Prologue
There is noise all around, she can hear it. Words buzz around her head like a tired honey bee, a constant noise that she is not able comprehend.
Her bare feet stumble along the cobbles, eyes bore into her. She can feel their gaze. It lingers on her skin, it itches and stings. She cannot make it go away. She trips and falls and screams at people to step away. Some faces are familiar, they seem almost full of love but their touch burns her like harsh acid and she flinches.
The voices in her head speak to her now, they are her friends. She has stopped fighting them and instead she listens closely.
They say they know how to make it better. They tell her they can fix all the hurt and pain. She hears them say they can take it back to the good old days. And names flash across her mind. She thinks if she listens, she will be in their arms again. She isn't sure which arms they are, his, or hers or his. She has loved and lost and been so tortured that that she cannot decipher him from her or her from them.
She thinks to be back in their presence would be a heavenly feeling. To feel them loving her would fix all the broken shards. So she listens. She does as she is told.
Step one; the voices encourage her.
Step two; Voices scream but not the ones that matter.
Step three; She can see them standing, waiting. So close she almost feel their three pairs of hands embracing her, and so she picks up pace.
She runs, her feet don't touch the ground.
Voices swirl above her.
The car screeches to a halt, but not in time.
Her head hits the floor and she waits, but she is waiting for something that will never come. The voices in her head don't stop, they shout and yell and screech.
She lets her eyes close.