Behind The Big Ben

Prologue

The young blonde girl looked at her forty year old uncle worriedly. He was looking bad, even worst than he had the last time she had visited him.

His hair, although only being forty, was completely grey, small bald patches resting in various places on his head. He was nothing like the young, brown haired man that she had seen in the pictures on the mantelpiece at home.

She had started to live with him just a week ago, the moment she turned eighteen, and now, every day she came home from her job at a small diner, he seemed older. He was ageing and the result was not pretty.

“Can you pass me that cup, Lucy?”  Will, the uncle, asked his young niece. He knew she was a beautiful young lady but her eyes haunted him. Ocean blue eyes. Just like Alice.

“Of course, Uncle William,” Lucy answered. He hated it when people called him William. He had always hated people calling him by his full name but now it reminded him of Alice calling him William in a teasing manner. She was one to tease. She hated her full name as well. Alyson. To this day he still liked her full name, not that he ever told her that.

Lucy reached for the mug of tea sitting on the mantelpiece. She mentally scolded him for leaving it there but decided against actually scolding him out loud. Her hands wrapped around the mug and she frowned at how cold it was.

 “It’s cold,” she said, turning to face her uncle. He frowned but then remembered that he had made the cup before Lucy had left. He hadn’t realised that he had been sitting here for so long. “Let me go and make you another one.”

 “No, no. I’ll get it. I’ve been sitting around for too long anyway,” Will muttered the last bit to himself but Lucy still heard. Will pushed himself off the chair and walked slowly to the kitchen of the house. He was like an old man, Lucy always thought as his slippers slapped against the kitchen tiles.

 Will flicked the switch of the kettle and walked over to the cupboard and brought down one of his mother’s mugs down. He had got half of the set and Edward, his brother and Lucy’s father, had received the second half.

 His father had passed away two years before her, leaving Will with the Scott household. Edward had been fine with letting Will take the house; he didn’t know exactly what had happened, only Will did, but he had a slight idea.

 Edward had watched many times as Will had walked Alice up to the door of her small flat. They lived in the small block of flats just across from them, making it easier for Will and Alice to go on their little journeys together. Where they went on these adventures, Edward was not sure. He only knew that Will always dropped Alice off at exactly 9 o’clock at night and the next morning, after his four hour job at the market, he would disappear, along with Alice and all the money he had earned that day.

 Will poured the boiling water into the cup, dropping a tea bag in as well. He sighed as took out the tea bag and stirred the warm liquid. He didn’t care for milk or sugar, he had grown up not being allowed any of that.

 He looked out the window of the two bedroom flat and his eyes landed on the tall tower. The Big Ben.

 He held his head in his hands as memories rushed back. His elbows leaned against the counter as he sighed again and remembered what had happened behind the Big Ben...  

 ~*~

Hey, so this is a short story I wrote for school and my friend ( @Cheese_Puffs01 , whom this is dedicated to) told me I had to put it on here so I guess just enjoy and I'll have daily updates since it's all already written out. Please note that I wrote most of this in one day so it may have came out a little rushed.