Blood of Eternity

Bloody Beginning

                                                                        6 Months Ago...

                I stare at the phone in my hand. How did I get to the point where I want to call this man who terrorized me and turned my life upside down? I don't want to, but I have to. Steeling my nerves, I press speed dial one.

I had known it was coming for a while. It manifested as him leaving dates early and not staying until the very last possible minute. It morphed into long lapses of conversation when he was next to me but he also wasn't. The final phase was the lack of a birthday party.

"Roman Ross! You've been keeping secrets from me!" I shout at the black haired boy who'd recently reached eighteen. He hurries along the concrete sidewalk leading out the gates far ahead of us. I shade my eyes against the harsh winter sunlight beating down upon us. My blood pounds like a drum with pent up anger.

"You're moving! You've known for months and didn't say one word to me!" I jog to keep up with my boyfriend, or rather ex-boyfriend now. "I only found out because I came here on my own, today, to find out you're leaving for good today."

Roman stops before he reaches the white gate that leads out to the cul-de-sac in front of his family's manor.

"I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want to hurt you," he says while the wind whips strands of jet black hair across his pale forehead.

"Too late. Is your pulling away, your sudden changes, everything because you were moving or is it because you lost feelings for me?" I ask the big question. Moving away I can deal with but losing feelings for me is not. Tears sting my eyes as the wind picks up again and my brown hair flies in the air around me.

"Olivvia, I love-"

"Son, we don't have time for this. We need to go," Mr. Ross objects. He sits in Roman's black Porsche with the window down just down the sidewalk. I half expect Roman to leave without another word.

"Two minutes dad," Roman shouts at his father over the howling gale.

Walking towards me now, Roman's warm brown eyes finally meet my sage ones, both drowning in tears. I notice the scar following his jawline on the right side of his face has disappeared along with any leftover acne.

"Livv. I thought you knew how I feel about you. I forget you aren't a mind reader. We've been dating two and a half years which is most of our high school career. Before that, I used to watch you all the time. I wanted to understand you, what you liked, how you spoke, what you thought of the world. Every time I smelled strawberries, all I could think was it smells like Olivvia. Since we became a couple, I've had a VIP's view of what makes you Olivvia so here's a glimpse into me.

"I'm leaving to keep you safe. I need to know you won't stay mad and that I haven't hurt you so much you can't heal," he tells me in the most cryptic way possible.

I have to steady myself to keep upright while waves of emotion crash over me.

"Are you coming back? Ever? You make it sound so final." I don't care if I sound weak or pathetic, somewhere between his dad's comment and his plead, my anger dissolved. I can't stay mad at the only boy I've ever looked at, kissed, touched...

"I don't know Livv. What I do know is you hold the most important pieces of me. I'm in love with you Olivvia Rose Evans and I don't know how to say goodbye." Roman bites his lip and wipes his eyes before I even notice the small, glistening water droplets. I know I can't keep up with the flow of tears cutting through my make-up.