3 Chapter Two: A New Beginning

"Are you sure you want to leave? You can stay if you say so."

Cassidy shook her head at Tanya's offer, giving the shorter girl a bittersweet smile as she noticed the desperation in Tanya's voice. For a brief moment, the blue-eyed brunette considered her friend's offer, mulling over the possibilities of staying at Lonam.

In the end, she thought of more cons than pros but chose to keep quiet as Tanya lightly sniffled.

It was undeniably hard to bid her only friend goodbye, but Cassidy was tired of Lonam's citizens passing their judgement on her. All she wanted was a few quiet months to heal and move on.

Everything broken heals eventually if you give it time.

Broken objects can be fixed once broken, they can be glued and stitched back, some turning out as good as new. The same goes for broken people, for nothing can truly be hopeless.

All she needed was time and a bit of peace.

A new city would provide her with that and more, and leaving Tanya for such an opportunity was worth it.

Regardless of her firm beliefs, she couldn't help the tinge of sorrow that sparked in her heart as Cassidy glanced at Tanya's short stature huddled in several layers of clothing.

"We can talk every day, and I'll see you during winter vacation."

That didn't seem to be good enough as Tanya finally walked forward and hugged Cassidy, the physical sentiment making the British-Italian wince. Throughout the whole day, the skater had attempted to get rid of any emotional turmoil, ignoring the constant red flags as she told herself moving was for the best.

While that was true, and moving would help her mentally and emotionally, the brunette couldn't help but melt into the hug and let a few tears slip.

Regardless of what she tried to think, missing Tanya was inevitable.

"I could come to the art camp this summer."

Cassidy shook her head, pulling away with a frown as she noticed her friend's tears.

"We both know your parents won't allow that."

The Indian teen smiled at the mention of her parents, subtly wiping away stray tear tracks as Alexandra made an appearance.

"We're going to be late, Cass."

Cassidy simply nodded at her older sister, waiting for Alex to walk away before she continued talking to Tanya.

"It's for the best, right?"

Her question seemed to pull Tanya out of her emotional turmoil as the girl nodded encouragingly, shuffling her feet backwards as she slowly walked away from the Carlone household.

"Call me when you get there. Bye, Cass."

Cassidy's reply was drowned out by the moving truck's departure, its horn blaring through the neighbourhood as they attempted to clear the street. But it didn't matter, for Tanya was gone before she could repeat herself.

"You ready?"

Alexandra had returned to the front door, holding out her younger sister's handbag and a stray cartoon box. For a moment the blue-eyed brunette considered answering sarcastically, or maybe being a little too honest by admitting she was terrified of the move.

That moment passed as soon as it came, her lips sealing as Cassidy simply nodded and followed Alex.

While the moving company had been kind enough to aid them with the furniture as well as personal belongings, there were still two cartoon boxes in their Audi's trunk and one on the passenger seat. The lack of space forced Alexandra and Cassidy to get into the backseat as Edith started up her car.

"The drive's going to be a long one, so get comfortable girls."

Alex chose to light-heartedly reply to their mother as Cassidy put on her headphones, tuning out the world around them as she attempted to calm her racing mind.

You did this to them; you're forcing your family to leave.

The voice's sudden appearance made her jerk in her seat as the blue-eyed teen pinched her eyes close, trying to get rid of the voice and its dark words.

You're making them leave him behind.

While she physically didn't showcase any emotions, Cassidy's heart wrenched inside her as she thought of her father's body resting in a grave a few kilometres away from their house. The voice might have been cynical and abhorrent, but it held a bit of truth in its accusations, even though it pained her to admit such a thing.

Thankfully, she had learned a few things about the voice during the past week, one of the most important things being how to make it go away.

Tuning out its words with music only helped for so long, and usually didn't work at all as the voice simply screamed in her head. There was only one effective method to get rid of the voice, and that was ignoring it. So she sighed and started up her music yet again, her honey digits fiddling with her hoodie's strings as Cassidy focused on the scenery past her window.

The welcome sign to Lonam City never looked more bittersweet as Edith took a turn to the right, officially leaving behind their childhood city, and the memories clung to it.

