Something Special

Chapter 2

Despite her behavior, Charlotte knew exactly who Alastor was the minute she saw him. God he was just as handsome as ever. Tall and strong, with brown hair that sported a few streaks of red, broad shoulders, and those strange but magnificent, mismatched eyes of his. One eye the darkest shade of brown ever imagined and one eye as deep and green as a whole forest. His voice still had that accent that which was soft and fluent, almost musical in quality. It was the kind of voice that belonged on radio, and it seemed to hang in the air when he spoke.

They had first met on Charlotte's eighth birthday, her mother and father had taken her to the most popular restaurant in New Orleans called Song of The Southlands. One of her father's sugar mills that had been converted into a glorious and elegant establishment that served it's guests Louisiana's finest cuisines and entertained them with Louisiana's finest musicians. As a special treat for her big day, her father allowed her to sing on stage but she got stage fright. Then out of nowhere a boy came on up, stood next to her, and started singing the first course. It gave her courage and they started to sing and dance their own duet which the audience loved.

Afterward the boy introduced himself as Alastor Devalcourt and she met his mother who was one of the best singers in the restaurant. They didn't have a lot of money, they lived in a small house in the middle of the bayou, and Lucifer thought the boy was very shifty and filthy but Lilith didn't mind letting them be friends. Almost everyday, as soon as school was over, the two would meet in the bayou with two of their classmates and spend hours doing childish things like building forts, climbing trees, swimming in the creek, sometimes they would pretend they had their own club where they would sing, dance, and perform in front of live audiences.

"You have heart song." He told her once. "That means you're the best singer ever and someday you're going to be famous."

And that spawned her dream of someday becoming a singer. The two played, laughed, sang, and dreamed together. Dreaming of the day she would become a famous singer and he would become the famous host of a radio show that would introduce her. They practiced in the bayou and at times on the stage of The Song of The Southlands. But they did other things too. He taught her how to bait a line and fish the shallows for largemouth bass and took her exploring through the backwoods of the Bayou. They rode in canoes and watched summer thunderstorms, and to him it seemed as though they'd always known each other. When school dances and festivals came up, she taught him how to waltz and do the Charleston, and though they stumbled through the first few songs, her patience with him eventually paid off, and they would dance together until the music ended.

With all that time together, wasn't any surprise that they fell in love?

They had their first kiss at age twelve, underneath the majestic oak tree on the banks of the creek and they made love the first time at age seventeen in his bedroom when his mother was away visiting a relative and she was supposedly staying at her friend Vaggie's house. They were each the first for the other person and that night they were so sure that they were going to be together forever.

But life isn't always that kind. Charlotte's family did not like the idea of them sharing a life. Her father Lucifer thought he was just trash trying to use his daughter to get rich quick, her mother Lilith liked him but thought her daughter deserved better. After all, she was expected to attend Harvard and he worked in the lumber yard. To them, it was an imperfect match. Lucifer wanted to interfere but Lilith advised him to just wait, saying that it was not meant to last and that the sweethearts would surely part after graduation. So Lucifer waited, he waited until that night, he and Lilith came home early from a second honeymoon due to their plane flight getting cancelled by fog and found the young lovers in his daughter's bed.

He threw Alastor out of the house and forbade Charlotte to ever see him again.

"I didn't spend seventeen years of my life, raising a daughter and giving her everything just so she can throw it all away for some sweet-talking but worthless boy!" Lucifer had scolded her.