InsaneJournal

the merry-go-round never stops
Date: September 8, 2012
Time: 5:13 p.m.
Location: Crescent Cove; the docks
Characters: Elliot Ashford, Ezra Winters, Evelyn Summers
Description: Elliot returns to town, yet immediately escapes the grounds of his family home by returning to the docks he loved as a teenager. There, two individuals stumble upon him, finding they have more in common that what the common eye can see.
Status: Private, Complete

Crescent Cove seemingly had a different air to it than what he had left behind those years ago. He had feared that stepping back into the town would flood him with the emotions that he’d felt at leaving, that the familiar terrors that had haunted him night after night following his departure would be waiting for him at the city limits sign. Instead, the young scholar felt an empty hollow in the pit of his stomach, a subtle yearning for something more than the indifference that was settling within at each intake of his breath. “Home” had never lived up to that name, but now it seemed as if he had less of a connection there; as if the ache in the pit of his stomach was giving both satisfaction of having made it out alive, yet also steadily resonating a warning. The town wasn’t the same as he’d left it; he wasn’t sure he was prepared for what he’d find.

The decision to come back hadn’t been an easy one for him to make. In fact, it had been less of his decision than he’d like to admit – it had taken a phone call announcing both his grandfather’s death and his mother’s disappearance that had spurred him into action. He’d taken only a day to himself, consulting with his lead professor and getting his thesis work in order before he took off. The concern of returning that built up inside him on the way back had only worked at his nerves, making the brunet more jittery than normal. He hadn’t honestly ever wanted to come back, but something told him that leaving again wasn’t going to be an easy task.

He’d returned to his family’s estate to find it as empty as the hollow in his belly. With his father out and his mother missing, he’d half-expected to find his grandfather’s body resting in the spot he’d passed. Thankfully the clean-up crew hadn’t left any evidence of the supposedly bloody demise his grandfather had befall him; there was a lot Elliot was prepared for, but stumbling upon that was far from what he’d be willing to take.

It hadn’t taken him long to grow restless of the ghostly chill that accompanied his time within those halls; he’d quickly deposited his belongings in his old quarters, leaving the wing he’d often been left to as a child just as fast as he could. Besides, the day was just the right degree of chilly, with the wind barely a breeze; he had always felt more at home in the vast outdoors than locked up in mostly abandoned nooks and crannies that his family’s estate had tucked away inside. The docks had been a frequent visited spot during his youth, and for right now, the gentle motion of the breeze along the water-top brought a calm to him that he’d been lacking since even before that phone call.

“I should have known that being here wasn’t going to be easy.”