Don't give up on me ✓

[01] The Road Trip

Prologue

There were rumors about Maythorne Manor long before I stepped foot inside. The boys who lived there were at the center of so much mystery.

I never realized how connected our histories were until our futures were chosen for us.

Where did they come from? They behaved like brothers, though they'd bonded through a different kind of blood connection. 

If I had to describe them, they're like fire and your last glass of water at the same time. Looking back, I realize that I'll never love like that again. 

This is the story of how we all came together.

And how everything else fell apart.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Chapter 1: The Road Trip

On August 8th, I was struck by lightning.

Life got weird after that.

We came to Swell Valley by accident. We were on a road trip to LA for the last few weeks of summer. Our friend had dropped out of college to become a DJ and wanted us to check out his new life.

"We took a wrong turn," I said, lowering the music blasting out of our car, "Maps isn't working anymore. I think we lost signal."

I stared at my phone and counted a total of... zero bars.

Jesper exhaled smoke from his lips and threw the cigarette out the window. "Where the hell are we?"

He was in the driver seat; a guy with a handsome face and a tough exterior. I've been crushing on him since fifth grade, though he's barely noticed. Our mothers practically raised us together, otherwise I doubt we would've been friends.

He slowed the car down as we passed a large wooden sign. The paint was chipped but we could still read two words:

Crop fields and farmhouses were all the eye could see. Clouds had gathered overhead and rain started to splatter on the windshield.

"It's getting dark," I said, thinking this entire place freaked me out. "This thunderstorm is a bad omen."

"My stomach is too if we don't get food soon."

Jesper's priorities... the list is short. It's basically: (1) Food.

We drove further through unchartered territory. A cluster of buildings lined the town center like a movie set, something out of a Western.

Jesper stopped the car beside a diner. The roof was blue and its walls were white. The lights were on inside.

"Valley diner," I read the black letters printed on a yellow lit board, "I guess we could do that."

Jesper shook his head and cut off the engine. "I meant the convenience store next to it."

I hadn't even noticed that. There was an entrance on the corner of the diner that led into a small convenience store with shelves of goods stacked inside.

"You prefer that over the diner?" I asked.

He zipped his jacket up and threw his hoodie over his head. He looked at me with his dark green eyes. With the music and the engine off, the only sound was the heavy pitter patter of rain on the car roof. 

"We're not mindless kids in a horror movie that hang around a creepy town in the middle of the night. I'm going to grab some food from that store while you stay safe here and we're going to get the heck out of town."

I didn't argue. I wanted to get out of here faster than the lightning above us. Eating at the diner would take longer. Before I could say anything, Jesper had opened the door and let the rain and cold in. He cursed when he was immediately drenched.

The door slammed shut and I watched him walk to the well-lit interior of the convenience store. He was tall and well-built. He'd started working out a few years back and I lost my couch buddy. I waited for him in the car, feeling my own stomach growl. What I wouldn't do for some Doritos, Reese's pieces and-

Damn. I realized Jesper was about to get me beef jerky.

We had the opposite tastes.

I took the car keys out of the ignition and stepped out into the rain myself. I ran towards the convenience store, ignoring the thunder overhead. I was halfway there when I felt a jolt of immense pain strike me. 

It shook my body from head to my core. I couldn't move, my body vibrating with the pain. 

I lost eyesight. I couldn't even cry out in pain though I felt every muscle stretch and contract, stretch and contra-

"GEORGIA!"

I heard his voice like a distant memory. He had stepped out of the store, carrying a plastic bag, only to see me struck by a bolt of lightning. One sharp line of white protruding from a cloud overhead and stabbing through my entire body.

I was lit like a Christmas tree.

With all the power he had, he threw the bag at me and it knocked me over. Like a pinball in a bowling alley. The bag splattered against the wet ground, its contents spilling out around us. But it broke the direct connection and my body crumbled onto the pavement. 

He dropped to the ground himself, not wanting to be the tallest figure out in the open and the lightning's next victim. Our car was struck for a brief second before the lightening vanished. We were left in darkness.

He crawled towards me army style. The rain pouring down heavily on us. "Georgia."

The diner manager and convenience store owner had rushed outside and were calling an ambulance.

"Don't touch her!" they yelled at him, "She's been electrocuted!"

A/N: First chapter!  A bit dramatic I'll admit.  Do you like it??

I'm mixing it up.  Maybe you found this after reading Player Next Door?  It's a bit different but curious to hear what you think!

Thank you @Daddormz for the beautiful poster