Prologue
Derek Shepherd unlocked the door to his old apartment. In one hand, he clutched a bag full of Chinese food, even though it was well past midnight, and in the other, his keys. He looked around the small living room. A thin layer of dust covered the floor and the tiny table in the centre of the room. As he scanned the room, everything seemed to be in place. He had only been on one shift, forty-two hours, and yet it felt like his whole world had been flipped upside down.
He had a brother.
He still loved her.
She loved James, not him.
Shaking his head in frustration, he set the bag on the coffee table. He went to fridge, hoping to pour himself a glass of anything other than alcohol. Without thinking, he grabbed the carton of milk from the fridge, and a cup from the cupboard. Unscrewing the cap, he tipped the carton up, waiting for a drop of the white liquid to fall into the cup.
"HEY!" He shouted angrily, slamming the carton on the counter after finally realizing she had put the empty carton back in the fridge. He felt anger boiling up inside of him. Everything, all the emotion he had held in for so long, seemed to burst at that moment. He stormed out of the kitchen and across the living room. He threw open the door to her room. In an instance, he felt the rage that once boiled in him go away. The furniture in her room was gone; the walls that once were covered with her posters were bare. She had even taken the phone that belonged to the landlord.
The only thing that she had left behind was a blue French horn.