Annalise

When Annalise was younger, she quickly learned never to mention her dad. He was like the bogeyman, a person who couldn't be named, just a vacant figure in the back of her mind. If she ever dared to mention him she would be quickly told off and made not to talk about him again. Her mother made sure of that when she was five. She loved her mum, don't get her wrong, but it was the one thing she could never forgive her for.

She had just turned five, and her brother had recently been born, having been brought back from the hospital only days before. It was one of her very first memories. Her dad had been there until that day, she was sure of it. Annalise just didn't remember his face, he was a dark faceless figure in her memories.

She'd asked her mum when he was coming back, a fairly normal question for a kid. But it completely turned her mother. Her mothers face had quickly turned red in fury, with blurry tears welling in her eyes. "Don't ever mention him again!" Her mum had shouted, spitting her words out. "He's never coming back!".

Annalise hadn't known what to do, so she cowered back and began to shake. She had never seen anyone this upset, let alone her own mother. It was terrifying. All the shouting had woken up her younger brother, causing him to begin to cry uncontrollably. "Look at what you've done!" Her mother had accused, hastily turning away to console the crying baby.

From then on, Annalise never mentioned her father ever again.

Over time, her mother and her got closer but there was always something missing. A dark figure she could never place in her mind. Time went on and eventually she met her two lifelong friends, Noah and Mia. They were attached to the hip from the moment they met. It soon became clear that Mia had feelings for Noah. Her and Mia would talk about it endlessly. Noah was a dense idiot, who needed more than a bash to the head to realise Mia's feelings.

It was why Annalise wasn't surprised that day she received the email.

Mia's family, for whatever reason, were extremely techno-phobic. They rejected technology, so it wasn't unsurprising for Anna to receive the odd email here and there from her friend. She had trusted the email that day. It was from the same email address Mia usually used, so why shouldn't she?

The email itself was incredibly distressing. Mia seemed panicked and erratic. Apparently her family had found out about her feelings for Noah and had immediately disapproved, demanding she go no contact with the man. They were even threatening her with disownment if she refused not to go through with it.

So, Mia had contacted the only person she could trust. Annalise. The email asked her to meet her up in a secluded place, a place where apparently Mia's cousins used to hang out. An old abandoned house on wonder street. It was easy enough to get to, so why would Annalise refuse? How could she when one of her only friends seemed so distraught?

Compassionate to a fault. It was just who she was. Who knew that the compassion she held so close to her heart, would be the very thing that would get her killed? She'd left her house in a hurry, with nothing on her but her phone. When she arrived at the abandoned building, originally nothing seemed a miss. It was overgrown, chaotic and tarnished. But that was a given.

The minute she stepped foot in the house though. She remembered the anxiety flooding through her, and taking the first few hesitant steps forward. She stood no chance. It was like she was being punched in the chest repeatedly. It all happened so quickly, she hardly had a chance to defend herself. By the time her mind had come back to itself, she was led on the floor, collapsed.

Her hair was matted with blood, obscuring her vision. Annalise tried to get up, to move, anything. But her strength was zapped, slowly flowing out with all the blood loss. The last thing she managed to do before everything turned black was look up at her attackers. There was a woman, crouching besides where she led, with ginger hair. Then that was that.

And the next thing she knew, she was a ghost.

---

Annalise's body was heavy, like gravity was pulling her down to earth, no matter how much she tried she couldn't move a muscle. Everything ached. Opening her eyes was the hardest thing she's ever done, and that's saying something seeing as she now had some extreme daddy issues. Slowly, ever so slowly, her eyes cracked open. Wincing against the sudden light, the first thing she noticed was Dawn.

She was perched eagerly on the end of the bed Annalise was led in, leaning forward to talk to Cassius. The man himself seemed tetchy, his face twitching uncomfortably and arms crossed over his chest. His usual leather jacket, missing. They were talking to each other in hushed tones.

"Genie's been smoking again," Dawn uttered, holding her head in her hands. Cassius hummed in agreement, scrunching his face in disgust.

"You can smell it everywhere," Cassius said disappointingly, shaking his head as though Eugene was there in the room with him. Dawn tutted, looking at the window apathetically.

"You know he only does it when he's stressed," She reprimanded. Annalise tried to sit up, but her muscles burned. Her.... muscles? She hadn't felt them in 5, god damned years. Had the magic worked? She managed to lift herself up a few centimetres, then her arms began to shake under the weight and she collapsed back into the bed.

The sudden noise caught the attention of the two vampires in the room. Both head snapping back to look at her, she almost felt nervous under their scrutiny. Dawn's face blew up into a spectacular grin, as she lurched forward to knock Annalise back in a hug.

"You're awake!" She cried, pulling back to look at Annalise's face for a moment, then returning back to the hug. Weakly Anna looked to Cassius for help, but he shrugged an uncharacteristically soft look on his face.

"You've been asleep for a week," He said in a way of explanation, thin lips curling up slightly. "Everyone's been worried,". Annalise's eyes widened in shock. A week? Dawn seemed to snap back to reality, yanking herself away from her with a surprised look.

"Gene! We need to tell Gene!"