Beautiful Trauma

Chapter 1

Lilly stepped gingerly out of her old apartment and into the freezing cold Massachusetts air. The way it hit her in the face took away some of the pain that she was feeling.

4 years she'd lived in this crappy apartment with the woman she'd been in love with for 6 and as it fell apart around her so did her life. Nothing was the same as it was 2 days ago when she bought an apartment in Seattle on a whim and decided it was time to move on.

She trudged through the piles and piles of snow that ladened the streets watching as the water would slowly seep into the canvas of her shoes.

As she kicks snow out of the way she questions where it all went wrong and how she couldn't have seen it. Nothing was a red flag, everything seemed as good as it always was so how could she have been so stupid.

She's bought out of her thoughts as a car comes speeding by kicking up a puddle of slush and water which soaked the girl through to the bone.

"Fucking great." She growled as her teeth started chattering because the cold was burying itself in her bones almost instantly.

Sulking towards her car as fast as her cold body would allow her she unlocked the doors to her rented U-Haul and clambered into the back to change into something dry.

The back of the truck was pitch black when she shut the door so she quickly flicked on her phones torch. The light flooded the small area and suddenly the realisation of how little she had to show for the last six years of her life set in. The overwhelming sadness and distress invading every possible crevice and corner.

She could feel the sweat start to build and her heart slowly pick up the pace.

"One, two, three, four." Lilly stated on repeat as her hand opened and closed around the keys for the truck.

"One, two, three, four."

"One, two, three, four."

"One, two, three, four."

Keys tossed to the floor she continues to strip and throw on a pair of joggers and a jumper as well as an old pair of shoes she found buried at the bottom of a box which would be perfectly fine for driving.

Lilly had never been one for road trips or long distance anything but when you have no choice but to drive for three days you do what you can.

Jumping out and locking up the back of the van and quickly getting into the drivers seat and locking herself in for the night. She pushes the key into the ignition and starts it up.

As she puts the truck into gear she takes one last look at the place she had once called home and sighs a shakey breath. Just then one lone tear falls effortlessly down her face and into her lap not a second before the truck pulls away into the night.

***

Night turned to day and Lilly had made it 10 hours into her almost 2 day journey, the roads she was driving just being straight and barren highways and she could go four hours or so without seeing another car.

The glimmering lights of a truck stop diner and the need for coffee took her off at the next exit and through the front doors of a place that looked like it had been abandoned for twenty years.

She stood just inside the doors and had a look to see if she could see any sign of life in the dingy little place.

"Hello?!" She shouted into what seemed like emptiness in the hope of a response. Yet nothing came.

She was ready to turn around and head into the gas station to get a coffee and some chocolate when some coughing could be heard from behind the counter.