Chapter One
It’s Tuesday.
After school Hunter and I start talking on Facebook like usual.
Hunter: Hey, you know there’s a fair on Friday?
Bella: Yah, I know.
Hunter: You should come with me?
Bella: I don’t know if I can. One sec, let me ask.
Hunter: Ok.
I stand up from the dining room table and run upstairs.
“Hey mom, Hunter wants to know if I can go to the fair with him on Friday.”
“No.”
“But mom!”
“No, that’s a date and you know you’re not aloud to go on dates. I don’t even know this kid.”
“But I do. We have been talking for awhile and I know him really well.”
“Bella, no.” My mom says sternly.
“How old is he?”
“18, but we are just friends.” I say.
“Uhh.” My mom chuckles.
“Mom please!!” I argue.
“No, Bella!! He’s 18 and you’re 13, there’s no way you’re going to the fair with him!!”
“Mom, we are just friends! He’s just a student teacher and you’re acting like I’m in love with him or something!!”
“I said no Bella! No means no!”
“Ugh mom you’re making a big deal out of nothing!” I stomp downstairs and continue our conversation.

Bella: It’s so stupid! They’re acting like something’s going to happen.
Hunter: I’m guessing they said no?
Bella: Yah. And it’s just because you’re 18!
Hunter: I can understand that.
Bella: Well it’s ridiculous and I REALLY wanted to go!!
Hunter: Yeah. I wanted you to go too!
Bella: My parents are so difficult, I wish I could just go and die.
Hunter: Don’t say that.
Bella: Well it’s true!
Hunter: No, it’s not.
Bella: I don’t see the point in life anymore. I’m losing my best friends and nothing good is happening to me anymore and I’m done. I wonder if I just disappeared if anyone would miss me.
Hunter: I’m 100% sure a lot of people would.
Bella: I don’t know..
Hunter: Well I have to go and do homework. Don’t do anything stupid. I better see you in class tomorrow.
Bella: Ok..
Hunter: Promise?
Bella: I promise.

I always look forward to 4th hour now and in my opinion, it goes by so fast!. Hunter can make me smile and laugh even when I don’t want to. He has an irreplaceable personality! We have been talking all week and it’s Friday. The day of the fair, I really want to sneak out with him..
Bella: Hey.
Hunter:: Hey sweetie.
Bella: I’m really sorry I can’t go tonight.
Hunter: It’s okay.
Bella: No it’s not!
Hunter: Really, it is!
Bella: Have fun for me?
Hunter: I’ll try. No promises though. I’ll bring something back for you.
Bella: You don’t have to do that.
Hunter: Yeah I do. I can’t come back with nothing.
Bella: Yes you can.
Hunter: Listen Bella, I have a confession..
Bella: Yeah? What is it?
Hunter: I think I’m falling for you..
Bella: I have a confession too.
Hunter: And what is that?
Bella: I think I might be falling for you too.
Hunter: I promise I’ll be there to catch you!
Bella. Please don’t let me drop. Last time I fell no one caught me and now my heart is shattered into a million pieces.
Hunter: Well, I’m going to pick each one up and sew them all back together
Bella: :)
Hunter: Well I have to go..
Bella: Okay. :’( Have fun.
Hunter: I don’t know if I’ll be able to.
Bella: Crap I have to go too. My mom’s coming!
Hunter: Ok, bye. I’ll talk to you tomorrow!
Bella: Ok. Bye

“Bella, who are you talking to?” My mom says as she barges into my room.
“Um, no one.” I reply as I quickly close the chat Hunter and I were in, “Just one of my friends from school.”
“Ok. Well it’s time to eat so come downstairs.”
“I’m not hungry.” I lie, I’m starving!
“We know you’re upset but sometime you’ll understand. You need to come eat.”
“Ugh fine I’ll be there in a minute.”
She leaves my room and I shut my grey and black HP laptop and head downstairs. Man that was close, I think as I take a seat at the dark wood dining room table.
As soon as I finish eating I come back upstairs and reread through all of the messages with Hunter. Throughout the week we have made it so far and become so close. From just being strangers to being friends to saying that we are falling for each other. We are like the poem Romeo and Juliet. He’s like my prince, and treats me like a princess. I only wonder what he would’ve done if I would’ve gone to the fair with him..

Chapter Two
Everyday I wait for him to walk through the door. I feel the whole room light up when he enters. Even on a bad day he puts a smile on my face when he comes in. Once we catch each other’s gaze I quickly look away at the floor and I feel myself blush. I hate how we have to hide how we feel for each other at school and in public in general.
I guess you can kind of say we are dating now, I mean he told me he loves me. When he told me that I felt my heart beat so fast it could’ve plopped right out of my chest. Just right there in the open, splattering all over my lime green and hot pink bed sheets. But for some reason, still pounding, getting louder and louder. The movement of my heart going up and down visible with some scars from past heartbreaks that have been sewed together by someone or not yet shattered once again. Some scars you could see multiple stitchings. The techniques varied a little, but not much for most, showing different people that attempted fixing my heart. Some pieces of her heart, however, were being held together by only one strand. Well, that’s what it looks like on the inside..
The days go by so slow besides fourth hour and when I talk to him after school. When we’re talking for one hour it only feels like ten minutes. He treats me like a princess and like he could possibly lose me. He has me wrapped around his finger. I would do anything for him! He knows that too and he doesn’t take advantage of it! We talk about our future together and I hope what we plan comes true! I give him all the power to crush me and I trust him not to.

“I want to see your phone” My mom scolds as she snatches my phone out of my hands.
“Mom! Why?”
“Yah that’s what I thought,” she mumbles as she reads stuff on my phone, “You need to stop talking to him.”
“No, mom! Why?”
“Because I said so!” She says as she gives my phone back.
Oh my goodness, I can’t stop talking to him! Not now! Not ever! I love him!!
I get on Facebook.

Hunter: Hey sweetie
Bella: Hey :(
Hunter: What’s wrong?
Bella: My parents found out I was talking to you and they told me I need to stop. :’(
Hunter: Oh.
Bella: Yah..
Hunter: Well then I guess this is it?
Bella: NO! I can’t stop talking to you!
Hunter: But your parents...
Bella: I don’t care about my parents! I love you and that’s all that matters! I’d rather be dead than be without you!!
Hunter: I told you to stop saying that. Death is a serious thing.
Bella: I know it’s a serious thing and I am serious! What about our future??
Hunter: We could always wait until you’re older and start talking again
Bella: I can barely get through the nights without you! How would I be able to get through five years??
Hunter: True and it hurts me not to talk to you too..
Bella: So that leaves one option. To keep talking.
Hunter: But I don’t want you to get in trouble.
Bella: I don’t care. I don’t want to stop talking to you.
Hunter: Well then how was your day?
Bella: It was good until I got home.
Hunter: I’m sorry..
Bella: It’s fine. How was yours?
Hunter: Pretty good besides I could only see the love of my life for one hour.
Bella: And who would that be?
Hunter: Well.. she has blonde hair, her eye color varies from a deep blue to a deep green. She’s beautiful, smart, unique, amazing, honest, caring, and kind.
Bella: I wonder who that could be?? I have this guy I really like too..
Hunter: Oh.. really?
Bella: Yeah. He’s handsome, he has black hair, brown eyes, he’s so darn cute, loving, caring, and the nicest person ever!!
Hunter: I wonder who that could be.. haha I. love you!
Bella: I love you too!
Hunter: Sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to just run away together. No rules or laws to follow. Just the two of us.
Bella: That’d be amazing.
Hunter: And we can start a family. And we wouldn’t have to worry about anyone besides us.
Bella: I’d love that!
Hunter: Yah.
Bella: But they’d find us. And take you to jail.
Hunter: Who said they’d find us?
Bella: But I need school.
Hunter: Yah.. Hey you have school tomorrow you should probably head to bed.
Bella: But I don’t want to stop talking.
Hunter: Neither do I. I wish it could be like this forever.
Bella: Like what?
Hunter: Just me and you talking.
Bella: Yah I do too. But wishes don’t usually come true.
Hunter: Yah.. but sometimes they do.
Bella: If only my parents were chill about all of this and understood then that wish could come true.
Hunter: Yah I wish they were too.
Bella: I can’t live without you.
Hunter: I can’t either.

Next thing I know, I wake up. S***! I fell asleep! Now I have to get ready for school when I’d rather be talking to him. Everyone seems to be in my way and annoying. I just want him. That’s all. My parents seem to have been getting more and more suspicious as to who I am talking to and it’s driving me crazy! I don’t know what’ll happen if they find out I’m still talking to him.

“You went to bed awfully late last night.” My mom says as I walk downstairs to breakfast.
“”Yah well I had a lot of homework, you know how crazy it gets in second semester.”
“Well Facebook said you were online all night.”
“I never log out. And anyway, I’m a multi-tasker.”
“Maybe you wouldn’t have been up so late if you weren’t on Facebook.”
“Okay mom.” I say annoyed just to end the conversation.

