Sitting alone in my car I try to wrap my mind around everything that has been going on in the past few weeks. So many emotions: so much pain, so munch anger, so much despair... I feel like I can't breathe anymore. I stare at your old apartment's door before I sigh and leave it. I am so pathetically desperate I ended up paying the rent so that I don't loose all the memories.
I stare at my desktop with out really seeing my favorite picture of you and me when there was an "us"together... How did it come to this?Why did it come to this? What were you keeping away from me? What are you hiding?
How and why did you go from "I love you" today to "I'm leaving you" tomorrow. Do you really expect me to be okay? What should I do? You have been the one constant in my life no matter how bad things were between my parents, regardless of what was going on with my friends. Where did that sweet boy who would have protected me from the whole world go?
I can't breathe Caleb, I can't sleep, I'm barely alive anymore because you're not here. I curse the moment I asked you to help out another girl. I want to scream, I want to yell, I want to break things because you are there instead of here with me. But most of all I want to get inside my car and come beat some sense into you and to get some answers.
Are you well? Are you okay? You said you wouldn't forget anything and yet it feels like it's been forever since you last spoke to me. Do you miss me?
I stare at our picture taken at the last school dance we went together and my mind is made up. I'm coming there to get some answers. At least then no matter what I'll know for sure as to why you are pushing us both to put our past behind us and to face a future miles away from each other...
Hanna's thoughts kept her busy as she drove her car on that beautiful Saturday morning away from Rosewood to the place she had come to loathe the most in the world, the place where the man she loved more than anything else was currently living, to Ravenswood.
As she reached the small town's entrance she suddenly stopped her car, in a desperate effort to clear up her mind about what she was going to do next.
Had things been normal or only a few weeks earlier she would've probably been on her phone getting ready to surprise her boyfriend as it were she took a deep breath before finally deciding on her next course of action.
A nice cup of coffee on the go and then she would be gone on her way to pay Miranda Collins a visit. Seeing as how Caleb had only given her no real explanation as to why he had to come back here, she figured that the only other person capable of doing it was the woman she resented most of right now.
As such Hanna grabbed her bag and walked in a place called the Apple Grille only to be shocked to see the one person she had hopped to avoid seeing in this town sitting at a near by table surrounded by three other people. Unseen by both her and Caleb her entrance had been noticed by an old aged lady who silently shook her head worriedly.
Hanna's eyes quickly scanned the little place and after asking for a coffee went to sit down at a table to drink it.
While she was painfully aware that her ex-boyfriend was in the same place as her, it seemed her arrival had been unobserved. She turned her head from him as soon as she realized she was getting worked up on who the pretty girl standing next to him only to realize she had come face to face with the one person in the world who had managed to freak her out more than "A", Mrs. Grundwald.
The elderly lady spoke in a kind voice to Hanna
-"You came a long way from home only to hace your heart mended and broken, at the same time. The answers you will get are not the ones you expect, Hanna "
Hanna raised her eyebrow at the old woman, and replied to her in a half hushed voice:
-"Id rather spend my time crying over spilled milk, Mrs. Grundwald, than to spend the rest of my life wondering what I did so wrong to deserve such a fate."
Unbeknownst to Hanna, it was during that moment that Remy one of Caleb's friends observed them talking pointing it out to the rest of the persons sitting at the table. Caleb's face suddenly lost all color, for truly it was both a blessing and a curse to have the one person he wanted to keep away from Ravenswood standing a few feet away from him.
He also noticed the sudden changes in her: tired eyes, lost weight, a pale face, but most importantly the fact that she was looking right back at him without any of her special spark left in her eyes. Truly he was seeing only a shallow remains of the woman he's sworn to protect at all costs.
Hanna silently nodded her head towards him before quickly saying goodbye to . Caleb silently rose from his table and walked to Hanna's. Truly for both of them the raw emotions were devastating.
Hanna's phone suddenly beeped with an incoming message, but for once she choose to ignore both the sender and the message focusing on finishing her cup of coffee as her ex-boyfriend slowly made his way to her in a perfect imitation of a person going to an execution walk.
