The three women waited outside on the steps for the cab to come up the driveway after Alicia had talked to her husband. He, too, had an emotional episode and wanted to compose himself before he came back down. Alicia had told the girls that their father would be down shortly, but Alison was still skeptical. To pass the time, Lucille and Alicia spoke about sentimental things while Alison stared off into the distance, trying not to tear up as well. Soon, the cab pulled around and there was still no sign of their father.

“He’s going to miss seeing me off,” Lucille whispered, starting to wonder whether her mother even talked to him at all. Alicia gave a worried look, but reassured her that he would be here before she left. Alison began to put one of the bags in the trunk. Alicia placed the bag she was carrying next before helping Lucille.

“And Louis is going to come get you when you arrive, right? I don’t like the idea of you being in a strange land stranded,” Alicia muttered. Lucille smiled and laughed.

“Of course he’ll be there. He said that he would be there a day early, waiting for me to come,” Lucille beamed for the first time in a while. Alicia grinned at her excited daughter as the cabbie hurried them. Disappointment and concern flooded Lucille’s happy face as there was no sign of her father. Alicia pursed her lips and sighed. “I guess he’s not coming.”

“I can go get him if you want,” Alison offered before Lucille shook her head.

“No, he said what he meant. I doubt he’ll come down now,” she whispered as she hugged her mother and sister.

“I’m sorry for fighting earlier,” Alison whispered as she embraced her sister. “I don’t want that to be the last memory we have together.”

“We’ll see each other again. This isn’t the last time we’re going to be together, I promise,” Lucille replied with a grin as a wave of relief washed over Alison. “You two will have to come visit it me someday. It would be lovely to have you two to come over.”

“I think that would be lovely,” Alicia replied softly, her eyes glistening as Lucille kissed her cheek. “You have a safe journey, now.”

“I will,” she called as she climbed into the cab. Alison waved as Alicia blew her daughter kisses as she drove off to her new adventure. Just before the car pulled out of the property, Robert burst through the doors abruptly, startling the two women standing before him. He hardly said a word as he chased after the cab as it stopped. Alison smiled as Lucille got out of the car to say goodbye to her father.

“I knew that he would make it,” Alicia murmured in amusement and relief. Alison chuckled and nodded.

“He cut it a bit close, though,” she replied, making her mother laugh.

“That he did,” she said as they watched as Robert helped Lucille back into the car before she drove away. Robert waved her goodbye until he could no longer see the cab and then started walking back to the house.

“I didn’t think that you were going to make it,” Alison mentioned as she followed her father back inside. He sighed and shrugged, a little out of breath from running.

“I wasn’t sure I was going to make it either, to be honest,” he admitted before Alicia smacked him upside the head as she passed him. He didn’t protest or make any comment, just hung his head for a moment. Alicia stood in front of him for a moment, her eyes filled with disappointment.

“Don’t you ever do anything like that again! You nearly destroyed your relationship with your eldest daughter!” Alicia scolded before turning on her heel and walking to her study. Robert watched his wife go, unable to defend himself.

“Why did you wait so long to come down?” Alison inquired, curious as to why her father didn’t come down when they did. Robert sighed, putting his hand on his forehead.

“I was afraid that Lucille would tell me to leave or something. That she didn’t want to see me anymore, which would have been more than fair. At first, I wasn’t going to come down at all, but thought better of it and ran out to her as fast as I could,” he answered, embarrassed.

“Well, I’m glad you did, and I think Lucille was, too,” she replied with a smile. Robert thanked her, kissed her forehead, and went back up into his library. Alison watched her father disappear into his cave before looking at the grandfather clock. She still had about an hour before her shift at the local diner started, but decided to start getting ready. She could feel another fight coming from her parents, and didn’t really want to be around when that happened.

Once dressed and ready to head out, Alison brought out her bicycle and started toward the diner. It was about a mile and a half from her house to the town, but it only took about ten minutes to ride there. Besides, she always enjoyed the scenery around her house. It was one of the few places where there was a thick forest in the English countryside. She daydreamed about werewolves and ghosts hiding in the woods at night, wondering if they were the ones that had taken Lizzy away.

