ness | hiatus

00 - Prologue

Eleven Years Ago, Scotland

Drops of rain slowly ooze down the windowpane, blurring the busy streets of Glasgow. People in the city never take days off for the weather, especially not when it's normal for Scotland to be wet and groggy. Businessmen and women rush around each other beneath the 7th-floor window of a particularly dreary-looking apartment building just as they do every day. Nothing ever seems to change.

"Ness." The voice makes her turn away from the small parlor window. Now that he's grabbed his sister's attention, Knox jabs a thumb behind him, aimed at the weathered front door. "You ready to go?"

She gulps, nods with a deep breath, then swivels from her perch and lands on the cheap linoleum flooring. The dull grey walls engulf them both as they turn away from the pale glow of sun gliding through the window.

Today is Knox's day to babysit little Ness. With their mother working double shifts at her dead-end job, he's all she's got to care for her daughter on the weekends.

Ness squeezes her toes into small, off-white tennis shoes. Slightly too small, she winces as her ankles rub against the worn pull-tabs on the back. "Do I have to come with you?" She pleads with him but receives only a scowl in return.

Knox tosses his old green rain jacket to her, hitting the small of her hunched back. She pulls her arms reluctantly through the sleeves, an ornery thought poised to release on her lips.

"Graham wants me to come over now," he explains, annoyed, "before his parents get back."

"G-Graham?" She croaks.

As though warning her, a shiver rattles down her spine. She isn't supposed to go with him, isn't supposed to leave the apartment without giving their mother notice. But her 12-year-old self has no choice but to follow her reckless older brother. Who knows what he would do if she didn't obey...

Knox puts a finger under her chin, a smirk twitching his lip. He always does this when he's about to say something bad. "I'll let you ride shotgun on the way."

Her eyes light up in surprise at his enticing offer—she wasn't old enough to ride in the front. Before considering the consequences, though, she nods with as straight of a face as she could muster. She mustn't let Knox see her excitement.

His dark brown eyebrows twitch with concern and his eyes soften a little. "And, of course, no telling mum."

Ness nods once more. "Can I bring a stuffed animal?"

Knox, slightly annoyed at her old habit, nods. "I'll meet you outside."

As swiftly as she can, Ness runs back to her very pink bedroom and digs around her pile of stuffed toys. She finds a white bunny, still very clean for her two years of ownership.

Ness turns the bunny on its back, reaches her hand out, and presses her whole palm gently against its belly. Her fingers trace the shape of the object hidden within, up to the animal's neck.

In one quick motion, she grasps the object with one hand and holds the bunny down with the other. The blade of a knife punctures through the abdomen and cotton puffs go everywhere.

She stares at the weapon in her hand for a moment, a speck of doubt telling her this really isn't necessary. But her gut tells her otherwise.

In a last second, she grabs her old time favorite—a matted tiger from when she went to the zoo—and conceals the knife in her jacket pocket before scurrying out the door to meet her brother.