sweethearts

𝟎𝟎 • memories that haunt

(trigger warning: implied abuse)

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PROLOGUE:
"MEMORIES THAT HAUNT"
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April 20th, 2006.
Kansas City, Kansas.

IT WAS A WINDY morning. Alíz Ivov was about done taking her ballet lessons. She was now walking across the circus stage, looking down at the pointless hard work she was doing. As she was lost in thought, the stage lights above her lit up. Alíz then looked up, clearly startled. Her eyes trailed to the wooden beam where the huge light was placed. All she could see in the shadows was a white-toothed smile.

"What the hell?" Alíz exclaims in a half-annoyed tone. The person chuckled and hopped off the wooden beam. Alíz yelps in fear, thinking the person was going to die. Alíz ran over as fast as she could, when she didn't hear the deafening thud she expected to hear she looked up. She rolled her eyes, forgetting the catching net was still there. Now that the person was in a closer view, under the spotlight Alíz could see that they were a he.

"So what do you just get your kicks from scaring the living shit out of people?!"

The boy didn't respond he merely laughed and bounced off the net. "Why are you laughing," Alíz asks once more, impatient with the boy. He got onto his feet and walked a bit closer to her. "Sorry about that Miss..." He awaited her name. "Alíz," she said whilst crossing her arms in an annoyed manner. "Miss Alíz. I was just having some harmless fun."

The girl shook her head, "I'm glad that you're ok. Just please don't do that again, you scared me." Alíz then looked away, getting ready to leave the place. The boy piped up again, "Why do you even care?" She turns to him, "Probably because I feel empathy."

The boy speaks once more, not sensing the fact that Alíz didn't want to talk to him. "Oh, well that's the thing. Nobody that I've ever known is capable of feeling that, not towards me anyway." An awkward silence filled her ears, enveloping the tent.

What does this kid want? Alíz sighed, "Look, I've got places to be. What do you want?" The boy took another step toward her, "Well, isn't it obvious? I want us to be friends." The girl looks over the boy, letting out another tired sigh, "Well? What's your name then. I'll need to know it if we're gonna be friends." She reluctantly agrees to this unexpected question. The boy smiles widely and eagerly.

"I'm Jerome!"

♥

May 23rd, 2008.
New Sweden, Main.

Alíz Ivov has always been a curious child. Being a curious ten-year-old meant that she knew everything about everyone in her life. She knew everything about her mother. Her name was Csenge Ivov and she was a Hungarian immigrant. Her complexion was pale and she always wore her bright blonde hair in a braid before she decided to cut it all off. The reason she had cut all of her hair off was because of a stress-induced panic attack. That panic attack was most likely caused by Alíz's father even if Csenge wouldn't admit it to the girl. Her mother loved mimicking different American accents from southern to new yorker, she could do it all. Alíz knew that her mother was a former opera singer as well as a dancer.