He'd gone beyond his player ways for her.
She'd grown beyond her traumatic past for him.
Together, their love was beyond.
Until one fatal accident.
__________
When she loses the love of her life in a car crash, Althea has nothing left in California...
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*ALTHEA'S POV*
October 11, 2023.
Had I been pulled into a magical world?
I was starting to wonder as, after building a Lego fortress and having tea with plush guests, I found my tread lighter than it had been in a long time, my feet almost skipping on the mauve path to reach one of the large teal tables.
There were so many colors around, from the floor to the furniture, and from the pens to the kids' bright eyes.
"Althea!"
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"Drawing!" A pair of hazel eyes and a yellow pencil lifted towards me, and soon, more followed.
"For the new girl. We do this for every newcomer," Gracie, a girl with large glasses and an adorable preppy style, announced proudly. "I'm drawing everyone living here, so she can know us, and... oh, no, I almost forgot you!"
"No, it's fine. I'm not—" I hadn't been here for a full day yet, and I wouldn't be for more than three weeks.
But a brown circle was already traced in the middle of all the figures on the paper, the felt pen tight in her tense hand, and her tongue peeking out as she drew my high brown bun under the word 'family'. 'Welcome to the Lotus Bay PC family!'
How could I stop her now?
It was only a drawing anyway, just like all the others around, where my attention quickly diverted.
"And you, what are you drawing?"
"Batman! 'Cause Oliver said the new girl's from Gotham!" Francis replied, waving the same yellow pencil and a drawing where I could recognize a black cape.
"Not 'Gotham', go-thic," Gracie corrected, not even giving a glance at the clueless boy who furrowed his red eyebrows.
"Where's that?"
"It's not a place. It's when someone likes dark things." I smiled as my words only deepened his frown. "Kinda like Batman, but without the superpowers."
This, he understood, and it seemed to inspire him as he almost jumped from his chair to grab a slate pencil near Gracie, pushing her unsteady hand in the process.
"No! Francis! Look what you made me do," she groaned, a shade of annoyance in her voice, deeper than the felt pen in her hand, and then, her voice wavered as much as the line that had diverted from her drawing. "Now, it's ruined."
