Chapter One

“How does this one look?” Tanya asks me holding up a short yellow in colour summer dress, she held it against her body whilst taking a look in the mirror, this task she had done many times over already.

“As I had said the fourth time you have held up that dress, it would look perfect on you.” I smile turning to look at her where she only shrugs her shoulders, she has a tendency of being very meticulous when it comes down to what she wears for any event.

“I want to make sure I have the correct outfit in case John pops the question tonight, my engagement photos must be only perfection.” She exclaims throwing the summer dress behind her where it lands on the floor, but once she had registered the sentence which had left her lips, she takes a glance over to me a little worried.

I roll my eyes with a little smile using this method to let her know I was okay; she smiles before I turn to look back into the mirror to make sure my makeup wasn’t running due to the heat.

“It’s okay for you, let’s be honest, you look amazing in whatever you wear but me, it takes some work!” She sighs falling backwards and landing on the bed behind her, I laugh getting up from my chair to stand over the bed with my arms crossed.

“Okay first off, you are breathtakingly beautiful so stop with this and secondly, you have been saying for nearly two years that John is going to pop the question soon.” I say raising my eyebrow at her, which does cause her to sit up dramatically, throwing her arms in the air.

“I know! I have been giving that boy signs but for some reason, he’s blind to all my attempts!” She exclaims while I begin to look around the mess of clothes to help her out a bit more, the yellow dress she persistently threw back and forth wondering if she wanted to wear it caught my attention. “I bet Bradley will pop the question to you before John even takes the slightest of hints.” She huffs and puffs getting wound up over Johns ignorance, I know how long she has been waiting for John to ask her, she even shows me the inspiration photos for her dream wedding, all she needs now is John to ask!

“Johns going to ask you to marry him soon, perhaps he’s just waiting for the right time.” I say placing the yellow summer dress on the bed whilst gathering the accessories to pair it with, the whole outfit really coming together. “And will you please reframe from implying Bradley has any kind of feelings for me, we both know he and I are only friends and nothing more.” I say whilst taking her by the arm and pulling her to stand up, her eyes lighting up once she saw the outfit I had put together.

“You can continue telling yourself that Liv, but everyone around can see how he really feels but you, maybe you and him need to have a little conversation.” She tells me picking up the dress, her comment only causes me to roll my eyes for the millionth time.

“That’s only because people around us neglect to learn the dynamic we have in our friendship. Bradley has been a rock for me over everything which has happened these last few months, he understands that I’m not ready to jump back into the dating scene yet.” I sigh beginning to play with the jewellery I had laid out on the bed, but Tanya shakes her head at me whilst changing into yellow sumner dress.

“Perhaps, it’s time to dip your toes in it slightly and who better to test the waters with than the guy you know you can trust.” She says trying to persuade me to give Bradley a chance, but I knew I wasn’t even remotely close to be ready to do that yet.

“It’s only been four months Tanya.” I say trying to make her also see my point of view, the memories of what happened that day still loom in my mind at least once a week, I can’t even imagine attempting to build what we had with some other guy right now.

Before she had time to respond, three loud knocks on the bedroom door engulf the room pausing our conversation. I knew we had taken much longer than we should, but these knocks caused me to jump out of my skin still.

“Hurry up and get in the car, the sunset isn’t going to wait for you to pick the right outfit.” Bradley’s loud voice shouts from the other side of the door, due to the conversation we had just shared, Tanya flashes the crazy eyes at me moving her body around in a slow manner.

I laugh a little but do push her into the bathroom to force her to finish getting dressed, the boys outside will start to lose their patience if she takes any longer.

After a lot of rushing and telling Tanya she looked great, we both emerge from the bedroom and head outside our rented cabin where the boys were waiting. Bradley was impatiently pacing up and down beside his car while John, was laying on the ground staring at the sky with his cigarette in hand.

“Finally! Watching the sunset isn’t a fashion show!” Bradley exclaims once he spotted us both, I laugh a little while Tanya places her hands on her hips with an annoyed expression.

“It is when I walk out!” She says confidently swinging her hair off to one shoulder, she adores to be the centre of attention whenever she walks in a room, a trait I wish I shared.

“You look smoking babe.” John smiles throwing his cigarette to the side whilst walking over, both of them soon engaging in the biggest snogging session I’ve seen in awhile.

Bradley and I soon make eye contact where I send him an awkward smile, have the two forgotten that Bradley and I are standing here? I move away from the two and head over to the car, ending up being in the same boat as Bradley.

“Okay can we put an end to the PDA until later, did no one register my comment about the sunset not waiting for us!” Bradley shouts with his arms out wide, the two do pull apart where John sends a devilish smirk over to Bradley.

“No need to be jealous bro, we all know how much you long to have this sort of PDA with little Liv over there.” John continues to smirk looking towards me for a split second before staring evilly at Bradley, whose eyes go wide for a mini second, while I roll mine at his stupid comment throwing my things into the car.

“The amount you talk about that happening, I bet it’s a little fantasy of your own John.” I smirk giving John a taste of his own medicine, now it was his turn for his face to hold nothing but shock while looking back at me.

