Sunlight pierced her eyelids and Norah rolled over, opening her eyes.

She’d forgotten to the close the curtains the night before and she squinted, seeing the cliffs in the distance. She’d been exhausted as she lay down last night, she’d drifted off before she could worry about unpacking the car. It was the best sleep she’d had since the Daniel incident. She couldn’t decide if it was due to exhaustion or the adulterer bed being so comfortable, but she wasn’t about to complain.

Rolling out of bed, she walked over to the window, stretching the kinks from her neck and looked outside. The large cliffs were the first thing she saw; intimidating, they reached their peak at the ocean line and then slowly descended back down towards the road. The forest covered the top and it was at least a five storey drop to the beach. Long grass grew in the area between the house and the cliffs, the different shades of green creating a pretty collage.

Looking further left, the grass stopped and gave way to golden white sand. It was filled with contrasting black rocks which seemed to accumulate closer to the cliffs wall. The sound of gentle waves was calming and a small smile began to form as for a brief moment, her worries faded away.

Opening the window, the salty air wafted in and she walked into the kitchen, opening the window above the sink which had the same view as her bedroom. Upon further exploration last night, she had discovered that the bedroom sat opposite the bathroom which was tiled from the floor and halfway up the walls which were a faded white. A large old tub stood near the far wall, a shower head protruding from the wall. The wall opposite the tub was a large glass block window, the natural light ridding any need of overhead lighting during the day. Norah was desperate to have a shower but the tub needed a little maintenance before she dared step foot in it. Much of the house was in need of cleaning and so she decided to put the shower off until the house was more tolerable to live in.

The laundry was in a small room just outside the back door and she was grateful she wouldn’t have to buy a washer and dryer. A large cupboard lined the wall near the backdoor and it had a few changes of linen which smelt mouldy. Everything would be getting washed today. At least she’d brought some linen of her own so she would have a clean towel for her shower later.

Walking out to her car, she started the long process of dragging everything inside. It took an hour to pile her belongings on the small kitchen table and by the time she was finished, her body was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Grabbing a suitcase, she took it to the bedroom and changed into some clean clothes. She felt better, after wearing the same clothes for three days. If she was going to mingle with the locals, she didn’t want their first impression to be that she smelt disgusting.

Spraying half a can of deodorant over herself to mask the lingering smell of sweat, she tied her brown hair in a knot at the base of her neck and finding a notepad in the kitchen, took stock of what she needed to purchase. At the top of the list was cleaning supplies and she added some food, only writing down the essentials. She’d worry about filling her pantry once she was settled in. Once the list was finished, she grabbed the home phone to ring Alice. She’d shut down her mobile account, afraid Daniel would be able to track it, so now this phone would be her only life line to the world.

Finding Alice’s number from her emergency contact list, she dialled the number. She knew Alice wasn’t fond of her being without a mobile, but Norah wouldn’t be deterred. On the fourth ring, the call went through.

“Ray Jones speaking.”

Norah smiled at his mannerism. “Hello Ray Jones, speaking this is Norah Jacobs speaking.”

“Norah!” He sounded relieved. “Alice will be annoyed she missed your call. She’s just gone to the library. Did you have a safe trip?”

She played with the phone cord. “Yeah, there were no problems.”

“I take it you found the place okay then?”

“I had some local help.” She thought of Olivia. “I don’t think I would have found Jack otherwise.”

“Ah, Jack.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “I’m sending some money through today for furniture. There used to be more, but Jack has a tendency to go down there when the place is empty and burn pieces when he’s on a bender.”

“Ah, that’s not comforting to hear…”

Ray laughed. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t come down when people are staying.”

“How can you be okay with him just burning furniture?”

He sighed. “When it comes to that place, Jack and I are on the same page. We don’t like it but we keep it because it’s a good investment. Furniture is easily replaced and if it makes Jack feel better, then I say let him. Just a word of advice; don’t lash out on anything expensive. Once you’re gone, it will probably get burnt.”

“Duly noted.” Norah still couldn’t believe he was okay with Jack burning furniture but then she’d never gone through what they had been through, so she couldn’t judge.

“If there are any problems, don’t hesitate to call and don’t worry about that bastard, Daniel. We’ll keep an eye out for him.”

