Everlasting Love

He stared at the canvas with blank eyes, an expensive paintbrush in his hand, poised to make the finishing stroke to his picture. Tears threatened to spill at the image, but he attempted to distract his mind by washing the paint covered brushes instead of crying. Where he lived, emotions were like the paint on the bristles, washed away. They made you unusable, wasted material that took up space in the mansion. A waste of space.

After putting away all of the art supplies, he pulled out a crisp white envelope from his pocket and set it on the table by the canvas. Leaving the room, he hurried through the corridors, quietly maneuvering the creaky staircases and weak floor boards. He couldn't have his mother hearing footsteps around her mansion. He couldn't risk her figuring out his plans, not now anyway.

She had already figured out and ruined his previous ones. Now, he would ruin hers. After all, she had already ruined his life.



"John? John? Are you here?"

John smiled as the soft voice danced through his ears. It had been too many days since he last heard the sweet sound.

"Over here, Kristen." He grinned while standing up from the damp tree he had been leaning on. The girl's honey brown orbs sparkled in happiness, even though she bit her lip in nervousness. They didn't say anything, just studied each other with loving eyes. John reached out and grasped Kristen's callused hand in his soft one. "You look tired." He murmured and cupped her cheek in his hand, gently rubbing his thumb over the bags under her eyes.

She closed her eyes, leaning into his touch. "I am, I guess. With mother sick and all," She paused to take a deep breath, "Papa and I can barely manage the farm by ourselves."

John folded her into a hug at the sight of a few tears running down her cheeks. It killed him to see her like this. She wasn't sobbing, just letting her sadness out. Kristen wasn't the type to cry and complain when life hit a curve ball at her. She was independent, hardworking and strong. She had to be, for her Dad and Mom.

"I promise it'll get better. As soon as I turn eighteen, I'll be over there and-"

"No," Kristen mumbled into his heavy winter coat. "You can't. As much as I want you to, and God knows I do, Mrs. Hayfield would never let her son skip college, marry a farm girl, and ruin her family's name. She'd do anything in her power to stop you."

"I don't care what my mother does. She can't stop us. We just need to wait. Nine more months and I'm out of her control. I'll get all my father's money in my inheritance, break off that stupid arranged engagement to that bitch, and leave that stone prison for good. I'll work on the farm with you."

Kristen looked up at the boy and wrapped her small, but strong arms around his neck, "Seams like you got it all figured out, Mr. Hayfield."

"That I do, Ms. Lockwood," John brushed his nose with hers. "I'll even be able to buy my canvases with the inheritance and the money I make from selling my art in Atlanta."

"You've thought all of this through, haven't you?"

"I have." He kissed her softly on the lips, loving how she immediately returned his love. The couple broke apart after a few moments for air, Kristen laying her head on John's chest while John laid his head on the top of hers.

"I should probably go. It's almost supper time." She whispered. He tightened his hold on her body. He didn't want her leaving his arms, and she didn't want to leave his embrace. But they had too. He couldn't be long or his mother would notice, and she couldn't just up a leave her farm for too long.

"Please be careful," He breathed, smelling the sweet scent of her thick blonde locks. She smirked and pulled away from him, still holding his hand in hers, "I should say the same to you."

"I love you, forever and always, Kristen." John kissed her forehead, praying that she'd be safe without him.

"I love you more, John." She kissed his cheek before turning and padding in the direction of her house. When he couldn't hear the crunching of snow from her feet anymore, he began his journey back to his prison in the other direction.



Little squirrels scampered across the tree tops as he followed the trail through the woods. The path was so familiar, he bet he could close his eyes and make it to the other side without a hitch. He didn't want to take the chance of getting lost though.

He stopped a few seconds later. Closing his eyes, he ran his fingers over the smooth carving in the tree.



"Happy Birthday, Kristen!" John greeted his secret girlfriend before pulling her into a passionate kiss. Her fingers ran through his hair while his hands traced intricate patterns on the small of her back under the thin wool sweater and cotton shirt she wore.

"I made a present for you." He leaning his forehead against hers, grinning.

"You didn't have too."

"I wanted too. Besides I didn't have any money to buy you anything so, I went for something special. At least, I hope it is anyway,"

"Well what is it?"

"It's a surprise!" He covered her eyes with his hands, leading her to the back of the tree they always met at, still grinning.

"Are you ready?"

She giggled, "Yes"

"You sure 'bout that?"

"Yes John, I'm sure!"

"Okay," He dropped his hands to her waist and leaned his head down on her shoulder. Kristen’s mouth opened in shock while her hand went to trace the circle knot design carved in the tree. "Do you like it?"

"I love it. It's so pretty, John." She whispered and placed her hands on top of his.

"It's the Celtic symbol for everlasting love. It wants to symbolize my love for you. I've loved you since I first met you in first grade. My love for you is everlasting. The date is when we started dating. I thought it'd be better than our names."

"It's perfect, John." He thought she was going to say more, but she got very quiet.

