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Chapter 15

*C H A R L O T T E*

There is a ray of sunshine on my face. I can feel the heath through the window and the light through my eyelids. I take a deep breath and open my eyes. I sleep with my curtains open and the first thing I see is the ocean. I love waking up with this view. I stretch and roll over to get a better look. Today promises to be an other beautiful day. I look at my clock and I see it's eight am. I smile because that means I've slept for ten hours straight. I'm slowly starting to heal. When I first arrived here I hadn't slept properly in months. I did sleep, of course, but I was restless. The nightmares came back so I would wake up frequently. And still, all I wanted to do was sleep. I wanted to forget about everything but secretly, I kind of liked the nightmares because they were the only way to see and hear Hero. In my nightmares, he was still here. I shake my head. That's a distant memory now. I've finally found some peace and slowly, the nightmares faded. I shouldn't think about this, not now. Not while I'm doing so well.

I get up and walk over to the balcony. The sound of the ocean calms me and I take a few deep breaths. I love the smell. Flowers, green and salty water. This truly is paradise. I stare at the view a little longer but then the need for my morning coffee kicks in. I put on a hoodie over my tank top and walk to the kitchen I share with my house mates. I share a house with three others, one girl and two boys. We each have a room and a bathroom. We share a kitchen and a living room. In some ways it reminds me of Cardiff but we're not students any more. Katarina is the youngest of our gang. She is nineteen and probably the happiest person I've ever met. She has gorgeous curls and she's very tiny. She is the reason I'm here, in this house. She works in the hotel where I stayed after I first arrived here. We were complete opposites. She was this happy, bubbly, chatty person and I was very sad and quiet. For some reason she made it her personal mission to make me smile every day. One day she came to me and told me she knew my story. Some of the guests had left an old magazine and there was a photo of me in it. There was a photo of Hero and Melany in Vancouver next to it. So I told her. My version of the story. After I was done she offered me the empty room in the house she shared with her brother and his best friend. Their housemate had moved to the mainland. So after one week at the hotel I met her brother Tiago and his best friend Fabio. I wasn't sure how I felt about living with two boys I didn't know but Katarina persuaded me and so one week after my arrival, I moved in. I could start healing.

At first, I was quiet and withdrawn. But soon I started to feel like myself again, little by little. We make a great team, the four of us and I slowly found my place in the house. I've been living here for three weeks now but it already feels so much longer. I'm enjoying life again and little by little I'm changing. I know now that I will be okay. Tiago is twenty-five and works as a guide. He has the same wild curls as Katarina but boy, is he tall! He's a very easy going guy and he makes me feel safe. I know the boys know what happened to me but they never talk to me about it, for which I'm grateful. Tiago plays football as well. He's quite good actually so we all go to his games. The last member of our little family is Fabio with his piercing blue eyes. Fabio is different. He is twenty-nine and comes from a rich family. He isn't born on the island but on the main land. They came here during the summers. That's how he met Katarina and Tiago. They all grew up together. After his parents died he inherited a lot of money and he moved here, to the house where he had been so happy as a child. He is our landlord and he recently opened a cocktail bar. It's a cool place, based on a cliff with an amazing sea view. It's the place we all hang out. It's strange, I stopped going to bars after Hero and I started dating. And here I am now, spending my Friday and Saturday nights at Twenty One.

I look in the jar and I see that Fabio already grinded the coffee beans, much to my delight. I haven't figured out how to do it just yet.

"Good morning Charly." Katarina just walks in with her wild curls in a total mess.

"Hi Kat, I would have thought you were at work!"

"Nah, I'm bartending at the pool today so I start at ten."

We hear a lot of noise and the two boys walk in laughing.

"Great, coffee!" Tiago says and he takes the cup out of my hand.

Fabio shakes his head and gives him a push. He snatches the cup out of Tiago's hand and gives it back to me.

"You're an animal, Abrantes," he says.

It makes us laugh.

And so another day in paradise begins with my new, crazy family around the kitchen table. For the first time in months I feel joy.