I finish getting ready trying to avoid my parents as much as possible when my dad comes in.
“You really need to understand how inappropriate it is to be talking to an 18 year old like you are.”
“Yah well I don’t want to talk about it.”
“We need to, you aren’t going to be able to avoid it forever.”
“I know dad I just think it’s unfair for you guys to be pestering me about it.”
“We’re not pestering, we’re parenting.”
“Yeah ok. Can you leave now? I need to finish getting ready.”
“Ok. Have a good day!” He says happily as if we didn’t just have that conversation. He stares at me as if I’m going to reply, but I don’t. I just curl my eyelashes and carefully run mascara through. I look in the mirror and run my fingers through my straightened hair. I notice how the my lime green shirt and mascara make my eyes pop. I look up and see my dad still standing there. I roll my eyes and continue my morning routine. Eventually he takes a deep breath and leaves.
I find myself asking a lot more questions than usual in fourth hour just to have Hunter sent over to answer them. No matter how stupid the question is and whether or not I can answer it myself, I ask it. If by chance Mr. Dell tries to come over Hunter tells him that he can take care of it. I sit in the second to last computer. On my left Abby sits, and on my right is the last computer and that seat is empty. So sometimes Hunter makes his way over to sit there so we can talk, if the conversation leans in the direction of how we like eachother we whisper so no one can hear us. When we whisper Abby always asks what we’re talking about, I always reply with nothing. But before I know it the bell rings and I have to say good bye. Sometimes I take my time after the bell rings and everyone leaves, including Mr. Dell until it’s just me and Hunter in the room and I get the hug that keeps me going. Well that’s what I did today but this time Hunter kissed me on my neck. After he did that he released me from the hug and we looked into each others eyes for a few moments, then I left. As simple as that as if nothing had happened. I just left. No one suspected a thing except I left the room smiling. Even just a simple kiss on the neck made my day.

Hunter: Did you feel it?
Bella: Did I feel what?
Hunter: Did you feel what I did as we hugged today?
Bella: I think I did. But I don’t want to be wrong.
Hunter: Just say it and if you’re wrong it’s no big deal.
Bella: Well um..
Hunter: I kissed your neck :)
Bella: Yeah, that’s what I thought but I didn’t want to be wrong and then like awkward haha.
Hunter: Haha yeah. I have a question.
Bella: And I have an answer.
Hunter: :)
Hunter: Have you ever had your first kiss?
Bella: Yah. Have you?
Hunter: Yeah. But I was thinking..
Bella: About?
Hunter: What it’d be like with the young lady I want to marry and spend the rest of my life with..
Bella: Oh.
Hunter: Yah. Would that be okay with you?
Bella: Just don’t ask me. Just let it happen.
Bella: :) Well I better go.. My parents have been getting on me more and more about how late I stay up..
Hunter: OK :( I love you.
Bella: I love you too

I could not get to sleep last night. I kept thinking about when it’d happen. When he was going to kiss me, but whenever he does I hope it will be special.
Hunter: I found a way we could sneak that kiss..
Bella: Really? How?
Hunter: Well there’s a football game Friday..
Bella: Yah?
Hunter: We could do it then. I work in the concession stand and you could come “help” me with something and then we could do it.
Bella: Oh. Well that works! Yay! Wait. Tomorrow’s Friday!
Hunter: Yah. :) So how was your day?
Bella: It was pretty good until now.. you just made it amazing!!
Hunter: Haha I’m glad. It’s all I’ve been able to think about all day!
Bella: Me too..
Hunter: You should text me sometime..
Bella: Yah?
Hunter: Yah. I’ll give you my number at school tomorrow.
Bella: Ok :)
After I get his number I put his name as Him <3 so whenever I get a text from him I am reminded that he’s the one. Although, how could I forget?

Well something weird happened today. My friend Jenny told me that since I’ve met this guy and started talking to him I’ve changed. Jenny is my only friend I’ve been able to talk to about all of this because I trust her. I didn’t really care, I’d rather lose her than him. All I’ve been able to think about is that kiss, all day, that’s it. Tonight at 6:30 I’ll go and be able to kiss him sometime at that game!! I’m really surprised my mom is letting me go to the game tonight. I’m nervous, excited, and a little scared all at the same time. I decide to wear my little brother’s jersey. It’s green with a yellow number one on it. I throw my hair back into my casual ponytail, curl my eyelashes, then put on my thick mascara. As I finish it’s time to leave. Finally!

The air smells like fresh cut grass as I walk in the gate. It also has a taste of popcorn in the air. This football game is going to be the best one yet! I hang out by the concession stand the whole time to talk to him and before I know it half time is over and I haven’t got that kiss yet. He decides to take a break so we walk out and I’m thinking it’s going to happen now but it doesn’t. We just go and sit in the stands and watch part of the third quarter. While we are watching the game Hunter kind of bumps into me and I thought it was just messing around so I bumped into him back. He did it again and I looked at him as he glanced down at his hand. I got it, he wanted to hold my hand. I slipped my hand into his and we hid it in between our knees. His hand was a little rough, but not too rough and it was nice and warm. As the fourth quarter starts he takes me back to the concession stand and I stand outside while he goes in.
“Bella, we could use a pair of extra hands in here. You want to help?” He begins moments later suggesting that the time has come.
“Yah, sure!” I say as I walk in. I kind of just stay to the side until he calls me to the back corner where there is a closet hiding if we kissed.
“These were the old tech shirts!” He said, motioning me back. As I set my red Powerade down, I walk over and this feeling comes to me and its like a nervous but scared feeling and yet at the same time excited!! He pulls me tighter to the corner and we stare into each others eyes. He pulls me closer. Slowly he lowers his head as I raise mine and I find myself standing on my tip toes until our lips meet. But something happened in this kiss that has never happened before. He slips his tongue in past my lips and at first I’m a little grossed out but then I think you only live once so I slip mine in too. His tongue travels around my mouth and it feels weird but good at the same time. We kind of pull away together for air and stare into each others eyes again, then I rest my head on his chest. He puts his fingers under my chin and gently lifts my head up and we kiss again. And again. As we kiss, my hands are on his shoulders, his on my hips. This is the perfect moment I’ve been waiting for, although his Coke and my Powerade aren’t the best tasting mix. But this kiss, this kind of kiss is new.

I remember just weeks ago talking to my parents about how nasty this kind of kiss was. Here I am doing something I told them I’d never do. I’d never do, until I find the right person I want to spend the rest of my life with. Well guess what mom and dad, I found him and we’re going to be happy together no matter how much you want to take my happiness from me.

My heart was pounding really fast but now it’s slowing down. I’m calm and I like this feeling. It makes me feel wanted. It makes me feel like someone actually wants me! All my life I’ve felt like I don’t belong and I’m not wanted but now, I don’t feel like that anymore! I feel like all the bad is taken away and a great weight is lifted off my shoulders. When we stop I slowly lick my lips and bite my bottom lip. I can’t stop smiling. I finish the game helping him and we look at each other a little differently now.
I wonder what Abby would say if she found out this happened. There’s no way I can tell her. I want more though. That kiss just made me fall two times harder. I hope he can manage to catch me still. I don’t know what I’d do without him. He’s my foundation, I would crumble.
Hunter: So how was that?
Bella: Amazing! :)
Hunter: Sorry I’m not a very good kisser
Bella: Yeah you are. But I was awful!
Hunter: You weren’t! So that wasn’t your first?
Bella: Well it was of that kind..
Hunter: Oh. :)
Bella: Yah .:)
Hunter: I’m glad I could experience that with you and be your first kiss.
Bella: I’m glad I had it with the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with!
Hunter: I love you.
Bella: I love you too.
Hunter: Do you have an Oovoo?
Bella: No. But I can get one.
Hunter: You should.
Bella: Ok :)
I add him on Oovoo and we talk for the rest of the night so I didn’t end up getting to bed until about 1:00am.

I get on Oovoo after school and of course he’s on, yay! I decide to video call him and he answers. He doesn’t have a shirt on but hurries and grabs one and throws it on.
“You don’t have to do that.” I say
“Yah I do.” He says.
“I’m used to my brothers and their friends walking around the house shirtless. It’s no big deal.”
“Yeah but this is different.” He says and I reply with a chuckle.
“Unless..” he begins, “You want to make an offer with me.”
“Haha and what is that?” I answer, up for almost anything.
“If I take my shirt off, you have to take yours off.”
I don’t reply really, I’m kind of hesitant. I’m not sure about this.
“I don’t know,” I say, “What if my mom, dad, or brothers walk in and see, I’d be grounded forever!”
“True, but that’s the offer. Mine for yours.” He says, obviously not budging to cave in.
“I’ll think about it.” I answer. He makes a heart with his hands and holds it to the camera and I make one to match.
He whispers, “I love you.”
“I love you too.” I whisper back. When my mom opens the door I casually exit out of the web chat and mute my volume just in case he calls back. I open up some work on my laptop when she asks the causal question of “What are you doing?”
I answer truthfully, “Homework for school.”
“Oh, then I won’t bother you.” She leaves and shuts the door behind her. That was way easier than I expected. I wait for her to walk back down stairs before I call him back.
“Sorry my mom came in.” I apologize.
“It’s ok sweetie.” He laughs. Then he messages me with the chat on Oovoo.
Hunter: So what about that offer?
Bella: Not now! Especially since she’s home.”
Hunter: :(
Bella: I’m sorry.
Hunter: It’s ok.
Bella: Maybe next time. I will do the offer for you one of these days.
Hunter: Promise?
Bella: I promise.
Then I get offline. What did I just do? I promised to take my shirt off in front of the camera and I don’t break my promises.

