UNEXPECTED FATE • TOM HARLOCK

I

I woke up on a Monday morning and groaned thinking it was time for school. I sat up and checked my phone for messages or my fave putting something on Snapchat, Twitter or Instagram. Strangely I had nothing... Nothing from friends or any updates of my dream boyfriend.

I clambered out of bed and went downstairs for breakfast where I found my mum making a cup of tea. She turned to me and said "Quickly, Erin, we don't have long before we need to leave!" Obviously seeing my confusion, she reminded me that it was half term and we were going to visit family for the next few days. 

After quickly eating my breakfast, I ran back up the stairs to get dressed. I decided on something comfy but stylish, but layers so I could take one off if I got hot. Rifling through my wardrobe, I pulled out a black knitted jumper with orange, yellow and red embroidered flowers  and a pair of dark grey, Topshop jeans which had green leaves embroidered on one side. I noticed a theme and laughed to myself, I always do this. 

I sped downstairs again, my phone, charger and headphones in my hands ready to jump in the car and set off. Quickly, I said goodbye to my dad, who was working all week and couldn't come with us. Then settled into my seat before jetting off.

The journey was only 2 hours but I knew it like the back of my hand. My mum and I go down to Devon every few weeks to visit my family. We always go the same route and I still love it even though I do it 4 or 5 times a year. Our first stop was to visit my great-grandma for her 97th birthday; then to see my great aunt and uncle; then to see my 2nd cousin and his wife and daughter. It's a very confusing family but it's really not that big, only 16 people overall. 

We finally arrived down in Torquay and stopped to park in the car park opposite great grandmas care home. Our plan was to take her out for lunch and go for a walk along the beach path, all the way up to great granddad's bench. Unfortunately, he died before I was born but mum always tells me he would've loved me so much. It does hurt her to talk about him but it hurts great grandma more because she carried on living in the house he died in for another 20 years without him. 

As mum was helping great grandma into her wheel chair (she's too old to walk that far now), I decided to check my phone. I quickly tapped through the Snapchats I had gotten and swiped across to check the stories. My eyes snapped to one name in particular. "TOM HARLOCK *heart emojis*". This man was the love of my life and I knew I was in his home town right now. I had known for a few years but every time I visited, he was either away or curling up inside his house having another breakdown. It always broke my heart when he posted something about him being sad on social media because I just wanted to give him a cuddle. I tapped on his story and was so happy to see he wasn't away or inside! He was walking around Torquay trying to do some shopping but was having trouble finding  a store that sold a certain light bulb. 

I clicked my phone off and began to walk the 100 yards or so to the beach whilst having a general chat with my mum and her grandma. The thought of Tom never really left my mind but I tried to think of other things, I didn't want to be that  fan. 

We had a nice lunch and a few of great-grandma's friends surprised her by joining us for a cup of tea afterwards. With her being 97, she was beginning to get tired, so we took her back to her home to get some rest. We promised to come back before we left the next morning and with that we set off down the road to my great aunts for the night. 

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Hi Hi,

I hope you enjoyed that, its only really getting started. I guess that was some kind of filler chapter, just the basics being lay down.

This entire chapter is truth and I'm so thankful for my family, and Tom of course. It's so exciting going down because I never know if I'll see him just wandering about. 

Lots of love, 

Erin xo