Chapter 1 – The Flashback
Hal sat up in bed and looked around. It was morning, his gorgeous girlfriend Jillian was still asleep. He sighed as he laid back down. It was that day. The day that ruined his life forever. The day he made promises he knew he would not keep. The day the one person he had really truly loved, Carol, died. He still remembered it like it was the other day…
He came home from training on Oa with Kilowog to see the window was broke and the door was open. He rushed in, taking in the sights with horror. Carol laid at the top of the stairs, bleeding out of a stab wound in her abdomen. He sprinted to the top of the stairs and took her into his arms.
"What the hell happened?" he asked her, his voice shaking.
"I did some stupid stuff," she coughed, "and now I have to pay for it."
"You didn't do anything, this isn't your fault, you have to stay strong for me, please," he begged.
"Hal, I'm not going to make it. Not like this. Can you promise me something?"
"Anything," he said through his tears.
"Don't cry," she whispered, brushing a tear off his cheek, "Promise me you'll find another woman, that you'll be happy," Carol said sadly.
"I can promise you that if you can promise me you'll stay strong until an ambulance gets here," he mumbled, pressing buttons on his cell phone.
"Please don't make this harder than it is," she sighed, "Just promise me."
"I-I promise," he nodded.
"Good," she closed her eyes, *"I love you."
"I love you, too- Oh , no. No, no, no. Carol-Carol, c'mon, stay with me, please, you're stronger than this. You gotta fight, please, please fight-fight for me," Hal pulled her lifeless corpse closer to him, "No, no, you can't be gone, you can't be…" he sobbed, hugging her close, "I l-love you…."
"Hal?" Jillian's voice brought him back to reality, "Are you alright?" she asked, running her fingers over his chest.
He looked around the lightly painted room, thinking, was he alright? He didn't know, himself. He sighed, he knew he wasn't, but was he going to admit that to Jillian? Oh, hell no. If Jillian knew he wasn't over Carol, she'd dump his ass quicker than that snail in that racing movie he saw on television. But he had promised Carol he would be happy, which meant that he couldn't let Jillian dump him. But then again, was this worth the promise? The torture of being with Jillian? He promised Carol he would be happy, and with Jillian he was everything but happy.
"No, Jillian, I am not okay. I haven't been okay for a very long time, 2 years to be exact. This will be my 3rd year without the woman that I actually love, and to be truthful I've only really been with you because I promise her I'd get a life and be happy, but I'm not happy. And here, I never will be. So, I gotta break up with you," he said quickly as he got up and got dressed.
"…What?" Jillian asked.
"Okay, look, I am not repeating that speech again, so in short- You got dumped for a woman that's been dead for 2 years. Have a nice life," he snapped as he shut the door to her apartment. There was only one place for him to be on a day like this- Carol's grave.