She felt tears beginning to form. She loved Ray and Alice. “Thanks, Ray.”

“No problem. Sorry Norah, I’d love to chat more but I’ve got an appointment to head to –“

“Not a problem. You get going and send Alice my love.”

“Will do. Talk soon.”

“Bye.”

Placing the receiver back in the cradle, she grabbed her list and headed out the door. At the mention of Daniel, she just wanted to crawl back into bed and wallow but her neurotic need for a clean house, and more importantly, a shower made her get in her car and head into town.

Reaching the road, she saw that the entryway was difficult to see even in the daylight. She was surprised she’d caught a glimpse of it last night, the edge of the road was covered in long grass and the gate was so small, if you didn’t know it was there it would be easily missed.

As she neared the wharf, in the daylight the town appeared quite charming. The wharf went far out into the water, many older gentlemen lined the walkway, their fishing rods dipped in the water as they waited in silent contemplation for a nibble.

A restaurant sat at the end of the main street, large glass windows providing a beautiful view of the ocean. Many people were already sitting at the outdoor tables, the rain from last evening a forgotten memory as the sun promised a good day. Turning onto the main street, people walked along the streets, some leading dogs and up ahead, she saw a sign for the Twilight Café.

It was a blue wooden board with white cursive writing and a star over the ‘i’ where the dot should have been. Pulling into an empty car park, she headed for the blue door, caffeine a high priority on her list. Without it, she would be brain dead by lunch time, and zombie Norah was no fun to be around. A bell chimed as the door opened and she saw Olivia look up from behind the register, her face splitting into a grin.

“Norah! How are you?” She called out through the doorway behind the counter. “Hey Gail, this is the new girl I was telling you about.”

A woman with bright red hair peered around the corner and shot her a smile. “Heard a lot about you, Norah. First coffee is on the house.”

Not one to say no to free coffee, Norah accepted.

“So, what’s your poison?” Olivia asked. Today her ash brown hair was braided down her back, blue eyes full of energy and she wore a black short sleeve shirt and shorts.

“A latte, in the largest cup you have.”

“Are you sitting in?”

“Sure, why not.” Eyes travelling over the glass cabinet of pastries, she selected a spinach filled croissant to nibble on. Taking a seat near the window, she took a better look around the café.

The walls were a cream white with baby blue moulding. Big open windows let enough natural light in and artwork hung around the shop, many depicting images from the town. Looking up, the ceiling was covered in fairy lights and she hoped she would get to see them at night, it would look beautiful. The chairs were made of big heavy white painted wood and the cushions a deep blue. They were comfortable to sit in and Norah had a feeling she had found her new writing place.

Near the counter, she saw a sign she had missed. It read, A warning: all those who quote or reference the Twilight series as a joke will be forced to pay the sparkle tax. A jar was placed below the sign, filled with dollar notes and she grinned.

Pulling out her list, she added some food to the grocery section as she waited. Coffee and chocolate topped the list as she’d learned that both were important to her writing process. Without them, nothing got done.

“Here we go,” Olivia placed her coffee and pastry down with a smile.

The smell of caffeine rose from the cup and her body began to relax from the comforting scent. “Thanks, Olivia. Did you get home okay last night?”

Olivia waved her hand. “Yeah, it was fine. Rylan was here, apparently he called it off with his girl, that’s why he took off. She was a real clingy type and had been avoiding him for a few days because she knew he wanted to end it. She must have missed him though and called him. He had an opening and he took it, hoping that by doing it in a public place would mean she wouldn’t go bat shit crazy, which she still did by the way. It was hilarious.”

Norah took a sip of coffee. “Damn that’s good. Still, he shouldn’t have ditched you.”

“True, don’t worry, he got what was coming to him.”

A customer walked in and Olivia smiled before going to take their order. Eating slowly, Norah doodled notes for her story on the edge of her list until the food and coffee was gone and she had run out of room.

Next time don’t forget the notebook, she reminded herself. Olivia was making a coffee and she walked over. “Can you tell me where the supermarket is?”

She looked up from the coffee machine. “Sure, just walk up the block and you’ll see a pathway of trees. If you follow that to the end, the grocery store is right there. It’s only a three minute walk.”

