Your World Comes Crashing Around You

I was happy once. We were happy once. My family and I. Until it happened. And I am happy now. In a way… But I am still without them; and I miss them so much. Even after all this time. Allow me to take you back, all that time ago.

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I shivered lightly as I walked through the dark woodsy area that was the fastest way home. I wished desperately that I’d brought some kind of jacket to go over my Slipknot tee shirt. I picked up my pace and adjusted the earphone in my right ear, which blasted Waking the Demon by Bullet for my Valentine into my brain.

Idiot, I thought angrily. What kind of retard forgets to wear a jacket in Winter? In Wales?! When I walked home from school to change out of my school uniform the sun had been shining a little, so I’d stupidly gone to meet my friends at the skate park with just jeans and a tee shirt on. I didn’t even realise I did not have a jacket until I was there and I certainly couldn’t be bothered to walk all the way back home then. It’ll be fine, I’d thought to myself. I’ll survive. Now it was six o’clock and already pitch black. And freezing cold. I really have to do something about this laziness problem… I thought, sighing.

Just then I turned the corner and stopped in my tracks. Sitting on a wooden bench, only a few yards up the dirt path, was the most amazing man I had ever seen. His long dark hair fell across his face slightly as he starred straight ahead of him. I let out a small quiet gasp and he looked up at the sound, starring right at me.

I mentally shook myself, blushing, and continued walking. Oh god, I have to walk past him, I thought. I was shocked to see someone in this usually deserted area, let alone someone as breathtaking as him. As I hurried past him I could feel his eyes on me. I glanced at him quickly and smiled politely. He tilted his head and smiled back in a way that wiped the smile from my face, my blush go even darker and my pace to increase along with it. I only just heard his soft velvety chuckle over the loud music in my ears as I hurried away.

I could hear his laugh until I finally turned around another crop of trees. I sighed in relief and relaxed a little but not enough to stop me from running the remainder of the way home. I shut my front door firmly and locked it. I leaned against it breathing heavily.

‘You must be cold,’ my mother commented, taking in my bare arms.

‘Not really,’ I replied, still gasping for breath.

She chuckled. ‘And you ran home, why?’

‘I felt like a bit of exercise,’ I said sarcastically.

‘And pigs might fly,’ she snorted. We both burst out laughing as my little sister, Amelia, ran screaming into the hall, an excited smile on her cute little face with our father chasing after her and making strange, growling noises.

‘Save me, save me Lou! The monster's going to get me!’

I scooped the small girl up in my arms and held her protectively. ‘Its okay, Amelia! I have you now!’ I said dramatically.

‘Damn! Now I have lost my dinner!’ said my father in that same growling voice. Amelia stuck her tongue out at him.

I chuckled and tickled her belly with my free hand. I loved my four year old sister, Amelia, more than anything in the world. She was the cutest, sweetest, most caring child I had ever met, and probably ever would meet. In some ways she was the complete opposite of me; for example her fair locks looked almost white compared to my straight raven hair and her eyes were bright blue however mine were a few shades darker. Yet we shared pale skin and a beauty that neither of us quite understood yet.

‘You’re such a big kid,’ my mother said to my father, fondly. As I looked up at them he put his arm around her waist and they lightly kissed each other on the lips. I smiled a little. My forty year old father, David, and my mother, Julia, who was merely three years younger than him had been together around twenty years but hadn’t married until nine years ago, quite a while after they’d had me. And even after so much time and two children, their bond was still as tight as ever. Now, as I watched them, I glanced down at the slight bump in my mother’s belly where my unborn brother lay. I briefly wondered if he would alter the relationship between Amelia and I at all.

‘Is everyone happy with spaghetti Bolognese for food?’ dad asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

‘Yeah, yeah!’ Amelia shouted excitedly. She was always excited by the simplest things and so happy, hardly ever getting angry or sad. Even if she did, she cheered up within minutes.

‘I’ll make a start on it,’ he laughed.

‘Do you want to play hide and seek before we eat?’ I asked Amelia. It was one of her favourite games, especially when we were playing outside.

‘Yeah, yeah!’ she said happily, her face lighting up even more. I smiled, put her down and started counting with my eyes closed.

© Amber Williams 2009