Don't Let Me Drown

Epilogue - Tara's POV

A/n: And this is it. 

This is in Tara's pov. Just like last chapter, she's retelling the moments of first meeting the Freeman sisters, what happened in between and then the attacks. We get to see what was really going on in her head before the events of DLMD. So you kind of see who fell first and who fell harder.

I hope you enjoy this because it took me forever to make sure it lined up right with the original storyline. 😜

~•~•~

The first time I met Amber was in junior high school, 7th grade. She had approached me with a charming smile and the attitude of a bitch. This was also around the time my little family started to crumble apart.

But I'll come back to that in a minute.

Amber Freeman. She became my best friend the same day she approached me because I was smitten. I wanted to feel half as cool as she acted. So I clung to her. Plus I found that with her around no one would dare bully me. I didn't start getting a reputation of my own until high school. But that's also for later.

With Amber Freeman as my best friend, I felt like I could do anything. She introduced me to a lot of great movies and music genres.

She was my first kiss. To be honest, she was my first for a lot of things.

I remember like it was yesterday. We were at a get together with some people we went to school with. There was a bonfire and Alcohol. Which was the first time I let a single drop touch my lips. I've seen my parents drink but never wanted to try. Until I met Amber.

She gave me a glass bottle with a light blue liquid inside. Once the top was popped off, I took my first drink and learned quickly that wine coolers were my favorite drink at any party.

"Happy 13th birthday, Tar." Amber had said that night then leaned in and kissed me.

By then, I had known her for a year now.

As we navigated 8th grade together, my older sister had been more distant than usual. I knew she was using drugs, I wasn't stupid because I was getting high off weed and drinking alcohol with Amber. So I knew. But after I turned 13, that's when things started getting different with her. She wouldn't talk to me much anymore and I barely saw her. It was like she was avoiding me and it really hurt. If anything, I wanted her to know at the time that she could confide in me. But she never gave me the chance. 

It was right around May and I was about to get out of school for the summer when she left. Not a single word was given about it, she just packed up and left town. That's when my life started going downhill. And only continued on from there.

After she left, I started spending more time with Amber at her place. When my mom started her drinking binge and stayed away from home, I'd head to Amber's and stay for the weekend or a few days out of the week. Her parents actually liked me enough to let me stay whenever.

What's funny, however, was that I ended up meeting someone else while staying over. It's funny because it was someone I had never noticed until then. Even in school, and up until 9th grade. I was never introduced to this person, and they never came down for family dinners or watched family movies with us. Amber barely let me sleep upstairs, it was always in the family movie room, or den. And I found out why.

It was a particularly hard time for me as Amber let me stay over. My mom hadn't been returning my phone calls so I was under the impression that she didn't want to talk to me either. I felt abandoned. It had been a few months at this point that Sam up and left.