Luke's POV
I stuck the rusty key into the lock and turned it, using a little bit of brute force until I heard the click, letting the door swing open.
Walking in, I sneezed at the amount of dust in the hallway, making my way over the bay windows in the living room, opening them wide.
I hadn't been here in years.
My parents old lakehouse. I used to come here all the time when I was a kid, and then when I started highschool, I stopped coming. I opened the TV cabinet to my right, and felt a smile coming to my face as I found old game consoles that I used to play religiously on these vacations.
"Old treasures?" I heard Annie say, and I turned, seeing her standing in the doorway of the living room, a box in her hands.
"Yeah, something like that," I said, dropping it back into the drawer, sliding it closed with my foot. I walked towards her, taking the box from her hands.
She thanked me quietly, and I placed the box on the dusty coffee table.
"You sure about this?" I asked and there was a pause.
"Yeah." She said quietly, walking in and observing the living room.
"A little bit of dust adds character, doesn't it?" She said, and I laughed quietly.
Three more months had past since I stopped Annie that night. I only remember snippets, always trying my best to block that night out of my mind. She went to therapists afterward, got the help she needed. I stayed with her.
I couldn't leave her. I knew that. It's not about what I feared would happen to her if I left, it's what I think would happen with myself. From that night when The Chase happened, we kept eachother alive in those woods, and that's what we were doing for these past few months.
I could see old parts of ourselves slowly starting to come back to each of us. Annie's sarcasm and her humour was starting to come back slowly each day and I was starting to maybe feel like I did before this shit happened.
But we felt strange. Staying at one another's house all the time, with our parents there, always listening, making sure we were okay, it wasn't working.
That's why my Dad suggested that we move to our old lakehouse. It was away from our town, but still in reach of our parents if we needed them, and they would know where we are.
"How many boxes left?" I asked Annie and she looked back out to the car.
"I think there is about six?" She said and I nodded, making my way back out to the car.
***********************************
The thunder cracked and I watched as the sky was illuminated by a lightning bolt.
The rain bounced off the ground and my head rested against the porch pillar, my eyes resting on the lake in front of the house.
"What you thinking?" I heard Annie ask, who was sitting on the porch her head against the opposite pillar and I sighed, closing my eyes.
"Last time I was here, Grace and I took a canoe out on the lake," I said nodding towards the large stretch of water, "we were shit at it, we ended up tipping the boat, we laughed, kissed..." I trailed off, shaking my head as the memory replayed in my mind.
"I keep getting them... little snippets of her, of them. I don't think they'll ever go away... and I don't think that's a bad thing." I said and Annie looked down at her knees.
"I know... I just don't know what to do with those memories. I think I've become completely numb to them, I think of Calum now and I just - freeze." She said and I looked to her.
