AUTHORS NOTE
This takes place three months after Edward leaves but before Jake becomes a werewolf. Edward doesn't come back in the cannon amount of time.
Things are changed up, so this is like a parallel interwoven AU. Also, my first attempt at a fanfic.
Also also, this is a cursory chapter just to see if anyone would want to know more.
ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO SMEYER
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PROLOGUE
Three months. Three months since he left. I won't say his name. I can't. Every time I merely think about it, it feels like the void he left gets a little bit bigger, blacker, a little deeper.
The nightmares don't stop. I'm still waking Charlie up in the middle of the night screaming. The circles under his eyes threatening to become a permanent fixture on his face.
TWO MONTHS LATER
Five months. The nightmares are quieter now. The void slowly being haphazardly glued back together by the time spent with jake and doing all the things to pretend I'm a functioning adult. Oddly enough the turning point was realising the affect it was having on Charlie. This isn't his fault. He doesn't need to suffer. And if I can't live for him, I might as well exist for somebody.
7 MONTHS LATER
The day I'd been subconsciously fearing has come. My nineteenth birthday. I've stopped seeing the space he left as a void. It's taken form as a box, with a little button for pain. His name only a small ball, that whilst it doesn't hit as often anymore, it still hurts the same. And it's hitting a lot today.
I've gotten good at being human. No longer zombified, him all but a forgotten memory to most. And at least, the circles under Charlie's eyes have disappeared. Everyone's gone off to fancy colleges but I'm staying. There's nothing for me anywhere else and despite my best efforts to not admit it, i know why i can't really ever leave.
Edward.