If Summer Never Ends

Prologue

Prologue:

Six years ago, I could've never imagined my life without my parents, but with a few unfortunate twists of fate, that unspeakable perception had become reality.

My whole life, I had strongly believed in fate, but in the moment that I realized my parents died, I couldn't find a reasonable explanation for their death. Everything happened for a reason, right? Bad things came about to develop into greater things, but how was I supposed to get better in this case? How was I supposed to go everyday and act like everything was all right when it wasn't? How could I, at only twelve years old, handle all of that?

The questions I had been asking myself for the past six years had gone unanswered. Maybe it was their time to go, even if they still had so much more to live for. Maybe fate had decided it was time for them to experience greater things. The idea made sick to my stomach just thinking of it as a possibility. But here I stand everyday, knee- deep in my sorrows, fighting these horrible feelings with the faintest amount of hope that it would get better slowly fading every minute.

Ever since my parents left this world, I had become someone else entirely. I was no longer Gabriella Heaton: the happy, carefree girl who basked in the glory of life anymore. I was now Gabriella Heaton: the lonely, parentless girl who now feared the outcomes of life instead. In the blink of an eye, all of the light in my world had diminished into a permanent sky of grey and despair.

My whole life wasn't always like that: gloomy and filled with anguish. It was pretty wonderful actually. I lived in Sanibel Island, a small isle off the west coast of Florida in which the sun shone everyday and the brown seaweed hugged the shore like a thick blanket. About seventy-five percent of the island was wildlife filled with swaying palm trees in which fuzzy coconuts fells from, an array of tropic flowers, mangroves sprawling across the shallow ends of the water, sea salt-misted air, pastel colored shells, and flush Roseate Spoonbills feasting on small fish in the ocean. Every evening, the sun would set behind the horizon leaving behind twinkling stars in the night sky and in the morning, it would rise casting unique shades of orange, purple, yellow, and pink everyday.

But despite the extravagant scenery and wealth that I was spoiled with, I just a normal kid. The greatest aspect of my life wasn't the money and the riches, but the love I received from my family and friends. I'll admit, it was boring being an only child when your parents were working all the time. My dad was a heart surgeon, so he was gone for a majority of days, but when he was home, we would do wild things together like play around the mangroves or try to spot a manatee in the ocean. My mother on the other hand was one of those crafty types of people. She was a photographer whom had taught me to enjoy every single part of life. Believe me, I tried.

And then there was my best friend, Luke McCree. We had been an inseparable pair ever since... well, ever since I could remember. He was honest, supportive, and loyal: the type of qualities any friend should strive for.

I suppose you could say I had it all: a big house, riches, friends, family, a life in paradise. But if I could, I would give it all up just to spend one more minute with my parents. It's frustrating how quickly things can go from perfect one moment, to absolutely dreadful the next. But then again, life isn't easy, and no one said it would.

As my mom always told me, "Enjoy the little things in life, otherwise, they'll disappear right before your very eyes. After all, no one lives forever anyway."

Hello my loves! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. So this is a story I've been writing for over a year now and it might not be the best, but I'm so attached with my heart to this story. I haven't even written half of this book yet! Yikes! I plan on posting a new chapter once a week or so, but let's see how this works out. Once again, thanks a ton for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments below!

xoxo Maya :)