It’s a beautiful Sunday to be Mother’s Day. My mom’s taking a bath when I start talking to my little brother, Josh. We decide we want to walk to the tennis courts at the school since we live just down the road.
“Can Bella and I walk down to the tennis courts and playground?” Josh asks.
“Only if you finish your chores!” She yells from the top of the stairs. Josh and I look at each other in astonishment because she’s never let us walk down there. We quickly finish our chores and I yell,”Mom we’re leaving!” Then shut the door and head on our way. It feels like it takes forever to finally get to the courts. Once we’re here I text Hunter telling him I’m at the courts, knowing he lives on a street off of the road of the school. I’m just leaving the mall babe. Sorry. If you’re still there when I get back I’ll come. He texts me back. I’m kind of bummed but I don’t show it and begin playing tennis with Josh.
“Let’s go to the playground.” Josh says after about half an hour.
“Okay.” I say a little hesitant. I begin packing up our tennis balls and rackets. I text Hunter back and say Josh wants to go to the playground so that’s where we’ll be. Josh has already started walking so I jog and catch up to him and we start talking. We pass the baseball field on our way and I see two guys from school there, Travis and Guy, They wave so I wave back then Travis starts talking to me and I really don’t want to talk.
“So what are you doing here?” Travis asks.
“Just got done at the courts and now I’m taking my little brother to the playground.”
“You should play some baseball with us.” Travis says as he glances back.
“Sorry, I got to go.” I lie to Travis.
“Okay.” He says. As I walk away, I walk away a little faster. We finally make it to the playground and I check my phone again. He replied with: Okay, I wanted to play some basketball anyway. The day was hot, and I mean like cook an egg on a metal chair outside hot! So Josh and I were pretty tired and worn out already but I didn’t want to leave, not yet. Josh and I were on the swings when I saw my mom’s light blue van pull in and my heart began pounding fast. Josh and I walk over to her and ask why she’s here.
“I wanted to check up on you guys and see if you guys wanted a ride home.” She answers.
“No, we’re good.” I answer. I kind of want to just go home in case something bad happens, but something tells me to stay. She looks at Josh to reassure that it’s what he wants too. Then she drives away. Almost there. I read on my phone after she leaves. I decide to sit under the rockwall and after a few minutes a black car pulls in.
I look and I see him sitting in the passenger side holding his basketball with his dad driving. When he gets out of the car and starts playing I don’t join in. I think it’d be really awkward to interfere with him and his dad. I just sit on the ground and glance over casually. Come play. Is the text I get from him. No I don’t want to make things weird. I text back. He insists that I come and play and I don’t really want to just walk over so when he misses an easy layup I call, “Nice air ball!”
“Like you could do better!” He says. So I walk up, grab the ball, shoot, and swoosh.
“See, it’s not that hard.” We form a game of one on one with his dad just picking sides and switching now and then but usually on my team. He’s good at defense, but I’m a good rebounder for when they miss. I’m having a good time playing when I see that light blue van pull up. Crap! Mom!
“I gotta go!” I say as I run, reach for my stuff, and approach my mom’s van.
“Is that Hunter?!” She asks, I can tell that she’s mad.
“Yeah..” I say knowing I’m about to get in trouble.
“Mkay.” She says really mad. It feels like the longest ride home ever!
When we finally get home I begin going upstairs when she states,“You might want to just stay down here.” I take a deep breath and I know I’m in trouble. I take a seat on the couch and begin watching T.V.
“You will never guess who I saw Bella hanging out with at the playground.” My mom says ticked off.
“Who?” My dad wonders as he gazes over at me.
“Hunter.” Mom said like she wants to kill him.
“Hmm well I guess that means she’s grounded?” My dad replies.
“No! I’m sorry but it’s stupid how you don’t want me hanging out with him just because he’s 18! I don’t see what the big deal is! You and mom are 4 years apart and we are just an extra year!” I scream.
“But we didn’t meet until we were older and graduated!” My mom cuts in.
“It doesn’t make a difference! If I want to love him, I should be able to love him!” I argue.
“We are your parents and we are trying to protect you. I’ve experienced something like this before and I don’t want you to have to go through it too!” My mom says.
“I just want to experience life without you having to shove your life experiences into it! It’s my life and I want to live it!” I persist.
“You are lucky I don’t go over and talk to his parents!” She yells.
“What, do you just expect me to stop talking to him?!” I question, knowing the answer.
“Yes!” They both say as if I’m finally getting it.
“I’d rather die than stop talking to him! I’m tired of my life and he’s the one who talked me out of committing suicide! If it wasn’t for him I could be dead right now! He’s the only reason I live anymore!” I cry. My mom and dad look speechless. “And what am I supposed to say?!”
“Say how we don’t want you talking and it’s extremely inappropriate.” My mom answers.
“If he keeps talking to you we will turn him in and face him with as many charges as we can get onto his ass.” My dad adds.
“I can send the text if you want.” I get from my mom, as if it’ll make anything better.
“Fine, whatever. I’ll send it.” I go upstairs crying and send the text.
Hey my parents caught us at the school. The say it is very inappropriate to be seeing each other like we are. If we don’t stop talking they will turn you in and you will go to jail. I’m so sorry! :’(
I never get a reply. I hear the front door open and my grandparents come in. I really don’t feel like going down there, especially since they’ll notice I’ve been crying.
“Bella, you need to come downstairs, it’s time to eat!” My dad yells up the stairs about 15-20 minutes after they got here. I really don’t want to. I get up, wipe my tears and put a fake smile on my face. I’m just going to act like nothing happened. About 15 minutes pass before I actually come downstairs.
“Well hello stranger!” My grandma says.
“Hey.” I say quietly with my voice weak and trembling, trying not to let any tears out.
Dinner goes by so slow and I try to keep my eye contact away from my parents. I want nothing to do with them anymore. I’m done.
My parents are cleaning up right before dessert. I’m sitting at the dining room table with my grandparents.
“I heard you were tired of life.” My Grandma says, breaking the silence.
“Yeah.” I answer with the clanging of the dishes in the background.
“I don’t have any idea why you want to end it.”
“I’m just bored with it. I feel there is nothing left, for me anyways.” Exits my mouth as I stare emotionless at the ground. As I said that out of the corner of my eye I saw my parents lift their heads from the sink.
“God has a lot planned for you.” Grandpa asserts, and the clanging of the dishes starts again.
“Yeah, I know.” I try hard to stay emotionless. Finally the dish clattering silences and my parents bring out the dessert. Usually my mouth would be watering by the sight of all the different assorted cheese cakes that lay in front of me, but not today. It’s kind of sickening to be honest. I want to just burst in tears in front of everyone but I don’t need a scene. I just stay seated as Josh leaves the living room where he was watching T.V. to come and join us. Everyone digs in, except for me. I just stare at it, thinking about how much I want to run upstairs and text Hunter. Call him and cry my eyes out. I just want to talk to him, to be with him. To make love with him.
“You’re not going to eat any?” Mom says knowing this isn’t my usual self.
“No. I don’t want any.” She took me away from my train of thought. I can tell Josh feels bad for me by the way he has been acting. I feel bad that he thinks he’s caught up in this, I didn’t mean to let him enter into this maze called my life. If I could I’d take him right out of it and erase any memory from this he had.

