A/N: So, I'm back with a story of my own! I did promise you all so here it is! Sorry it has taken a while. I decided to write this in the present tense and in first person - which isn't something I do - so I needed this to be read about five times by myself and once by my beta, banana7pancakes. I was inspired by 'The Book Of Tomorrow' by Cecila Ahern. She's an amazing author and this book had me so hooked that I decided to write this story. It kind of follows the story line of the book, but only basically. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please, leave me a review to let me know what you thought :)

Summary: AU Addison and her mother move into the countryside with Addison's aunt after her father dies and their lives are turned completely upside down when a hidden scret is revealed that could destroy them all.

I get out of the car and look up at the building in front of me. I can't say that the building is huge, it's not. Not compared to the house that we were living in until three days ago.

Three days ago we were a normal, happy family with a lot of money. Father was the boss of a law firm and made so much money every year. Mother was an interior designer for celebrities but she wasn't always working. We were one of those families who had so much money we weren't sure what to do with all of it. My brother and I had our own trust funds full of millions just waiting for us to touch.

Three days ago I lived in the city with civilisation and could get to anywhere I wanted. Now, however, I am stood in the middle of nowhere looking at a small house. Okay, maybe it isn't that small compared to the other few that are here, but it is still small compared the one we have been previously living in.

Archer was lucky.

He didn't have to come and live here in the middle of nowhere. He is nineteen. He gets to live in a tiny flat in the city so he can still go to college. He wasn't forced to come and live here like mother and I were. He can stay with his friends out of choice. I, on the other hand, have to move with mother to this place.

This is the house that mother's sister, Aunt Vicki, lives in. Her name is Victoria but she hates going by that name and always insists everyone calls her Vicki, or even V. Aunt Vicki and mother look very similar, but their personalities couldn't be any different yet they were still very close. Sometimes when Aunt Vicki visited us or we were visiting her, I'd have to look twice to see which one it was.

I love my mother and I love Aunt Vicki, I just didn't want to move. I didn't want to be taken from my friends, my life and thrown into a place I've been to once a year and forced to live here.

Mother is stood next to me just gazing forwards like she is on another planet. She has been this way since father left. When we got the phone call from the hospital telling us that father had died, mother just caved in on herself. She stopped speaking almost entirely, only uttering the odd word here and there, often not making sense. When mother looks at me, she doesn't really see me, she just looks through me, like I'm not there. Sometimes I wonder if she knows I exist anymore. It feels like she doesn't always exist.

I look up at my mother then back at the house where I see Aunt Vicki come out and run down the garden path before enveloping mother into a tight hug. Mother just slowly moves her hands up and places them on Aunt Vicki's back. That is the only effort she makes to hug her sister. Aunt Vicki whispers something into mother's ear before she turns to me and wraps me into a hug so tight I'm sure she is squeezing the air out of me.

I feel her arms tighten around me before the tears flow down my cheeks freely and I'm biting my lip to keep the tears in. Aunt Vicki is whispering soothing words into my ear like she knows that I'm crying in her arms before she pulls away and kisses my forehead. I sniff and quickly wipe at my eyes to get rid of the tears as she turns back to mother and takes holds of her arm.

Uncle Arthur walks out of the house and towards us with a sad look on his face. I suddenly have this urge to yell and scream and suddenly my mouth is opening and I'm doing just that. I'm yelling at them but I have no idea what I'm yelling as the tears roll down my cheeks again. Mother just stands staring ahead of her while Aunt Vicki and Uncle Arthur look at me in shock. I can see Aunt Vicki letting go of mother and walking towards me once again but I just yell at her and turn before I start running down the dirt road.

I have no idea where I'm going; I need to just go.

I run.

I run as fast as I can and as far as I can.

I stop running when I feel my chest tightening from all the running and crying. I stop by a tree and lean against it. I squeeze my eyes shut but the tears continue to fall and I just want out.

I want out of this place, of my life.

"I HATE YOU!!! I FUCKING HATE YOU!!!" I yell as loudly as I can before I slide down the tree and curl into a sobbing mess at the bottom, unable to hold it in any longer.

This is the first time I really cry.

-

By the time I get back to the house it's starting to get dark. I hug myself tightly as I make my way back along the dirt road. I stand outside the house for a few minutes, staring at it, thinking of the life that is now mine.

Aunt Vicki must have seen me because she comes running out of the house and hugs me tightly like earlier that day, before leading me into the house. I don't say anything as she takes me into the living room and sits me down in a chair. She brushes some tears from my face before she gets up and disappears into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a cup of tea.

