too late { shelby

[Natalie Crescent]

The seasons had shifted without Natalie noticing. Her very favourite time of the year was summer. She liked it when things were at their very brightest and it was warm enough to be outside all the time. Summer had somehow slipped by without her noticing and now September was rushing in and making things cool.
Rain stained the pavement but at the moment the air was still and chilled, with the air of fading electricity in the wake of heavy rain.
The buildings were grey as she remembered, shops and office; desolate and bleak as she remembered. The city held none of the affection she remembered.
The cities from her childhood had been places of bustling wonderment, places she'd loved because of their sheer activity and population. She guessed she was just much more used to the countryside now after spending sixteen years there, holed up in a tiny village. She had not supposed it would be ideal, but she had become accustomed to quiet life. She had not had to move much because her life had differed so much from day to day.

As she hop, skip and jumped along the pavement and weaved in and out of pedestrians walking the opposite way, she pulled her white hoodie closer around her and started to fiddle with the zip. Today, she'd chosen a pair of bright pink tights and a heavy dark dress which came to her knees. The white hoodie didn't match, but none of her clothes really matched that much. She was comfortable, she was happy, what did it matter?
Ducking out of the stream of walking traffic, she headed down an alley and out of sight of the general public.
She spun neatly on one foot, squeezing her eyes shut and Apparating with a pop.

She'd done a little bit of research and managed to locate her sister's house. She wasn't completely prepared for where she ended up, and glanced round behind her as if there was another house in the vicinity.
When it became clear there wasn't anything that looked as likely, she just bobbed her head happily anyway and started up towards the door. Walking past the tire swing in the yard, she wondered what exactly had become of her family.
Sixteen years is a long time to be away. She was thirty-three years old now and the last time she'd seen any of them she'd been a young and sprightly seventeen year old. She almost expected to come across a loop in time and find her sisters exactly as she remembered them, but in the same breath understood that to be ridiculous.
Maybe, it was best not to dwell on what she might find and just not think about anything at all.

She hesitated as she reached the doorstep, her fist raised and inches from the door. She was once again struck by fierce indecision, completely unsure whether it might have been best to stay in the small village across the country, carry on with doctoring, find a nice muggle and finally settle down...
She had a feeling her life could not be complete without her family. And hadn't the reason she'd decided to come home been that she was terribly lonely in the first place?
She'd almost dozed off into her thoughts before she realised that her hand was back by her side and she'd just knocked without thinking about it. Her heart raced in a moment of panic. Had she done that?
Damn. She wasn't ready yet. Why could she not be considerate and give herself a bit of time?
Too late, Natalie, too late.

[Shelby Crescent]

"Mum, Vi pushed me!"
"Did not! Liese did!"
Everyone go to their room. Sorry mum. Mum? Hello?"
"Mum you okay? Jenny is she okay?"
"I think so. I think she's just a little tired is all. Now who wants to watch a movie? I hope you're okay mum, you're staring to worry me...


It had been like this for about a week now. Shell sitting in the window seat, staring off at the yard, but it seemed that she wasn't paying any attention what so ever. Jenny was taking care of the younger kids and when Zoe did come visit with Kalin that still didn't even bring a smile to her face, not even her new granddaughter. All the kids were worried, not seeing any of their mother's friends stopping by or going out like they usually did on saturdays. It seemed that Shelby was in her own little world, as if she changed not for better or worse.

Shell glanced over at James' little face, his blue eyes sparkling just like hers as he bit his lip. "Yes?" she asks dully, causing his teeth to bare deeper into his skin. "Mum, do you love us anymore?" as his eyes already were watering. Shell frowns before leaning over for the first time in almost a week, picking up her youngest. "Of course I do sweetie. Mommy's just going through a bit of trouble is all. Don't worry." she whispers, as James settled by leaning against her chest holding one of her hands and glances out the window as well. She brushes back his red hair from his forehead and sighs, leaning her own against the window frame.

A bit of trouble was an understatement. Everyone besides her children, now anyway, believed she was dead. Another one of Rubalyn's great mind tricks. Shell assumed that she told a few people that she did in fact kill her making some sort of evidence that would persuade them easily. She was wandless still, but she didn't think that having her wand would be a sufficient piece of truth in her death. Either way, after running into Briar and Riyann a couple times and the way they acted even after explaining herself to them they still didn't believe her.