Alison shook her head, trying to get rid of those festering thoughts. Lizzy hadn’t been eaten or killed. She was alive and well somewhere, and Alison just didn’t know where. She believed that her younger sister would be able to take care of herself, no matter what the circumstances were. She had been through hell and back, surely she could do it again. She would come back to their home and they would live as a family once again.

Pulling up to the diner, Alison went around to the back and leaned her bicycle against the wall before entering the establishment. Granted, it wasn’t the prettiest or nicest restaurant you’ve ever seen, but it was acceptable. It was pretty clean, except for the stains on some of the tables that no one could get out. Alison always looked at her job as a waitress as a starting point in her career. She had always wanted to be a chef at a fancy restaurant in Paris or New York, but had no means of getting there. She was a woman, and women didn’t have big jobs, especially at her age. She figured if she could work her way up the ladder, then one day she could prove that she was just as good as the men in the kitchen. She put on her apron and pulled up her coppery hair before setting out to take orders. To her surprise, the diner was surprisingly busy.

“What’s going on?” Alison whispered one of the other waitresses, Mildred.

“Not sure, but something big. I’ve never seen so many people in one place before. Do you think that the royal family is here?” Mildred wondered aloud, hoping to get something juicy to spread around town.

“In Dorchester? I doubt it. Why come so far south?” Alison reasoned, killing Mildred’s mood. Alison looked around the diner again, curious to know why it was so busy, before greeting her first customer. He was a tall, lanky man with pale hair and crimson eyes behind spectacles that must have been several years old. He glanced up at Alison as she approached. “Thanks for coming in, what can I get for you?”

“What’s good on the menu?” he asked, putting down the menu he had been given. Alison began naming off items that she liked the best before he smiled. “I’ll have the vegetable soup.”

“I will let the chef know. Anything to drink?”

“Water is fine, thank you,” he answered pleasantly as Alison left with the menu and placed the order in the window. She placed it with the others as Mildred started to crowd her.

“What are you doing?” Alison groaned, growing tired of Mildred faster than normal. She tried to push her off, but Mildred wasn’t budging.

“Who was that man?” she whispered with amusement as Alison rolled her eyes.

“A customer, now will you please stop leaning on me?” Alison snarled as she tried to grab a platter of food. Mildred stopped leaning on her, but didn’t give her much space.

“Did you see him, though? There’s no way he isn’t someone important. Someone who stands out that much has to have royal blood or something,” Mildred pressed as Alison squeezed past her.

“Or maybe he’s just a normal guy that has a good reason for not being drafted,” Alison replied, thinking that he was the youngest man she had seen in a while. Mildred pouted, thinking that she wasn’t any fun, before returning to work. Alison rolled her eyes as she took the food to one of the tables.

It didn’t take long before Alison noticed that the pale haired man was staring at her, almost like he was studying her every move. Alison grew self-conscious and uneasy about the customer. Every time she went over there, he ordered something new off the menu that she had listed earlier instead of asking for the check. Even the other staff were growing suspicious of the character as he wouldn’t talk to anyone else.

“You can probably get him removed if you talked to Pete,” Mildred suggested, thinking that the head chef had the authority to kick someone out. Alison glanced over at the man, who was surprisingly not staring, and shook her head.

“No, I’m sure he’s just shy or something. He’ll be gone soon,,” Alison whispered, not wanting a big scene. Mildred shrugged and moved on to help another customer. Alison bit her lip, wondering if she should take her advice. The man seemed different for some reason, but she didn’t want to admit it.

Eventually, the man called for the check, coincidentally, a little less than an hour before Alison’s shift ended. He thanked her and left after he paid, bowing his head as he went out the door. Mildred watched him and then turned to Alison, who shrugged, not wanting to think much about it. They had their share of strange customers, which was surprising due to the lack of people in the town.

After waving farewell to the last customer, Alison locked up the diner as Mildred put away the last of the dishes. Pete had long gone home after the last customer was served, as he did every night. Alison returned the keys to her purse, as Pete had given each of him employees a set of keys so he could go home early. Mildred put her apron on the hook by the door and traded it for her coat.

