Forbidden Love

Part 1:

I look out the window of the car as I drive into an unknown city; a place that I will soon call home...

Elizabeth's POV

I have lived in a small town called Aurora, Ohio for most of my life, almost 14 years. I live with my aunt Maria, who ironically, inspired my middle name. 

I don't remember much of my life from before...just that I lived in a place that was free, and that was taken away from me at the young age of 3. 

My life isn't very interesting, I eat, sleep, go to school, and work at a convenient store after school, which is an all-girls school called Aurora Women's High.

When I first moved here, I met a girl named Bethany Alice Wiseman, and we have been best friends since the age of 5.

There aren't really many things to do in this small town because everything we do is monitored and restricted, so I spend a lot of my time drawing, running, and playing the guitar, which my aunt bought for me a little over two years ago when I started falling into a depression. She told me that music would help me feel whole again, and I didn't believe her until I learned how to play and began writing songs of my own. 

When I was 8, I was taught never to trust. When I was 10, I was taught never to love. When I was 12, I was taught to be afraid of the rebels. Now I'm 17, and I have taught myself to be rebellious...

———

I wake up to someone shaking my shoulder. It is then when I realize I am drenched in sweat and am breathing heavy. Only a few seconds pass by when the memories of my dream come racing back into my mind, and I almost faint from the sudden outburst of dizziness that it caused. 

A sigh of relief can be heard from beside me. Maria sent me an apologetic smile, knowing that I had another nightmare, which are very frequent. My mind seems to find it impossible to escape the faint memories of the day I was taken from my family. That day, I know, will haunt me until my final day. 

My mom, I swear she's every face I see. My dad, he's gone and he can't see the life that's waiting for me. I hate watching happy families grow up around me. I have slipped away from begging God to take me back to the family I had before I was taken away from the life I never got the chance to live. 

Not many people know my story, and I will try my hardest to keep it that way. I try to forget it, myself. However, it's too hard to forget the time that many people my age don't remember. I guess my brain is just cursed by the event of the car crash that I'm surprised I survived.

———

My eyes are focused on the ground where I watch each agonizing step I take towards the building I call Hell. 

I only look up once, when I run into someone: a boy who looks to be around my age. I do nothing but give a shy smile and continue towards my original destination. 

I can feel multiple pairs of eyes on me as I make my way through the front doors of the high school. My ears are filled with whispers angled towards me when I sit in my regular seat at the back corner of the english classroom. 

I don't pay much attention to the lecture that day because my mind kept drifting to my dream, to my past. When I finally snap back into reality, it's because the bell has rung. Looking down at my notebook, I see mindless scribbles covering the page. I mentally sigh and hurry to pack everything back into my bag and head towards my history class. 

When that class is over, I feel relief knowing that I'll be able to have peace and quiet because of my lunch period. At least that's how it was until I felt the teacher grab my arm and gently pull me aside as the other students exit the classroom. 

"Miss Johnson, may I ask if everything is alright? I've noticed you've been drifting off quite often in my class recently." I give a fake smile and nod my head, trying to assure her that I'm fine, no matter how false that statement is. I can tell she doesn't believe me, but she doesn't push it and lets me leave the classroom. 

Also, you may be wondering why I don't have many interactions with people. I forgot to mention that ever since the nightmares started, I have stopped speaking. You could say that I'm a mute, but I prefer not to be labeled. 

I feel comfort knowing that I can be alone for at least a little while because I was going to be alone during lunch...at least I thought so. The moment I sit down and pull out a book, my best friend, Bethany, runs up to me and immediately starts rambling on about something "interesting" that happened during one of her classes this morning. I mostly zoned out, so I only heard the words "fight" and "security involved."

The rest of my classes go by decently smoothly, besides the fact that I have a boatload of homework tonight, which I'll have to do while at work because I won't get home until late. 

———

Chaos is what I see the moment I step foot in the convenient store. I internally groan in frustration and set my school bag behind the counter where I usually sit. I see the footsteps of my boss inching closer, and I put on a fake smile to hide my confusion. He explains to me that the shipments came in late and one of the other employees accidentally knocked over a shelf in the storage room, breaking everything on it. 

I help get things sorted by helping replace the items that were on the shelf before sitting by the register and starting on my homework while there aren't any customers. 

The store stays pretty empty for a while, and I only have to help a handful of customers; most of which know that I don't talk and assume it's just a disability. 

It wasn't until my shift was almost over that anything even semi-interesting happened. The bell above the door chimes, and the boy from this morning walks in. It seemed pretty normal until he walked up to the counter and sat down on top of it directly in front of me. I gave him a look of confusion, silently questioning his action. 

The boy introduced himself to me as Isaac Alexander Thomas. I don't know why he started off with telling me his full name, but I didn't question it. He started throwing random questions at me, then seemed to become upset when I didn't answer. I pointed to my throat and shook my head, doing my best to let him know that I couldn't talk. The only difference that came from that was his less disappointed expression. 

From the corner of my eye, I could see my boss throwing me a glare, probably thinking that I was in a relationship with him, even though we both know it's illegal. I know, you may be wondering, why would being in a relationship be illegal? It's because here in Aurora, love is forbidden.

———

(A/N)

Hey guys! So, this is the beginning of my first book, and so far, I guess I'm pretty proud of it, even though there isn't really anything happening yet. If any of you have any ideas or suggestions for this book, I would love to hear them, so leave a comment letting me know if you have any input. 

Also, please remember that this is only the beginning of my writing, so I'm not the best at it, but I try to use a wide range of vocabulary and different sentence structures to keep it more interesting to read (which my english teacher would be very happy to know). 

Last thing: I actually came up with the idea of writing this book after reading a book called Delirium, which I highly recommend. I also read a book called Silence by a writer on here which is helping to inspire the characters a little bit, and if you want to read that, it's in my reading list (I highly recommend reading that book too).