Sandbox Love Never Dies

Mémoire Amère

{The chapter name is the french word for bitter memory, which is exactly what you think it will be. Madison's point of view and reflection on the day Zoe moved away and ultimately broke her heart.}

(due to this being just memories, all text will be in italics.)

July 12th, 2007:

School had just let out for the summer and 13 year old Madison Montgomery was dying to begin her summer vacation alongside her best friend Zoe, who was disappointed that school had ended as it was her only way to be able to focus on something beside her impending move, which she had yet to tell her best friend. They walked down the sidewalk arm in arm, as the sun clung to their skin, and she basked in the heat on her skin, basked in this moment with her favorite person in the whole wide world who, unbeknownst to her, was leaving her indefinitely in a few days time. It was a short walk to Madison's house, and when she got home, she wasn't surprised to find her parents gone just like they always were but it didn't bother her as much as it should have because she had her best friend with her, and she was all she would ever need in this world. Two years ago, the girls had declared the last official day of school consist of a sleepover, and they had stuck with the tradition ever since then. They would walk to whoever's house the sleepover was going to be at, and they proceeded to stay up all night and watch movies and give each other makeovers and just things that were normal at a teenage girls slumber party and both girls adored it, adored spending time with one another.

"Do you want to walk to the store for some snacks?" She turned but quickly pursed her lips when she saw that Zoe was laying on the couch, fast asleep, flyaway hairs sticking to her face, which had a sheen layer of sweat and worn off makeup. She smiled at the sight and went over to the chair opposite of the couch, curling up and closing her eyes. Her dreams were filled with smiles and laughs and bad jokes, all belonging to her dorky best friend, who was really all she ever dreamt about whenever she had the luxury of sleeping. Everyone, yes even her best friend, didn't know about just how bad her home life really was. When her parents were home, they were verbally and very often psychically abusive towards her, often shaming her for her grades or who she called her friends, but they didn't dare try to badmouth Zoe because they knew that was the only thing in the world keeping her around, and what would happen if they didn't have their punching bag around waiting for the next blow? And because they had said something about the way she dressed and she had ran away to her aunts house, who just sent her right back into the cruel household that she unfortunately called home. She hid the bruises and scratches as well as she could when her mother was in a bad mood because she didn't want to be pitied by anyone, she just wanted to keep all of that away from her best friend, who was thankfully oblivious to the whole situation. In her thirteen years of life, Zoe was the only person to show her love, and she hoped that she would never lose that or her for that matter, she didn't know what she would do if she didn't have the doe eyed brunette in her life. To put it quite simply, she was the best version of herself possible whenever she was with her and everyone knew that, hell even their peers did, who were quite envious of the friendship the two girls had together. Whenever they were together, no matter what they were doing, they were always laughing and having fun because that's just how comfortable the two were with each other.

"Hey Madsie, it's 8pm, wake upppppp." Her eyes popped open and she was greeted by the smiling face of Zoe, which was an utter relief to her. She sat up and she allowed herself to be pulled up out of the plush comfortable chair and guided up the grand staircase by her best friend, who held onto her hand so tightly as if she was never going to get the chance to hold it again after this very moment, which made her slightly anxious. When they had arrived in her room, Zoe plopped on the bed and sighed heavily, staring up at the ceiling with sadness swimming in her hazel eyes, which was an unfamiliar sight to her.