Breaking a tale

Luna - The start of it all

What felt like the best day of my life turned out to be the beginning of a terrifying adventure. A few weeks after my 15th birthday mother called me into her office. I felt myself trembling as I approached the door I had only ever been in there once, when I had broken one of mother's favourite vases, ever since then I had avoided even going near the door... She looked at me as I walked into her office, her piercing glare slicing my thoughts. A strange man stood next to her, I had never seen anyone quite like him before.

He wore a completely white suit complete with a tailcoat but had black gloves and boots. The pocket of his tailcoat had an intricate crest embroidered onto it. It showed two large dogs, rising onto their hackles at each other. One of the dogs had black fur with white features and the other was white with black. Underneath the dogs stood a silver book that seemed to glow against the background of the crest and there were even words inscribed onto its pages. I squinted to read the tiny golden writing. "The tale must end for the master to win"

I made a puzzled face, I didn't understand what the words meant, but I didn't line them. The man seemed to notice my unease and smiled over at me; it was a crooked smile which highlighted a vivid scar which slivered all the way from the top of his ear to the corner of his lip. His posture made it clear that he was trying not to worry me, but his pale blue eyes seemed to betray him. As they looked at me they seemed to be pitying me, as if I was about to do something that would cause disgrace to my family. He was extremely tall and he had to lean down to shake my hand. As he did so I noticed he had scars all over his neck as if he had been mauled by a bear, or maybe a pack of wild dogs, I shivered at this thought. After he stood up again mother coughed as if she was going to speak, the man ignored her and continued to focus on me, she coughed again, but still he ignored her. I enjoyed this thoroughly as I hadn't seen anyone ever ignore mother before and it was clear that she was getting annoyed by it. Finally, he turned around to talk to her.

"Everything has been arranged" he said firmly, "You cannot change that" As he spoke mother's face seemed to lose all colour, even though she was wearing a ridiculous amount of pink blush. Her facial expression went from shock to anger.

"What about Dawn!" she blurted, Panic flashing through her eyes.

"Her time is not now" the man replied calmingly, he gazed down at her pity, before he turned to me "Luna go pack your bags." I didn't argue. I knew there was no point, you didn't get to choose when you went into the tales. Mother tried to stop me going, grabbing my shoulders and forcing me to face her. Her eyes were wild, and she was staring at me desperately.

"Don't go!" she begged, shaking my shoulders. "Don't you dare leave me!" her voice raised to a shout. Somewhere in the house, I heard Dawn call out, asking what was happening. Mother sunk to her knees shaking, tears rolling down her face.

"This isn't how it was supposed to happen; this isn't what I planned" she whispered in between sobs.

I felt a firm hand on my shoulder and looked up to see the man standing there calmly. "Go" he muttered softly "Don't worry about her" Glad to be dismissed I rushed from the office leaving mother sobbing on the floor and the man standing at the doorway towering over her.

I ran through the corridors of the house to my room. On my way, I bumped into Dawn who glared at me. She looked confused and seemed to be annoyed with me, but then she always was, she made a snide comment that I didn't catch before she pushed past me and went to comfort mother. I wonder if she had known that would be the last time she would see me in over a year, maybe she would have treated me differently. Maybe I could have said something. I rushed into my room and flopped on my bed, the familiar scent of it calming me. Wow, just wow. I didn't think I would be leaving so soon. I looked around my room, taking in everything about it knowing I wouldn't be seeing it again in a long time. I went around the room savouring everything from the peeling purple wallpaper to the photos of me and grandad when I was younger.