“Hey you should come over!” Kay, one of my friends said.
“Okay sure!” I answer. Kay used to be my best friend but all year we’ve stopped talking more and more. I miss hanging out with her like crazy! I ride the bus home with her and when we get to her house we talk and catch up with things, until her mom says there’s a gathering with her friend and asked if we wanted to come. We answered yes because it was a Friday night and if we didn’t go we would spend the night at her house.
The house is a big white house. It’s on a farm and her mom’s friend’s kids were working on it. We walk around the house a little and a car pulls up. I don’t know who it is but Kay does. She runs over and gives her a huge hug. We chat a little with the adults then get bored so we go in Kay’s mom’s blue, beat up pickup truck. We sit with our phones for a while and finally I break the silence by saying,
“She won’t stop messaging me!”
“Who?” They both answer in unison.
“Abby! It’s like I’m obviously busy if I don’t answer you!”
“Let me see it, I’ll take care of it.” Kay’s friend, Hope, says as she takes my phone. She starts massaging her.
“Please don’t say anything mean! She knows my parents and is innocent so she would definitely tell!”
“She’s one of those friends?” Hope asks.
“Yah.”
“Ok I won’t.” She answers. I don’t think anything else of it and start talking to Kay. Now and again Hope would jump into our conversation, then fade out again when someone messaged me. After a while I glanced at my phone right as my older brother, Jason, messaged me on facebook. I heard you were being mean to Abby. It read. Shoot, what did Hope say? I read through all the messages and they weren’t bad, Abby is over exaggerating. No, I got hacked. I lie. Oh, well mom wants you to call her and she’s pissed. Oh my goodness. I can’t believe she actually told on me. Actually I can, she’s too pristine to handle it herself. What did I do?! I call my mom, and Jason was right, she’s really mad.
“How could you say those things to your best friend?!” My mom yelled through the phone.
“I didn’t! I set my phone down at the party and someone must have took it and got on it!”
“You need to call Abby right now and explain what happened! If this is going to happen then you are to never stay at Kay’s house again!”
“Ok Mom! Bye!” I say really annoyed, and hang up. I call Abby and explain everything because I really do feel bad and she understands. I knew she would she’s a very understanding person. Abby has dark brown hair and eyes that always are reflecting images as if they are watery. She appears as she is, a very forgiving christian. She is so nice and I don’t know why I acted like I did. She’s really caring and my best friend. I could talk to her about anything and everything and she wouldn’t judge me at all. One of these days I am going to make this up to her.
The bus ride home from school the next day I was thinking about the lie I told my mom and how I should confess because I know she’s going to tell my dad and they will catch the lie. As soon as I venture up the stairs and set my stuff in my room I am called over to my parents’ room.
“I talked to Kay’s mom today,” My dad begins, “and she said you guys were all in her truck throughout the party and you all had your phones.”
“Yah. I was going to confess to that right now, to be completely honest. Abby kept messaging me and it was getting really annoying so I said that she wouldn’t stop messaging me and Hope, Kay’s friend, took my phone and started messaging her for me.” I confess,
“Let me see your phone, I want to see the messages.” My mom said.
“Okay.” I leave, get my phone, and open up the messages as I’m entering her room. After they are pulled up she reads through all of them and sees that I’m not lying.
“I’m sorry I lied, it won’t happen again. “ Just as I say that my mom hits the message bar that brings down all of my past messages and she sees Hunter’s name.

“Dave look!” My mom says, and shows my dad the messages.
“Hm.” He replies angry.
“Bella go downstairs and clean up the house right now. Dave call the police.”
“No mom! Please! Stop!” I scream.
“No! I warned you and you warned him!”
I run downstairs crying and begin cleaning. It’s awards night tonight and June 5th is officially the worst day of my life! I can’t believe this is happening to me! My mom comes downstairs and sits on the couch.
“I’m very disappointed in you.” She says. I don’t say anything for a while but eventually I do break the silence,
“I don’t care. I was going to try and get you guys to disown me by the time I’m 17 so I could go live with him anyway. If you wouldn’t have disowned me it wouldn’t matter, I will be gone on my 18th birthday and living with him.”
“Keep talking that gives us more to work with, we are charging him with as much as we can get onto him anyway.”
“As soon as I turn 18 I will be removing anything and everything you put on him.”
“Like I said keep talking.”
I finish cleaning and I sit on one side of the couch and my parents sit on the other. We watch TV and wait for atleast half an hour.
“You know if this isn’t taken care of by the time award night starts you won’t be going.” My mom adds.
“Oh my goodness!” I say rolling my eyes. I have worked hard all year to go to this and now they aren’t taking me!

When the officer finally gets here it is about 6:30 and he talks for about 15 minutes and then asks me if he can talk to my parents for a few minutes. I look at all three of them, then get up and leave. As I enter my room I see my laptop’s gone. Great, there’s no way to warn him what just happened and will be happening. I can’t believe the bad guys are winning and taking Hunter away from me! I lay down in my parents’ bed right next to Josh and he seems to be making me feel a little better. My eyes get heavy and I fall asleep.
“Bella. The officer wants to see you now.” I get woken up by from my dad. It was one of those dreamless sleeps. I slowly get up and work my way downstairs. I’m a little dizzy and confused on what has happened until the officer interrupts my train of thought.
“Can you get some shoes on I want to take you somewhere for just a little while.” The officer asks as I reach the living room.
“Okay?” I answer and run back upstairs and get my shoes on. Flip-flops. My average day footwear. He takes me outside and opens the passenger side door and has me get in. He shuts it and walks to the other side.
“Okay I’m not here to tell you how what you’re doing is wrong but to explain it to you. Your parents asked me to try and make sure this makes sense to you how wrong this is.” I nod in agreement. He begins by asking me questions and he takes out a yellow pad of paper and a pen. He draws on it different words, shapes, pictures, numbers. Everything. I get what he’s saying and how wrong what I am doing is but I still love Hunter and nothing is going to change that.
“Basically he’s a sex predator.” The officer states.
“But he’s not. He wouldn’t ask for that. We talked about it and I told him I didn’t want to have sex until I was married and he understood. We’re still talking, if he was a sex predator he would have left.” I answer. We talk for a little longer and finally he says,
“Okay, you can go inside now, I’m going to talk to your parents. I’ll see you in a couple days.”
“Okay.” I simply say wondering what he means and exit the vehicle. He’s a pretty nice guy. He’s tall and has light brown to blondish hair. He compared my relationship with Hunter like it was as if we (the officer and I) were dating and we kissed. He’s like 30 or 40. Ew. He said it was the same thing because they are in the same age group but Hunter and I are closer in age and it doesn’t make sense. No one believes me that I didn’t have sex with him even though one of my strongest self standards is not to have sex until I’m married. It’s so frustrating!

Since no one believes I’m a virgin they decide to take me to the doctors the next day to get me checked.

“So you met this guy, this 18 year old. Do you want to tell me about him and the things you did?” The doctor asked. I just looked around and glanced at my mom.
“If you want, she can leave.” The doctor suggested hinting toward my mom.
“Yes.” I say. My mom looks at me as if in shock but I don’t care. Whatever I can take away from her I will.
“Okay.” She says in a weak voice as if she’s hurt and gets up and leaves. Like I said, I don’t care. I’ll be happy once something my mom and dad loves gets taken away. Maybe they’ll figure out that we weren’t doing anything bad and we are perfect for each other once they read through our messages.
“So what happened?”
“Well I met this 18 year old and he’s really nice. He’s perfect. When my parents found out we were talking they told me I needed to stop talking to him. I tried but it didn’t work. Then we met at the elementary school and my mom caught us. She once again told me to stop talking to him or she would turn him in. I tried, I really did. But I went to my friend Kay’s house and some things were said to one off my other friends and my mom checked my phone and saw that I was still talking to him. So she called the police and all this stuff happened and now I’m here.” I answer.
“Well did you guys do anything?”
“Like sex? No. That’s a big thing of mine. No sex until I’m married.”
“Okay well that’s what your mom wants me to check.”
“Okay.” I answer. I’m pretty uncomfortable with what she does but I’m glad when it’s over, but I have to go to school. My parents call the school and set up a meeting with the principal, superintendent, vice principal, my counselor, tech teacher and even the school’s police officer. I really don’t want to go to school. All the teachers are going to find out and treat me differently than they once did. They take me out to lunch before I go as if it’s going to make me feel any better or hate them any less but the whole time they’re on their phones. I’m not that hungry again and I really just want to get my phone and laptop back and talk to Hunter. I wish I never would’ve lied so then at this moment I’d be at school and everything would be normal. If I was to get my technology back it’s not like I would ever talk to him again, at least until I’m 18. I hope he doesn’t forget about me because I will never be able to forget about him.

Did I mention I was missing exams? Yeah the whole time I was at the doctor’s I was missing my final exams so now I have to make them up on my own time. When I get back to school it’s lunch. Great, half the day’s already over. What was the point in even coming? I have two exams, one in fifth hour and one in sixth hour and then I’m staying after school to make up first and third hour exams.

Fifth hour is torture. I stare out the big window eating a sucker. This secret is burning up inside, it’s burning alive. My parents told me I can’t tell anyone but it’s too late for that one. I hope Jenny can handle this secret. I feel like I’m in my own world. All alone in the abandoned and forgotten midst. No one would ever be able to understand me. I hope this mask I’m wearing doesn’t fade off, even though it feels like it’s going to. This has weakened me a great measure, both mentally and physically. My parents have no idea what they’re doing to me. They are as clueless as a deer casually getting a drink of water in the stream while it’s getting stalked by a hungry wolf it will have no chance against. My eyes are hazey, my heart has slowed, I have altogether changed. DDIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGG!!!! Finally, I’m saved by the bell! I walk out of class and head to hour six.
“Hey, I heard you got arrested last night?” Steven walks up to me and says.
“What?! Who told you that?!” I ask freaking out.
“Everyone’s saying it.”
“Oh my goodness. I didn’t get arrested.”
“They said they saw you get in the cop car.”
“Yeah it was my dad’s friend’s, I wanted to see what the inside looked like.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“If you need anything, you can talk to me about it.” He says.
“Okay. But right now I don’t.” I say lying, I really want to talk to him about it but I can’t. It’s so frustrating that everyone’s spreading rumors about me. You miss a day and get in a cop car, I guess it’s the end of the world.


