Pixie

» prologue

For as long as she could remember, she was the happiest soul anyone could ever meet. Sunrays in her hair, always willing to bring a smile on your face, sing and dance around. She was born and raised in a small town in Lincolnshire, and that is where she lived most of her life: went to De Aston school, hanging out with her friends in The White Swan, where she met the love of her life when she was about 19 years old and had the first date with him by the Rase River. Life was good to her, and she couldn't have been more grateful.

... and then, one day, everything changed.

She was in her kitchen, sipping coffee from the mug and admiring her engagement ring. Her fiancé proposed to her a week ago, at their three-year anniversary party. She was deeply in love with him, and so excited to get married.

Daydreaming still, she opened the door for her soon to be mother-in-law, who was crying her eyes out and chaotically mumbling "he is dead, my son is dead". At first, she thought that was a joke, but seeing the older woman in that state, she had to sit down on the coach, listen to what has happened, and not being able to move for the next six hours, not even to mimic sadness or grief.

She was blind, deaf, mute. Her fiancé was taken away from her, and as soon as she processed that, her soul was wrapped by darkness and misery. By the end of the funeral, she was not aware anymore of how much she cried because the pain she felt numbed all her senses.

-

Now, five years later, Pixie was holding a glass of rosé while looking out the window of her new apartment in London. The city lights combined with the after-sex laziness and the wine made her feel in a safe place. Staring into the abyss, she didn't notice when her lover came behind her, caressing her breast while kissing her neck. She was having a moment of nostalgia, thinking about the day when Irene died, together with her fiancé, and Pixie was born.