Crimson Haven

"Zara, wake up," a female voice broke into Zara's consciousness, and she gingerly opened her eyes, clearing her throat a little.

The car had come to a stop, and her mum's amber eyes were fixed on her from the passenger's seat.

"We're here," Josephine said, walking out of the car and slamming the door shut. Zara blinked her eyes some more, still feeling sleepy, and sat upright. She gazed out of the car's window and saw that they had parked in front of a small and quaint house, with several more like it lined by the sides.

This was the place they were moving into? Disgusting.

The driver and her mum were already unloading their stuff from the boot, and Zara lazily stayed in her position, not wanting to come down.

However, it was short lived, as the door suddenly opened, and Josephine stuck her displeased face in, "Zara, would you get out?" Her tone was harsh, and Zara rolled her eyes, exiting the car from the other side and violently slamming the door.

"Watch it, young lady," the driver scolded, glaring at Zara, but she ignored him and shoved her hands into her pockets. The place had a strange chill to it, even though it was supposed to still be summer. The clouds were dark and dreary, and the atmosphere seemed cold and empty.

Two figures suddenly emerged from the house directly next to their new house, and Zara made them out to be an older woman and a girl who was probably her daughter.

"You must be Mrs. Anderson," the older woman started warmly, engulfing Josephine in a long hug. She had brightly colored red and curly hair that stood out and had full cheeks and a pleasing smile. She was also slightly shorter than Zara's mother.

The other girl came to Zara as her mum settled their cab, and he drove off, leaving them with their boxes on the side of the road.

"Hello there! I'm Bianca, but you can just call me Libby," the girl said cheerily, and Zara said nothing in reply, just taking in her features.

Unlike her mother and rather similar to Zara, she was a brunette with waist-length hair that had been let down. Her sea-blue eyes twinkled in delight, and there was a little mark on the corner of her eyes, a mark similar to a scar.

"Libby? That's a dumb nickname," Zara blurted, ignoring her earlier introduction and catching the girl by surprise with her bluntness. She furrowed her eyebrows in disbelief and was interrupted by her mother before she could speak.

"And you must be Zara," the woman said warmly and wrapped Zara in a hug too, but she stayed firm in place, not responding to her affectionate gesture.

The woman seemingly not minding Zara's cold disposition, turned to her daughter after breaking the hug.

"Libby, I take it you've introduced yourself," she said brightly, and Libby scoffed.

"Sure. I'll let you sort them out," she said angrily before turning on her heel and heading straight to the building they had emerged from, leaving her mother bewildered.

"Don't mind her. It must be the nerves, eh?" her mother said and nudged for Zara to follow Josephine as she dragged two of their boxes towards their new home. Zara kissed her teeth before grabbing her bags as well, walking ahead of their neighbor and into their house.

It was surprisingly not as dusty as Zara envisioned it to be upon their arrival, and it had a comforting ambiance that left her unsettled for a while.

There were three armchairs placed in the parlor, and just ahead was the kitchen, also filled with kitchen utensils to Zara's surprise.

"Thank you so much, Mrs Green. I really appreciate your warmth after our journey," Zara's mother said, emerging from the kitchen while she reached into her pocket to bring out her cell phone.

"Don't bother, dear. There's hardly any service here, so you can only make calls," Mrs. Green told Zara calmly, and she scoffed, not completely surprised. What could she have expected from a place such as this? Dreary and almost dead.

"Zara, where are your manners?" Zara's mother said, teetering on the verge of lashing out at her, but Zara remained indifferent, knowing it would only infuriate her further.

"Leave her be. I think I know what she's experiencing," Mrs. Green interjected, casting a warm and accepting glance Zara's way that only left her feeling irritated.

"You don't. You could never know," Zara spat, eliciting a scream from her mother.

"What is the matter with you?! All you've done is skulk and act like you're the only one feeling the effects of your father's death," Josephine walked up to her daughter, all her pent-up rage finally making its way to the surface.

"We can start anew, and you're here acting rude to the one person who has tried to make our move as smooth as possible. Even before your father died, you had become rude and snarky, and it seems like his death only intensified it."

Zara breathed heavily as she glared at Josephine, biting her tongue from saying the words that threatened to spill out. Mrs. Green awkwardly shifted to the entrance and made her exit, leaving the two of them alone.

"Go find your room and settle in," Those were Josephine's final words as she tore her gaze from Zara's icy eyes and walked to her box, dragging them along a corridor that was found on the right side of the house.

Zara did the same and carried her box, dragging it until she found a room that had its walls painted in purple and had a small wooden bed just perfect enough for her.

The room had a large window facing the side of the road from which they had approached the house, and it faintly smelt of dry wood. The floors were tiled with a white color, and there was a reading table with a lamp on it.

Without checking if the bed was dusty, Zara threw herself on the bed and screamed into its pillow, utterly frustrated at her mother and herself.

"And Zara?" Josephine's voice broke into her line of hearing, and Zara could feel her mother's presence behind her, probably placing her hands on her hips.

"You better be nice to Bianca because starting from tomorrow, you'll be going to the Crimson Institution with her," She said without a question and jammed the door hard, eliciting another scream from Zara.