“Do you think your admirer is waiting outside?” Mildred teased as Alison sighed, replacing her apron as well. Mildred giggled, leaning against the wall.

“I doubt he’s even still in town, since he’s so famous,” Alison retorted before pulling her coat on. Mildred gave her a dirty look and started for the door. Alison smiled in relief and followed.

“Are you sure you want to go home in the dark? On your bicycle?” Mildred wondered, genuinely concerned. Alison shrugged, locking up.

“The dark isn’t that scary. The biggest predator I’ve seen in those woods is a fox, and no lives around my house, so I’ll be fine,” Alison answered as she walked over to her bicycle. Mildred sighed, wished her a good night, and walked across the street toward her home in town. Alison watched her leave before starting home herself.

Alison found night riding soothing, as it was quiet and calm. Even as it was cold, it was still more preferable to daytime. The sun wasn’t in your eyes and hardly any cars whirled by, catching you off balance. And there was something about the forest at night where it looked absolutely magical. The shadows danced as she whizzed by, making her smile.

Suddenly, a car without the headlights on passed Alison, nearly knocking her off her bicycle. She barely corrected and stopped as the car halted in front of her. She stared at it for a moment before a man emerged. His pale hair gleamed in the moonlight, making her blood run cold.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he shouted, shutting the car door and walking toward Alison. Panicking, Alison leapt off her bicycle and ran into the forest, hoping that she would out run or hide from him. She could hear his light laughter, almost as if she had told a clever joke.

Alison could hear his teasing about how she couldn’t out run or hide from him, that he would find her and bring her home, whatever that meant. Regardless, she knew these woods better than him, even if she didn’t know them that well. She glanced behind her only twice before tripping over a root. She fell face first onto the ground, rattling her brains. Blood dripped from her nose as she stood up again to run only to find that she couldn’t see quite straight. Trees danced in pairs in the moonlight, distracting her for a moment. The only thing that reminded her of her motivation was the stranger trying to coax her out into the open.

“You don’t understand, I didn’t mean to frighten you. I thought that your parents would have told you by now,” the man called out as Alison hid at the base of a large tree. Alison covered herself with her overcoat, hoping to look more like a part of the tree. She held her breath, trying her best not to cry. She hardly paid much attention to the man as she had no idea what he was talking about. She highly doubted that he knew anything about her parents.

Soon, she no longer heard the strange man and peaked around her cloth shield. Nothing but darkness came into view. The trees were stationary again, but a massive headache manifested. At least her nose had stopped bleeding. Alison stood slowly, using the tree for support. She looked to the sky and stared at the moon. It had started to set in the west, and she started toward the road in the east.

Fortunately, after two hours of walking aimlessly, she was able to find the road and her bearings. Alison then saw no choice but to walk back home, as her bicycle was nowhere to be found. Saddened, she trudged on and sighed, wondering if the man was following her. She would glance behind her every so often, ready to run at a moment’s notice. Luckily, she had ridden her bicycle about halfway before she jumped off, so it wasn’t long before she saw her house in the distance. She took off running in relief and excitement.

Alicia waited in the parlor, reading a book. She glanced at the clock, surprised by the time, and even more surprised that her daughter wasn’t home yet. She put her book down on the table beside her and went to the window to see that Alison wasn’t there.

“Robert!” Alicia called out in a panic before running out of the room. Her husband came bounding down the stairs from his library as Alicia opened the door. “Alison isn’t home yet.”

“Oh, she’ll be fine. Maybe her tire went flat or something. She’ll be fine,” Robert reassured, rubbing his wife’s back. Alicia folded her arms as they looked out into the moonlit gardens. Soon, a figure came into view.

“Is that her?” Alicia whispered, pointing at the person running toward the house. Robert strained his eyes before a wide smile broke across his face.

“See? I told you that she was going to be fine,” Robert cheered as Alicia grinned. As Alison came closer, the smile faded from Alicia’s face.

“Why is she running? Where is her bicycle?” Alicia whispered harshly as she started toward her daughter. Alison looked pale and the top of her dress looked to be drenched in blood. Alicia ran faster, nearly colliding with her. Alison fell into her mother’s arms.

“I’m home,” Alison whispered, trying to smile up at her mother.