PROLOGUE
The kettle whistled loudly, its shrill sound bouncing around the walls of the cottage. Gentle hands picked up the kettle carefully and poured the boiling water into a cup with a teabag slopped at the bottom. Steam swirled out of the cup, fogging up her glasses as she watched the clear water turn a deep red.
Her fingers curled around the wide ceramic cup, holding it to her chest. She looked out through the shut French doors, framing the delicate English countryside.
Dense clouds of mist rolled over the distant hills like a fast-approaching winter. She could feel the nip in the air as goosebumps rose on the back of her neck. Her eyes watched the hills. The tumbling mist that dissolved when it met the sun's rays as it bathed the hillside in golden light. She lifted the still steaming cup to her chapped lips, taking a sip of the sweet liquid.
Sitting down in the chair by the fireplace, she opened a file. There were pages and pages of information on the person in question. Pictures of her from about the age of 6 until the most recent photo of the girl that was now a woman. It was a potential client, but she hadn't made up her mind yet on whether or not to take the case. She was getting tired, extremely tired, of having to deal with people whose presence just about made her go insane. Insanity is contagious, after all.
She was tired of loosening the hanging ropes of her patients. Tired of finding them on bathroom floors, choking on their own vomit. She was tired of having to bear the emotional burdens of so many people with no one ever there to bear her own.
She shivered at the memory, quickly pushing it to the recesses of her mind.
She knew that this case was special, that she had the ability to change the lives of more than one person. That she could assist a particular woman in getting a life she never knew she had, but at what cost? What would it personally cost her? The last strands of her sanity? The splintering pieces of her heart? The last of her will to wake up in the morning?
What would it cost?
As the sun rose heavily over the morning and her tea turned cold, she sent a single message that would change her life forever.
YOU ARE READING
Set in Stone
General FictionAfter Mr and Mrs Hart finally get to see their daughter Ophelia again, they make the decision to get Ophelia help in the form of counselling. Much to Benedicts's horror and Elijah's disinterest. After a large amount of trial and error and a few doze...