After school I head down to the office to meet my counselor there. When I enter the doors to the office I take a left and head down to her room, on my way down I see my principal and vice principal standing there and talking, I’m right, they do look at me differently. I catch their gaze and my eyes quickly go to the ground. I hope this doesn’t last forever. Tomorrow’s my last day at school before summer vacation starts, this will be one long summer and when I come back in the fall I hope everything’s taken care of and everyone forgets about it.

Mrs. Jay, my counselor, has me go and take my tests. After I’m done and waiting for my ride she calls me into her office to talk.
“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, but I’m here for you and I would be more than happy to talk.” She says in her sweet, caring voice.
“Well, I know you were in that meeting with my parents. I wish I would’ve stopped talking to him, but, like, I just wish that they would understand my feelings.” I begin.
“Yeah, I wish you would’ve stopped talking to him too, but you didn’t so these things are going to happen and I wouldn’t exactly call him a predator like your parents use a lot but it’s not right for him to be talking to you the way he was.”
“When my parents called the police the officer wanted to talk to me, so we got in his cop car. Well I guess people saw because now everyone,” I started getting tears in my eyes and my voice was weakening so I take a deep breath, “everyone thinks I got arrested and I guess now that’s spreading throughout the entire school.” The water started rushing out of my eyes and I couldn’t stop it. It was so embarrassing.
“People think you got arrested?” I nod, “For what? Being too smart?” We both start laughing. I can talk to Mrs. Jay. I trust her and she’s understanding.
“I just don’t want to go to school anymore.” I weep. She looks at me with a tilted head and caring eyes.
“Oh. Well if that’s the case then you could always come in the summer and make up your exams.”
“Yeah.” We talk to my dad about it when he comes to pick me up. Somehow he talks me into going to school and Mrs. Jay gives me a pass that I can use at any time of the day tomorrow. It’s just a half day. I’m not ready to come back.

I don’t hear anything about the rumor all day, so I don’t use the pass. It just sits in my binder all day and I’m tempted just to use it to get away from people and sit around and think about him and miss him all day.

I get off the bus one last time and walk up my long, narrow driveway. In one to two more weeks, I think, I’ll be off at camp. But right now, I’ll just die in boredom. When I look up I see my grandpa and his girlfriend working and cleaning out the shed.
“What are you guys doing?” I ask as I walk up to them.
“Your grandpa’s having a garage sale and we are getting all this stuff ready for it.” Jule says.
“Oh.” And I walk into my house. I begin walking up stairs, turn to the right, and all the way down the hallway until I enter into my bedroom. The biggest one in the house, yet there’s still not enough room for all of my stuff. I set my bag down, put on some grubby shoes, then walk back outside.
“I’m ready to help.” I say. There’s nothing better for me to do so I decide why not help them. My mom’s not home and neither is my dad. They never answered me yesterday about how long I was grounded for which is really annoying. When lunch approaches they take me to Subway. I should have my phone right now, I think. I shouldn’t be grounded on summer vacation. This is not happening.

Bella got her laptop and phone back. Everything was turning back to normal until she went to a Bombers game with Abby.
“If Hunter’s here you need to call me and I’ll come a pick you up.” My mom says as she pulls up to the gate, “And you better call.”
“We will.” Abby and I say at the same time. We walk up and pay for our tickets. We’re meeting Abby’s friend here who is also in tech. Her name’s Iz. We look around and find her quicker than expected and sit down.
“Guess who’s here?!” Iz says as soon as we sit down.
“Who?” Abby and I say in unison and I already knew the answer knowing my luck.
“Hunter!”
“What?” We say yet again at the same time.
“Yeah the student teacher in tech.” She says innocently. Abby looks at me in panic and I can’t tell if my facial expression is the same but Iz can tell something’s wrong.
“Where?” Abby asks.
“Over there.” Iz answers as she points somewhere, I can’t find him but Abby sees him.
“Let’s move.” Abby suggests.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Iz asks.
“We just don’t like him.” Abby says. We get up and walk the long way around, to avoid him, and find a seat on the other side. As we walk Iz starts talking to someone and we keep walking.
“Should we call your mom?” Abby asks impatiently.
“I don’t know. No. You’re mom might be mad that you wasted her money. What’s the chance of him seeing me anyway?” I say a little worried.
“She’ll understand, but your mom wanted us to call her.”
“I don’t know. Maybe we should.” I sit and think and she talks to Iz and we all mess around a little but finally I decide,
“Yeah. I think we should call my mom.”
“Okay.” We walk down the steps and stand to the side of the concrete wall to call my mom.
“Mom,” I say when she answers the phone, “He’s here.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in a minute.” She answers. Abby and I walk out of the gate and I apologize big time for this. I am really regretting coming to this, I can’t leave the house without seeing him. I see my light blue van pull in and as soon as she stops we jump in the van before anyone comes to see why we left.
“As soon as you called I knew that’s what you were going to say.” My mom says as we shut the sliding side door. “As soon as I left I had a feeling that he was going to be there.”
“It’s like I can’t even leave the house anymore mom.” I say a little sad.
“Well we are getting a PPO and so instead of you having to leave he will.”
“Oh. When are you getting that?”
“I don’t know yet.” She replies. I sigh. I hope soon. This is too much pain to be dealing with right now. I still question if he’s the one. My love. My soul mate. I remember when I went to Florida and I prayed if he was the one or if I should just let it go. I prayed to show me some sign and I saw his name all over everywhere the whole time! Whenever I saw a guy I pictured Hunter! Are those the signs that we are supposed to be together forever? Or was it just a coincidence?

Abby spent the night at my house and we talked a little about Hunter. We promised never to hang out or talk to him again. I don’t really know if I can completely commit to that. As soon as I’m 18 I’m going to begin talking to him again anyway. I just really miss him.

It’s still hot August, so I’ve been completely without him for about 2 months and it’s killing me so deeply. School’s starting in a couple weeks and I’m not ready to deal with people, especially the looks from the administration staff, well at least all the people who know. What if the people in that meeting with my parents ran their mouths and told every teacher? What if now they are going to put a target on my back like they did my older brother? What if I see him again and the pain grows even worse? A lot of things can happen. To think this hasn’t even started yet and so much has already happened. The only thing that has happened is the investigation, and even that is still in progress.
Two weeks after the Bomber’s game Abby calls and invites me to go to a football game.
“Do you think he’d be there though?” I ask Abby.
“No. Probably not. Didn’t he get banned from school ground?”
“Yeah.” I hesitated, “Let me ask.” I hang up the phone to go and ask my mom and she’s fine with it.
“Okay I’ll meet you there?” I ask when I call her back.
“Ok. I’ll see you there.” And we hang up. I get ready to go and I am excited to just get out of the house. I put on my blue aero 1 1/2 inch tank top which has cute little ruffles on it, and a pair of shorts that aren’t exactly school appropriate. I wear some plumping mascara and light eyeshadow. I put my hair back in a high ponytail and grab my phone.
“Let’s go mom!” I yell as I run down the stairs. Surprisingly she’s waiting for me. We have to take Josh to football practice first and then I walk to the game. I meet Abby in line and we talk a little. Abby gets in before me and as she walks in, she sees the worst.
“Bella! Look who’s here!” She harshly whispers. I get the worst feeling in my stomach as I slowly glance up and see Hunter starring at me from the concession stand. He’s standing with his hands on the counter looking directly at me. My heart melts. I thought I missed him before. I didn’t know what missing someone was like until this moment. He’s wearing a black shirt, and light blue jeans. His eyes look at me in pain, desperation, need, and I try to be strong. I hope my eyes don’t look the same back, even though I feel that way.
I can’t tell my mom. But I have to. I can’t, but I need to. He’s supposed to be banned and I don’t know why he’s working here. Working here like he promised me in our chats on Oovoo. I don’t think I’ll ever promise again because now his will be broken, he won’t ever be able to come back. I’m always in pain but now, now this is too great to handle. I want to just burst out and let my emotions all rush out of me, but I can’t. I have to hold strong. I need to find Jason, he’s supposed to already be here. He can protect me and help me.

