The Silent One: Cursed Daughter (Book 1)

There He Was

(Alice's POV)

It was a cold, dark night. The crisp air carried a slight breeze along with the scent of backyard barbecues and blazing bonfires. Most of the trees' leaves' colors had begun to change into dull shades, and some had even shed a few leaves. I started to notice that the streetlights had been set to turn on earlier and brighter than usual, illuminating even the darkest streets of our town. Without a cloud in sight, a full moon lit up the star-filled sky.

As serene as it may all sound, eventually, the air would return to the staleness one would expect of the boring, small town of Hawthorne. This meant that summer festivities would soon end as August approached around the corner. Not that there were many fun things to do in Hawthorne anyway, other than the annual folk festival in June and the Fourth of July carnival. Most teens would spend the end of their summer vacation enjoying a few beers around a bonfire or throwing an end-of-summer party. Then there is Anna and I, who spent the majority of our summer swimming under the bridge or staying at the library until it closed.

With summer quickly coming to an end that meant one thing: we'd have to return to school, the place I dreaded the most. At one point, I considered that place my own personal hell. All the awful people, the notes they taped to my locker, the names they called me. It certainly wasn't my cup of tea, and I didn't look forward to another year of being a mental punching bag for the popular cliques at my school either.

Unfortunately, that's what happens when you're different in such a small town where everybody knows everyone else's business. Hawthorne was a place known for its hot gossip, where secrets were almost impossible to keep, true friends were rare to come by, and dreams often withered away and died over time. I learned I had no choice but to accept that this was my life and I had to deal with it.

I breathed out a defeated sigh as I looked away from the library window. My eyes instantly met Anna's as she walked away from the librarian's desk after returning the books we checked out the week prior. I could see in her tired eyes that she also felt disappointed and drained from a long day of reading lure. Today was, nonetheless, another epic failure. After spending the entire day at the library, we still had nothing. No leads, ideas, hints, or clues. Nothing...

We spent so many years researching online and reading books to try to understand why I am the way I am. It felt like an absolute waste of our youth. Every time we ended up empty-handed, it made me feel even more helpless, or maybe this whole thing was hopeless. As for Anna, my condition intrigued her, and she was determined to help me figure out the extraordinary mystery of my strange life.

Anna softly patted me on the shoulder with a sincere smile on her face. I smiled back at her, knowing that even if the world worked against me, Anna would never turn her back on me. She has always been right by my side through it all, my only friend in this constant battle. Almost like a guardian angel.

She squeezed my shoulder before muttering, "Tomorrow is another day, Alice."

I nodded my head before gathering our belongings and heading out into the night. Upon exiting the library, I looked up at the stars and the moon. It was a captivating sight to see. At that moment, all I could think about was floating into the night sky and becoming a star. For a brief second, I convinced myself that if it were possible, I would do it, but then I thought of Anna. I couldn't imagine my life without my best friend. She was practically a sister to me. I would never dream of leaving her behind.

Anna drew my attention to the tip of her long, dark red-painted nail on her index finger when she suddenly tugged on the right sleeve of my hoodie while pointing to a certain part of the sky.

"Look, Alice, it's a shooting star," she said with a childlike smile on her face.

As cliché as it was, I asked her, "Should we make a wish?"