-"Hanna, what are you doing here?" Caleb's voice seemed to hide so many emotions, pain, shock, fear, but she silently choose to ignore them focusing instead on the task ahead of her: getting Miranda's uncle's address so that she could confront the petite girl about her own break up. "You have to leave", Caleb pleaded with her.
-"I want to talk to Miranda", Hanna rose from chair and grabbed her bag and walked to stand in front of Caleb. She noticed the shocked expressions on the faces of the people standing at Caleb's table, she quickly understood that they probably knew more of what was going on than her, "Yes I am that Hanna, the ex-girlfriend, do you want me to take a picture and send it to you?", she snarled towards the shocked Remy, Luke and Olivia's sudden surprise.
-"Hanna for God sake's stop that", Caleb's hand suddenly reached out to grab her by the wrist, "None of them had anything to do with this". Caleb's touch suddenly sent an electrical shock to both their bodies making them aware that they had not touched each other in weeks. Hanna quickly released herself from Caleb's hand and turned a cold stare at him.
-"I want to talk to Miranda", she spat the name, "and until I talk to her I'm not leaving no matter what you say". She did however notice that the four people staring at her were suddenly uncomfortable. "Let me guess i can't see her and it's complicated" she threw the same words that she heard from Caleb right in his face.
Caleb watched his friends silently letting them know he was planning on telling Hanna the truth about Miranda. They all nodded their heads in approval. Caleb then turned to face his stubborn ex-girlfriend and sighed. "It still is complicated but I'll try to explain everything to you. Come on I'll take you to see Miranda."
Caleb quickly grabbed his coat and silently opened the door for Hanna to walk outside. He then grabbed her bag and took it to her car, Hanna silently walking behind him, wondering what exactly she had gotten herself right then. She wordlessly handed Caleb the keys to her car and went inside to sit on the passenger seat.
No sooner had Caleb got on the driver seat and reached out for the seat belt that their hands slightly connected. He quickly withdrew his hand remembering how often they had been in similar positions in bot his car and hers. He silently took in her scent noticing just how much he had missed those small details about her.
He silently prayed to be able to convince Hanna to leave town once he found out what was really going with his life, and also the reasons behind their break up. As he silently parked the car in front of his house, he got out and went to unlock the door. No sooner that they were in the room that he let her bag fell on the bed, that he felt Hanna turn her angry eyes at him.
-"No I'm not sleeping with her and no I've never ever cheated on you with her", Caleb felt slightly exasperated of the possible lack of trust in him. "I just have no idea of how to explain to you everything that has happened in the past few weeks". He silently invited her to have a seat.
-"I'll start with the beginning but I need you to hear me out without interrupting me. Don't worry you can yell at me all you like as soon as I finish. I'm afraid that even if you came here to see Miranda that's not possible anymore." He paused for a moment before quickly adding "Miranda's dead", he then continued with his voice breaking, "and things get even better."
-"Miranda's dead? How? Why? What happened?More importantly if she's dead why are you still here?" Hanna's head suddenly exploded with thousands of questions, followed by remorse and guilt for having bad thoughts about Miranda, and most of all followed by relief that Caleb had been true to her no matter what.
-" I'll start with the beginning. Do you remember when we left that crypt that Miranda found a grave with her picture on it?" Caleb saw an instant recollection appear on Hanna's face. "After you guys left the party that night Miranda went to wait for her uncle to come home. But before we reached the house we found out another similar tomb... It had my name and picture on it."
Hanna felt her air slowly being sucked out of her as her headache increased. And while she desperately wanted to hear some one call out of no where "hey you are being punk'd" she knew with out a doubt that Caleb wasn't lying to her. She stared at Caleb for the first time in what seemed to be years and noticed that he had lost a lot f sleep and weight since he was in Ravenswood. But she also knew with out a doubt that he was telling her the truth.
-" We then met Miranda's uncle, who wanted nothing more than to kick us out of here that very moment we met. He's a real piece of figure. Finally he agreed to let us stay here in the manor to rest... And all hell broke loose afterwards." Caleb watched as Hanna slowly made her way inside his room taking in what he had to say.