"What's on your mind babe?"

She sighed, leaning into him. "Even though I love you with all my heart and soul, I can never have you."

He frowned, "Kristen, just because my Mother thinks she's controlling me, she's not. I'm gonna find a way out from this. I am not marrying Elizabeth Correy. I'm not marrying a person I don't love with my entire being. I'm not marrying anyone but you."

"You mean that?" The girl turned her head to look at the boy. He smiled at her and pecked her cheek, "Of course I do. All I want to do is be with you. I don't want or need all the riches I've grown up in and I certainly could care less about my mother's or my reputation. I love you way to damn much."

"I love you too." She murmured, "Forever and always."



He turned from the symbol, letting a few tears leak from his eyes. A sob slipped from his mouth and he began to run. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Nothing went the way it was supposed to, all because his mother had to win. She always won. And it wasn't fair.

The trees began to thin out as his steps began to slow. His feet hit followed the hard, black asphalt of the road in a slightly different direction than the forest's dirt one. He almost stopped as he passed the Lockwood Farm, but he just slowed down even more to glance at the overgrown, nonliving piece of land. He just kept walking.

After both of the Lockwood girls died, Mr. Lockwood left to go live with his sister and her family. There was no way to manage the farm with one person anyway. Kristen's father just sold the rest of the livestock to other farms and let the crops he had already planted wither. He supposed Mr. Lockwood's life was ruined too due to his mother, Mrs. Hayfield.

Finally realizing where he was, the boy really tried not sob then. The memories were to over powering as he fell to his knees. He lied on the dock, fading in and out of reality as the sky darkened.



Kristen leaned her head on his shoulders, her wavy locks tickling the skin on his neck. He wrapped his arm around her and held her hand in the other. The couple cuddled on the edge of the wooden dock, their feet skimming the dark blue-green water of river, watching the sunset over the horizon. John would occasionally bump his knee with hers.

"I want this moment to last forever." She murmured, glancing up at her love. He didn't say anything, he just tightened his hold on her and laid his head on hers. Placing a kiss to her hair, he watched the sunset, wanting the same thing she did.

"Johnathon Lucas Hayfield! This has gone on long enough!" The shrill, annoyingly high pitched voice that belonged to Mrs. Hayfield rang loud and clear throughout the lake. The couple quickly stood up, Kristen holding onto John's arm as he stood between the two women to protect his girl. "I think you're over reacting, Jane."

"How dare you talk to me in that way! I am your mother!" The woman's face began to turn a slight shade of red, "How dare you be threaten your engagement and my reputation w-with that white trash!"

"How dare you talk about her that way!" John yelled at his mother, mimicking her choice of words. "Kristen is the most hard working, loving, compassionate, kindest, and strongest woman I've ever met. And as much as you hate it, I love her more than I've ever loved anything else on this planet. If you want to call someone names, then call that bitch you're making me be engaged to a whore, because there isn't a man she hasn't done in this town except for me."

The sound of skin meeting skin was heard before he felt the sting on his cheek. Kristen let out a sob, as a red hand print began to form on John's face. He completely ignore the woman's shrieks and turned to the girl. Placing both hands on her shoulders, he looked her dead in the eye and said, "Go home, baby. I love you. I don't want you to see this. Go home where you're safe."

Tears swelled in her eyes, "What about you?

"I'll be fine. Just go."

Kristen took one last look at him before jogging around him, only she couldn't get past his mother. Jane Hayfield growled and pushed the girl down. She landed on the wooden boards, John hearing a sickening crack as her head bounced off the wooden posts. The woman grinned at the girl's body, an idea popping into her head.

"It's all her fault you know. If she was never in the picture, then you'd never had gotten these ideas in your head."

"Mom, don't do anything. I'll come home, do whatever you want, marry Elizabeth, anything! Just leave her alone." He begged. She shook her head before back handing him so hard that his head bounced off the only tied up boat on the dock. Stars danced in front of his eyes.

"Don't you see son?" He vaguely heard his mother say. "If she's still around, then you won't do what I say."

The last thing he saw was the woman untying the chains that held the boat to the dock and moving them away from him. He heard them being dragged on wood and something else before he heard something splash in the water. Then everything was black.



John wiped his eyes. That night his mother had taken a cinder block from the pile on the ground by the dock, thread the chain through it, tied the chains to Kristen's feet and hands, and then pushed the girl in the river to drown. And he didn't do a damned thing.

He stood up and grabbed a cinder block, placing it at the edge of the end of the dock. Another boat was tied up with a chain, so he un tied it and pushed it out to float down stream.

"I'm sorry Kristen." He cried, threading the chain through the hole in the block. "I should have done something, anything." He tied one foot to one end of the chain. "I love you so much Kristen." He tied the other.

Taking a pair of stolen hand cuffs from his pocket, he bound his hands together behind his back. "I told you nothing that bitch could do would keep you from me. I'm coming to join you in the river, Kristen."

Then he kicked the cinder block in the water.