In The Darkest Hour

Part One - Epilogue: A Fresh Start

Brushing some hair from her face, Isla took a deep breath as she walked towards her new apartment; she loved her aunt and uncle dearly but she had wanted to spread her wings and needed her own place.

It had been a couple of weeks since she had left Barcelona behind and it was still hard for her, Isla was talking regularly with a therapist and working hard to rebuild her life.

Pulling her keys out of her bag, Isla moved to open up the door so that she could step inside; she hadn’t found a new job yet but her compensation was helping her pay her way for now.

“Hello,” said a voice making Isla jump, she turned around to see a man stood not far behind her stepping out of his own apartment; she smiled politely having not met any of her new neighbours before now.

“Hi,” Isla replied brushing some hair from her face, she didn’t have many new friends and the man looked around her ages; she had a feeling that it would be good for her to talk to him.

The man smiled closing his door, he was just leaving for work and hadn’t been expecting to run into her; she looked beautiful and was a great improvement on the old woman that had lived there before her.

“You must be my new neighbour… I’m Dev Patel,” the man said stepping closer to introduce himself, he smiled knowing that the building was quiet and it was quite rare to run into any of the neighbours unless you went knocking for them.

Isla paused recognising the name, she tilted her head before a smile formed on her face as she realised where she knew it from; she couldn’t help but be a little curious.

“Like the actor?” Isla mused making Dev laugh and nod his head, it wasn’t the first time that he had heard it but he was just an accountant for a firm; he loved his job and the pay was good.

“Like the actor,” Dev confirmed with a nod of his head, he liked talking to Isla and he had a feeling that they would be good friends; he checked his watch knowing that he would have to leave soon.

“Isla Cortez,” Isla replied telling Dev her name, she was working on getting used to who she was and not having to fear that people would attack her for what happened.

Isla was innocent and that had been proven, moving to Australia was the first step in gaining back in her confidence; she was going to have to get used to being her again without living in fear.

“Listen I have to get to work… but maybe we could have dinner later?” Dev offered not wanting to leave but he had to get to work since his boss wouldn’t like it if he was late; he wanted to welcome Isla to the building since she looked a little lonely.

Isla stared for a moment, she felt like she was betraying Gerard in some way but she knew that she couldn’t hold onto him; she wasn’t looking for a boyfriend only a friend.

“I’d like that,” Isla replied nodding her head, she watched Dev smile back at her before he said goodbye and hurry away; she slowly stepped into her apartment and took a massive breath.

Gerard was 10 668 miles away and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon, she had to move on and so did he; she couldn’t return to Barcelona when she still had so many problems and sometime apart would do them some good.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Author's Note: 

So this is the end of Part One... check an eye out for Part Two.

Thanks to everyone that read, commented and rated this story so far, I couldn't have done it without any of you xxx