Warning Sign

Prologue

When was the last time you took something for granted? 

I wasn't like her. I didn't look at the world and fell in love with what I saw. I detected faults, I saw the discoloration — causing the whole view to collapse into black and white. 

I moved forward but without any true purpose. I got knocked down but I wasn't the type to shake it off and let go. Instead, the guilt boiled in my veins adding the small fragments of red before my eyes. 

And she was like a bolt of lightning. 

She left traces everywhere she reached her hand to. I always remembered her by her eyes — the twin emerald globes, so full of life. The day I first saw them, everything around me exploded in color. 

I never looked at green the same way again. 

Her small fingers between mine kept me grounded. She kept me from slipping under and yet, each time before I truly had the chance to grasp her hand — she was taken away by the wind. 

So, I ask you again, when was the last time you took something for granted? When was the last time you found something or someone that would be worth ripping a piece of yourself to help put them back together — and stay? 

I stood in the middle of the empty beach, watching the sun give out the last ounces of light before laying down to rest. But it was quiet. Too quiet. 

There was no squeal coming from next to me when the waves turned a little higher and splashed my legs. There was no head to lay upon my shoulder and nobody to wrap my arm around. 

The colors were fading right before my eyes. I never imagined I would have to watch them disappear so many times. 

I heard that one of the saddest things a person can say is how they've been in so much pain they got used to it. At first, I thought whoever came up with that needed to make a visit to the asylum. 

Funny, how life works. 

Hell is not a place where we go after we die. Hell is a place we create for ourselves while we're alive. 

I can't believe this hole in my chest became a part of me. But the flames — the flames only hurt you if you let them. I'll never be whole again but I can choose who can hurt me. 

She deserved the world she loved so much and I broke her. Maybe my father was right — I do break everything I touch. 

My hands reached my hair, eyelids falling shut as a sense of serenity washed over me. My lips trembled. It was but a moment when I forgot she was gone. 

Missing her was not the hardest part — days, when I came home and expected to see your face, were far worse.

And then, I was lying there where I used to hold her with nothing left to hold onto. I convinced myself, she only lost herself in the abyss so I could find her. 

Slow steps guided me to the nearest bar. One drink to remember and one drink to forget. Repeat — for I was never good at letting go. 

That familiar green flashed from across the room and Montana tried to keep my attention on her, instead. Shouldn't her big brother be the one protecting her and not the other way around? 

"It'll hurt," she whispered but it sounded like a promise. 

With no hesitation in my movements, I let my mismatched hues dart across the room, at the brightest smile I had ever seen. 

It already hurts.