Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs. Anything else belongs to whoever it belongs to. ^__^
A/N: This is the sequel to "Hold onto Me" so if you're not interested in reading either of these stories, you've come to the wrong place. Anyway... here it is folks! Blame my insomnia, or maybe the fact that I stayed up all night reading "Twilight" like it was my job, but I've gotten the first chapter done. And I'm pleased with what I've come up with. I think y'all will like it too. Hopefully everyone will love this story as much as y'all loved "Hold onto Me." The song the story is based off of is: "Breathe" - Taylor Swift. I suggest you check it out. :) Enjoy!
How is this proving you're stronger? Walking away makes you weaker.
Those words haunted me every night of my life since the summer began. He had said them with complete and utter pain in his eyes and I walked away, fully believing what I was doing was right – correct, it had to be. I believed that what I was doing would lead to something better for me.
It lead me to Chicago, Illinois. It needed to get far away from everything that surrounded my past – everyone I'd met from the WWE, my broke family whom I'd left in shambles, and most of all, my life. So I moved across the country, hopped on a plane and got far away from New York. Far away from all the pain that crippled me.
I started a new life. I cut my hair about four inches shorter, leaving me with a pixie cut. I enrolled in a local college for the fall and I worked at a local diner for money. I rented a nice apartment – out of city's buzz and loud enough that I didn't feel as if I was being swallowed by loneliness.
I even made a couple friends. Alice and Taylor were their names. Best friends since birth, they were eager for a quiet, fresh face to add to their friendship. We went to movies and to concerts – concerts of bands I never even heard of. It was possibly the change I needed.
Everything was fresh. No one knew my name here. I was just Charity Burns to everyone who did know me. They didn't know that I had a past with some of the most loved wrestlers in the WWE, nor did they know of my shambled family or how my brother had died back at the end of June.
They didn't know how hard it was for me to put on a happy face each morning and pretend my entire world wasn't busted at the seams. If you thought I went on and just forgot about the week with the Hardyz and friends, you're sadly mistaken. Like I said, Shannon's words haunted me every chance they got.
Beth called for a while. She left pleading messages on my phone, beckoning for me to call her. She'd understand. She was worried. She wanted to know where I was. She'd spoken to my heartbroken mother. She said she had no idea where I was. Sad thing is, no one of my past did. I detached everything I could.
It broke my heart even more to disconnect my number and get a new one. I couldn't bear if she decided to trace my phone to Chicago. I knew Beth cared a lot, she'd proved it so greatly so many times, but if I went back to her, I'd go back to them all. I needed to stay strong, or weak. Whatever.
Sometimes I'll still wake up crying in the late summer heat. I'll think I'm still back home, Penn only a room away, only to find myself living on my own, surrounded by nothing by the little voice in my head. I'd wake up to my labored breathing, which was always short and bitter, able to focus when they all appeared in my mind.
I figured it'd be easy. I'd be upset for a couple days and then I'd move on. They'd all forget about me and I would too. I'd get on with my life. Yet, there I was, in late August and I couldn't stop myself from thinking it's never easy – impossible, in fact – to forget those you love.
Read and review and update I shall. :3