Chapter 2
*FREYA*
It was pointless for Freya to beg her mother to let her stay. Once her mother had made up her mind, it was impossible to change it.
Her mother was set to leave with Jack the next morning.
"Are you done?" her mother asked as she stood at her door.
Freya tossed her last pair of clothes into the suitcase and zipped it closed, not answering her.
She pulled her suitcase past her mother, upset, and went outside to the car.
Her mom followed.
Freya saw Jack approaching the automobile, and she turned her head away. He was to blame for her moving into a new town.
"Are you certain you don't want me to accompany you? It'll be lonely coming home alone," Jack said to her mom.
"I'll be fine," her mother assured him.
Freya turned her head back around to see her mother and Jack kissing, and she felt like she wanted to hurl.
She was glad when the car started.
"Take care, Freya," Jack had the nerve to wish her goodbye.
Freya pretended as if Jack wasn't there, looking at the houses across the street.
The car drove off, and soon Freya was on her way to a town she would rather not be a part of.
It was a long journey to the Town of Forgotten. A land that few people knew of.
Freya remembered going there for the first time when she was six years old. Her parents were getting a divorce at the time. Her mother drove her there because she needed emotional support. It was the first time her mother's heart had been broken. She knew because her mother never let her forget it.
"It will be better for you to stay with them," her mother said as she drove.
Yeah, so you can be alone with your boyfriend, Freya thought angrily.
As soon as they arrived at their destination, Freya stepped out of the car and removed her suitcase from the trunk.
Great-aunt Zira and Grandma Zoey were waiting for them on the porch. They came to greet them.
"Look how grown and beautiful you are." Great-aunt Zira hugged Freya.
Great-aunt Zira smelled like earth and flowers. She loved gardening.
Freya's mom once told her that when her husband left her, she sought solace in gardening, and her grandmother in embroidery.
How unfortunate her mother's family is when it comes to men, Freya thought sadly.
"You look exactly like your mother." Grandma Zoey said.
It was her turn to hug her.
Freya detested how similar her mother's and her appearances were. She loathed it and was also afraid of ending up with the same terrible love life as her.
It was now her mother's time to be hugged.
"You look so happy." Grandaunt and Grandma studied her mother's features.
They had to make that remark since the last time they saw her, she was unhappy and shattered.
"I am!" her mom exclaimed, laughing.
Freya dragged her suitcase right up to the house. She needed to cry. It was the first time she was going to be separated from her mother.
"Freya, I love you!" her mother yelled from behind as she left.
Freya swirled around to look at her, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
"I'll call you every day. I promise," her mother said as she went into the car, as if she couldn't stand being here or away from Jack for too long.
Freya sobbed as she drove off.
"Don't cry, darling." Great-aunt Zira came up to hug her. "You'll be fine here," she assured her.
Grandma carried her suitcase upstairs while Great-Aunt Zira walked with her.
"You'll be staying in your mom's room," Grandma Zoey said as she set her suitcase down.
Freya wiped away her tears as she took in her new room. A modest blue-painted room with a picture that haunts her of her mother when she was younger, and of how similar they actually looked.
"Take your time and get settled, darling." Zira gently touched her shoulder. "We'll be downstairs whenever you need us."
Freya nodded.
The door shut behind them as they left, and she went to remove the picture from the wall, hiding it in a drawer.
She then went to sit on the bed. She sobbed. She didn't want to be here, nor did she want to attend a new school.
*******
Freya didn't bother to hide her puffy, red eyes from wailing all night when she went downstairs the next morning. There was no need to because what had happened to her was too sudden.
The overwhelming aroma of pancakes and chocolate syrup welcomed her as she stepped into the kitchen.
Her grandma gently touched her cheek, seeing her sadness, and Zira brought her pancake and a steaming cup of peppermint tea to the dining table.
"There you go, Hun," Zira said as she set it in front of Freya.
Freya barely touched the meal. She was too sad to eat.
"I'm going outside for some fresh air!" she told Grandma Zoey and great-aunt Zira.
"All right, Hun, don't go off into the woods; there are wild and dangerous wolves out there!" Zira responded from the kitchen.
Freya strode to the back of the house and sat on a large rock. Her gaze went to the woods before her at a snapping sound, and immediately, she stood up from the rock at the sight of a shaggy wolf with light gray and black fur.
The wolf's yellow and black eyes gazed into her as if asking who she was, knowing that she didn't belong to the town.
Freya was surprised to see a wolf for the first time.
"Freya," she heard her grandma call.
"I'm coming," she turned her head from the wolf to answer.
When she turned to look back at the wolf, she was disappointed to see it was gone.