12 years later
The bus stopped and the doors opened.
The young girl prepared to get off the bus, threw her red bag on her back and stopped at the lowest step. She took a deep breath of the slightly metallic spring air, then smiled contentedly. Her blue-green eyes burned with determination and excitement because she knew she had finally arrived.
Se stepped down onto the asphalt with great momentum, and the doors closed behind her and the bus drove on, leaving it permanently in the small village in the north.
Twelve years had passed since she was forced to leave her native village and family against her will, more precisely, what was left of her. For that particular evening, everything has changed.
Her mother was never found, and soon after what happened, her father completely collapsed, and then one day, without any sign, guardians knocked on their door and took him to a distant orphanage.
She was barely seven years old when she last saw her father.
Now, however, that she was eighteen, she left the foster house and was determined to find out exactly what had happened that night.
And what happened to her after she lost consciousness in the woods? It's even a mystery to herself. Her finders claimed to have found her at dawn the next day, on the edge of a field not far from their house. She, on the other hand, remembered nothing but the darkness and the scream of her mother.
And that's why she came back. She wanted answers.
However, she did not know where to go next. At her father's request, the home encrypted all data, especially those related to her mother. This, in turn, did not discourage him for a moment. On the contrary, she was only more determined about it.
"Are you lost?"
She shuddered at the question. The voice belonged to a short old man.
He leaned on a carved stick with her back bent. Under her checkered cap, her reddish brown hair blended with grey, her green eyes gleaming wearily.
"No ... I'm really looking for a certain William Lawrence." She replied hopefully, for in such a small village she considered it inevitable that people would not know each other. Watching the old man's face, she caught it.
He sighed, as if old memories came to life in him."Oh, William Lawrence."
"Ohh...sure...The old Silly Wili. Well, how do I know where he lives, but I would avoid it far in your place. He is an obsessed fool of, it is already sacred true!"
Aliz stared at the man in astonishment.
" Please tell me where he live? I definitely need to meet him!"
He raised one eyebrow in a lazy arch.
"If you don't understand, so be it." He shrugged. "Turning left, he pointed his hand forward. "Go straight through here, then turn left at the bakery." Keep right in the direction of the former stone wall until you leave the last house. Then continue on the dirt road in the direction of the forest. Looking for a ruined building with a gate overgrown with wild grapes.
The young girl enthusiastically thanked him for her help.
Saying goodbye to the man, putting her earphones in hher ears and turning on her favorite music, and she set off.
The earphones pounded her eardrum loudly, but for the most part, it was just an excuse to distract her. She didn't want to meditate on the man's words.
She was afraid that her father had really gone crazy and that thought would never let her go, no matter how she tried to get rid of it.
Tolerating her copper blonde hair behind her ears, she looked up. She didn't even notice, but she had long since reached the heart of the village. On the edge of the street between the modest country English houses, purple curls bloomed, while in the air a familiar sweet scent came from the nearby bakery.
The locals were preparing feverishly during this time. Ornaments and lanterns hanging on the trees and walls proclaimed Celebration of the spring equinox. In the middle of the main square, a huge bonfire was set up, while the children chased in masks among the crowd.
Unexpectedly, one of the boys collided with an aging woman and knocked out the paper bag in her hand and the apples rolled apart. Some just at Aliz feet. Except for her earphones, she bent down to pick them up.
"These damn puppies, they don't know what respect is, but I'll catch their grabs and then ..." she growled to herself as she tried to pick up the apples.
"I'm sorry, I think it's yours." she handed over the apples.
Seeing the girl, she stared at him with widened eyes, as if she were seeing a ghost.
"Not possible. she whispered. Is that you? Aliz Lawrence?'
She was familiar with the full-bodied woman with shaggy hair, but she didn't know where to put it.
Se asked in confusion. "Do we know each other? "
'I'm Marie! Marie-Eliz.Don't you remember?"
That's when she remembered. When her parents stayed away for a long time because of their work, she was always cared for by a shaggy red succulent woman called Marie Eliz. The former sitter used to be like a second mother to her. She taught her to swing, to read and whenever she got sick she always make cocoa for her.
Slipped out of her mouth as her eyes flashed brightly.
" With honey and cinnamon."
The old women snapped
"Well, you remember! Tell me what's happend with you, sweetie, I haven't seen you since your father ..." she suddenly stopped.
"When my father just threw me in an orphanage"? " She finished the old woman's words bitterly, while a perfect work of art made her smile, while she conjured a perfect spurious smile on her face.
She was very good at this.
She had always had to hide her true emotions. For she soon learned that those who lose their parents in greater age are stigmatized by adults and childrens . And if these kids are any different, already sending them to the psychiatrist. Who prescribes drugs for them for various reasons. Although, they may need nothing more than a warm-embraced support and a mug of cocoa.
"I came because I want to meet my father."
The woman's smile froze on her face, causing disapproving suspicion in Aliz.
"Oh, honey."
She sighed, then pulled her thick lips into a wide smile again. Then I won't reserve you. Just go and give Sil ... my greetings to Wili.
"Then have a nice day and I hope to see you again."
Aliz said goodbye, but the old woman grabbed her shoulder as she prepared to leave. Aliz could feel her trembling fingers through the coat.
" If you need help with anything, please visit. I live here at the end of the street, in the yellow house."
She replied kindly, yet Aliz noticed a concern in her eyes.
Aliz thought to herself
"Yet what the hell is going on here?"
"Thank you for everything, but now... I'd hurry."
She replied, gently peeling her fingers off himself and hurrying on. The behavior of the old man and her former sitter became more and more disturbing so she wanted to get to the end as soon as possible.
Leaving the houses, she wandered down a dirt road. Behind the walls lined with stones lining her path, sheep grazed on a forest-lined pasture.
She saw the house slowly from a distance. Involuntarily, she accelerated her pace. Getting closer and closer, she realized that the old man was not exaggerated at all.
From the soaked, cracked walls, the plaster has completely come off. The part of the fence that was not tilted was completely overgrown with wild grapes and ivy. She stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath.
She raised her trembling hand and reached for the doorknob, yet pulled back at the last moment.
"What if your father was really crazy and, in addition to being obsessed, dangerous?"
Se stubbornly knocked her cheek.
"Come on, get yourself together!"
She had always been stubborn and unyielding. Once she take something in her head, she ended up doing anything.
The old thick cherry door plangent deep, but there was no response from inside. She knocked harder, but nothing happened. Accompanied by her non-existent luck, she walked around the house to see if she could find an open window or, at best, a door. The children's slide and sandpit in the neglected yard, whose memories were still faintly preserved, were completely overgrown with weeds. The iron pipes corroded and the ropes for two were torn off. The house stood completely empty, its closed windows covered with dirty curtains.
Aliz sighed in frustration, then collapsed beside the wall. She felt with her back as she smashed the plaster.
She raised her head, and her gaze scanning the forest. She had no idea what they were looking for in the woods at all then, but she often asked herself "She really wanted to know?". Every time she tried to remember, there was a excruciating pain in her head. Psychologists believed she could have been so shocked in the woods that her consciousness was trying to protect her from memories.
The sky shook, pulling Aliz back into the present. She looked up at the sky and knew if she wasn't in a hurry, she needed to walk through the village in the rain, and unfortunately she didn't even have an umbrella. Even though she knew how unpredictable the March weather was.