Pretend As If You Didn't See Anything (Hemlock Grove / Peter Rumancek)

Chapter One: New Beginnings

"Arianne, never forget how powerful you are. Never forget me. I love you, my beautiful daughter." my father croaked, as he lay on his death bed. "

In the corner, is my staff. I want you to have it." I nodded, and kissed his forehead as he took his last breath. 

"Goodbye..." He whispered. 

"Goodbye, dad." he closed his eyes and smiled.

*three months later*

"Welcome to Hemlock  Grove." 

The sign was beat up and dirty, a couple of bullet holes through it. 'It could be worse, Arianne.' No, not really. This fucking sucks.

I played with the skull charm on my necklace, trying to comfort myself.  Of course, that didn't work. The dense forest flew by, animals moving through it. 'For Philadelphia, this is pretty woodsy. At least it isn't swamp land.'

For a moment, I could smell home. The rich, earthy sent mixing in with the humidity of the air. I could feel the thick heat, the soft ground under my toes. I could hear the bugs buzzing through the air, crickets chirping, the occasional groan and snap of an Alligator.

I sighed. I already miss Louisiana. I drifted into my thoughts until I reached my new house. I pulled into the driveway for a minute, resting my head on the steering wheel.  This was going to be hard.

I took the key from my pocket and unlocked the door. The U-Haul guys must have gotten here before I had, because everything was already here.

I signed. Unpacking shouldn't take a long time, I didn't have many possessions. I didn't need many. I lied on the couch, and closed my eyes, attempting to take a nap.

****

Visions swept through my head as I slept. A werewolf howling at the moon. A tall girl with half her face deformed.  A blonde boy snorting methamphetamines with blood around on his mouth. Trees. A woman hissing. A snake eating its tail. A girl being torn apart in a playhouse.

I was startled awake by the doorbell ringing. I opened the door to see a woman with a candle in her hand. 

"Hi, I'm Lynda Rumaneck." Gypsy. It's not like I had a problem with it. Our ancestry was most likely very close.

"Oh! Hello. Arianne Turrent. Come in, please." 

Lynda and a tall, ragged boy walked in. 

"This is my son, Peter." He looked up at me and smiled. 

"Great to meet you, Arianne." Peter said as he took my hand and kissed it. A picture of a wolf howling at the moon flashed through my mind.

Werewolf