Chapter I - MoViNG DaY

"Alexis!" her mother said again louder so she could hear. Julianna was sat turned around in the passenger seat of the car, looking back at her daughter. Alex who was almost falling asleep suddenly jerked, her chocolate brown eyes fluttering open. She removed one of her earbuds, "What?"

"We're almost here, hun," Julianna smiled. Her mousy brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her eyes also were brown, the same shade as Alex's. "It's stopped raining too, you'll be glad to hear."

"Uh huh." Alex rubbed her eyes and stretched, glancing out the window, though the rain had stopped, the clouds were still grey and blanketing the sky, not a shade of blue in sight. She brushed her long blonde hair behind her ear and put her earbuds in her pocket.

In the driver's seat was Alex's dad, Shawn, focused on the road ahead as they made their way through the quiet and windy roads, travelling through the heavily forested countryside of Canada. 

Shawn made a right turn and adjusted his glasses, "Alright...this is our street."

When they passed the row of big houses, they pulled up to the last house at the end of the road. The noise of the tires pushing through the gravel on the long driveway. The house in question was huge with three stories, the top floor being the attic bedroom with a circular window in the centre of the roof, facing out towards the valley they had just driven through.

"Here we are!" Shawn walked up to the house first, keys in hand, "Ready to see your new home?" he asked Alex as he was walking sideways up the drive.

Alex sighed, "I guess. I mean I've seen the photos."

"Ahh aint nothing like the real thing though," his British accent coming through. He had moved from the UK as an exchange student in his late teens. After he met Julianna in college, they had built their family from then on.

Julianna gently put an arm around her daughter, "I am sorry Alex. I know it was tough leaving Rachel and Jenny behind. You can still talk to them whenever you want. And they're welcome over any time."

Alex put her earbuds in her coat pockets, "Yeah I know. It's just...it sucks they're not around so much."

Meanwhile Shawn was wrestling with the keys on the lock on the front door. Julianna looked over at him, slight concern written on her face, "You okay over there?"

"Absolutely!" he responded, finally managing to open the door, "Didn't realise I needed to lift it, that's all."

Julianna just chuckled softly and was about to also approach the door when a dash of red, black and white shot out of the open doorway. Shawn was taken aback, "Whoa! What in the-" he began as a fox bolted straight out of the house, straight down the drive, zooming past Alex and Julianna and right to the edge of the forest across the road.

All three of them were stunned. "Is that a-" Julianna started to say.

"How did it get in the house?" Alex wondered.

Shawn gestured to the door, "The catflap? Had to have been."

The red fox stopped and turned to look at them. It sat down on its rump and just stared at them, flicking its tail. The small canine had unusually bright green eyes. Alex clasped her hands together, "he's such a cutie! Look at those eyes!"

Julianna grabbed her arm, "Come away, they can carry rabies."

Shawn peered over and shook his head gently, "Nah. He looks fine to me. He'd be acting a lot more strange if he had that. Just leave him be. Anyone else wanna come inside or are we just gonna stare at the fox all day?"

"But-" Alexis started to say.

Julianna dragged her towards the house by the arm, "No no, come on now."

Alex sighed and grumbled to herself, "Fine." Her animal loving nature was barely unable to remain under control.

Once they were all inside, Shawn closed the door behind them. "Might have to get rid of that catflap," Shawn said. "Don't want any other wild animals letting themselves in. Foxes pee on everyth-" he stopped in his tracks, growing suspicious. He quickly turned to his wife and daughter, "Okay first things first, search the house, look for pee or poo, you'll smell it before you see it, trust me."

Julianna winced at the thought, "Okay are you an expert on fox...waste then?"

"Well as you know I grew up in the country, I know these things. We gotta search the house, top to bottom."

Julianna let out a short exhalation of breath. "Alright, alright. Maybe you two can do that whilst I make coffee?"

Shawn stroked his fuzzy chin and raised his eyebrows, "True. Yeah I won't say no to that. You know how I like my coffees."

"Yep. Alex you too?" Julia asked.

"Oh, um no I'm good, thanks," she said absentmindedly flicking her long fringe out of her eyes, "I'll just stick to my water bottle."

Julianna paused as she was about to walk towards the kitchen, "Are you really okay, Alex? You've taken your lamotrigine right? Your episode yesterday-"

"Yeah I'm fine, really," she replied abruptly, nodding. "I'm just tired from the journey, that's all."

Julianna sighed softly, her eyebrows were knitted with concern. "Alright then." She turned and left towards the kitchen.

Alex looked at her dad who was stood with his hands on his hips. his eyebrows raised, looking at her expectantly. "I'm fine!" she flapped her arms by her sides, annoyance rising in her voice. "Honestly, I don't need to be asked every hour of every day!"

"Good, we're just making sure," he reassured her. He took his brown coat off and put it on the end of the banister at the bottom of the stairs, "okay you check upstairs, Alex. And I'll check down here. Okay?"

"Sure," Alex took her shoes off and left them to the side of the doormat. She trudged up the stairs and checked the two bedrooms and the bathroom that were on that floor. She remembered what her dad said about the smell if the fox had left anything. Thankfully no awful smells emitted from any area.

"You done?!" Shawn yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

Alex walked out onto the hallway, "Yeah! Nothing here! I'll check the third floor!"

"Okay!"

Alex opened the door to the staircase to the third floor. It was dark and narrow, only one person could climb the stairs in single file. Once she reached the top, she opened the door to her bedroom. Just up a few more stairs, was the attic suite. All of Alex's belongings had been delivered a week prior just like the rest of the things from their old place, though most of it was still in the moving boxes. The amount of room she had was far greater than the tiny room she had before in the New York apartment.

Alex smiled to herself and threw her suede blue coat across the back of the chair at her desk, "Well the room's not bad."

She turned and walked towards the raised floor where her double bed was. She hopped up the step to see a window seat with cushions at the other side of the bed, the huge circular window she had seen from outside was directly above it.

The window gave her a fantastic look over the forested valley area of which they lived. The house was placed at the top of the hill on the outskirts of town. Dense coniferous woodland stretched for miles around with a view of the nearby down in the distance. "And not a bad view either," Alex sighed to herself, leaning towards the window.

She looked down at the ground when she noticed something move. Alex had noticed the same fox they saw earlier flick his tail. This time he was sat closer, near their car. The strange thing was that he was sat staring directly up at Alexis through the window on the top floor, those strange green eyes fixated on Alex.

Alex blinked once, peering down at the fox. She then grinned and giggled, giving the fox a playful wave.

To Alex's utter shock, the fox looked surprised, an expression far too close to being human, then he waved his paw at her from side to side, grinning back from ear to ear.

Alexis gasped, her eyes widened. An awful throbbing pain struck her head and she pressed her palm against her forehead. She gritted her teeth and screwed her eyes shut, "Ah! AHH what's going...what's going...on..."

As the pain subsided, she collapsed on her front onto the bed and an overwhelming feeling of tiredness washed over her. A tiredness she had never felt before, a tiredness so strong she fell instantly asleep the moment her body hit the bed.

Alexis Smith, a powerful, disembodied, booming voice called her name, echoing through the darkness off her mind. With every word there was a deep hum that shook every fibre of her being, Alexis, it is time you learned the truth of the world...