Chapter Text
Sarah O’Neill sat on the porch, propping her face in her hands, and surveyed the surroundings with disgust. She was disgusted by this house, this town and her parents, especially the parents who brought her here. She could hear their voices and the noise they made as they unpacked, but she couldn't even think of going inside and helping them, or arrange the room she was to live in—how could she even call this unfamiliar room her own?
“Sarah, let's go inside and help.”
Mom, in whose voice there was a charming smile, as if forever stuck to her face, went out onto the porch, but the girl did not even turn around to her.
"I don't want to," she growled out.
The woman picked up her skirt and sat down on the steps beside her.
“Come on. Towns like Saintfour are great places to spend the last days of school and collect memories. Then you can go wherever you want. We don't hold you. No need to pout,” she carefully put her arms around her daughter's shoulders. “Monday is your first day at school, you will meet new friends there. You will not notice how this city will become your home.”
“What should we do here?” Sarah said with a displeased grimace.
Mom tried to find words to convince her, and her efforts were noticeable to the girl.
“Yes, there may not be as many places where you can spend time as in Baltimore, but still ... In the city, you just sat in your room and didn’t go out. And here…” She took a deep breath and waved her hand around the street dreamily. “Look how beautiful it is here! And what air! Mmm!”
She hugged Sarah tightly and laughed, encouraging her to share her joy of moving to such a wonderful place with such a wonderful air. Sarah rolled her eyes, but she couldn't argue with the fact that the air really was much better than in a big city.
"Yeah, it's nice here," she agreed languidly. “But I still don't like that we moved. Can we still go back to Baltimore? Let's stay here for a couple of weeks, take some kind of vacation, and come back?”
“Ah, sunshine…” Mom sighed and her face took on a sad expression. "We'll stay here, it's already been decided, you know. Dad can't go to Baltimore.”
“He made a mistake, and we have to pay!” Sarah slammed her fist on the step next to her angrily, causing her mother to flinch.
"Don't be stupid," she said sternly in a parental tone. “End of conversation. If you don't want to unpack, you can go for a walk. You love nature. Have you seen the forest here? Just like in a fairy tale!”
Sarah rose reluctantly from the porch.
“Fine, I'll take a walk. Just don't advertise this town to me anymore.”
Mrs. O’Neill ignored or pretended not to notice her daughter's displeased tone. Sarah could never figure out which was true.
“That’s wonderful,” Mom said with a radiant smile. "But don't come back too late, okay?"
Not hiding her irritation, Sarah went to the forest.
“How could they do this?” she thought again and again. “How could they do this to me? This is all Dad's irresponsibility, how can he even make decisions for us all? And Mom still indulges him even now. They took me away from Baltimore at the beginning of the school year, and ran away on their own...”
The forest really did smell fresh, much nicer than any place Sarah had ever been in her sixteen years of life. You won't find such massive old trees in Baltimore. The moss that covered their bark made the forest even greener. The girl slowed her pace, then stopped completely, throwing her head back and greedily looking at the interweaving of branches that covered the sky, leaving small blue or greyish-white fragments through which the sunlight poured onto the forest path.
Irritation and stiffness left her body and mind, and Sarah felt unusually calm, even almost happy. She touched the trunk of the nearest tree, ran her finger along the deep furrows of the bark. Only now the girl noticed that flakes of light blue paint, which was used to paint the porch, were stuck to the skin on the palms of her hands, and she scraped them off with her fingernail.
It was quiet, only the rustle of leaves and the voices of birds high in the trees broke the silence, but soon Sarah heard footsteps behind her and turned around.
A guy in a blue-and-red tracksuit was running along the forest path, apparently exercising his speed. Sara stepped aside to make way for him. She was surprised when, after a couple of minutes, he ran past her again, more slowly. They made eye contact, and the guy stopped, deciding, obviously, that this was an occasion for acquaintance.
“Ugh, what а weather, huh?” He started talking with a smile on his lips. - It's only the beginning of autumn, and already the whole sky is covered with clouds. But this is normal for Saintfour.
