Welcome To Llanwrtyd

Evening was upon us once again. The journey to Llanwrtyd had taken the better part of two days. I was tired, cranky and weary. If I never took another bus or train again, it would be to soon. But somehow, I was inexplicably relieved. I'd been trying to gain entry into Llanwrtyd for centuries, each attempt a failure, but now, just when I was beginning to believe that the guardians had really been successful, I found my ticket in.

I was brought up short by the thought that was mine, yet not. The voice had spoken in my head, but the thoughts were definitely not mine. I was nineteen years old and I never even knew Llanwrtyd existed before today. Why would I have spent centuries trying to come here?




"Okay, I have had enough now." Mum yelled right in the middle of the street. Thankfully, there was no one to hear her. "That signs says we are in Llanwrtyd, Wales. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Wales is in the United kingdom. We are in another continent!" She roared in agitation.




Yeah, about that....




"Young lady, you are going to answer me, and you are going to start right this moment." She vowed.




I stared at the angry mien of my mother, opened my mouth and promptly shut it again. Suddenly, I was bone weary. Every part of me demanded I found somewhere to curl up and go to sleep for a million years. The moment of truth was upon me and I didn't want to face it. I wasn't afraid of telling mother what I'd done to Frank and his mistress, but I was afraid of telling her the truth about the love of her life.

Darting wide eyes around the empty road once again, I found what I'd seen previously. A deserted street that led to a well paved street with beautiful stone houses that lacked extravagance, unlike the ones back home. There was peace here. I felt dual emotions regarding that part of the town. On one hand, I wanted to immerse myself in this new idyllic world and begin life anew, like the years with Frank had never existed in the first place. On the other hand, I wanted to rip apart the safety and joy of the people who lived here. I wanted to revel in their terror and agony. Their anguish was fuel for my soul.

Yep, I was headed straight for the loony bin.




"Kiera. Shiloh. Ballad. I'm not speaking to a brick wall. I demand answers, right now." I scowled at her. Even my middle name was a boy's name. I wondered why they didn't go ahead and carry out a gender reassignment surgery for me since they wanted a boy so desperately.




"I'm tired and I'm sure you are too. There should be an hotel here somewhere. Let's check in and I will tell you everything. I promise." I deflected.




"Not happening." She declared belligerently. "I want answers now. What's going on? Why are we here? I want to go home." She folded her arms across her chest before pulling out her lips as well.




When exactly did I become the mother and she the child?




"We are in the middle of the road in an unknown town. Is this the first impression you really want to give them?" Her glare was unwavering. "Yes we are in a different continent, in a place neither of us have ever been before. If it wasn't absolutely important, do you think I would have done this? There's a lot I want to tell you mum and before you yell at me, can you please take a few minutes to listen? Just five minutes. Once we get to the hotel and I tell you everything and you still want to leave, then I won't stop you. You can call dad to come pick you up."




"Your dad's not here?" Her brows furrowed as the fight drained out of her.




Her daughter just dragged her to a different continent and the one thing that registered in her brain was that her dear husband was not waiting for her in the hotel.




"No mum, he's not." Pulling out the handle on the suitcase, I faced forward and walked deeper into the town, knowing she had no choice but to follow me.




It was an arduous task before we were able to find the hotel. Turned out there was several miles between us and the nearest human being. We trekked with heavy luggages for several miles before we saw an old pickup truck. The car stopped a few meters in front of us before we could even signal for help. We limped towards it and found an old man with a bed of white hair behind the wheel.




"Where are you ladies off too?" His eyes crinkled at us.




"The nearest hotel sir." Without waiting for a reply, I dumped my suitcase in the bed of his truck.




"You are new in Llanwrtyd aren't ya?" His accent made it hard to understand him but after a quick glance at each other, mum and I concurred that he wasn't a serial killer.




"Yes. Can you drop us off at an hotel please?"




"Sorry ladies. No hotel here. We do have a fantastic bread and breakfast. Mrs Clark runs it. She's a nice little lady. Will give you the shirt off her back, 'cept her cats of course. Let me give you this piece of advice, don't even touch 'em. They're her babies and she won't ever let anyone hurt 'em. You're not cat haters are you?" He turned back to peer at us curiously.




"No." Mother and I affirmed simultaneously.




"Good. That's real good. My pa always said that people who hate animals are horrible scums. No good people they are. By the way, I'm Bill. Not Billy. He's my stepbrother, see. I have a ranch not far from here and my brother sells cars. Both used and new. And there, that's the town's best diner. Everything they serve in there is delicious." Of course it was the best. It was probably the only diner in the town.




He jabbered on and on as he drove farther into the town. I tuned him out as I people watched. It was as charming and quiet as I thought, not many people moving about even though it was during the day. Most of the town seemed to consist of families, at least every person I'd seen had been part of a couple, most of them in the company of their children.