Crown of Fear

Chapter One

He said that if I let him in, he would take my fears away. He would be the one that would change my mind. He would be the one that would free me.

June 27th, 2009 was the date I first laid eyes on him. He was simple but something was taping on my shoulder and telling me that I should go and talk to him. Of course I was only 17 at the time and dating was the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to make it through summer without any complications.

My father once told me that I could do anything I wanted to do but only if God said it was okay. I didn't understand how God could tell a person it was okay to do something until that day.

"Hi. I'm Florence. Florence Winters." I smile as I gesture my hand to shake his.

"Hi." Is all he says and doesn't take an interest in shaking my hand. I lower it, slowly, and awkwardly.

"Umm, where are you from?" I try and make conversation.

"Ohio." He said with no emotion. He tries to turn away from me to go back to talking to his dad. I bite my lower lip.

"That's cool. I'm originally from Texas but moved to California when I was 12." I smile with my lips together.

"Interesting." He said with a sarcastic tone.

"I'm sorry. I'll leave you be. I didn't mean to bother you I just thought since you were the only other teenager on the beach that I would talk to you." I nod and start to walk back to my towel.

"I didn't mean to be rude." I hear him shout. I turn back around to see him jogging towards me.

"Hi I'm Mars." He tilts his left side of his mouth down. I chuckle.

"We both are named after places." I smirk. He smiles, showing his teeth.

"Maybe that's a sign." He winks. I laugh a little too loud because of how nervous I was. "So Florence, where exactly in Cali do you live?" He asks.

"I actually live right down the street. I'm the blue house with the orange shutters. It doesn't really match but my mom is just weird." I make him laugh.

"I'm staying with my aunt up state. I was kind of hoping I would see you again." He shrugs.

"You never know. This world is a lot smaller then people let it out to be." I give him a wide smile. He chuckles.

"How about we make sure we see each other?" He raises his eyebrows with excitement. He looks back at his dad and holds up his index finger. "Do you happen to have a piece of paper?" He asks. I reach in my pocket and pull out a gum wrapper. "That'll work." He takes it and writes down his number with his name. "This is my aunt's phone number. If you want to hang out again, just call that number and ask for me." He smiles and waves goodbye.

I watch him run back to his dad and then look down at the gum wrapper. It now says, "Mars Tyler 555-0123". I couldn't help but whisper his name to myself. It was such a weird name. I loved it.

"Your crown makes you look like the queen of England. I bet she would be jealous of you."

I begin to step on the stairs up to my door. The third step from the bottom always creeks. I knew my mother had heard me because you could hear it from anywhere in the house.

I step in the door to be greeted by my dog, Stars. I bend down to pet him and I let him outside.

I look in the kitchen to see my mom making another flavor of cupcakes. She wants to open her own business. This has been her dream since a child and she actually found a place to have her bakery. The only flaw in her plan is that she doesn't know how to cook.