Avery’s POV
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I stare at him as he is holding the pen and writing notes, his eyes moving as he reads through the history book and his tense jaw biting together as it does when he is focused.
The love of my life. The only man I have been with for the past 3 years, the only man I will ever want until the day I die. Liam Wass and I have gone through everything together, through hell and love and we are stronger than ever.
I know it sounds weird since I'm only eighteen and haven't experienced much but somehow, I just know that he's the one.
His blue eyes make me melt every time he looks at me and the feeling I get through my entire body when he touches me, a feeling of happiness and joy. I could never wish for more.
I tore my eyes from him, unwillingly and stared at the books in front of me, I did want to pass the exam that's coming up in a month, It is my dream education taking me towards my dream job.
Avery the engineer, did have a nice ring to it and I wouldn't stop until I had made it my reality. I went over to the fridge as the floorboards made a squeaking sound. Our house was quite old. The dark-colored wooden floors made sounds whenever they were stepped on, the walls had tapestry of the same color and the kitchen was big with a fridge and freezer beside each other. On one side we had the sink that was pitch black and on the other a big desk that went all the way to the window by the wall. Three cupboards over the desk that reach as far as the desk did, also made of wood. I guess my parents had a taste.
As I opened the fridge to pull out a soda, I jumped in shock at the sound of a ringing phone. It was Liam's.
”Yes? I understand. I'll be home in ten.”
Liam turned to me as if he was in distress and told me that it was his mom, he had to get home right away.
”Is everything okay?” I asked with a worried voice as I stepped towards him.
”Everything’s fine, my mother just wants to talk, I'll call you later. I love you, babe.”
He gave me a quick kiss as he rushed out leaving all his books and grabbing nothing but his bag.
"Love you too..." I said to the nothingness in front of me.
I couldn't help but worry if something was wrong. His family had become like my own and my family the same for him.
I shook all the negative thoughts out of my head, knowing he would call me later and explain. I gathered the books and placed them on the side table next to the door, I cleaned up in the kitchen where we had been studying and threw a quick glance at the clock. 7 pm.
I had time for a walk before my parents came home. They were both at work and didn't end until 9 pm.
I grabbed my beige trench coat hanging by the door and took my keys that were in a silver bowl on the table in the hall. We are all experts at losing keys in this family so it was put there so that if we lost our keys, it would be because we hadn't put them where they should be whenever we get home. I opened the door and looked over the pathway leading up to our house.
There were flowers planted along the path in all different colors, and on each side of the path, there was grass all around the house. I remember running barefoot there as a child and kicking a ball with my father, we also have a trampoline for my little sister. Isabel is eight years old, a beautiful and strong little girl, her hair was as white as the snow just like our mother’s, and her eyes blue like the ocean. She was strong for her age and always stood up for the weaker ones, I couldn't have been more proud.
Our relationship wasn't like other siblings though. We weren't very close. Neither was my relationship with my parents. I somehow always felt like an outsider looking in when being with my family.
I locked the door behind me as I proceeded down to the fence’s gate. The fence went all around the house and when I was younger my mother told me it was there to keep evil out, now that I'm older I realize that if evil wanted to, evil could just jump over the fence, but nothing had ever happened so I'm guessing the belief that it protects us, did something.
I opened the gate and walked out onto the road, down to the small little town square we have. We live in a small village with no more than a few hundred people, everyone knows each other and around the village, there are miles and miles of forest. All children are forbidden from going into the woods from a young age, as it is probably very easy to get lost and not find your way back.
Children from eighteen and up however were allowed to roam around wherever they pleased.
I had a road I always took when walking at night. It was alongside the small river and led almost all the way to the square.
I had been walking for twenty minutes when I reached the town square. As I am walking around the alleys of a few farmhouses I see two people going at it, the man lifts up the woman and pushes her against the wall, as he kisses her neck violently I could see that I recognized the man. He took his hands and ran them over her body as she wraps her legs around his waist.
And then, he lifts his head and locks eyes with her and I see now why I recognized him.
It's Liam
My Liam.
The man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with, is vigorously kissing and touching this other woman. As I see him take his hand and slip it under her shirt I break. I could physically feel my heart bursting into a million pieces only to be repeated. As if someone was yanking a hold of my heart and squeezing the life out of it.
I don't know what to do, I freeze, unable to move.
I force my feet to lift off the ground and I start to run. I run and run and run. Never stopping. Not once.
I find myself running into the woods and I don't stop, not until I can no longer feel my legs and then I fall to the ground. I lean my back against a tree and start crying, more than I ever have in my entire life and I can't stop. I lay down on the ground and curl my legs up to my chest.
I felt the sun on my skin and my eyes were squinting as the beams were getting stronger.
”MOM close the drapes!” I moan as I turn to shield my face from the sun.
And then I feel it. The leaves under my hands, the sticks beside my head and I slam my foot against the trunk of the tree I had leaned against last night. I jump up in a panic as I realize I am still in the woods, I had fallen asleep here last night.
I hastily pick up my phone and see that I have no missed calls or texts from my parents, how come? Did they not notice that I wasn't home all night? What's going on? Whenever my brother didn't call they would panic and freak out and he didn't even live at home. My brother has a job and a life of his own yet they would freak out if they didn't hear from him at least once a week.
The lack of contact from my parents confused me, but they probably had a good reason.
As I scroll down I see I have texts and calls from Lydia, my best friend. I could understand why she would be worried as we talked every day, but yesterday I hadn't called her and she had been at work until late that night. As I scroll even more I see that I have missed texts and calls from Liam. And like a slap to the face, all the events of last night come rushing back to me, the touching and kissing, the other woman and the running.
I get up on my feet and see what seems like a bright light coming from my left. So I walk towards it and as it turns out it was the way back to the village. As I reach out of the woods the light is gone. I wonder what it was. It was probably just the sun reflecting onto something.
I walked slowly with my arms just hanging there by my sides. As I reach my house, I realize my hair must look like a bird's nest because that's what it feels like when I touch my head. I'm just about to unlock the door when I realize it’s already open, I slide the door open with a feeling of distress in my body. But there they were, sitting by the kitchen table drinking coffee, as I walk in they both turn to me, and shock was written all over their faces, not because of the way I looked or the fact that I hadn't been home, but because of the fact that I was home.
”Avery? What are you doing here?” My mother asked me with a shake in her voice.
”Seriously? I haven't been home all night and this is your reaction to seeing me?” I could feel my eyes tearing up and I forced myself to hold back the crying, but my voice had already given me away.
”I just thought—” My mother didn't finish the sentence as my father grabbed her arm in a warning.
They looked at each other and like something had clicked, both their faces altered. As if putting up a facade or a mask of sorts. They quickly rose from their seats and came running to me.
”We are so happy to see you, darling.” My father said as they both hugged me.
I stood there in shock knowing there was something going on but without permission, my mouth took control
” Liam was with another woman.” I could feel my face not making a single movement, my eyes blank as if I was dead.
They pulled back and looked at each other again, then back at me with little to no emotion in their eyes whatsoever.
”Sweetheart we are so sorry to hear that. Have you broken up with him?” My mother didn't look all too shocked but then again perhaps she saw something I didn't because I loved him.
Without answering her question I turned around and started taking slow steps towards the staircase.
As I made my way up the staircase I could hear my mom calling out for me but just barely, I had closed out her voice and didn't stop walking. When I made it upstairs I turned left and walked down the small hallway. I walked past my sister’s room, my parent's room and the bathroom as I finally got to my room.
I opened the door and went straight to my bed, crawled under the comforter, and just laid there.
