Chapter 1

Crissy’s Point of View

"Thomas, hurry up, we’re going to be late!" I scream from downstairs. Thomas comes running down the stairs, grabs a piece of toast, and starts eating. "How did you sleep, sweetie?" I ask.

"Good," he replies, barely able to keep the food from spilling out of his mouth.

 I smile and look down at my watch, "Oh shit, come on, we need to get going. Grab your bag.” I say to Thomas with a solemn tone in my voice.

We expeditiously rushed to my old Ford Ranger and drove to school. I never genuinely look around while driving. I only fixate on the road. I usually see Thomas admiring the trees and the beauty of nature.

We arrive at the school. I park my car in my usual parking spot; we sit still in the car for a minute in silence.

"Have a nice day, and don't give your teachers too much grief. You know they talk to me," I look at Thomas with concern.

“I know. See you later". He quickly jumps out of the car and walks off to class.

Sometimes I worry about him. I wonder if he ever wonders if what I tell him about our parents is true. If he believes the postcards that he receives every month are from them. What if he knows they are dead? I should have that talk with him soon before he hates me for the rest of his life. I shove the thought aside and head to class to start my day to do what I do best. 

Teach.

The last bell of the day rings. I was on my phone while walking outside. My grandma sent me a video of a kitten running towards a glass door and I felt the laughter building up in my chest. Then I heard car brakes screeching the next moment. Someone almost ran me over. My heart felt like it was pounding outside of my chest. I stared at the driver, and I lost control.

"Are you crazy? Don’t you look where you are driving?” I start yelling at this idiotic driver.

“I apologize. I didn't see you there.” He says this while climbing out of his car.

While staring at him in anger, I started to analyse him from head to toe. His dark brown hair in a messy style and his slim fit body. Well built. By the way he is dressed, he doesn’t seem like he cares how he looks. Jeans with a t-shirt and sneakers. While he walks towards me I realise he is extremely tall, about six feet. I snap back into reality.

“You didn’t!” I try to restrain myself, and I saw he starts to grin—the nerve of this guy. “I'm sorry? Do you think this is funny, by almost killing someone?” I start to walk toward him. Matches his pace. The urge to punch him in the face stifles me. His grin quickly vanishes as soon as those words came out of my mouth.

“Ma'am, I do apologize for my lack of attention. It was not my intention to almost hit you.” He says this with sincerity in his eyes.

I just sigh.

“It's okay. Just next time, look where you are going.” I smile at him, the smile not reaching my eyes.

I turn to walk away, and he yells, "I'm Alexander, by the way," I stare at him from over my shoulder and start walking to my car.

Thomas has soccer practice, and me going to town and waiting for him to finish. We take our regular route home. We don’t usually speak in the car. Thomas believes it will distract me from the road. So, we always have a silent drive home. Therefore, Thomas always loves to stare out of the car window. Sometimes I think he just wants to avoid me.

As we return home, we unload all our stuff out of the car and carry it inside. I decided to start with food.

“What are you in the mood for?” I ask Thomas as I take out my favourite coffee mug. It has a cute ladybug on it. This was a cup that Thomas had made me when he was in pre-school. “Chicken or toasted bread?”

“I think toasted bread.” He says with a smile on his face. “Is it okay if I eat in my room?”

“Why?” I ask, concern on my face.

 “I promised Jimmy we could play an online tournament as soon as I got home.”

“Sure. I will bring it up when it is done,” I reply with hesitation.

“Thank you!” As he says this, he runs upstairs to his room.

I just shake my head with a smile on my face.

When I finish the food, I take his dinner to his room. I decide to join him. After we finish dinner, I take our plates to the kitchen and start to clean. It was a mundane task but it had to be done. On my way to my room, I peek through Thomas’s room door and see he passed out. I tuck him in and give him a kiss of the head before going to bed. My parents used to do this every night, they always thought it would keep the nightmares away from us as children. 

The following day, I open the fridge to get some milk for my coffee. Ah yes, that fresh morning coffee smell. I smile. Sitting on the porch, as I did every morning, I stare out into the forest. For the first time, I notice something strange in the woods that I had never seen in my two years living in this house. It was a crow. So far as I can remember, black crows never come to these parts. I was slightly startled, but I brush it off and went inside.

