All characters that are from the TWILIGHT saga by Stephanie Meyer belong to Stephanie Meyer. All others belong to me. I do not receive profit for these stories except for the joyous enjoyment of reviews.
This story follows right after When I'm Gone: Third Installment to GONE saga, so if you haven't read that one or the two before, please do.
The timeline of the story will coincide with Gabriel Michael Laskaris growing up years. This prologue is set at eighteen years of age but the first chapter will be set on Seth and Rosa's wedding day, April 12th and the story will progress from there.
Enjoy as you read and remember to review!
Prologue
He watched the red-hot sun slowly dive into the bright blue waters, its bleeding colors soaking across a rapidly darkening sky, dim stars growing brighter with every blink and wink.
He stood at the edge of the ocean, the cold water crashing onto the surf, lapping over his bare feet before retreating back into the vast emptiness, leaving behind flotsam that reminded him of broken dreams and unfulfilled desires.
He let out a sigh, staying where he was, hands deep in the pockets of his cut-off jeans.
For the past two years, this moment of the day had found him here, the constant discordant sound of crashing waves somehow numbing the aching pain he'd carried in his heart just as long.
Letting out another sigh, he looked away from the painted sky, its glorious colors lost on him as he focused inward, the images of gold-brown eyes and red-gold hair –blush pink lips spread into that beautiful smile that always made his heart skip a beat –filling his head.
Two years –two years of waiting and hoping, of missing her with every fiber of his being, of wondering why –why had she left him?
Why, if her love had been true as she'd said, had she chosen her brother over him?
Pulling his fisted hand out of his jeans' pocket, he reminded himself he had to move on –he was moving on.
Here he was, two days away from making his life-long dreams of flying come true…but he knew, if he didn't let her go –along with all those hopes and dreams centered on her…if he didn't leave them –leave her –behind, then he wouldn't make it two steps out of La Push.
Staring down at his fist, he took a deep breath, his eyes closing at the pain that shot across his chest.
He had to do it.
It was going to kill his heart but it was time to let go.
She had left him, after all...she had a life somewhere else –without him.
It was time for him to start living his life as well –and not merely surviving.
That was exactly what he was going to do.
Opening his eyes, he looked at his fist, his mind literally forcing his hand to open, finger by finger, until it revealed what he held.
The sun's last rays dipped into the glass marble, sending the silver star within into a lively dance that winked and fluttered, whispering of sweet times gone by, of promises made and un-kept.
Her smile…her laugh…the way she had touched him with those soft hands…her even softer body…her whispered words of love, sweet kisses full of passion and desire.
Fisting his hand over the marble, he stared across the vast emptiness of the ocean stretching out before him, willing the pain to go away.
It was time…time to throw it all into the nothingness that was the ocean…time to get rid of the nothingness his life had become.
He could feel her, like a whisper following close behind every beat of his heart, a touch that made him take his next breath.
He supposed he was always going to feel her –he would have to live with that, just as he had these last two years.
He was stalling, he knew that –something inside him told him she was near, an electrical current of awareness running through his body but he pushed it aside.
He'd been fooled before; his heart's attempt to hold on to the hope she would one day return to him.
And now, here it was again –desperately attempting to hold on to what he was trying to let go.
And let go he would.
With determination, he raised his arm over his head, so intent on flinging the marble as far into the nothingness as possible that the soft sound of shifting pebbles got lost in the chaos of the crashing waves.
"Gabriel."