The End Of Innocence
by: x Beautiful Tragedy x
Prelude : In Another Life
The unrelenting sun had gone down hours ago and yet the heat remained residual. Stars had only just started to peek from behind their vast blankets of deep blue that was the summer sky and twinkle in all their dazzling light. The house stood just yards away untouched but by time and boarded just as it had been left only two short years ago.
Her grip on the steering wheel was so tight her knuckles were a white unnatural to her. Standing on trembling knees, she wanted for one fleeting second to get back in her car and drive to anywhere but there. But she knew she couldn't. She would probably never be able to again. So many unanswered questions clouded her head and she saw nothing but the past as she turned the key in the lock and slowly opened the door.
The night air was cool on her skin as she went outside to help their friend and his father with the groceries. It was the least she could do after they had so graciously allowed her to stay with them. Any other family might have made her find somewhere else to live, maybe kicked him out too. But not Anthony, he was a different sort of father. Trusting and more kind than any individual she had known yet authoritative at the same time. She could see now why he and Jesse got along so well. Not only was he the sort of parent a person could look up to but a best friend as well.
It was his trusting side that had lead him to leave the two alone for the period of time that it took him to get the groceries. Or maybe he had sense that the two had needed to be alone, to get to know each other again even after the short period of time they had been apart. Either way they had wasted none of the precious time and taken advantage of being alone. It was time that didn't occur often due to the amount of time he spent at work and her unwillingness to cross the line that had clearly been set by Anthony. She was unsure what he would have done had he known but she wished not to find out. Promises weren't meant to be broken in her book, and remained in tact as long as the other party didn't find out. Or so she wished to believe. Yet the nervous feelings that had inched their way throughout her body like a dozen dancing butterflies seemed to settle in the pit of her stomach. Dissolving only when he rustled her hair as he so often did and greeted her with the simple but precious term of endearment he always had. Something her father never would have done.
It was then she realized that he detected nothing. Knew not what had been happening when he was away. Only thinking the cause of her wrinkled clothes, the tinge of pink her skin had adapted was due to the summer sun or wear and tear of the day. And she felt her breath catch in her throat when he, the one she thought she loved, walked in through the back door just barely finished pulling his shirt down. Leaving her to fight a battle with a blush that threatened to show when he gave her that wink he possessed that contained so much yet let on to so little while Anthony had his back turned.
Feelings she had been careful not to let back up in uncountable years resurfaced and she could feel the butterflies that had been in her stomach. She felt as if she were barely able to catch a breath, standing on trembling knees, hands shaking so hard she wasn't sure what she was able to do. But she forced them all down. Convinced that the girl she was then wasn't who she was now. That she was stronger than the young girl who believed in true love that she had been.
She ran her finger along the top of a carefully placed end table. Not one bit out of space or uneven, just as tidy as it had looked back then. How comfortable and secure it felt, the way she liked it, unchanged. The path her finger had taken was marked by a thin trail of unsettled dust. A single line near the edge bordered by an infinite film of light gray on either side.
Moving quietly she picked up an old photograph and blew the dust that had been covering it away, wiping at a few stray traces that had been left. She remembered the summer it had been taken. Right after they'd settled on the house in which she stood, after he'd bought it for them. Everyone had been there, smiling, carefree, full of life as if nothing could ever get them down. Just like they always were whenever one had a life changing event happen. Frozen in time with a look that said they would always be there for one another, friends forever. It stirred up old memories and for the first time she allowed a silent tear to fall.
She almost felt angry at herself for not staying with him. The fight hadn't been worth losing the love of her life over. Sure it was a stupid thing and a source of great frustration but she had stood behind him when he'd started. Surely he should have known she would be there for him when it was done. But so much had changed now and she allowed her mind to only briefly touch the thoughts of what could have been. Thoughts familiar to her by now. She just hoped he wasn't alone wherever it was he had gone. The team had scattered, she knew that much, and with the exception of an occasional Christmas call she had heard from none.
The lights wouldn't come on when her finger flipped the switch but she wasn't surprised. Of course the lights wouldn't work the electricity would have been long shut off by now. Owing to the pile up of bills she was sure there were. Sitting in a chair the brunette surveyed the room taking back her initial though. Things had changed. There wasn't a thing that time hadn't touched from the dusty tables to the old, lifeless feeling of the house. A knock on the door made her jump and she wondered who would come knocking on an obviously empty house at quarter past nine as she wiped traces of tears from her face.
A soft rap on the door made her jump and she laughed at just how silly she had been once she heard the familiar sound again. Taking but a moment to compose herself she walked to the door and twisted the knob, heart skipping a beat when she saw who was standing on the other side. Yet to turn around from where he nervously looked at the car in the driveway. To anyone else he would seem cool and collected but she could tell by the way he popped his knuckles with his thumb that he wasn't feeling that way. And the disbelief in his eyes as he turned around didn't surprised her as much as she thought that it would.
"Elizabeth?" He asked his tone the mirror of what his eyes had already given away.
"Leon." Liz replied by way of greeting, in a cool and even tone.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or elements you recognize from the movie. In fact, the only thing I truly own is the character I created (Elizabeth) and anyone else that comes along that you don't recognize. Any likeness between this story and any other is unintentional. If you notice something feel free to notify me but don't just shout because names are similar as I've seen done very recently. That's ludacris.