Love #Wattys2016

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Ace O'Riordon was seventeen the last time he saw his parents. His younger sister, a free-spirited 15-year-old named Jamie, was there with him when it happened.

No one would have thought that such a perfect, good-hearted and close family would be broken apart so suddenly due to such a common, yet horrifying disaster.

That night had been so calm and the stars had decided to come out in a beautifully united cluster for once, decorating the darkness and peering down at the small family as they drove along the narrow dirt road, their smiles broad with excitement and their shoulders shaking with the light humor that often hovered in the air wherever they went.

It didn't even seem possible, to be honest, for such a picture to be ruined so easily, so quickly.

Yet, it was.

Ace remembered it, some moments were as clear as day while others were blotchy and vague, but he remembered nonetheless.

Before it all, he had been sitting quietly at the back of the car with his sister, listening with adoration as she ranted excitedly about her new school - her new friends.

He loved the way she managed to make friends no matter where they went, no matter how many times they moved. Unlike her, he found it increasingly difficult to kindle a friendship with anyone at all. When he did eventually manage to find friends, his family decided on another shift of location.

His heart swelled with pride to know that that young girl, practically still a baby to him, could conquer any challenge when she was willing. The world could be ending, but she'd know how to calm everyone down and, in her own beautiful way, make the last day on earth the best one they'd ever have had.

He was so proud of her.

As Jamie rambled on, Ace looked over at his parents.

Seeing their loving gazes as they listened to her made him feel so lucky to have such great parents. He knew some people who didn't have that sort of bond with their mum and dad - he knew how broken a family could become and the fact that their closeness, in the end, depended on the strength of the love that their parents had; towards each other and towards their kids.

He often asked his mum how she had met their dad, just to hear her tell the story, so she'd tell him and avoid leaving a single detail. The cloud of distinct remembrance that drifted past his mother's eyes at the mention of it made him gush almost - he wanted to find love like theirs one day.

Love that will never fade or blur with the stretch of time.

And he had been sure that he would, whenever his mum assured him of how one day, her and dad will be sitting on rickety armchairs, looking old and wrinkly, just watching Ace and his sister laugh and play with each other's kids.

Ace hoped that he'd find love like that and he knew Jamie would, too - even with that loud and obnoxious personality of hers.

Sitting in that small car, watching the wilderness pass by and hearing the sounds of his family's joy, he really couldn't imagine this happiness ever being taken away from him.

"I'm so glad we chose today for a road-trip, guys," Jamie stated, giving a dramatic wipe of the brow. "No rain, no people and absolutely no school tomorrow! I love this..."

Ace grinned in agreement. "Yeah, we can stay up as late as we like," he said, then turned to Jamie, looming over her in an attempt to look suddenly threatening. "Hopefully, we won't have bugs crawling up our tops and making homes in our pants and creeping into our ha-"