I went up to Thomas's room, “Sweetie, I'm just going to town quickly; I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay.” He reply, glued to his computer screen.

I grab my car keys, hop into my car, and start to drive to town.

I get to the supermarket. While climbing out of my car, I almost tripped, scanning to see if someone saw me. Luckily no one was nearby. I got to the slide doors of the market, put my hand out for the shopping cart, and someone else grabbed it.

I froze in shock. "Hey, that was mine"

"I don’t see your name…” as he says it, he stops mid-sentence. "Wait, you're that girl I almost ran over with my car, the one that didn't want to introduce herself, kind of rude, don’t you think?"

Rude! The fucking nerve of this guy. "May I please just have the cart?" I say, irritated.

"Sure." I reach out to take the cart. He pulls it away. I stare at him, stunned. Oh, how I wish I could punch this moron.

"If you tell me your name, you can have it." A grin appears on his face.

"Why would I tell my name to a self-centred prick like you?" I say this while rolling my eyes.

"Because it's manners, and something tells me I will have to teach you some."

I sigh. "Fine, it's Crissy. Can I have the cart now?"

“Sure."

While he smiles at me, I give him a fake smile and walk away into the store. The urge to flip him off overwhelmed me.

 “The next time you see me, you can ask me on a date."

I didn’t even look back at him. I just walked away— The audacity.

I walk through the store and wonder to myself. What is up with that guy? The whole two years I have been living in this town I never saw him. It’s probably new people in town. Maybe. But asking him on a date, never in a million years. After shopping, I pay for my things and walk to my car. At least I don’t have a lot of stuff to load in.

When I return home, I unload the car and walk towards the house. I almost drop everything when I saw what was in front of the door. It was another black crow. Starteled, I just shoo it away. Why are these stupid birds following me? Maybe it could be the same one as last night? Crissy, you are overthinking again.

I place everything on the countertop.

“Thomas, I’m home!”

I hear him screaming from his room. “Okay!”

I start cooking dinner, and I hear a knock on the door. Putting everything down, I open it up. On the other side there is a handsome man with black hair and brown eyes. His beard and moustache is well shaven, and I could smell his cologne as the wind blew through the house. He is also very well dressed as if he is a businessman.

“Hi, I apologize for my intrusion. My name is Austin, and I just moved into the house down the street with my family. I was taking a walk, and I saw your car in the driveway, and I just had to introduce myself to my new neighbour.” He says with a big smile.

He has the most beautiful smile.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Crissy. Welcome to the neighbourhood. You and your family will love living here.”

 “Thank you. Well, I better be getting home, but I will see you around, Crissy.”

Just by the way he says my name in his deep voice with his attractive accent... It makes my knees numb.

“I’ll see you around. Enjoy your walk.”

“I will.” He nods his head and starts walking up the road.

Wow, what just happened? No, Crissy, you don’t have time to date, you have Thomas, and he is your priority. You owe this to your parents. 

Thomas comes walking down the stairs. As I close the door, Thomas leans against the wall.

“Who was that?” He asks with a giant smile on his face. Raising his eyebrows up and down.

“Our new neighbours, well, one of them. Can you stop that thing you’re doing with your eyebrows? It’s getting weird.”

“Is he attractive?”

“Sweetie, you know I don’t have time for dating, with work and looking after you. I have better things to worry about.” I tell Thomas with sadness in my eyes.

“You should start dating again. Not everyone is the same.”

I just ignore what he had just said. “Come on, grab your bags. Jimmy’s mom will be here any minute to pick you up.”

 “Okay, fine.” He says, disappointed in my response.

After a few minutes, Jimmy’s mom stops in the driveway and hoots. Thomas runs downstairs. He gives me a hug and a kiss and runs out of the door.

After I finish my dinner, I start cleaning when I heard glass breaking. I froze for a second. Turn to look for the sound and walk to the glass back door. With a sigh of relief, it was just a squirrel that knocked over my coffee mug. I pick up the broken pieces, and as I stood there, I felt uneasy, but just shook it off, went inside, locked all the doors, and went upstairs. A shower was needed after today. I stink.

I climb into bed, place my head on the pillow and fell asleep instantly.