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Seven Years Earlier:
The yelling never stopped. The seven year old girl folded her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. She rocked back and forth, praying to some higher being that the shouting and cursing would quiet down. That she'd finally find some peace.
Suddenly, a loud clap sounded throughout the house. Silence followed. She then heard a loud sob and a door slamming hard, rattling the house and her heart.
Her father had left with nothing but his anger and a hand printed on his cheek.
Present
It was roughly 5 months after Atticus had left. I had lost everything, either due to his departure or my unfair attitude. Never one to be the optimist, I plunged into a sadness and anger I couldn't even describe.
Trent tried his best to reconnect. Even Scarlett stopped by my house sometimes. But I had written my fate already and I was so dead set on following my pity trail that I didn't see all the amazing people around me.
My greatest fear was to find a love but lose him because he wasn't the right boy in the first place. Why put myself in that position? Why love someone when you know they'll never want to spend eternity with you? I don't ever want to end up like my parents, broken because of the lack of love since the beginning of their relationship.
My advice to you isn't to never date, because we must all learn from heartbreak. Heartbreak heals the heart to a more full and beautiful sense. It makes you see what's really important. It makes you see that you're amazing and not everyone deserves that. Find someone who makes you smile and won't push you to give everything. Don't be like me and fall for the cliches because life is everything but a fairytale.
Share your heart with the person who looks at you like you put the stars in the freaking sky. Don't trust anyone right away, because trust is sacred. Fall in love the way you want to, not the way others do.
At age seven, my favorite person fled from my life without even a map to guide him. At age fourteen, my love flew across the country with a map and list to control his life, and unfortunately I wasn't part of it in the long run.
But I had so much to learn and Atticus Chase was only the beginning.
