Pretty Little Liar (Aruani Element Shifter AU) ✔️

Interruption 3

The birds were singing louder than usual today. It's been a month since I left the hospital. According to Christa I was shot by some hunters by accident on a walk, hit my head, almost died. I had to take her word for it, because the doctors told me I had suffered severe brain damage and couldn't remember what happened to me. I couldn't remember anything from the past two years, almost as though they never happened and I just woke up two years older.

I scrolled through my phone again, reading the local news that was talking about the new council building that was going to be built soon. Some strange looking people with weirdly bright blue eyes were stood next to the councilmen, shaking hands. I didn't recognise half of the council members, but I guess a lot can happen in two years.

I meet Christa and Ymir in the park every day. Ymir works in the council and Christa is training to be a nurse at the hospital. I'm still recovering, unsure of what my future holds. I used to be so sure of what I wanted in life, but now I don't. I guess I'm just grateful to be alive.

Every day I do memory exercises in an attempt to try and remember what happened the last two years. My parents have tried to help me as much as they can, but the story just confuses me so much. They told me I was travelling, and that the dodgy council that was ruling at the time had told them that I was dead, until months later they were given a phone call saying I had been shot, walking in the local area. I didn't know that they thought I was dead, or at least that's what my parents assumed must have happened. They seem to think that I was on my way home from abroad, unaware that I was proclaimed as dead, about to make it back to them, when I was unlucky enough to get shot on my way back to them.

Thinking about it makes my head hurt. It's all too confusing. But every day I wake up to a photograph on my desk of Annie, and I remember her face clearly.

I don't know if things will ever get easier. For now at least, I have to accept that I won't know all of the answers straight away.

A few days ago, my mother came home from a large funeral for a few young soldiers from our area who were killed in some sort of battle, the result of which was the new council building. She was just as confused about it as I was. It seems I was shot at a very strange time when there was a lot of political turmoil. I don't know if we'll ever really know what happened.

* * *
A few more months have passed and the new council building has been built on the hill where the old one used to stand. They're big and powerful, and Christa says they've managed to stabilise the county and that we're seeing more peace than we have in years. I don't know what was wrong exactly, but Christa and Ymir said that the council was run by a lot of bad people and now the bad people have been taken away and have been replaced by good people. There are no more soldiers roaming our streets.

The university I had applied for before travelling have accepted me back to return in the new school year, which starts in a few weeks. My wounds have healed significantly but my parents aren't letting me live independently just yet, so I'll be living at home and commuting, which is a decision the school are fully supportive of.

The town has been quiet all summer, with bad weather keeping everyone indoors or making everybody leave. No matter the weather, though, I go on a long walk and sit in the park.

For the first time in a while, I ventured out to a cafe I used to go to all the time with Christa. I ordered a drink then sat on a chair next to the window, watching the rain hit the window. The door kept opening and closing, and I wasn't paying any attention when the bell went off and a boy with messy brown hair and green eyes walked in, holding hands with a black-haired girl. She turned to look at me briefly and her eyes were equally as weird as his, only bright blue. I didn't recognise them even though they were my age.

The boy got a drink then turned around and saw me. His eyes flashed but I turned away because I didn't know who he was. I could feel him staring at me for a while before he looked away and the two walked out. I noticed though, as they walked out, that the girl had a tattoo on her hand that looked like waves. I think about that tattoo a lot; it looked like something Christa might like, but when I told her about the tattoo she shrugged it off and tried to distract me from it.

I've been seeing a lot of strange people walking around the town; people I've never seen before. Hearing of the funeral hadn't sat well with me either; I didn't know there was even an army in town, let alone a reason to battle. Everybody else I've spoken to is just as confused, but I cant help but be inquisitive, especially when there are new people running things in town. 

Sometimes, when I'm sitting on the bench alone, I think of Annie. I think of how long it's been since I've seen her, since I saw that smile. The guilt still haunts me every day. I can barely sleep, but when I do I dream of her. It's been such a long time since she died, and I thought I'd managed to move on, but ever since the accident I've been thinking about her every day.

Again, I guess it's just another unanswered question on my long list of confusions. For now, I'm going to have to accept that I'll probably never fully understand everything.