly grumpy undertone to her voice. It was hard for the fourteen year old to comprehend that her younger sister could possibly so important that the whole family had to obscure their existence.
Aubrey sighed once again and kissed the top of Christina's head softly.
"Liana has a gift Christina, she has- a talent, so to speak, not something she asked for but something she was landed with the misfortune of having. It's something that they desperately want."
