Just for This Year

Prologue

Hi everyone, sorry I'm adding this prologue a bit later than the other chapters, I got an idea to build anticipation and I was dying to write a prologue! Hope you guys enjoy how ominous this is, oops.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

The Day it Happened

Nothing felt real.

Lila stumbled through the party filled with bad costumes and the stench of alcohol. This night seemed like a good idea at first. But now, she absolutely detested every single person in her house. She just wanted everyone to be gone. She felt as if her mind was separate from her body, nothing felt real. It was almost as if she was watching from a bird's eye view, and she wish she was. Because then maybe she could just treat it as if she were watching her life unfold and not truly experiencing it. But her wishes wouldn't be granted, because there was no escaping this now.

She felt Ashton try to pull her arm but she shook him off. He watched in concern as she stumbled through the party as if in a disoriented trance. He was in a state of a shock himself, and he couldn't even begin to imagine how she felt right now. He didn't know how to help her, he wasn't even sure if there was a way to help her. This wasn't something he could fix.

Lila could only hope Sam was having a better night.

Unfortunately, he was not.

Sam held his head in his trembling hands. He clenched his jaw roughly as tears fell onto the concrete in front of him. He rocked himself back and forth on the sidewalk, trying to calm himself back down. But he couldn't. He felt like everything was slipping through his fingers. Everything he built for himself was gone... just like that. There was nowhere for him to go from here.

He had never felt like more of a failure than he did right now. He had let down the people he loved most, and he couldn't even tell them. How was he supposed to move on from this when there were no more moves to make? Life was a game of chess and he just found himself in checkmate. There were no other moves left. It was all over.

He had everything planned out, but now he had nothing and he had no one. No one left at all.

Sam spun his car keys around his finger. He had to get out of here, he couldn't stand being at this stupid party for another second.

He never should've wished for this damn year to be different.

He just hoped his sister was having a better night.

Unfortunately, she was not.

Lila always thought physical pain was the worst thing you could endure. She thought it beat everything else. But she was wrong. When something hurts you so badly that you feel it twisting in your chest. It can make you feel like you're dying when you're not.

She felt like a glass house. You could see right through her. You could see every crack and flaw in her structure that worsened by the minute. Sturdy one minute... but with any disruption at all and she would crumble into nothing but dust.

And then she saw flashing blue and red lights accompanied by a series of sirens, and she knew it was all over.

She never should've wished for this year to be different.