My One And Only

chapter 1

"Hayley? Honey?" Annette's head peaked through the open door a weak and loving smile across her face, "does your mum know your here?"

I nodded bringing my knees up to my chest, my heels on the edge of the bed. It had been a long and emotional day.

She walked in and sat down next to me wrapping me in a warm hug, "you know you're always welcome here don't you?"

"Thanks Annette" I smiled,

"I'm serious Hayley, we're always here, and Kyle's-"

All she could do was smile,

"I have something for you" she continued, standing up and heading out the door coming back just mere moments later with a box, the kind you'd use when you're moving house.

"What is it?" I asked confused.

"It's for you, from Kyle"

I didn't know what to think, his handwriting scrawled down the side looked as horrid yet slightly legible as ever.

"It's okay" she smiled setting the box down next to me, "in your own time it'll feel right. Now I'm just downstairs if you need anything and stay as long as you like"

I lay back on the navy bedspread covering the bed, still with spider man sheets. How a seventeen year old boy was still obsessed with Spider-Man I'll never know.

The room seemed the same, like nothing had changed, but the truth was that in the last few days everything had.

Still dressed in a black dress and low heels, reflected the somber day. A day I'd experienced enough. A day we'd known was coming, but it still hit hard.

I stood up and walked over to the window that looked out over my own garden next door and my own bedroom window. We'd spend hours writing to each other on big pieces of paper in the hours where our parents forced us back to our own houses which they couldn't manage very often.

There was a small picture frame leant against the window sill of Kyle and I, on the small elephant structure at the zoo at age 3, 13 and last year.

"Hey" an all to familiar voice came up behind me but for a split second I could have thought it was someone else.

They were similar in a lot of ways, dark hair, sun kissed skin, an obsession with beanies and nike's, the list goes on.

"Hey dan" I said turning around and leaning against the window sill,

"You okay?"

From that moment I couldn't hold it in any longer, all the walls I'd built up waiting for this day and the days to come came tumbling down in an instant. My body caved in as tears began streaming down my face.

His warm arms wrapped around me and held me up as I felt like melting into the ground.

"It's going to get better" he said sniffling, I could tell he'd been crying to, "do you want to come for a drive?"

I couldn't do or say anything as I focused on getting my breathing under control.

"Come on" he said reassuringly, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and leading me out the door.

"Mum, we're going for a drive" Dan called out picking up his keys off the kitchen bench.

"Okay," Annette said coming out of the pantry, "but don't be too long, Tania and Aaron will want her home soon"

We both nodded and headed out to dans car,

"Where are we going?" I asked sliding into the passenger seat, swallowing down the tears I'd just bought up.