“Thanks Olivia.” She grabbed her bag and Olivia called out.

“Will you be back tomorrow?”

“Of course, I get the call for caffeine every day, and I must heed the call.”

Olivia laughed. “You’re so weird. Must be why I like you.”

“The weird do tend to flock together. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Norah, see you then!”

Norah stepped out and paused when she saw a man looking at her car. “Can I help you?”

Turning around, the man grinned and Norah was surprised that he was actually kind of cute even if his clothes were dirty and old. “I know most of the cars in this town and I was just wondering who this one belonged to.”

“Don’t a lot of tourists go through here though?”

The man took a step towards her, running a hand through his dirty blond hair. He had a five o’clock shadow, a grease stain smudged his chin and she guessed how he knew the local cars. “They do, but most tourists walk around Bellvale and park by the wharf to avoid getting parking fines. Only locals bother parking up along here because they know the police around here are pretty lenient when it comes to parking.”

“I’ll keep that in mind…”

He held out his hand. “Brad Smith. And you are?”

“Norah Jacobs. I’m letting the Jones’ beach house for a month or so.” She shook his hand and noticed his brown eyes giving her the once over.

“If your car needs to be looked at, I’m more than happy to take a look under the hood. I’m the local mechanic, my place is just up the road.”

If Norah didn’t know any better, she would have thought he was flirting. “Thanks, Brad I’ll keep that in mind. At the moment it’s fine, it still does all the important stuff; start, stop, brake, honk at people who annoy me.”

An eyebrow raised. “Do people still say honk?”

He hadn’t let go of her hand. “I assume they do, if not I’m going to bring it back. Now, I’ve got some shopping to do so can I have my hand back please?”

Momentarily confused, he looked down and laughed, withdrawing his hand. “Sorry about that. I’ll see you around, Norah.”

“If my car stops honking, I’ll let you know.” She felt his eyes on her as she headed up the street. He seemed cute, in a puppy dog kind of way. Norah had dated a guy like him before and it didn’t work out. They were all about pleasing you, which was nice at first, but it didn’t allow her to connect with them on a deeper level because they never opened up about themselves and were too scared to have an arguemnt. She wanted someone who, strangely enough, argued with her but was willing to stay by her side and work it out at the end of the day.

Some people thought she was weird, wanting someone she could fight with, but she felt it was important to fight for love, in all aspects of the term. A love that was filled with nothing but sunshine and happiness just seemed boring.

She reached the trees Olivia had mentioned and a motorbike came rumbling down the street. It drove slowly, Norah recognised it as the same bike from the night before and she glanced at the rider.

Broad shouldered, wearing black jeans and short sleeved grey shirt, the wind pressed the fabric against his body and she couldn’t stop herself from looking. His arms had two black circle tattoos around his biceps and she thought it was a strange tattoo set to have. He wore a black helmet, the visor down and she felt a stab of disappointment. She was curious to know who owned it.

The rider’s head turned as he passed and Norah didn’t know how, but she knew he was looking right at her. Flushing, she turned away and hurried down the small path. She had probably looked like an idiot, ogling at him. The sound of the bike faded and she made her way between trees, trying to forget she probably looked like she had just climbed out of bed, which she had.

The path was lined with apple trees, the red fruit beginning to ripen and she hoped they did something with them. It seemed like such a waste to let them fall on the ground and grow rotten. She loved to cook from time to time and if possible, she could use them to bake pies. The small lane ended and opened up to a small parking lot and the grocery store was at the other end. The only visible sign that it was a grocery store was a faded sign above the door, the ‘g’ and ‘c’ faded from age.

The doors slid open as she entered and she grabbed a basket, pulling out her list. Walking slowly around the store, her basket grew heavier with each aisle she went through and she regretted not grabbing a trolley. She always grabbed a basket and spent the last half of her shopping dragging the basket around on the floor because it was too heavy to carry.

Standing in the household cleaning section, she was trying to decide which window cleaner to get when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and her spine stiffened. Glancing to her left, she saw a man leaning against the far wall, eyes fixated on her. He looked too large to be inside the store. He was of average height, but the bulk of his body consisted of muscle. Black scraggly hair hung in his brown eyes and he wore tight dark clothes.