“It isn’t your fantasy, right?” Tanya asks turning to look at John with a confused but also annoyed expression, John whips his head around to her and attempts to speak but couldn’t find the words. “Are you being serious?!” Tanya asks louder her voice much higher pitched; John shakes his head pulling her to climb in the back of the car with him.

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” I smile looking over at Bradley, before making my way over to sit in the passenger seat to hear Tanya asking John so many questions.

Soon after, we were heading up the mountain to watch the sun go down for the last time on our trip.

The sunset was one of the most magical things, it was so beautiful as we stood there watching it set behind all the trees and other mountains. It even caused Tanya to stop picking a fight with John and watch it with a smile, something I know John was delighted about.

We were now on our way back to the cabin for our last night here, which has been the best holiday any of us could have asked for. We all have pretty busy lives back home with work and family, but to have this week just to relax and enjoy life, it was definitely needed. But also, with what has been happening in my own life recently, I just needed to hide my face from people and attempt to forget it ever happened. It was a warm evening which allowed us to drive through the trees with the roof down, the warm wind blowing through my hair bringing a smile onto my lips.

As the sun had gone down, the woods we were passing were dark and, in a sense, creepy, but I did enjoy watching them with my head against the headrest. It’s a shame we have to head home and into the craziness again, which is why I’m soaking up every piece of this moment right now. I turn away from the trees to look at the others, Tanya and John had made up where they were having a little conversation smiling at each other. While Bradley, was also enjoying the ride with a smile on his lips. But he soon feels my eyes watching him and turns his head, both of us sending each a smile.

I hadn’t any idea why people insist that Bradley and I should try out dating, I have never viewed him in a romantic way. He and I have the best friendship that perhaps could be confused with that sort of relationship. He has been the one person I have been able to come to when my head wouldn’t let me sleep, the amount of hours the poor guy had to listen to my cries. Never once did he try anything and I never wanted him to either. But maybe Tanya is right, if I’m going to jump back into the dating game, it should be with someone I trust.

“Watch out!” John shouts from the back which snaps all of us from our thoughts, I whip my head around to look forward where what seemed to be a huge grey wolf in the middle of the road looking at us stood.

“Woah!” Bradley shouts jerking the steering wheel to the side in hopes of dodging the creature, the tyres stretch as we seem to miss the wolf but the danger of the trees which barrelled closer to us came to view.

I hold onto the side of the door as Bradley, hits the breaks and we come to an abrupt stop in the middle of the road. None of us uttered a word for a split second, my breathing fast as the memories of this very thing happening not that long ago to me fill my brain. I close my eyes placing my head back on the headrest, telling myself over and over again in my mind that I was safe, and that incident happened months ago. After I had somewhat absorbed what had just occurred, I open up my eyes to make sure everyone was okay.

Tanya was holding onto Johns hand for dear life as she looked around, John, who is normally, calm and collected had a worried expression on his lips, but both seemed to be perfectly fine. I than turn to check on Bradley, who was looking over at me with his hands still firmly on the steering wheel his breathing fast.

“Is everyone okay?” He asks snapping out of it slightly, all of us nod our heads telling him psychically, we didn’t have any harm to us but mentally, freaking out.

Suddenly, the thought of that wolf like creature being injured comes to mind. My entire body was telling me to get out of the car and check to see if it was okay, it was something I just had to do to calm myself. I reach for the door handle and quickly jump from the car.

“Liv, what are you doing?!” Bradley shouts as I close the door behind me and begin to walk closer to where I had seen the creature, before too long I was standing in the middle of the road.

“I have to check you didn’t hit it!” I shout back quickly arriving in the spot we had saw him, our tyre tracks from when Bradley dodged him fresh on the road and the smell of burning rubber feeling the air.

I begin to scan my surroundings in hopes of catching a glimpse of the creature, yet I didn’t spot him for even a second. But when I inch my way closer to right side of the road, I feel an intense pull as though there was a kind of magnet that was trying it’s hardest to get my body to walk in that direction. I decide to listen to the feeling and slowly start to make my way closer to the dark trees, the sound of all the night creatures waking up filled my ears. The closer I would get, the darker the trees would seem. This fact should have freaked me out, but I couldn’t ignore the feelings that were leaking from my body with every step I would take closer. My feet had just left the tarmac of the road, a hand takes mine and pulls me back to reality.

“You can’t head in there; you don’t know what could be waiting for you.” Bradley tells me turning me away from looking into the woods, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of needing to walk in that section to find whatever is there.

“I have to check what we saw isn’t hurt at all; we can’t leave it to die alone in pain.” I say attempting to walk back over to that section, but as Bradley still hand my hand, he easily, pulls me over to stand beside him again.

“I know for sure I didn’t hit it, whatever it was is probably long gone now. But we need to leave, who knows what else is out here waiting for us to let our guard down.” Bradley tells me trying to drill it into my head how dangerous it would be to go in, after a few seconds, I soon agree with him.

I nod my head allowing him to pull me back towards the car, where Tanya and John where still waiting in the back. Before too long, we were driving back down towards the cabin but this time, the vibe was different.

What I couldn’t have known was that little accident, shaped the rest of my life.