I don't drink tea but I'm doubtful this place serves lattes or cappuccinos so I take the tea anyway and sip it slowly.

Aunt Vicki is still sat watching me worriedly like I'm about to break any second.

I'm not.

I'm fine.

I've had my moment and moved on from there. Mother is the one she should be worrying about. Mother is the one who's hardly talking. Not me.

I'm fine.

"Your mother is upstairs," Aunt Vicki speaks softly to me. "Artie has put your bags in the bedroom you'll be staying in. Just make yourself at home." She gives me a small soft smile before kissing my forehead and leaving me alone in the living room.

I sit with my hands wrapped tightly around the cup of tea and watch the flames in the coal fire dance as if there is music only they can hear. They flicker from side to side before one rebels and dances to its own dance for a few seconds before joining back in with the others. I lose myself in the flames' dance and just for a while, stop thinking about how much has changed.

-

Mother doesn't come down for dinner tonight and I wonder if she ever will again. She's just sat in her room. I haven't seen her since we got here, but Aunt Vicki assures me that mother is okay.

Only thing is, she's not, and we both know that.

I sit quietly and eat. The only sound in the room is the clink of our knives and forks against each other and the plate. I can feel Aunt Vicki and Uncle Arthur watching me every now and then as we eat but I don't look up, not wanting to talk right now.

"So…" Uncle Arthur finally starts. "I hope you like your room. I know it's not as big as you're used to but I hope Vicks and I did good with it. We heard that it's what teenage girls like so…" He's rambling and Aunt Vicki looks at him before she kicks him under the table to shut up. He gives a small yelp from the pain, but he gets the hint and stops talking.

"I think I'm just going to take a bath and then go to sleep," I mumble and push my plate away as I stand up.

"Okay. Call if you need anything." Aunt Vicki smiles softly at me as I turn and leave the kitchen.

I trudge my way up to my room, thinking of our grand wide stairs. I remember when I was little I use to feel like they went on forever.

Everything seemed so much bigger then.

I stand at the top of the stairs and wonder which one is my room. I realise I should have asked but I don't want to go back down. I walk to the first door on my right and find that the door is slightly open. I push it gently and look in to find the bathroom. I should really remember all of this but I don't. I walk over to the door on my left and push it open slightly to find the master bedroom. I quickly shut it and move to the next door.

This is my room.

I can tell by the fact that my bags are in it and mother isn't. I walk over to my bag and unzip it, pulling out my toiletry bag. I make my way back into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind me.

I walk over to the bath and look at it. It's tiny. You could only fit one person in it. You could fit nearly five of us into the bath that was in my en-suit. The bathroom was nearly as big as my bedroom. I had a massive bath tub, a shower, a toilet, a sink with a mirror above it. I even had a couch in there. I had never understood the need for a couch in my bathroom, but who was I to question it?

I sigh and turn the taps on, watching the water splash down into the bath, gradually filling it with hot and cold. I place my bag on the side and open it before I get what I need out. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, flannel. Once the bath is hot enough I strip and get in, letting the hot water relax my tense body.

I just want this nightmare to end.

-

I make my way into mother's room once I'm dry and dressed in my pyjamas. I push open her door and walk in. She's lying under her covers with her eyes closed. Quietly I walk over to her bed and just watch her sleep for a while.

She's just a shell of the woman she used to be. She used to be so confident, so alive. She enjoyed every moment of every day. She was hardly ever sad and always so energetic, yet she could be serious at the same time. Sometimes I would just yell at her and tell her to stop and leave me alone before I'd storm out of the room. She'd never give up, though. She'd follow me and try to get me to smile. It would only result in me being even more annoyed though and I'd yell something horrible before storming out of the house and slamming the door loudly behind me.

I kneel down beside mother's bed and rest my chin on the edge of the mattress as she sleeps.

I just want to go back.

I want to go back to where we were a family all together. I want to go back before we got that phone call. I want it all to disappear. I hate this.

I hate all of it.

I lean forward and press my lips to mother's forehead before I stand up and leave her room. I walk into the room that is now 'my' room and crawl into the single bed.

I used to sleep in a double bed and I had so much room. I used to love it. My room was like a whole other house. It wasn't as big as my parents' but it was still big enough and I had most of the things I needed in there.

Another sigh passes my lips and I pull the covers up before I close my eyes.

This is the first day of the rest of my life.