Quantum Entanglement ~ Tamber

Chapter 1

It had been a little over a year, but it wasn't getting any easier. In fact, the more time that dragged by, the harder it seemed to make a full recovery. The physical wounds had healed, scabbing over and flaking away into scars. But the emotional trauma had lingered on, festering and oozing like an open sore, bubbling over until it tainted everything good in her life.

The hardest part was that she wasn't sure how to make it stop. She'd tried to cover the wounds, applying so much pressure to herself that cut off nearly all circulation with the outside world. She had applied a million tourniquets, but inside, she was still bleeding.

She put distance between herself and Woodsboro. She had to, because everything reminded Tara of her. She thought that New York City would be better - she could move away with her sister and focus on her studies while they rebuilt their relationship. And she had done both of those things. She loved Sam, and they were slowly starting to get to know each other again. And she was pre-law but taking film classes to keep sane - something she, admittedly, decided to major in large part because of what had happened. But it wasn't the same. She was missing something, something that she couldn't talk about with anyone in fear they'd judge her. She missed her best friend.

Amber had done terrible things, things that hurt Tara every single second of every single day. She'd destroyed her faith in people, ruining her ability to trust anyone. She made her doubt herself and everyone around her. She never felt safe, not completely. She was forever looking over her shoulder, waiting for the next stab to land. She was filled with anxiety and dread and anger and a million other emotions.

But mostly she was sad. She was in mourning.

Tara had spent the better part of the year absolutely loathing Amber for what she had done. She betrayed her – betrayed all of them. She lied to their faces every day about who she really was and what she wanted with them. She'd led a double life that resulted in an absolute massacre, and Tara hated that she hadn't took notice of any of the signs. She hated that she had been so fucking naïve.

And she hated that she still missed her – or at least who she had been with her. Amber Freeman had been her best friend in the world since they were kids. She was the one person she trusted with every single aspect of her life. Tara had spilled her guts about how much she'd missed Sam and how bad it hurt when her entire family seemed to disappear before her very eyes. She'd cried to the girl night every night, finding comfort in her patience and compassion. Now she wasn't sure how much of their friendship had been a lie.

But even so, wasn't a lie better than how she felt now? There was no more comfort to be had. There was no more laughter over the phone as they made inside jokes about the world around them to cope. There was nothing but a void left behind where Amber took a piece of Tara Carpenter with her to the grave. Now she was a mere shell of the happy-go-lucky girl she had been only a year before. She was broken.

She couldn't tell if that was because of what Amber had done to her or because of what she had had to do to her. She closed her eyes and could still feel how it felt to pull the trigger.

Bang!

Her eyes squeezed closed tighter, as if it might make the memory sting less – as if it might take it away completely.

Tara missed her. She missed everything about her, and more than anything, she wished she could go back and change things. She wished she could pinpoint the exact moment where she could have stopped Amber's plan from going forward. When had things changed? They were friends for almost their whole lives before the betrayal; when did she decide it wasn't worth protecting anymore?

She would often replay their time together and dissect each moment to try to determine if there were any signs. Was she just that naïve? Did Amber ever really care? How could she fake all those years and friendship and the hint of something more?