This is very difficult to restrain myself from going over to talk to Hunter and confess to everything but I need to stay away and get help.
My mind fades away into a flashback. I remember on his last day of student teaching. I have tech right before lunch. I remember how he gave everyone candy and told them to take one. I let everyone go ahead of me and once they got their candy they walked to the doors. Me on the other hand didn’t do the same as everyone else. This day was more emotional for me than everyone else because they weren’t as close to him as I was. Once I got to the front of the line he looked at me with those caring brown eyes of his and told me I could take as many as I wanted. I took three. One for now. Another for later, when I was missing him so much I couldn’t bare it anymore. And the last one would forever stay uneatened, until we reunited once again, reunited so we would never have to say goodbye, only goodnight. I remember how we would exchange notes after my mom caught us at the school. They’re things I can hang onto and read no matter whether I’m grounded or not. I’ve read them twice so far. I read them when I’m so depressed from missing him that I’m in tears and can’t sleep at night. I can never sleep at night anymore. I fake it though just so my parents don’t worry, even though they deserve to. Well Hunter’s last day we exchanged our last notes for a long time and his was pretty thick. I actually saw him finishing it during the class period. I put my note in his hand as he put his in mine. Then the bell rang. I hugged him once the room was empty. We hugged tight. I didn’t want to release him from that hug. I didn’t want to let go. Once we pulled away I got one last kiss, we stared into each others eyes,
“I’m going to miss you.” He said with water in his eyes.
“I’ll miss you too.” I said as my voice began weakening.
“I. Love. You.” He said slowly.
“I love you too.’’ I echoed back. Then we left the room. This day for me was awful. I got my lunch and sat down at my table, opened the note, and zoned everyone out. I began reading and tried to fight back the tears but finally they trickled down my cheeks. I saw someone look at me and it reminded me that I wasn’t alone and I put my head in my arms.
“What’s wrong?” Someone asked.
“Nothing.” I replied with the voice of someone who’s been crying. I wiped my tears, put my head back up, and began reading the note again. Here we go again, watery eyes. I can’t read this note without crying. I still tried. When the bell rang I got up and went to my locker. Then head to 5th hour and Jason saw me.
“Bella! Bella! What’s wrong?” He yelled. Oh boy, here comes the protective brother.
“Nothing. Just go away.” And in a swift movement he put both his arms up to block my way of escape and I was against the locker. I had a substitute in 5th hour that day.
“Jason, stop! I’m going to be late!” I snap at him.
“No, not until you tell me what’s wrong.”
“Jason, please.” We went on arguing until he let me go and I walked into class crying.
“Can I,” I stuttered, “Can I go to the bathroom so I can stop.” I ask the substitute.
“Yeah, yeah, go ahead.” She answered in return as she saw my tears.

When I turned the corner in the hallway I met Jason there.
“Why aren’t you in class?” I ask.
“Because. That’s not important! What’s wrong?”
“Nothing Jason. Just go.”
“No! I’m not going to go until you tell me what’s wrong.” He continued.
“Jason, you’re going to be late.”
“I don’t care. Now tell me.” He pestered.
“It’s just,” I began and the tears came back.
“Is it Hunter? Did he do something to you?!”
“No, Jason, no. If anything it’s mom and dad. Today was his last day and I’m never going to be able to see him in person again.”
“Oh.” He said.
“No, Jason, you don’t understand. I can barely get through the day without him. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be here right now. He’s the one who talked me out of suicide.” Jason then gave me a reassuring, tight hug and we went our separate ways.
I snap back into reality and search for Jason until finally I find him.
“Jason, he’s here.”
“What? Who’s here? Did you tell mom?”
“No and Hunter’s here.”
“Well I’ll have to talk to him.” He begins as he starts walking over to the concession stand.
“No Jason don’t! You’ll mess crap up! I just wanted to tell you.”
“Fine.” He says. Then we go our separate ways.
“Where do you want to sit?” I ask Abby who has been here the whole time.
“Umm... Let’s sit over here.” She motions and I see a bunch of our friends. We start socializing and I fake a smile like I’m enjoying myself. But really in my mind I’m going crazy, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know whether I should call my mom or not and if I do I will surely never see him again. Abby and I have been to the concession stand a couple times and I try to drift back away from him but he seems to always find me and look at me. I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t want to get in trouble either.
“I’ll be right back.” I say and walk towards the fence. I take a deep breath, pull out my phone, and call my mom. The phone’s ringing and I glance over at Hunter and take another deep breath. I can’t do this, I need to hang up. I can’t do this to him. I think But I need to I argue with myself. I’m about to hang up when the ringing stops,
“Hello?” My mom answers and I can hear coaches yelling in the background from Josh’s practice.
“Mom,” I take a deep breath, “He’s here.”
“I know,” She says, “Your brother told me.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away, it’s just I had to work up the courage to call you.”
“It’s ok. Well it’s not, but still. I’m pissed because we were told he wouldn’t be there and he is. You shouldn’t have to put up with this.”
“Yeah.” I sigh, hoping I made the right choice to call her.
“I’m trying to figure out what to do. I called your dad but he didn’t answer. I’m tempted to just call the cops.”
“Mom.” I say annoyed, not wanting him to be embarrassed.
“What? He’s not supposed to be there and he is.
“Yeah, but.” I begin to argue.
“Yeah, but nothing. I’ll let you know what’s happening as soon as I know.”
“Ok. Bye.”
“Bye.” She says and I hang up. When I hang up I kind of just hold my phone in my hand and sit there wondering what’s going to happen next. Then Abby runs up to me,
“Here, I bought you a pretzel.” She says as she holds a pretzel out to me.
“Thanks.” I smile, and I shove my phone back into my pocket. I take a deep breath. I don’t know what to do. Should I warn him? I don’t know what to do so I decide to sit back down and act like nothing’s happening.
“What’s wrong, why did you have to leave?” Someone asked.
“Nothing, I just had to check up with my mom.” I answered
“Oh, I have to do that too.” Someone else added.
If only I could vent out to them and tell them what’s happening. Tryantville just can’t handle a secret that big. The case is still going on right now and I wonder how long it’s going to take to finish it. It’s killing me to see him and then having him ripped away from me before I can even blink. I want him back more than ever now.
Next thing I know I see my mom walk in and a couple cop cars pull up. Oh no, I think, he’s going to jail. I see my mom talking and motioning with the athletic director. Hunter is asked to leave the concession stand and he walks out of the gate to meet two police officers. Hunter’s arms are crossed and he looks really mad. His hands look clenched up like he was going to hit someone but I know he has more control than that. I feel so bad. I just want to go and run to him. I want to give him a great big hug with a long waited and wanted kiss. I really want to get into the car with him and drive away, as far as we can go. To escape everyone and everything and catch up with the past 2 1/2 months. I control myself and no matter how bad I want to, I stay sitting on the bleachers. This is crazy. I wish this was not happening, but it devastatingly is.

I’m sitting here watching the game and I turn back to see what’s happening. I see him walk away from the police officers and he gets into his black car. I watch him drive by across from me and I see him stare out the window directly at me with a heartbroken stare. I crumble on the inside. I want to go and chase after his car, to hold up a heart like we would in our video conversations on Oovoo. I want to get him back. To think this all happened because of that one lie I told makes me want to go back and reverse what I said. I don’t usually care to erase my mistakes because at one point whatever I did was what I wanted, but that one lie I want to take back so bad. My heart is torn and in so much more pain than ever before. A part of me wishes he wasn’t here, yet another part is glad I got to see him. I live for him.
“Do you want to stay here?” My mom asked me with a hint of anger but a piece of empathy.
“No. Not really.”
“Ok, because we are going to go to Steak ‘N Shake so if Abby wants she can come too.”
“Hey Abby!” I say hoping she can come, “Do you want to come to Steak ‘N Shake with my family and I?”
“Sure! How much money do I need?”
“How much money does she need?” I run over and ask my mom.
“None.” She says and I run back over to Abby and let her know.
“Ok, I just asked my mom and she said I can.” We say bye to our friends and I’m glad to leave the game. My dad is waiting on the passenger side and my mom, Jason, Josh, Abby, and I load into our blueish-silver van.

I can tell everyone knows because it’s silent all the way to the highway and the atmosphere in the van is pretty intense.
“I can’t believe he was there.” I break the silence.
“I know.” My dad snaps.
“You know, I didn’t think he was supposed to be there.” I say.
“I know.” My mom says with a little more generosity than my dad. It goes silent again. It stays that way for the rest of the car ride. I’m starving so I’m glad when we arrive for that reason and also to get out of the agonizing car.
As we are at Steak ‘N Shake waiting for our food, this guy comes to our table and starts talking about how we need to follow our dreams. The whole time I am thinking about Hunter. Before he leaves, he gives each of us a sucker and simply walks away. None of us knew him but the spirit he had about following our dreams made me wonder..

