Chapter 2

There was a voice, drowned out like it was coming through a wall of water, a deep, deep blue wat-
"Will that be all Miss Pevensie?"
Susan snapped out of it, her eyes landing on the man behind the counter.
"Hm?"
He was looking at her cautiously, and for a moment she didn't understand why. But then she looked down and noticed that her nails were digging into the counter. One of them had already broken.

He gestured to the two paper bags filled with groceries.
"Will that be all ma'am?"

"Oh! Yes, of course. Thank you, Jeffery," she smiled, grabbed the bags in her arms and walked out. She felt everyone in the store watching her. How long had she been standing there, she wondered. How long had people been watching that crazy old lady from down the road.

Her shoes clicked on the pavement as she walked, but she didn't hear them. It was what people were saying, even if it didn't come out their lips, that she could hear, loud and clear.
Look at that crazy old lady down the street who doesn't drive, who doesn't get in taxis, who doesn't take trains or buses anywhere. Look at her, she locks herself in her house all day and only comes out to get food and water her plants, look at the crazy old lady, alone in the world.
Alone because she moved on.
And she shouldn't have moved on.

The sky was blue, and overhead, birds were chirping. There was a general feeling of life in the downtown London area. Even though Susan didn't go out much, she still appreciated the life that neighbourhood brought, and life, was very important.
Sometimes people didn't realise how important it was.

She shook her head as she reached her door and slid a key into the lock. There was no time for thoughts like that was there.
But there was good reason for it, because of what had happened yesterday. Yesterday, for the first time in nearly seventy years, Susan had felt The Pull. The Pull that had disappeared after the last time she had left N…she didn't even dare to say the name.
It might take her too.

Nevertheless, when she had left That Place for the last time, she had known then she would never go back. It was like staying in a warm room and then suddenly jumping into cold water. Until you landed in the cold water, you had no idea how warm it had actually been in that room. Until she had left That Place, she'd noticed it had been Pulling her in.
It was a trap.
And it had claimed her siblings.

But yesterday she'd been asleep, and she'd felt that Pull, and because she'd been half asleep, she'd followed it, and it had led her to Lexy.

Her key clicked, and her door popped open, but her hand was shaking, and her breath was coming out in haggard rasps. The colour in her face had drained, and she knew it without looking in the mirror.
Crazy old lady.
Stupid, crazy old lady.
Down the hall, she could hear Lexy taking a shower. Susan looked in a mirror, and saw the old, withered face that stared back at her. She still shook, and her breath trembled.
Ever since she'd picked up Lexy and brought her inside, The Pull had gotten stronger.
Susan made up her mind then that it was time to get to the bottom of what was going on.

Stupid.
Old.
Lady.