“Yes, it’s quite chilly here,” Sarah agreed cautiously, looking at the stranger. Blond hair fell on his forehead, slightly covered with sweat from running, blue eyes studied her carefully. His face was pretty likeable and inviting. However, the girl was not comfortable making any acquaintances in such a deserted place.
"My name is Luke," he extended his hand to her with a friendly smile.
After a moment of thought, the girl held out her hand in response.
"Sarah," she introduced herself.
"Nice to meet you, Sarah." He smiled at her again, shaking her hand.
They slowly walked along the path, not going deep into the forest thicket.
“I haven't seen you here before. Have you just arrived? Luke asked.
“Yeah…” the girl sighed, and this heavy sigh did not escape the guy's attentive gaze.
“For a while or forever?”
Sarah shuddered at the last word.
“Indefinitely,” she replied evasively, still hoping to live in this city for as little as possible.
Luke chuckled darkly.
“I understand. Are you nervous, perhaps? I was also a little nervous when I arrived here.”
“Are you not from here too?” Sarah turned to him curiously.
“Yes, I used to live in Chicago. A year ago, my family and I moved.”
There was something in his tone that made the girl look at him more closely. He stared unseeingly far ahead of him, crushing a blade of grass in his fingers, plucked along the way. It only lasted a couple of moments, then Sarah asked:
“Do you like it here?”
"Yes, very much," Luke said eagerly, delighted at the opportunity to change the subject. There was no trace of his gloomy detachment, which puzzled the girl a minute earlier. “It's beautiful here. And there is something to see.”
He quickly glanced at her and immediately looked away, but Sarah had time to notice it.
“I like to run in the forest in the morning,” he continued. “There was no such opportunity in Chicago. Yes, it may seem to someone that there is nothing to do in Saintfor, but I manage. I'm sure you'll like it here too.”
“I really hope so,” the girl replied, and they exchanged smiles.
The shadows in the forest had grown darker since she had entered, the edge of the sky already a sunset pink. Sarah was relieved to see houses in the distance, one of which she would have to return to.
"All right, I've got to go," she said.
“So soon? Did I scare you?” the guy asked quickly.
“No, no, just…” Sarah hesitated under his gaze, not knowing what to answer.
Luke nodded in understanding, still smiling.
“It was very nice to meet you.”
"Me too," she smiled a little awkwardly.
“See you in school?”
“Yes, sure.”
Luke waved goodbye to her and jogged further into the woods. Sarah went home with relief.
It got dark quickly. Somewhere high above the dense clouds, the moon barely shone, the road was illuminated by streetlights. There were no people and cars on the street, and Sarah walked straight along the roadway.
“I have to go to a new school on Monday,” she thought wistfully. “I don't know anyone, nobody knows me. Everyone will stare, study and evaluate me. Well, Luke seems like a nice guy… Maybe the others will be so… so nice.”
She wasn't sure if she liked Luke, she felt a vague discomfort in his presence, but getting to know him still briefly distracted her from the gray reality, and the future did not seem very interesting in any case.
Irritation and rage habitually took their places in the girl's head, angry and dull thoughts spun along the route knurled over the past weeks, but then Sarah's attention was attracted by a flashing streetlight. Stopping, she waited until it stopped blinking and lit up as expected, and then moved on. But after a couple of steps, the next street lamp began to flash. Sarah turned around and saw the lights behind her flickering on and off one by one.
‘What's happening?” she said barely audibly, feeling her heart beating anxiously and fear rising from somewhere inside, ready to fill every cell of her body. Sarah took a couple of steps back, peering tensely at the end of the street, swallowed up by the darkness of the night, where the lights had already gone out.
…And then she ran.
Already near her new house, she felt that her heart was about to stop — from fear or from running, or maybe from both. But when she turned around, she saw that all the streetlights were turned on and shone with a steady yellow light, as if there were no power outages.
Sarah stumbled heavily into the hallway, still filled with a bunch of boxes, accidentally kicked one of them, which turned out to be empty, and leaned back against the door, breathing heavily.
“Ah, birdie, you’re already home,” Mom smiled absently at her, looking up from the box of dishes.