Break of Dusk - Episode 1

By Timothy C.

February 11, 2022

Three knocks. Hazel didn't remember much from the day, but she remembered very vividly that there were three knocks at the door– the third more hesitant than its seniors, as if having reservations before the door opened a half-moment later. She'd opened the door with great haste; very few people would have reason to visit a small cottage this far outside of Rinnyal, especially not this early on a cold autumn morning. 

She'd only been awake at that hour to brew morning tea for her sister and brother-- despite the latter having been out on his latest venture for the better part of the moon, she'd always make him a cup, just in case. She'd gotten used to drinking the cold bitter liquid, but was nevertheless anxious to share it with him as she threw open the door. 

She caught herself from jubilantly crying out her brother's name just in time for her to recognize the hooded figure in the outside rain as not Thomas Hartford. It pulled down what must have used to be a vibrant maroon coat to reveal a small boy with soaked dark hair. Or perhaps he simply looked small in the morning rain with his huddled demeanor and tear-streaks striping his lightly scarred face. He was young, yes, but only as young as Hazel herself, if she guessed. 

He started. "A- are..." He choked on a pause, looking into Hazel's confused eyes as if searching for something, only continuing when he'd thought he'd found it. "Are you Hazel Hartford?" He spoke hesitantly, like he wasn't sure what he wanted to hear. 

“Um..” She ran through possibilities in her head. Was he an assassin? No, she wasn't nearly important enough for that. A distant relative? No, why would he be crying? A friend of Kiera's? No, since their parents had gone, she'd confided everything in Hazel, and she'd heard no word of this boy. "Yes, I- I am," she decided. 

Various emotions flew across his face in quick succession; relief, apprehension, anguish, before settling on a determined sadness. 

"Your brother, he–" A choke. "He's gone."

~~

Kiera had to recount the rest of the day’s events to her sister. Hazel only really remembered the tears. At some point, she’d had to invite the boy in— he and Hazel had been letting in a draft crying at each other through the doorway. Kiera tossed in the last of the firewood that Thomas had left by the hearth before he’d gone; they hadn’t had much reason to light it in a while since Hazel did most of the cooking outside, where another pile was set under the awning.

His name was Ryan Kajie. That’s about as much as Hazel caught before she began to flicker in and out of awareness. Kiera had to handle the real questions— she’d always been the most poised of the siblings, despite being the youngest by three years. She threw a worried glance to her sister, who seemed to occupy herself by counting the pores on her clasped hands as she slumped in one of the house’s older chairs. She turned back to Ryan on the opposite chair, uncomfortable in a few ways. Kiera had hung his waterlogged coat by the hearth, in doing so revealing his thinner frame— almost diminutive in stature, though still taller than either of the girls in the room, if only just. He did his best to keep from shivering, though from cold or from sadness, she couldn’t tell.

She took a deep breath in. “How…” She paused at the waver in her voice, determined to be the room’s last bastion of composure, “How did you know my brother?”