Wish Upon a Paper Star

Prologue

A/N: Hey guys!

Wish Upon a Paper Star was an old unfinished story, which I only recently just happened upon while I was cleaning up, and I just re-read the chapters and thought I should try re-writing it - but I still need to edit/proofread them, so ignore my bad writing, and the prologue needs to be worked.

WARNING: There will be some cussing here and there, and some sexual themes, but overall, nothing too bad.

Plus, some words may be spelled differently  because I'm Australian.

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Prologue

My heart fluttered - literally.

It battered against my chest, demanding to be set free, but I couldn’t let myself go. My heart came with strings attached, and on the very ends were lead weights that dragged me back down to Earth.

It hurts more than being caged away.

That was how I felt and Elaine had no idea. She stood in front of me, shivering, her body damp from the rain that steadily fell from the dark, harrowing sky above, probably thinking she could heal the wounds and make me 'open up' to her.

I admit, I did lose myself on once, but never again will I feel.

Now I'm just back to square one.

I growled at her.

"What did you expect to find when you removed the scars? Did you think I'd be all manly and strong beneath the exterior?"

My breath froze in the winter air as I exhaled.

"Ellie, this is me...I'm a bloody mess!"

She rolled her eyes, which irritated me even more so.

There we were outside the coffee shop, my heart cut open and lying in a puddle, and all she could do was look down at me as if I was a child.

She let out a sigh and looked me in the eyes.

"Damien, you're not the only one whose seen some horrible things! I understand they've left some marks, but how can you close yourself away from the world?"

The more she spoke the more unbelievable she became, but the watery glare in her eyes convinced me to listen.

"You can't keep pushing people away." Her voice hitched at the last word and she covered her mouth with her hands. When she was able to regain her composure, she grabbed a hold of my arms and glared at me.

I jumped at her raised voice.

"Damien, please...I love you and you obviously love me!" She shook me, but I was still steady on my feet. "Lean on me damn it! You can't push me away!"

I looked into her mahogany eyes, and saw something stir beneath.

"You can't." She said her bottom lip trembling.

For just a second, my heart warmed from her declaration. I was curious at what lay beneath her exterior - there was more to her than her mousy-brown hair and eyes - but no matter what I saw, I couldn't let her bring down my walls anymore.

I took a big breath, brushed her hands off my arms and gently cupped her face in my palms.

And looking straight back at her, with a trembling voice I said, "I'm sorry Elaine, I don't want to love you anymore."

Anger flashed in her eyes, and in one quick movement she pushed me backwards and started to walk away. But she suddenly stopped about several steps away and turned back.

Stomping her way back to me, she wrestled with her bag and pulled out a colourful jar. Thrusting the jar at me, she muttered "Happy Birthday" and fled off down the street.

Standing outside the coffee shop, I looked down at the jar in my hands and realised the colours were from different sized origami paper stars.

The situation came crashing down on me for a second, forcing me to close my eyes, jar pressed against my forehead. When I was able to suppress the pain, I flipped open the little note attached to the lid.

'Dear D - Happy Birthday!

Since one star in the night sky is shared with billions and billions of people on Earth, I hope these stars will carry every wish you've ever hoped for. All you have to do is close your eyes and make a wish. Attach them to your ceiling with a length of string.

So enjoy!

Love forever, Elaine. hugs&&kisses.'

"Crap." I muttered to myself.

When I stood there alone, the jar of stars in my hand, I seriously wondered if letting her go was a good choice. She was everything...Yet I knew I didn't deserve her.

Someone like me deserved to be alone, locked away from the world.

Because I've caused and seen so many deaths, lives blown away like the flicker of a candle.

I lifted my head up and saw a never ending road ahead of me, leading to who-knows-where. Someplace far, far away from the nightmares, from the feelings - and from Elaine sounded pretty good right about then.

Anywhere but here.

My heart, as youthful as I was, was not strong, brave or courageous. The walls I've built up for the last few years were there to protect me - to protect my heart.

The human race is so fragile - so, so fragile we are.

So fragile was I.

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THIS PROLOGUE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION