When Forever Ended // h.s

ii.

Minutes later, we had calmed down, wrapped in overly-fluffy towels as she attempted at using her new coffee machine. I tried to warm up further by snuggling into the couch and flipping through various channels on the television.

“Val!” I whined playfully. “There’s nothing on except for the Teletubbies!”

“Hey! No dissing Teletubbies!” she yelled from the kitchen, evidently holding back a few chuckles.

I left the channel on BBC as she entered the room with two large mugs filled with the swirling brown substance. She placed them both on the untidy coffee table and sat beside me, snatching the remote from my hand.

“Hmm, there really isn’t much to watch,” she said, tossing the remote onto the table after a minute of flicking through, once again going back to the ever loyal Teletubbies.

Seconds in and a sip of coffee later, it was like she had read my mind.

“Movie Marathon!” she shouted, a smile spreading on her face.

“Dibs gettin’ the movie! You get the popcorn.” she shouted straight after poking her tongue out as I groaned. Mr Johnson, who had worked down at the 24-hour convenience store ever since we could remember, was most probably the grumpiest guy I’d ever met. Well towards me, anyway.

As soon as I entered, he’d glare at me the whole time, which I deemed completely creepy and weird. I’d have to say that maybe it had to do with the time I knocked over the pile of neatly stacked tins back in 6th grade, but c’mon, it was ages ago! Forgive and forget right? But on the other hand, Mr Owen, the man from the movie rental place, who’d we’d also known since forever, still gave free lollipops and balloons to us, even though we were much too old.

Valerie winked at me before covering her mouth in a fit of giggles. I gave her a mock-angry look, crossing my arms, before eventually falling into laughs with her.

“Remember last time? You were on your phone and you knocked over that stack of tins again,  and Mr J walked up to you and forced you to take an alcohol test, even though you were completely sober?” she asked between giggles.

“That was the worst of ‘em all!” and we laughed harder, throwing our heads back.

I slid into my rental Range Rover and followed the familiar path to the close-by store. The windshield wipers were working furiously as the rain poured down. The streets weren’t very busy, but the roads were slippery as I took a careful turn, parking in the small lot.

The bell attached to the door dinged, signalling my arrival. Mr Johnson, as grouchy as ever, sighed irritably as he saw my face appear. I walked slowly through the shop, carefully navigating my way through so as to be sure that my arms wouldn’t ‘accidently’ topple the many stacks of tins and boxes on display. I reached the popcorn aisle and picked out a few microwave packets, grabbing a packet of Sour Patch Kids in the process. As I approached the counter, Mr Johnson scowled as he lowered his newspaper and picked up the scanner.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the plain plastic bag in my hand.

He grunted, glaring at me as I exited.

I popped another delicious Sour Patch Kid into my mouth, peering into the plastic packet and staring at the last lolly remaining at the bottom. Oops, I thought, Valerie is going to have a fit when she finds out I’ve eaten all her candy! Hearing the front door rattle, I quickly shoved the packet into my pocket and ran to the door. There was nobody there. Strange, I thought, Val should be here by now, it’s been half an hour already.

I pulled out my iPhone from my pocket and dialled her number, it rung three times before she picked up. “Harry!” she whined instantly, “I’m driving here!” I chuckled, hearing the faint tune of ‘Story Of My Life’ being played in the background. I could almost hear her blush over the phone as she discovered the cause of my amusement. She laughed nervously, “Uhm, guilty pleasure,” she mumbled. “Well, you gotta hurry up cause I’ve almost finished the Sour Patch Kids,” I said cheekily, popping the very last one in my mouth. “No!” she shrieked, the panic-stricken tone clear in her voice, “Don’t touch my babies.”

I laughed loudly before positioning the phone between my head and shoulder, before popping the empty candy packet in the waste bin. “No seriously Harry, is that chewing I hear? Put that plastic bag down now,” she demanded, her words of scolding me eventually turning into rambles, “C’mon Hazza, you know how much I love those lollies, you better have left some for me. Especially those purple ones they’re so goo-“

I cut her off, chuckling at her crazy self, “Bye.”

“I’ll be home soon."

“Love you, Val.”

“Love yo-“

I heard an intense thump then crack then bang, the dreadful splintering noises hardly recognisable.  A heart-wrenching shriek followed, Valerie’s voice, unfamiliar with anguish, resonating in my ears.

Scream.

Boom.

“VALERIE!?”

Thud.

Nothing.

“VALERIE!”

The phone connection abruptly ended as I frantically tapped the random colours on the screen. C’mon c’mon, I urged, the sleek device between my fingertips. My vision clouded as tears welled in my eyes. She’s okay, I reassured myself, my Val’s safe. But my body begged to differ as my hands started to tremble, warm tears springing from my reddening eyes and trailing down my cheeks.

I had rung her number so many times, constantly jabbing at the little green light on her contact page. The mechanic voice that always answered seemed to drone on ‘this number is currently unavailable’ but I couldn’t hear anything.

Everything I heard seemed to answer with the shrill shouts, still clear in my mind. And all that I grasped from the short sound of her screams was pain, pain and pure agony.

A/N i honestly cannot believe this story achieved 400 reads with just a prologue and one chapter. thanks guys x

there's a new trailer by brookeismyname on the side of the prologue c:

dedication is to _honestly for being just perfect, ily!