-"I imagine you wanted to know what was going on and so you decided to investigate" Caleb smiled at her accurate guess. "But still that doesn't explain much of what's going on. Who were those people back in the town? What do they know about me? Caleb, what's going on?"
-"There's a curse on this town's people...For each war the soldiers come home without a scratch but the price is the life of 5 teens that die." Caleb decided that the blunt truth was probably the best option. "Miranda, myself, and the other three persons you saw at the Apple Grille today Luke, his twin Olivia and his girlfriend Remy. We're the ones that were supposed to die, because Remy's mom came back home after nearly being killed in an ambush weeks ago."
Hanna felt herself reaching an hysterical break down, she knew with out a doubt that Caleb was telling her the truth. And just like that she felt herself exploding in anger when he continued "a week after Remy's mom came home we were involved in a car accident. Our car flew off a bridge into water, Miranda died on the way to the hospital."
-"A car accident? You were involved in a freaking car accident and you forgot to tell me?" Her fist suddenly connected with Caleb's arm. "What else aren't you telling me". Caleb grabbed her as he felt her reach a breaking point and crushed her in a hug, meant to comfort both of them. He held her as he felt her crying.
- "I couldn't tell you anything. You have to believe me, I never meant to keep any of this away from you but telling you means you get exposed to a whole world full of supernatural problems. Miranda... Isn't completely gone, Hanna and that's why I'm here. I'm trying to help her move forward."
-"This town signed a pact 100 years ago, and because of that pact no teen that died in those accident can move forward in the afterlife." He suddenly felt Hanna go very stiff against him."And worse of it is the fact that all those who knew about it seem to be dying mysterious deaths. And I'm not willing to let you become a possible target for whoever is responsable for this situation.
Hanna suddenly let go of him and after furiously brushing her hair out of her eyes she turned a cold stare at him. "It's complicated but you can't stay here, Hanna, I won't let you be exposed to this type of danger because of me." He slowly pleaded his case al tough he already knew he was fighting a loosing battle.
At that precise moment Miranda who had been informed by Remy of Hanna's arrival suddenly appeared in the room very agitated taking in the scene before her. But before she could open her mouth Hanna gave a whispered "Miranda?", looking directly at her. Hanna had noticed how Miranda had shown up in the room and for once was left speechless. She went and sat near Caleb's window taking in the scenery outside.
-"You know I came here today ready to get into a fight with Miranda because of you. I had assumed that when you broke out with me it was because you had fallen for her. Here I was ready to rip her a new one and all I get in exchange is the strangest story of how my boyfriend is trying to save me from everything supernatural."
_'Well if you must know I did threw a couple of books of the library when he told me how exactly he broke out with you... Ghost or not I do care about my reputation" Hanna suddenly smiled at her, simply picturing the scene in her mind.
Caleb watched Hanna with an unsteady feeling in his eye, as fleeting as it had been she had managed to pass all his wall once more. A sudden memory making it's way to the back of his mind. "I stand by what I said outside Veronica Hastings' office, Hanna"
-"Then you better find a way to solve all this mess because otherwise I'll be moving here... And I'm not so sure they have my favorite clothing brands here."
Caleb's mouth suddenly changed into a fleeting smirk as Miranda watched in awe how for the first time since she had both Caleb and Hanna they were deliberately flirting with each other..." I'll take that as my cue to leaving" she whispered as she disappeared.
-"Now what?" Caleb's was definitely working over time trying to guess what exactly Hanna would do next. "Where do we go from here?" Hanna smiled as got up from the window and went directly at him.
-"Now I go find my boyfriend and hopefully I'll convince him to cuddle up like Teddy Bears."
-"Han..."
-"I told you before dating me is the worst thing that could've happened to you. And no I'm not letting you break up with me over this. I understand what you're trying to do here Caleb, but I'm not going to let you go through this situation alone, because you never let me be alone when I most needed you. I'll do my best to stay out of your hair but I'm not letting this be the end for us, and I'm not asking for your permission."Hanna slowly touched his face before reaching ou to put a soft kiss on Caleb's lips.
Which wasn't probably the smart thing to do because suddenly it seemed as if one moment they were standing in front of each other and the next they were entangled on his bed with clothes flying across the room while the two lovers finally reconnected with each other...