I wake up the next day and I get on Oovoo. I see Hunter’s name and I click on it. In moments as it loads his name changes to his username and all other features on it are unavailable. He removed me! I check my Facebook and I look at all of our messages and instead of Hunter it says Facebook User. He blocked me on here too! I’m devastated and heartbroken. How am I suppose to talk to him when I’m 18? How am I supposed to meet him again?
I decide to go over to Jenny’s house.
“I just don’t know what to do.” I say as we are laying on her trampoline.
“If you still want to see him when you’re 18 I’ll take you to see him. What your parents did was stupid.”
“Yeah I know. If they wouldn’t have interfered and just let him hurt me on his own then I wouldn’t still have these feelings for him.”
“Yeah.” We both glance at her home phone at the same time, which is laying between us. “ You can call him if you want.” Jenny says.
“I can’t though. The police would know. We would have to lie a lot to save the three of us if they found out.” I reply and we lay there in silence looking up at the dark sky.
“Let’s go inside. The mosquitoes are biting me pretty bad.” I suggest.
“Yeah me too.” Jenny says. We walk inside and go downstairs to her bedroom and she gets on Facebook.
“Let me see it.” I say grabbing the laptop. I look up Hunter and I view his profile. I read some of his posts to see if any are suggesting to me and there are a few. But when I get to one post, I want to comment or message him about it telling him not to. The post said that he was moving to Virginia in 2-3 years. How am I suppose to meet him again? How am I supposed to marry him, like our plans we made? I wonder if he thinks that I changed my mind about us. I didn’t and I hope he knows that. I love him too much for that.

I’m so depressed, Jenny and I put the laptop away and we listened to music. Most of the songs we listened to are sad though and I really understand the lyrics. A year ago, I would’ve never pictured myself in the position I am in now. Things just happen I guess.
I wish there was some way I could talk to him and convince him not to move. There is never a moment that he’s not on my mind. Times like these I am glad I can be with my best friend for, because otherwise I might go crazy.The time comes too fast that I have to leave Jenny’s house and go home. When I get home I go upstairs, lay on my bed, and cry myself to sleep. Now, every night I cry myself to sleep. My life couldn’t get any worse at this point.

We went school shopping today and I can’t believe I’m already starting another year. I’m not ready to start dealing with people again. My life has gotten a little better, but I haven’t even gone to court yet for this case and once the court date is determined I know that my life would start tumbling down again at full speed in a downward spiral. I almost break into tears whenever I hear his name and I just can’t take it. I can’t hold myself together for very much longer. I’m taking tech again this year and I’m just waiting for the day to come where something comes up that makes me burst.
I need to change my look and try to rebuild myself, but two times stronger. I need to change so then I don’t get that heartbroken feeling inside whenever I hear his name. Or maybe, I’ll just end it all. I could just allow my heart to beat one last time. One less mouth for my parents to feed, less presents to buy on holidays. Less money they have to spend altogether. Less they have to worry about. I feel like I’m a pain to them anyway. More for my family. I remember when I was younger Jason would always tell me how much better things were before I was born. I have been thinking about either running away or killing myself since I was a little girl. Maybe it’s time. I told him I would love him until I die and even after. I don’t know if it’s possible to actually love someone even after you’re dead. I didn’t know loving him would cause me this much pain. I knew it would cause a lot of pain before, but not this much.
I sit back in my queen size bed with lime green and hot pink covers that is perfectly made. I sit on top of the covers because I don’t want to mess it up before I crawl into bed. But who knows? Maybe last night was the last night I have crawled underneath the covers. I need to think. Should I have the death clean? Maybe take a bunch of pills? Maybe drink some bleach? Or should it be messy and bloody? A gunshot in the heart? Maybe the head? Maybe take a knife to my neck? Maybe cut my hand off and let me bleed to death? Maybe I will just cut a single slit in my neck and go to sleep, because by then I’m pretty sure enough blood will drain out to kill me. Maybe even hang myself? Right in the backyard on that big, black, creepy tree outside? So when they are looking for me and they look out those huge kitchen windows they see something so they walk outside to see what it is. Only to be devastated. I get all of my materials out and ready so I can decide which one I would have the most luck with. I make the biggest decision that I will ever make in my entire life.
Goodnight. :)

“Where’s Bella?” Kell, Bella’s mom, asked at breakfast the next morning.
“I don’t know, I called for her.” Josh answered.
“KELL!!!!” David, Bella’s dad, calls from up the stairs. The family looks around at each other and race upstairs. Kell bursts into tears.
Bella is tucked perfectly into her bed with copies of the notes between her and Hunter laying around her. She has one red rose in her hands with a note folded perfectly setting on top of her.
The note she held read:
Dear Family,

You took away my purpose for life and the person who made my life have meaning. I hope you are as hurt with this as I was for what you did to me. I actually hope you are in more pain, if that’s even possible. I hope you don’t hide this note because I called people already and told them what the note said, so if you hide this you are interfering with an investigation. And anyway, I grew up my whole life being told I wasn’t wanted. I said I will love Hunter until I die and it was very painful so I’m hoping this took away the pain. There was 50 pills in the bottle by my bed. Do the math if you want to figure out how many I took. Tell Hunter I love and miss him! Goodnight :)
Josh ran to the bottle and grabbed it. He emptied it, and counted how many were left. There were 30 pills left.
“She took 20 of these pills.” Josh said. Jason has stood in the doorway the whole time astonished. He can’t believe what has happened.
“It was my fault.” Jason began, “When we were kids I told her she wasn’t wanted and life was so much better before she was born.” The family just looked at Jason like he had done a crime, or something worse, like he killed Bella.
“Why would you do that?” David screamed.
“This is more your faults! You guys are the ones who took away her meaning of life! If you would’ve just let them love each other, she would still be alive and as happy as ever! So don’t try and blame this all on me!” Jason yelled back. David came at Jason and Josh but Kell got in his way. Kell walked over to Bella’s dead body and looked in astonishment. “It’s wax.” She whispered
“Call the police!” Kell yelled, “NOW!!!”

The police cram into Bella’s bedroom. There are 5 police cars and an ambulance. There is also a S.W.A.T. car on scene and other vehicles pull in. Guys take multiple pictures and they take the rose and all the notes. Kell is in the corner crying her eyes out. Detectives take everything. Whenever they pick something up Kell screams at them to put it down, but they look at her then continue to what they’re doing. Jason and Josh took a walk in the woods in their backyard. The family owns a lot of property and most of it are woods.
“I didn’t mean it, what I said to her as a kid.” Jason weeps.
“Why would you say it though?” Josh asks.
“We were fighting. I didn’t mean it though!”
“I know, I know.” Josh and Jason walk far back into the woods until Jason stops in an empty field.
“Here, take one.” Jason says to Josh as he hands him a box of cigarettes.
They light them and smoke them. Josh coughs when he takes his first puff. “Tastes like grape.” Josh murmurs.
“Yeah.” They finish the cigarettes in silence. Jason pulls something out of his pocket and hands it to Josh. It’s mouthwash.
“So mom and dad don’t smell it.” He says as he takes cologne out of his pocket. They both rinse their mouth with the blue, minty flavor mouthwash, then they spray a bunch of cologne on and head back.

The broken family sits around the dark brown dining room table at dinner time and just looks around at each other. On their plates lie mashed potatoes, green beans, and barbecue chicken.
“Okay let’s pray.” Kells says. The family looks around at each other one last time, bows their heads, and says grace. When they finish they dig into their food and all you can hear is the clittler-clatter of the silverware and white glass plates clinking together.
After their plates are empty David and Kell wash the dishes. When Jason turns on the T.V. a newscast goes out,

“Attention all, Last evening Bella Washington disappeared. There will be more on that later tonight. Bella’s love, Hunter McNeil, went missing also. Laying on his bed was a note that read:
My love. My one and only. Is gone. It was everywhere and it’s her parents’ fault! If they didn’t take her away from me and separated us she would still be alive. I love her and always will. There will be nothing separating us anymore. No laws, no hatred. Age is all but a number when it comes to love.
The city is sending out a huge search party for him to see if he knows anything about her.”

The small town is in chaos with having the two missing. Bella set her death up almost perfectly. But if she isn’t found soon she could kill herself and he could die too.

In the morning everyone in the small town is out and looking. School was canceled and so was all the jobs. All day everyone looks.
“Why would she do something like this,” One of Bella’s teachers began, “She was a wonderful student and had a great future ahead of her.”
“I don’t know. It seemed like she had a perfect life.” A classmate began.
There were searches mapped out inside and outside of the town. This is the most devastation the town has ever had. Two people gone missing. There is no way that they could have gotten far.
“I didn’t hear her leave last night.” Kell says to the cops.
“Neither did I.” David adds.
“I don’t understand how she could’ve left in an old farmhouse with old wooden floors that creaks on every step without anyone hearing her. She even had to go downstairs.”
“What are you trying to say officer?” David asked.
“Well what I’m trying to say is that we need to take you in because we think you had something to do with it.”
“What, you’re crazy!” David screamed. Two officers came from behind Kell and David and put them in handcuffs.
“If and as soon as we can prove you innocent we will let you go.”
“Yeah and that’s why you’re taking us to jail?” Kell yells.
“It’s not us, it’s the sergeant who wants you put away.”
“Put away? What are we, toys?” David screams in the officer’s face.
“Sir please back away.” David takes a few steps back. “I didn’t mean put away, I meant more like held aside in case you might, by chance, interfere with the search.”
“Interfere with the search for our daughter?!” Kell is shocked that he said that.
“Hey, I don’t know but I need to do what the town thinks is best.” The officer says as he looks back and forth between the two. “Please, just get in the car.”
“Okay.” They both say quietly, as if they have lost a lot of strength. The officer gently helps the two into the backseat of the car and he gets in the front. The officer is tall and has dark brown hair and green eyes. He has a british accent and is really skinny. The car is dark green with a golden badge painted on the side and on the hood. There are red, blue, and white lights on the hood, in the side mirrors, and there are lights on other parts of the vehicle like underneath, on the sides, and on the rear end. As they drive away Kell looks out the window and watches as they pass their house not to return for a long time.

