Chapter 1.

Avery POV

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I stared at him as he was holding the pen and writing notes, his eyes moving as he read 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 had been with for the past 3 years, the only man I would ever want until the day I died. Liam Wass and I had gone through everything together, through hell and love, and we were stronger than ever.

I knew it sounded weird considering I was only eighteen and hand't experienced much, but somehow, I knew that he was the one. 

His blue eyes making me melt every time he looked at me and the feeling I got through my entire body when he touched 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 wanted to pass the exam that's coming up in a month. It was my dream education taking me towards my dream job. 

Avery the engineer, it 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 it was 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 reached 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, his face constorted in distress and told me that it was his mom, he had to get home right away.

 ”Is everything okay?” I asked with worry spewing out in my words as I stepped towards him. 

 ”Everything’s fine, my mother just wants to talk, I'll call you later. I love you, babe.” Liams eyes were a tornado of emotions at all times. He could rarley lie without his eyes giving him away and right now they were filled with sadness and worry.

He gave me a quick kiss and then 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 that 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, and I cleaned up in the kitchen where we had been studying and threw a 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 finish until 9 pm.        

              I grabbed my beige trench coat hanging by the door and took my keys from a silver bowl on the table in the hall. We were all experts at losing keys in this family, so they were to be put in the bowl so that if we lost our keys, it would be because we hadn't put them where they should be whenever we got 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 ball with my father, and we also had a trampoline for my little sister. Jasmine was eight years old, a beautiful and strong little girl. Her hair was as white as snow, just like our mothers, and her eyes blue like the ocean. She was strong for her age and always stood up for the weaker ones, and 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 preceded down to the fence. 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 fence and started walking down the road, down to the small little town square we had. We lived in a small village with no more than a few hundred people, everyone knew each other, and around the village there were miles and miles of forest. All children were forbidden from going into the woods from a young age, as it was 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, I felt the shivers starting too creep up on my arms from the cold breeze. As I walked around the alley of a few farmhouses, I saw two people going at it. The man lifted the woman and pushed her against the wall. As he kissed her neck violently, I could see I recognized the man. He took his hands and ran them over her body as she wraped her legs around his waist. 

I wanted too look away, too not be some creeper that watched other souples getting hot and heavy but something had me intrigued, there was something familiar about them.

And then, as he lifts his head and locks eyes with her, I see now why I recognized him. 

It was Liam

My Liam.

The man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with was vigorously kissing and touching this other woman. As I saw him take his hand and slip it under her shirt, I broke. I could physically feel my heart bursting into a million pieces, only to be repeated over and over again, as if someone was yanking a hold of my heart and squeezing the life out of it.

I didn't know what to do. I froze, unable to move.

 I forced my feet to lift off the ground, and I started to run. I ran as fast as I could, never stopping, not once.

 I found myself running into the woods, and I didn't stop, not until I could no longer feel my legs, until they could no longer bare to hold me up, and then I fall to the ground. I leaned my back to a tree and started crying, more than I ever had in my entire life, and I couldn't stop. After what felt like an eternity, I layed down on the ground and curled my legs up to my chest.  

My body jumped up and down from the sobs that I tried to contain and I laid like that until there were no more tears to cry and my body had gone numb, only then did I feel my head growing heavy.

I felt the sun on my skin, and my eyes were squinting as the beams were getting stronger. 

”MOM, close the drapes!” I moaned as I turned to shield my face from the sun.

And then I feel it, the leaves under my hands, the sticks beside my head, and I slamed my foot against the trunk of the tree I had leaned against last night. I jumped up in a panic as I realized I was still in the woods. I had fallen asleep here last night.