A slam of the car door jerked Cassidy awake as she glanced around her, briefly recalling her dream, or lack therefore of.

While it was unusual for her to not have dreams, Cassidy was thankful for the brief moment of tranquillity.

For the greater part of the past week, the brunette skater had been deprived of a full night's sleep, her dreams constantly tainted with awful nightmares depicting scenes of her past and present. Usually, the nightmares were memories of the past year, but sometimes they were twisted into worse scenarios. Those nights were the ones she dreaded.

A soft hum directed her attention to the sleeping form of her sister, thoughts of her dreamless sleep fading to the back of her mind as Cassidy glanced at the phone, the source of the noise, clutched in her sister's palm.

"Wake up sleepy-heads, we're here."

Edith's sudden call from her position behind the open trunk startled Cassidy as she jerked around, briefly meeting her mother's honey gaze before turning back to the front as Alex awoke.

Cassidy chose to take some time to stretch her limbs and close her music while Alexandra groaned and sighed, muttering profanities for leaving her comfortable spot. Regardless of their annoyance, the sisters complied with Edith's request and got out of the car, ready to assist their mother.

"You could have woken us up after you moved the boxes."

Her poor attempt at a joke made Alexandra giggle as she joined Edith, the latter sighing at her younger daughter's words.

"Very funny, Cass."

While Alexandra assisted their mother in moving the two remaining boxes out of their car and into the foyer of their new home, Cassidy chose to move towards the passenger seat and retrieve the other box.

The Carlone females had underestimated the cartoon boxes as the three squares barely budged, stubbornly remaining in their spots as the three females constantly attempted to move them.

Finally giving up on her first try, Alexandra pulled back her loose, light-brown strands into a bun, brown eyes analyzing the cartoon boxes with a scoff.

Edith slightly prompted her daughter by nudging the new adult, causing Alex to switch her gaze. Brown eyes met a set of hickory eyes a shade lighter than her own. Dark brown strands haphazardly swayed in the wind and blocked her mother's face, but Alexandra didn't miss the raised eyebrows sent her way.

With a light smile, Alex reached for the other box, offering the lighter one to their mother as she yet again reached for the first box. When she finally lifted it from its spot, the older females moved away from the trunk, making room for Cassidy to grab onto a box of her own and climb the two steps before their front gate.

A loud thud echoed around them as the teenager quickly set the box onto the elevated platform, the black and gold double door looming beside it.

Cassidy didn't know what she expected when her mother briefly mentioned the new house and locality, but the brunette skater certainly hadn't thought of the two-story cream and white villa in front of her.

"Do you like it?"

She nodded at her sister's question, briefly smiling at the house as Edith unlocked the front gate.

Thankfully, the moving company was kind enough to help set up all the main pieces of furniture, making the family's job easier than they anticipated it to be. The two trucks had reached the house an hour before they did, and had enough time to set up the bedrooms and kitchen, promising to finish the living rooms the next day.

All the trio had to do was unpack their clothing, but the task seemed almost impossible as they glanced at the three big boxes of clothes set up in front of them.

"It's three for each of us, each box contains shoes, clothes and decor accessories respectively. The other two boxes should be in your rooms. You better hurry up now!"

Edith's words made Cassidy openly groan as she glanced at the staircase, her blue gaze flitting over the gold railing and deep green tiles as she wondered whether she could take the box up those stairs.

"Which room is mine?"

Cassidy didn't bother sticking around to listen to her mother's and Alex's conversation, dragging her box towards the staircase with a huff.

Lifting it upstairs proved to be a tedious task as the teen constantly let out a string of muttered complaints, wondering why the moving company couldn't simply make space for three more boxes. Regardless of her constant annoyance, the brunette made it to the second floor right as her arms began to give out, allowing the box to once again tumble to the ground as she glanced at the space around her.

Unlike the first floor, the second one was covered with checkered tiles, the monochrome pattern seeming quaint as Cassidy examined her surroundings.

The railing of the staircase was situated on the other side of the stairs as well, a short fence of sorts separating the upstairs living room from the staircase. Cassidy presumed it was simply a precaution to ensure no one accidentally fell onto the stairs.