As she met his gaze, a leer etched across his face and kicking off from the wall, he walked away. Filled with unease, she threw a random bottle of window cleaner into her basket and grabbing everything else in a rush, she dashed to the check out. As the teenage girl put everything in bags, Norah kept glancing around the store for the large man. He seemed to have disappeared but the damage was done. One day and already she was seeing creepy guys.

Grabbing her bags, she hurried back to her car. Walking down the lane, she felt as though she was being watched but there was no one around. Reaching her car, she fumbled with the keys and threw everything inside, once she managed to unlock the door. Sliding in, she locked the doors behind her and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths.

“I’m just imagining it,” she whispered. “Why would a creepy dark version of Thor be following me?”

Turning on the engine, she decided to go and get the money off Jack now. One trip into town and she was already losing it. It was time to harness that crazy and put it into cleaning the house.

She found Jack’s place without needing directions and the garden looked slightly unkempt now. The night had hidden most of the weeds but it was still pretty to look at. Climbing out, she shut her car door and walked up the small path to the front door, hand hesitating as she raised it to knock. Olivia had said to wait until the afternoon…

The door opened and she stumbled back. “What are you hovering out here for?” Jack growled. He was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, the smell of whiskey stronger and his eyes were bloodshot. “You’re early.”

“I’m sorry, I just thought…” she trailed off, not wanting to tell him about her freak out at the grocery store.

Jack’s eyes narrowed as he studied her. “You all right? Look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“No, I’m fine,” she said faintly. “I can come back tomorrow for the money if you want?”

“Nah, don’t want you bothering me again. Wait here a minute.” Leaning on the frame for support, he turned around and disappeared down the dark hallway into a side room. He returned a few moments later, an envelope in hand. “Went and got the money this morning. There’s an address there too, for second hand traders. They’ll give you a good deal, tell them I sent you.

“Okay.” The envelope felt thick and she wondered how much Ray had sent.

“Anything else?” Jack glanced over his shoulder and she shook her head.

“No, thank you.”

“Bye then.”

Shutting the door in her face, Norah tried to take Olivia’s advice and brush it aside. Since she had cold items in the car, she wasted no time heading back to the house, following the main street and the trip back was a bit faster now that she had her bearings.

The waves crashed gently against the shore as she pulled back up at the house and took everything inside, putting it all away in the empty cupboards. Leaving the cleaning supplies out, she found her laptop in the messy pile of belongings and turned it on. If she was going to clean, music might help to make the time go by.

Scrolling through the music library, she finally settled on The Ramones and got started as ‘Sheena is a Punk Rocker’, blared through the small speakers. The afternoon passed quickly as she opened up the house, dusting, scrubbing and wiping the house from top to bottom. She stripped the bed and washed the linen, and the curtains too which smelt old and stale. Every wooden surface was polished and soon the house began to smell fresh. Cleaning had always calmed her whenever she grew stressed. Those ugly feelings were scrubbed away and her stress over Daniel and the man from the grocery store faded with the dirt in the house.

The sun was beginning to set as she finished wiping down the bathtub which was now a gleaming white. She spent the next hour unpacking her belongings and putting everything away. Once she had put the last of her linen away, she walked out to the kitchen to close the front door and stopped at the sight. Stepping down the steps and onto the sand, she walked down to the water and stared. An orange glow was cast over the sky, tinged with pink dotted clouds, fading into the horizon. The waves sparkled in the setting light and the wind had quietened, blowing her hair softly against her face and she brushed the brown strands aside. Her body ached from cleaning but she felt peaceful.

Maybe it won’t be so bad here, she thought. A fresh start could be just what I need.

The sound of a wolf howling floated on the wind and she looked up at the cliffs. She thought she saw a tail disappear into the trees but she was probably seeing things. They hadn’t mentioned any wolves in the area. She would have to ask Olivia tomorrow when she got her coffee. She would worry about the furniture tomorrow too. Right now, she was content to simply watch the waves, enjoying a peace she hadn’t felt in some time. 

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A/N: So I know I said I wouldn't be posting until after my holiday but I was overwhelmed by the response to the first chapter so I thought I would be nice and give you another chapter before I go away ^_^