𝘏𝘈𝘙𝘉𝘖𝘙 ° 𝘙𝘖𝘔𝘈𝘕 𝘎𝘖𝘋𝘍𝘙𝘌𝘠 ✓

P R O L O G U E

➖

"I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE."

The words seemed to haunt Rory Aden. They followed her every step and every thought in the days that followed the incident. The incident in which Rory's best friend, Bella, got a paper cut in a room full of vampires, triggering Rory's now ex-boyfriend to lose his control, nearly attack her best friend, subsequently break up with her and move away whilst cutting off all forms of communication with her.

Rory knew she shouldn't blame Bella, she knew Edward's reaction is what made the incident worse, that they couldn't have expected to be abandoned and broken by those who had promised to love them.

But some selfish, immature part of Rory still felt bitterly annoyed at the girl, causing her to keep her distance in the days and weeks that followed the Cullens exit from Forks, Washington. Being a high school graduate whose friends all attended school left Rory alone for long periods of time, a period of time in which she quickly fell into the abyss that had almost swallowed her before coming to the town. The abyss was a dark, empty part of Rory that she had escaped with the steel grip of Jasper Hale.

She had forgotten that even steel shatters under enough pressure.

It was on her tenth day without Jasper, without happiness, that Stella Reyes finally snapped.

Rory was sitting in the tub, her body wrinkled and pruned, with almost all the bubbles nonexistent as she glared at a tiny tempting silver razor blade lying on the white porcelain edge of the tub next to the array of shampoo and conditioner bottles.

She wasn't aware she had company, her mind less than sharp, until Stella reached over and snatched the blade up.

"No," Stella decided. "I'm not watching this happen. Not again."

Rory stood from the tub, the sight of her shivering naked body horrified Stella. She wasn't sure when the last time she had eaten something, the skin wrapped around each bone like a thin colorless wrapper paper.

"Come downstairs when you're dressed. We have to talk."

Rory descended down the old rickety staircase with crossed arms and a blank expression. She entered the living room where her mother sat quietly waiting on the couch, watching Rory warily as if her daughter was some sort of endangered creature.

"I'm not depressed. If that's what you're thinking."

Stella pursed her lips, eyeing the way Rory's clothing hung off her body too loosely, despite having perfectly fitted the relatively new t-shirt and jeans a few weeks ago. "That's exactly what a depressed person would say." Stella motioned for her daughter to sit in the spot beside her.

Rory scoffed, preferring to defend herself standing up. "So what? Am I being put back into therapy? Signed up to various therapy groups? A new subscription of happy pills?"

In truth, she had done it all before they had moved to Forks; the meager weeks after the accident in San Antonio were spent in hospital rooms and group therapy sessions. When Stella and Rory had moved to Forks, medicine was Rory's crutch per her request; she didn't want the people of Forks to know the extent of her issues. And as Rory believed herself to heal over the beginning months with new friends and memories and Jasper Hale, the container of prozac was left forgotten in her desk's bottom right drawer.

Rory expected her mother to confirm this conclusion, yet the words that left Stella's mouth made Rory's jaw drop in shock.

"You're going to stay con su tia y tio in Hemlock Grove."

There was a note of finality in Stella's tone, it was clear to Rory her mother had been wrestling over this decision for a while now.

"Hemlock Grove?" She was confused by how familiar the name sounded, her anger put on hold as Rory fell into her memory. She remembered sunny days in the mansion-like home of her Aunt Giselle and Uncle Dante, playing hide and seek in the woods with the neighbor's son and eating endless bowls of mac and cheese.

"It's in Pennsylvania...we used to take you there as a young girl," Stella reminded her daughter.

As Rory remembered the town, her fury grew, deepening as her mother's decision weighed down on her, alighting the fire within her that she didn't know still existed. Rory guessed even depression and misery weren't exempt from a child's ire at their parent.

Rory burst into hysterical anger. "Why is it that every time I'm unhappy you think moving to a new place is the solution? It's crazy, mama. The literal definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome each time—I'm not moving to Hemlock Grove," Rory said disbelievingly, crossing her arms.

"It wouldn't be permanent, just for as long as you need to heal. Staying here won't make you happy. You have nothing else to do here, all your friends are still in high school and you have no plans for your future—you won't even take the Italy scholarship. I know you're reminded of him every where you go—if you step out of the house that is," Stella shook her head. "I was the same way when we were still in San Antonio—everything about that city reminded me of your father, your sister...I won't let it happen to you and I'm not sending you back to Texas. My mind is made. Either you go to live with Tia Giselle and Tio Dante for a few months or we both move to Hemlock Grove permanently."

Rory felt her red-hot fury dampening already; she didn't really have the energy to fight anymore nor the heart to keep it going. "What about Billy?"

While Rory had obviously failed in Forks, her mother thrived with a great love for her job in Forks hospital and with the nice native man, Billy Black. Rory wasn't deaf to the whispers of Billy and Stella about the possibility of securing their future. Rory was happy for her mother, but she had no happiness for herself, at times she even selfishly despised the way her mother had Billy while Rory was left to rot in the dust of Jasper Hale's past.

"I love him, but you are my priority, Rory," Stella said firmly. "I'll do whatever it takes for you to be happy again."

There was a long pregnant pause as Rory thought over the choices she was given. Whatever darkness Rory had succumbed to, at the core, Rory was the most selfless person in the universe, she couldn't live knowing she was the reason her mother left her second chance at happiness because Rory was a undisputed, depressed mess of a girl.

"Can I have some time to think it over?"

Stella nodded, her eyes glossy with pain and hope for her daughter. "Of course."

The next morning, Rory walked over to her mother's office, her bare feet padding along the old wood as a heavy decision rested on her shoulders.

Rory opened the door and Stella's eyes lifted from the paper she had been reading. Rory had nothing else to say to her mother. She rolled her suitcase into the office with a sense of undeniable resentment.

"I'm leaving. Today."