Forever Gone

A New Friendship?

The moment finally comes and the door to the cabin opens. The boy is about the same age as Nicole and has sandy blond hair. Nicole hopes it is too dark for him to notice her standing there, but when he looks in her direction she knew she had been caught. "Who are you?" The boy asked. Nicole was too scared even to respond to him so he had to repeat his question. "Who are you?" He said it this time with more anger in his voice. "I-I'm Nicole". She managed to push the simple words out of her mouth. The two of them just standing there could sense the tension in the room. It felt to Nicole like all of the oxygen in the room was being sucked out, and quickly. Nicole couldn't stop herself from asking him a couple of questions in return, "Well now you know my name, so what's yours?" The boy pondered this for a moment and Nicole was scared he wouldn't answer her. "My name's Dylan, Dylan Anderson". Nicole breathed out a sigh of relief. "His name is Dylan". She thought, "Dylan a normal, teenage boy". Now that they knew who each other was the tension slowly began to dissipate. "Um, Nicole why are you in my cabin?" Dylan said trying not to sound rude, but still wanting to know. Nicole didn't really want to tell Dylan that she had to run away so her aunt wouldn't severely beat her or kill her, but she said, "Well that's kind of a long story. Do you want to sit down so we can talk about it because you deserve to know since I sort of broke into your cabin and ate your sandwich"? Dylan smiled at that and Nicole had the feeling of butterflies in her stomach. "Sure just take your time". He told Nicole.

They sat down on the tattered couch and Nicole told Dylan how her parents died when she was six and she had to live in an orphanage and foster homes for her entire childhood life. She also told him how three years ago her Uncle Jake finally found her and she went to live with him and her Aunt Sheryl. Then Nicole made it to the more recent part of her story and explained to Dylan how she was chased home from Zack's friends and how for not cooking dinner her Aunt Sheryl beat her and threatened to kill her if she didn't leave. "So I started walking and came through the woods. Then I was getting really cold and knew I had to hurry and find somewhere to stay for the night so I wouldn't die of hypothermia. I found this cabin a few minutes later and came inside".

Dylan felt his heart reach out to Nicole for all of the pain she had to endure her entire life. "I guess we're connected somehow because both of my parents and my little brother Mike died in a car crash too. I was only 6 when it happened too and I tried to make them go back to my Grandma's house because I forgot my favorite blue and white hoodie. The car hit a slick spot in the road because it was raining and we crashed into another car". When Dylan finished talking Nicole could see the pain still fresh in his baby blue eyes. "I'm so sorry". Nicole said as a way of comforting him. They had both lost their families in the same terrible way and they were also the only survivors. "You know I didn't really get any injuries from the crash except for a chipped tooth because my face was smashed into the back of my dad's headrest." Dylan finished and smiled to show Nicole the chip in his left front tooth. Even with the chip in his tooth, Nicole thought, he is still really cute. She couldn't understand why he would be living out in the middle of the woods in an old hunting cabin and not in town with a foster family. So Nicole asked him, "Why are you living here then? Don't you have any other family members like me?" Dylan's face faded to a pale white before he answered her. "No, my grandparents are all dead and neither of my parents had any brothers or sisters. I lost the only family I had that day". Nicole instantly regretted ever asking him that. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you any more than what you already are." Nicole said sympathetically.