One

Lizzie had been in town for less than four hours and she was already regretting coming home. Half of the village had turned out to see the prodigal daughter return or something like that she supposed. But as soon as she stepped off of that train and had been greeted by a few of the elders, she had realised that perhaps being home wasn't as bad as she thought.

Yet as the car drove up the manicured lawns, past the meadows where horses once grazed to their hearts content and then the once immaculate stables until it reached a striking but small Georgian house, that was when Lizzie realised she might be out of her depth. If she wanted to continue the Lyndhurst name and make it prosper, it would seem she would have to return to the life she had previously hated. There were about three months until the season started and she was the one woman with enough land and money to cement her place back in society despite that age-old family name.

“Can you stop here? I wish to walk” She ordered the driver who had been driving her family since she was a bairn. Taking off her coat and grabbing her saddle bag, Lizzie gets out as soon as the car rolls to a stop. Smoothing out her jumper and adjusting the brown bag on her shoulder, she watches the car cruise away up the drive before starting to walk forwards.

The ground felt the same as it did when she was a teenager here. Soft and springy under the tread of her boots but hard and comforting at the same time. Lizzie walked east away from the house that perched atop the drive, towards a now overgrown and neglected paddock. As she stepped closer to one of the places she haunted growing up, she let out a small sob at the sight of the stables. Or what was left of them anyway.

What once used to be a beautiful faded red brick barn was now almost black with age and fire damage. Clearly when her mother's health had started to become dangerously low, no-one had thought to keep up the estate or had tried at least to burn the place down. Either way that was something that was going to change, or at least Lizzie would try to fix it as much as she could. Already there was a large mental list of things to do and now she would have to chase up the police department, get builders in and a hell of a lot of landscapers who were talented enough to fix up what used to be her paradise.

Continuing her tour of the land, she found herself at the back-door of the two floored house. Taking a deep breath that ended in a big sigh, Lizzie entered the house for the first time in five and a half years.

The kitchen had changed very little. All Lizzie could think that it needed was a lick of paint and a lot of dusting and polishing which would both clean and rejuvenate the large eating space. A soft green, she thought might be the right colour but now wasn't the time for such thoughts. She desperately needed to know what she was working with here and if there was anything she could salvage from the years of damage.

After hours of entering room after room, taking notes of what needed replacing and what would need the care and attention of builders, Lizzie was spent. The only bedroom that was prepared was the one she didn't want to sleep in. Her mothers.

It was as if time had frozen in the room. The bed was made, belongings and jewellery dotted the room almost like Lizzie's mother had just changed into her day clothes. Little dust coated the surfaces and it made a change from the sight Lizzie had seen when she thought to venture into her childhood room. But there was no time for her to focus on trivial things just yet. Instead she needed to hire more staff and get builders in immediately.