7 Seconds

Chapter 1

Two years ago....
Is that me?
I stare in the mirror.
"So... What do you think?" She asks, hopeful.
I blink.
"Um.. It's great, thank you, I wouldn't even recognize me."
"That's the point!! It's Halloween!"
I finally manage a real smile at her, I know that she means well. She squeals.
"I knew you'd love it!!"
She hugs me and I awkwardly hug her back.
"Thank you for doing this, Maya."
She smiles sadly.
"My pleasure."
I give a full smile back, hoping to reassure her.
Astrid is beautiful. She has fair skin and dark brown hair and glowing eyes and a child-like personality that makes people want to protect her. She stands in at 5"5, the perfect height. She is the most well loved person I've ever met and for some reason she chose to be friends with me.
I am not beautiful. I barely stand in at 5"3. I have dark brown hair as well, but my eyes do not glow. I have freckles that decorate my face and arms.
She smiles and rushes out of the bathroom and back into my room.
I once again stare at my face, my long lashes outline with mascara and eyeliner. It's unusual for me, but I like it. She's painted whiskers on my face as well. Guess I'm going as a cat.
My little brother runs in.
"I can't find da kitty!!"
He giggles when he looks up at me.
"I mean da other kitty, sissy, not you!!"
I smile down at my two year old brother, Matty. He looks up at me.
"Where da kitty, Maya?"
"I don't know, Matty, you'll have to look around for her. She may be hiding."
A kiss on the forehead and then he's off, running after the cat that's probably hiding from him.
Astrid squeals and rushes back in. She's dressed as a puppy. Cute. She's even painted the tip of her nose black, I can't help but smile.
She slides a headband on my head and I don't even have to look in the mirror to know that it has cat ears on it. I smile. She smiles back.
"Are you ready?"
Big smile. Of course she is.
I look back to the mirror one last time. High school party, what fun.
Well. Here goes nothing.
I say goodbye to my parents and we leave quickly. Astrid doesn't want to be late and I don't want to wait long enough that my parents will rethink my 1:30 curfew.
We have trouble finding the house.. It's way back in the woods.
Figures.
When we finally find the place where everyone is parked, no one is in sight. We park and get out, looking around. It doesn't take long for someone to emerge from the woods. He's tall, dark headed, he looks fairly bored. Like he doesn't want to be here.
Well, you aren't the only one.
He looks right past me, to Astrid. I bite my lip in frustration. Every time. I look away. When I look back, he's staring at me. Focused. Like he's decided something. I'm confused.
"Blue or green?"
He holds out glow sticks. I look at them for a minute. He notices.
"Single or taken?"
"What?"
I look at Astrid.
"Well, that's what they mean silly."
Oh...
"Single."
He hands Astrid blue.
"Same."
It was fleeting, but I could've almost swore he smiled as he handed me blue.
"It's up there."
He points to the trees.
"Follow the trail, you can't miss it."
I smile in gratitude and then start to go around him. He stops me. He looks embarrassed for a moment, but he quickly recovers. He shoves his hands in his pockets.
"I'm Ian, by the way, and you are..?"
"Maya."
He smiles.
"Maya. Hopefully I'll see you around."
I smile back.
I hope so.
Astrid drags me away.
•••••••••
The party is loud and it smells of booze in here. I can't find Astrid. The pulsing lights are giving me a headache. I go from room to room, finally finding her on the dance floor. It's only 10:30. I almost wish my parents would've given me an earlier curfew now. I decide not to ruin her fun, but I step outside. It's quieter out here, and it smells good, fresh, like trees. I lean climb on the railing and sit there and close my eyes.
"It's nice out here."
I am so surprised to hear a voice that I almost fall off the railing. Slowly, I regain my balance, just in time to hear a soft laugh behind me. I turn around, eyes blazing, preparing to hurt someone. Until I see Ian, he's still trying to stop laughing. I can't help but laugh.
"You're not suppose to sneak up on people like that, you know."
He looks genuinely surprised.
"Are you kidding? I tripped going up the stairs, I made so much noise, I thought it was impossible for you to not have heard me."
I point at the house, where you can still hear the pulsating music. He shrugs. I roll my eyes.
"Oh no, no surely you didn't, you didn't just roll your eyes at me, did you?"
I laugh.
"So what if I did?"
He shakes his head.
"Then, I'll have to do this."
He picks me up suddenly. I'm frozen in surprise as he throws me over his shoulder and takes off running into the woods. I become terrified.
A stranger just carried me into the woods, I am going to die today.
I'm hitting his back and yelling, Put me down!!! He just laughs and keeps running. I'm starting to get angry when all the sudden he throws me off his shoulder and... Right into a pond. I gasp in surprise.
"Ian!!!!"
He laughs so hard that he doesn't notice when I creep out of the water, until I tackle him to the ground. Now, we are both laughing and I'm laying on top of him.
It isn't until we stop laughing that I realize I'm still on top of him. I quickly sit up.
"Hey, it's okay."
He smiles at me, I smile back.
And then he's kissing me, I pull away quickly, surprised.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
I cut him off as I kiss him. We are kissing and then he's on top of me. And then my pants are gone. I've never went this far before, but suddenly I don't care. Astrid's voice rings in my mind as I remember what she said to me earlier that day.
"Live like it's your last day."
And I intend to do just that.

Picture of Astrid at the top. Picture of Ian on the next chapter.