The Pact - Season 1:Episode 1

This is the house where I was born. My name is Michelle and my brother Steven was one year older than me. It was a very small house, in a small town called Sherwood, and we did not have too many luxuries back in those days, but we were happy, especially since we lived quite near to the woods, and we used to go there everyday, and have fun. We had a group of friends that we had grown up, and we were always together
Well, now isn't that quite the perfect picture of happiness? I was a pretty blonde girl, and ever since I was born I had people admiring me, and telling me that I was going to become Somebody really great when I grew up. But I lived in this little forgotten village, in the middle of nowhere and of course I couldn't even dream of getting to be anything different from my mother.
My parents had this special room made for us, made up with three beds - one for us girls, and two for the boys, and we used to sleep over at our house in the weekends or during the summer. The days were always filled with things to do, and every day we woke up happy wondering what this new day might bring.
And then one day it was all over. That day, I had gone to the market with my mother, so I did not go to the woods. When I came back, Steven was lying in bed, and he looked sick. My father pulled my mother in their bedroom, and they talked for a long time. After that, things seemed to change forever.

Steven was sick for a very long time. My parents moved the other beds from the upstairs room, and I had to sleep in a separate room from my brother. None of my friends were allowed to come to my house anymore while he was sick, and I wasn't allowed to go to their houses either. But the most horrible thing was that I was not allowed to go to the woods anymore. Whenever I asked my parents why, they just said, "because it's dangerous out there, that's why." It was horrible.

Sometimes I would sneak into my brother's bedroom, when my parents were out in the fields, and try to talk to him to ask him what was wrong. But he never answered. He simply stared at me, as if he didn't know me, and never said a word. It was hearbreaking to see my brother so sick.

But the most terrible moments were the nights. Even though he slept upstairs, and me downstairs, I could still hear him screaming every night. My mother would rush to his bedroom, and sometimes it would take all night to calm him down. I wondered what had happened to my brother, and why was he sick like this.

And then my parents decided to sell the house and move away to another country. I could not understand their decision. The only reason that they would give me was that it was about time that they our lifestyles changed, because living here meant that me and my brother were not going to amount to anything when we grew up. And strangely enough, after a few weeks of living in the new country, my brother seemed to recover completely, and was almost his normal self again. Almost.

Because something weird seemed to have happened to him on the trip. He seemed to lose all memory of our previous home. He hardly remembered anything that had happened in Sherwood. He was quite happy with our new life. And as time progressed, his memory seemed to deteriorate even more, and he completely forgot his childhood. Sometimes I would talk to him about the woods, and the pranks we used to get up to. But he would smile at me and say,

'Michelle, when are you going to grow up? It's a wonder that you even remember the imaginary friends we had when we were kids. We certainly had lots of fun in the back garden, pretending we were with Robin Hood playing in the woods, but now we're growing up, and we have to leave all that nonsense behind." So I would remain silent, and wonder what had happened to my brother back in Sherwood.

Even my parents never mentioned our old home again. One day, I tried to bring up the subject of our old home, but my mother answered sharply,

'Stop talking nonsense, and eat your food before it gets cold' I was both hurt and surprised at this reply, but I also noticed the sad look in my mother's eyes as she said this. It seemed like my mother was forced to forget the past, for the sake of something bigger. So I never mentioned the past again. I would think about when I was alone, and in time even my memories seemed to fade, as I accepted our new life even more.

Until one day, my brother decided to go to University to study music. Everyone expected him to go to a nearby University, but instead he decided to moved to Lenton, a small island with a big name. He left that same winter, and in May he returned back home. He seemed very happy with his choice, and was determined to go back there the coming fall. He would talk to me for hours about Lenton, and how amazing life was over there.

One day during his holidays we were sitting on the grass, when he asked me,

“So what are you planning to do after I leave?” I shrugged.

“I guess the same things that I have done while you were away. Maybe I’ll just help around the house, hang around with friends, waiting for school to start.”

“Hold on, what do you mean by school? Are you going to keep on studying?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “I know I never planned to, but life is really boring without you here around. So I figured I would fill my days by going to University.”

“Majoring in what?” he asked.

“Drama,” I replied. He looked surprised. “You know I love acting, just as much as you love music. I can’t imagine me doing anything else. So I thought I’d take this course, and see what happens.” My brother was quiet for a few moments, and then he looked at me seriously and asked.

“How would you like to move to Lenton with me? They have a drama course at the University over there too. I know it would be a little hard on our parents, but we will have each other. I can’t even dream of coming back here for good, I love it so much over there. But I can’t bear the thought of being away from you.” I looked at him. I knew how he felt. Ever since we had moved to this country, things had not been the same for us. He had some school friends, while I had mine, but it was not the same as when we were back in Sherwood. It seemed like it was only each other the only thing that we had in this world. I had been extremely miserable without him, and I guess he had felt the same way. As I was lost deep in thought, he looked up again, “Just think about it. I am going back there in June, because I heard that summers in Lenton are like being on one long vacation, so I thought I’d try to have some fun before starting school again. So you have some time left to decide.” I shook my head.

“No, Steve. I don’t have to think about it. I’ll come with you. After all, if I go to University here, I would still have to move out, so our parents will still be alone. At least this way, we’ll have each other.”

And so that was it. And on the 17th of June, we both moved to Lenton…

.…That was the way it had started, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. What was to follow was so incredible to believe that sometimes I even wonder if I had not dreamt it all. I had been in circles of friends before, but they never lasted long. People seemed to have different ideas than I did, and mostly it was just a group of people hanging out together, until something better comes along. Except this one. We all knew right from this start, that this was going to be different. Perhaps because this wasn’t really just a circle of friends; this wasn’t just another pop group looking for success. It was more of a pact; there was something bigger binding us all together; something much greater that us…