That's when she decided that if she was dead, then that's how she would live. Just sit in the window seat without a care, drifting in and out of her thoughts carefree, not worried about anything anymore. What was there to worry about? She couldn't go work at the school, she couldn't get married, if someone spotted her on the street they would glare and point whispering things about Rubalyn and how she killed Shelby finally after all these years.

Shaking her head from her thoughts again, she glanced down at James, seeming interested in something out the window. "What's wrong hun?" she asks softly before a little index finger raised up to the window pointing at some woman walking across the yard. She couldn't be lost, this was the only house for miles around unless she was some muggle that wanted to sell some pointless product.

Hearing the knock on the door, Shell sighs, picking up James again before turning him around so he could now sit on her right hip, as he rested his head onto her shoulder so he could still have a look at the lady that was now on their footstep. Walking to the door, she opens it and just stares at the girl. There was something about her but she couldn't figure out where she seen her before. She had an uncanny resemblance to Natalie, a much older Natalie but that was impossible.

"May I help you miss? I'm not gonna buy anything, so if that's your reason for wondering to the countryside then you might as well just stay for tea or brunch." she says giving her a faint smile as James played with his mother's golden curls as he stared at the woman as well.

[Natalie Crescent]

"Oh."
Natalie could not form a coherent answer even though it was a very simple question. She stood on the doorstep, dimly aware of the light breeze which ruffled her hair from the back, and her eyes fixed with almost indecent curiousity on the woman who had opened the door.
Because surely this could not be her sister?
She realised she'd put far too much faith into the fact that her sisters would both be the same as she remembered them. Young, pretty, light-hearted, just like she had been.

Natalie, despite the minimal age gap between her siblings, had always seen their age as a very clear differentation. Leslie was the oldest, and she would be the one who Natalie would automatically think of as the protector because of that, the one she could go to for advice at any time - at least that's what she'd done in her adolescence. Rubalyn - or was it Shelby? Natalie couldn't remember - was the youngest and thus she was overcome with the desire to be what she had seen Leslie as. She wanted to be the older sister, the protector and advice-giver, even if that wasn't quite in her nature.
Right now all she wanted to do was exclaim how beautiful her sister had grown to be. And what a beautiful son.

Because there was no doubt she held her son.
Natalie's heart ached for a moment. What a family she had to catch up on! She didn't feel as if she could ever catch up. She felt like she was out of her depth with everything, drowning.
Her mouth would not form words that made sense.
She just nodded weakly, her lips pressed into a hard line to keep from blurting out something that would just be confusing.

It's me! It's Natalie! Can't you see? The question burned in her throat, trying to force it's way up and past her soft pale lips.
It would be rude to shout such a thing, and would probably just result in the door being closed in her face. Her eyes were starting to prickle with the effort though, with the crushing irrevocable fact that her own sister did not recognise her.
Natalie was all heart, but that became very inconvenient when her heart happened to be threatening to break.
"Yes." She carried on where she'd left off seconds before. "Yes, please. I might like to come in and talk to you."

[Shelby Crescent]

Shell tilts her head slightly, pursing her lips to the side before moving back a little so the woman could walk into her home. James kept watching her with interest swirling about in his light blue eyes as he bit his lip as Shell shut the front door behind her and walked over into the kitchen.

Setting James down on the counter and kissing his forehead she looked up slightly at this strange woman. She seemed to have something on her mind, but wasn't too keen into talking about it. Maybe Shell knew her from school or somewhere else perhaps her childhood or a crowded day at the Three Broomsticks or Leaky Cauldron... either way Shell was clueless right now.

"So, what did bring you all the way out here in the first place Miss um. What's your name?" Shell inquired as she started to take out her red kettle and set it in the sink as she turned on the faucet so lukewarm water was flowing into the metal container. Moving over to the oven, she puts the kettle onto the stovetop and turns on the burner. "Are you okay? You seem a little upset or something else?"

Shell bites the corner of her mouth before walking back to her son and leaning against the counter next to him, instantly feeling him wrapping a petite arm around her back as much as he could anyway. Liese skips into the kitchen now as well, climbing one onto of the many bar-like chairs that was set at the long island. Flipping her red braids over her shoulders she glances over at the girl with her freckled face with a smile. "Hello. I'm Annaliesa Sage Chou and I'm eight. That's James Nicholas Chou. He's my little brother. He's only four." she says with a grin before sticking out her tongue towards James, in return sticks his tongue back at her.