Tandem to the staircase was what she presumed to be the master bedroom, its door wide open as it showcased the bathroom door and a set of mirrored closet doors to the right. While the upstairs area was currently vacant of most furniture, except for their grey couches, the teen could clearly picture the TV room being set up towards her right and a swing being placed in the open passage behind the couches.

Just as her mother promised.

"Aren't you going to look at the rooms?"

Alexandra announced her and Edith's presence as the duo finally reached the second floor, placing their boxes in the foyer right beside Cassidy's. They too took their time gazing at the future TV room, envisioning their previous home's room.

"Your bedroom is the one beside mum's, mine is the last one down the passage. The study room will be between our rooms."

It seemed her older sister had read her mind just as Cassidy attempted to ask a question. She changed her track and settled on a simple 'thanks' as the teen dragged her box into the mentioned room, placing it in the middle while her mother and sister examined the area.

Cassidy didn't bother looking at whether or not the room was set up right, choosing to gaze at the short passage across her door.

The interior designer had a thing for mirrored closet doors and had all of the built-in closets designed that way. A spare closet covered the left side of the passage, with two doors across from it and a bathroom at the end.

"It's nice."

Edith and Alex nodded along, turning towards Cassidy as she walked back to the TV room.

"The moving company said not to touch any of the extra boxes. All except that one."

"What's in it?"

With one question, the light atmosphere was replaced with a cloud of sadness as three pairs of eyes skittled towards the aforementioned box placed in the corner of the TV room. None of them had to answer the question Alexandra had so carelessly asked, for they were all aware of late Antonin Carlone's sparse belongings.

The family had mostly healed after a month of joint recovery, but they all changed for the worse after Cassidy was kidnapped. One topic they were unwilling to touch, one subject they silently agreed to never bring up, was their dead father.

Edith had sold off most of his belongings, but they couldn't fathom selling the others. Rifling through his belongings and choosing what to keep and sell was a heart-wrenching task, but they had gotten through it.

Everyone knew Cassidy blamed herself, and perhaps that was why her mother's and Alex's palms rested onto each of her shoulders as her sister apologized. While their touch was unwelcome, it grounded her and helped fight against the myriad of memories flashing in front of her inner eye.

The car crash, Antonin surviving but being killed by her kidnapper, the CCTV footage, the funeral; it was all almost too much to bear.

Cassidy muttered a quick 'I'm fine' before walking away from the staircase, causing her footfalls to echo through their new home as she entered her new room.

Her gaze fell upon the packed boxes containing her wall shelves and books before settling on the closet's mirror, examining every detail on her face.

The sprinkle of acne coating her cheekbones, the tiny strands of chocolate brown hair splayed across her forehead, the almost invisible scar on her chin, and finally, the trail of fresh tears running from her blue eyes and past her chin as she silenced herself.

Honey fingers pressed onto her lips as Cassidy desperately attempted to stop her flow of tears, holding in sobs as she trailed her eyes down the mirror and onto the floor beneath her.

A sigh escaped her form amidst the soft hiccups, disappointment evident as Cassidy realised she couldn't even look at her reflection without being reminded of her father.

Sometimes, her blue eyes seemed like a gift, almost like she could pretend they were her father's rather than her own. But then her gaze would land onto the dark brown hair and oval face, reminding her the features she gazed onto were her own.

Antonin's light brown hair, sapphire eyes, round face and precisely shaved goatee couldn't be mimicked, neither by Alexandra nor Cassidy.

Doubt and sadness clouded her mind as she sunk to the ground. Most of it was directed at her father's death, but a part of it was due to her kidnapper. She hated herself for not being sure about whether Aero Henderson was her kidnapper or not, hated her memory for not aiding her.

She should've been happy, relieved he had been caught. Then why wasn't she?

You know why. You know it wasn't him. You know he's still out there.

No. Cassidy wouldn't let paranoia take over, not again.

She was Cassidy Carlone, daughter of a psychiatrist and a neurologist who died too soon, much as every other good person did. She was brought up to be better than this, and wouldn't let this ordeal play with her mind. Not again.

With a sigh she walked away from the mirror and into the room, jumping onto her bare mattress with one thought echoing through her mind.

St. Briston, here I come.