The Hourglass of the Pines | Intro

The gate closed behind us as we drove down the narrow, overgrown dirt path, into the pines that would now hold my forever home. A cabin hidden deep inside Manderly Cove; a place no locals dared to venture into. In fact, many of them had chosen to forget about the cove and as the generations passed, the truth about the cove became … a legend. One that the young ones understood as long dead and gone. Almost fake. Like the stories told could have never happened. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Manderly Cove was in fact very much alive. And as I understood it to be, very much a threat to anyone with a heartbeat living inside Harpring.

Low branches hit the roof, and scraped the sides of the car as we inched along. I understood now why I was being driven in an old beat up car. Not only for the attack of the tree limbs, but also to blend in with the town. Harpring wasn’t known for the new fancy cars unless you were a Westbrook, or worked for the Westbrooks. There was a definite class line that was very apparent inside this tiny town where watchful, wandering eyes loved to parade wealth and those who lusted over the homes they could only dream of stepping inside one day. In decades past, the class line was never to be crossed. Although, as I understood it, there were a good amount of residents that crossed the line and now had secrets to keep. Some thought taking their secrets to their graves would provide the safety net for generations to come. What a crazy thought. In Harpring your secrets were never far from the surface. Everyone knew that, but few feared to acknowledge.

The further into the cove we drove, reality sunk in like a slow, deliberate cut on flesh that would now forever be etched into my storyline of life. A wound that would forever sting, and never fully heal. I tried not to think about the future in the rear view, because that was all that was left. Remnants of a life I planned. Goals and dreams, now smoldered on the ground in ash. Watching the smoke curl up stung my eyes, and I knew better than to cry in this moment. A tear slid down my cheek and I discreetly wiped it dry and tried to make light of the situation.

Many thoughts raced through my mind as the light faded, and darkness pierced through me like little pins hitting each and every nerve. I tried not to flinch as my new reality enclosed around me. I was to be forgotten. It was the most important job one could have in Harpring, especially in my current situation. Even though my entire life as I knew it was no more, I had to focus on my new role I was now to play.

In Harpring everyone played a role whether they knew it or not. A light in someone’s world, or the villain and reason for turning their world upside down and inside out. Every role mattered and played out like the inherited heirloom that it was. Even those who portrayed their life like a picture-perfect postcard, placed a veil between the dire reality they lived in behind closed doors.

It’s almost laughable, the thoughts that slip through a person’s mind, and the way their masks pull tight along the jaw, as if the tension alone could hold them in place. The lies reveal themselves in fine lines, barely visible at first, like stress fractures spreading beneath the surface. Those tiny cracks don’t stay small. They remember everything as they deepen and widen. And in time, they don’t just expose what’s underneath, they break the mask apart entirely, leaving nothing left to hide behind.

I caught my reflection in the rearview mirror and barely recognized the woman staring back. It felt like she already understood what had to be done before I did. The mask I was about to put on would have to hold. In the cove there would be no room for hesitation, or the version of me that still flinched when I thought about the truth. I pressed my fingers along my jaw as if I could feel where the mask would settle, and where it might crack if I wasn’t careful. Because once I stepped out of this car and crossed the threshold into the cabin, it wouldn’t be temporary. The silence and all the secrets would be mine, and the life I would live I’d have to live so completely that even I might forget where the mask ended… and I began. Whatever version of me I had entered the cove with was already slipping further out of reach, dissolving into the shadows between the pines. And the woman I would have to become here wasn’t someone I could ease into. She was someone I would have to surrender to.