Heidi and the Wolf

1.

*Here is chapter one! This was originally chapter two, but thanks to another great writer, I've deleted what was originally chapter one and this will be it instead. SO welcome to Penshaw Lake where most of our tale will take place! Please vote, comment and follow, but most importantly, please enjoy.*

Dedicated to @MARYTHEBESTe for being my first comment on this book! Thanks gal! x

-H xx

The train huffed and puffed as it began to slow down. People all up and down the carriages began shuffling their things, arranging their belongings, putting on their coats and slowly edging to the edge of their seats, ready to fly out of them and be waiting at the doors when the train came to a stop.

Quintessentially British.

The train stopped at a town that I could barely be bothered to read the name of. Something Northern, I was sure. Mum was half asleep against the multi-coloured head-rest of the seat she was in and I was lazily staring out of the window, waiting for the train to pass on again. We made sure we always left at least three stops between each place we left to ensure that we left a minuscule trail behind us.

We had spent a day and a half travelling and we were exhausted. Finally, the train stopped at a small platform in a town called Penshaw Lake.

"This will do," Mum said quietly and stood up to leave the train, gathering her small backpack and zipping up her jacket. There were only two stops after this and they were larger cities. My mother chose right to come here, although we had both never heard of it before.

We stepped down from the train onto a platform that had two sides and one small ticket office. A man inside the ticket office looked bored to tears. He slowly munched on a packet of crisps, and looked up at the arriving train with some surprise. Clearly, not much happened here and not many people visited. In fact, we were the only people leaving the train. Still, flowers in boxes adorned the side of the station and it seemed neat and well kept. I could see rolling hills in the distance and smiled, it looked like the perfect hideout.

"Okay Heidi. Johnathan made those ID's for us a couple of days ago. Do you remember your information on it?"

Johnathan was an old friend of my mum's who had a side hustle making fake ID's. I didn't know how she knew him, and I never asked either. Johnathan would make us fake passports, birth certificates, bank statements, you name it and he could create it. I hoped that each place we went to would be our last, but mum was never satisfied. She never felt safe enough to stay.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be Sophie Moore now," I replied, taking out my new passport.

"I'm Louise Moore. You remember these names, you've forgotten a few times lately. I don't want any more slip ups!"

"Yeah mum," I drawled.

We walked past the station and down a long winding road, a few cars passed but it was a lot less busy than our hometown. I clocked the heavy forest on my left and the absence of any human life. It was odd, but perhaps this was simply what small, northern towns were like. The road became smaller as we turned a corner into the main town and small, pristine houses appeared on our left. Manicured gardens and smoothly painted fences greeted us as though they had been copy pasted and printed one after the other.

I shivered. This was so unlike the dreary, deadbeat, needle-covered streets of home that it felt like I had wandered into some kind of utopian fiction novel. Or a painting.

After around fifteen minutes of walking, and complaining, we reached a converted hotel. It looked to have been an old Tudor house, complete with the signature black and white style and a beautiful, traditional, thatched roof. It suited the town perfectly. A sign stating they had vacancies was lit up in the front window and I pointed towards it.