All Your Little Things

Prologue

Prologue

September 2040

"Charlotte Mary-Eleanor! What in God's name are you doing up there?" I shouted to my fifteen-year-old daughter, who was upstairs, doing God knows what, instead of homework. I climbed the steps. I walked down the hall of our home that was just outside of London.

My daughter, Charlotte, also known as Lottie, is our second child. We moved here ten years ago. Two years before her, we had our son, Nicholas James, or Nick, who was seventeen. Lottie had a younger sister, Alena Maura-Elizabeth, who was thirteen, and finally, there was Liam Michael, who was eight. They were all in school, and I was working as a business manager at a London branch of a Zac Posen store. He was a good man. We had gotten close over the years.

I got upstairs and found Lottie in my room. She had a box in front of her, with a pile of scrapbooks, photo albums, ticket stubs, random, unplaced photos, confetti, and other small memories. "What are you doing up here?" I asked her. 

"What is this?" She asked. I looked at the box. "I found this box of stuff. All these old pictures, and programs and-"

"Memories." I finished. I sat down next to her and took the scrapbook she had been looking through.

There were photos of these two girls me in high school, Elizabeth Maurey and Ali Evans. Pictures of them laughing, going to football games, and being silly in the hallways. There were photos from the summer they spent in London, going around, and shopping, and more importantly, hanging out with One Direction. 

That was the summer that truly changed their life, or so I had heard. They had a massive encounter with fate when they met them in Cleveland twenty-four years ago. I smiled,remembering all the stories. I remembered being really happy listening to them. I looked through the scrapbook Ali and Elizabeth had made for One Direction their freshman year, before they had met them. It had tons of pictures of them, facts, and things we loved about them. I also saw the old albums, including those ofLittle Mix, Ed Sheeran, Cher Lloyd and Olly Murs. There was confetti everywhere collected from concerts, and the ticket stubs I had saved from the event. 

And I began to cry. About that perfect summer, and my perfect friends, and a perfect love.

All of the stories had flooded back. Those of the four years Ali and Elizabeth had spent obsessing over One Direction, and having a blast in school. The memories of meeting them. The fun they had when they were in London, and being with them and their girlfriends. The memories of the crazy fandom, and the crazy ways. The beautiful summer they had. The sadness and tears that came when everything just ended.

"Mom? Mom? What's wrong?" Lottie asked.

"Oh, Lottie. These are a whole lot of memories, and a whole lot of stories. Stories and memories and people that changed the lives of your family, for me, your dad, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters. It was a special time."

"Why? What happened?"

"Here, let me tell you a story. It all began in June of 2016..." I said, and suddenly, I remembered every little detail, and how beautiful and sad everything was.