When they arrive at a building they are taken out of the car, put against a wall, and their handcuffs get taken off. Kell rubs the area where her handcuffs were as if they were too tight. David and Kell are facing the wall with their hands out in front of them spread apart at shoulder width and their feet are at shoulder width also. They are patted down like criminals and then their handcuffs get slapped back on their wrists.
Kell is taken in one room and David is taken in a different room. In each of the rooms the same procedure is happening. They are sat down in a chair and two men walk in. A bright light is shone on their faces. The room is dark besides that one bright light. The two men stand at the other side of the table and question them. Both Kell and David wouldn’t answer any questions so the four men walked out of their rooms and talked. The door to David’s room opens and in walks the four men and Kell. Kell is sat at the table with David and the two are questioned again.
“Where were you the night Bella disappeared?”
“In our bedroom, sleeping.” David answered
“How do you know you were asleep?”
“Well we didn’t hear her leave, we must’ve been asleep.” Kell says like they are stupid.
The four men just glance back and forth between the two. One man is against the corner near the door, another is along the same wall but the other corner. The third man is opposite the corner near the door and the fourth man is in the last corner. The table is in the middle of the room and Kell and David are sitting across from each other. They never would’ve thought that they will be in the situation they are in right now.
“It’s outrageous that you think we killed- excuse me, ‘got rid of’ our daughter! We are devastated that she is gone and even more that she blames it on us!”David yells.
“Woah, excuse us? What did you say.” One of the men say.
David clears his throat and sits up, “Nothing.”
“Sir, this could help with the investigation.” Another man says.
“Why would I help you when all you want to do is put us behind bars?”
“It could help us save your daughter!” A different man says.
“Save? Are you saying Bella is in danger?” Kell exclaims.
The men look around at each other in worry, as if they said something they’re not supposed to. The man in the corner next to the door nods his head towards the dark brown door and the men walk out. The man in the corner opposite the door is last.
“You can’t just leave!” David and Kell yell. Kell weeps in tears.
“I’m sorry.” David whispers. A single tear runs down his face followed by a flood of others.

Meanwhile at the search for the two lovers...

It was a gloomy day outside and no one was in a happy mood. There were 25 groups, each with 3 people and two police officers. Each group had a specific area they were to search in. Once done they were to move onto the next area. At the end of the day they had to return to headquarters and report their results. The search went on for days, weeks, even months and no one could find them. School resumed and so did work. Kell and David were still being held in captivity and questioned daily. Still, everyday after work or school ended the people would search but once a month passed with no evidence people began to quit. Everyone got hopeless and began living their lives without Hunter and Bella.
At school it’s awards day for the first quarter. The first quarter ended the day before Bella went missing but they haven’t got around to giving out the awards until now. Perfect Attendance. Bella. All A’s, the Gold Honor Roll. Bella. Each title the principle calls off, the first name is Bella but she reads it quietly. Bella gets, or would get, every award. The principle puts her awards in a showcase and it says “In Memory of Our Beloved Bella Washington.” The cabinet is new, and open for anyone to put stuff in, they just have to give it to the office. But almost every time one of Bella’s close friends walk by it they almost burst into tears.
Bella, unknowingly, was expected to go far in other people’s eyes. There is a memorial set up for the loss of Bella, even though she isn’t found dead yet. For all the town knows, she could be living happily on her own. There is nothing set up for Hunter. Hunter’s parents were also brought into custody with Kell and David but when they tried to put the four together, they ended up getting into a fist fight. So now they’re separated. No one has heard from the four in a long time. Now and again there will be a newscast updating the town if the investigators have made any progress.

Introduction
Everyone thought that nothing could get any worse until one day a scientist’s experiment went horribly wrong. The scientist, Dr. Schwitz injected a rat with an unknown chemical turning it into a flesh eating monster. The overly sized rat bit him and the scientist went mad and transformed into a zombie. Dr. Germaco came in and found him laying in a huge puddle of blood. Dr. Germaco leaned in to take his pulse when Dr. Schwitz turned his transformed face and bit Dr. Germaco on his bicep. Dr. Germaco fell back on top of all of the test tubes and other experiments and began to black out and hallucinate. Blood is pouring out of him like a waterfall. The two scientist were not found for a week. The rest of their colleagues came into the lab clueless. They stumbled upon Dr. Schwitz’s and Dr. Germaco’s dead bodies coming at them. The six scientists tried to escape while Dr. Schwitz lead Dr. Germaco through the door and started to eat away at the colleagues while they were trapped by a locked default door. They all managed to break the door down but were all either bitten or scratched. That’s how it all began.

The eight zombies headed first for the hub. All the men and women were gathered here to try and drink off the loss of Hunter and Bella. The zombies crashed the door down and started away at the fresh flesh. You could hear yells of panic from blocks away. The small town was soon overrun with zombies. Buildings were being destroyed and the living flesh was lessening. It reeked of the scent of death. Soon the zombies moved onto new cities and towns.

“Hello? Anyone?” A survivor in Tryantville yelled as he heard his voice echo.
“mmmmrrrrmm uuuooohh” he heard someone murmur.
“Hello!” He said in desperation. He saw a pile of rubble slightly move.
“Hello!” He said hopefully and ran over and undug a guy.
“Glad to know I’m not the only one who survived!” He chuckled. The guy was blonde with dark green eyes, he was tall and thin, his name was Sam. Sam found someone who could mean life or death to him. The guy he found was chubby and short and had a really deep voice, his name was Max. They were both in their mid twenties.

Max and Sam walked around the wrecked town to see what they could find. Max and Sam first found two bags of decent size. The two found a few handguns, shotguns, some arrows with a couple of bows. They also found knives, swords, and some walkie talkies incase they got lost. All the stuff Sam and Max found they put into their bags. Most of the stuff they found originated from stores and markets.They found a ton of bottled water, canned food, and made a mess kit with what they could find. The two were very careful of coming in contact with any leftover zombies or anyone else who made it.
Once the two thought they had enough they got together and made a HQ (headquarter) so they could always meet there in case of an emergency or they completed their task. Once they got to the HQ they emptied their bags and divided their findings amongst them. They put the stuff into their black, heavy duty, bags and swung the two straps onto their shoulders. They always kept their handguns out incase of combat. They also had two extra magazines loaded with bullets kept out too. Inside of the bags were a lot more bullets and both full and empty magazines. In the rubble of the stores they found sturdy hiking boots and tucked a knife tightly in between their ankle and the boot so they could pull it out whenever needed. Their walkie talkies were clipped onto their belts and they got their first task. They were to find as many people as they can and kill any zombies they came into contact with, then head back to HQ at sundown.

They both left the least destroyed building after they held up their black handguns and into mid air, shot, and headed their separate ways. The mad chaos of it all really tore the town apart. It used to be a cute little town with stores and buildings looking their best. Now, the town wasn’t so cute. Buildings were missing boards and pieces, windows were shattered, and blood was splattered all over.
Sam started his way and heard some muffled noises. He ran in hope to save someone but instead almost stumbled on a zombie struggling to get up. Sam quickly shot at him. The first time in the chest and the zombie still didn’t die, but it did explode out blood. The zombie was proceeding to get up to come after Sam until the zombie was tripped by a shot to the leg. The zombie looked up at Sam with a deathly expression. Sam quickly pulled the trigger again and it didn’t shoot! The zombie was getting closer and closer. Sam threw his bag down and dug in it for another magazine. Sam was throwing out empty magazines everywhere until he finally found one that was loaded. He quickly changed magazines and shot the zombie a third and final time in his head. The shot thrusted the zombie backwards into a huge stack of hay while the zombie’s head blew up and blood went everywhere. Sam reassures himself that the zombie is dead then he picks up everything he threw out of his bag and heads on his way.

Meanwhile, Max still hasn’t come into contact with any zombies or people. When all of a sudden he hears something. Leaves loudly crumble in the old silence. Max grabs his gun and holds himself against a brick building and slowly makes his way towards the noise. Max makes it to the end of the brick wall and slightly turns his head just so he could see the next wall connected to the corner. He saw something move. Max jumps to face whoever, or whatever, was on the other side with his gun pointed and ready to shoot. He saw another man do the same thing. This man was a medium sized dude with black hair and brown eyes. His name is George. “Sorry, you startled me.” Max says as they both slowly put their guns down. Max takes out his walkie talkie, “I found someone, his name is George.” he says into his walkie talkie.
“Okay good. I have already shot a zombie.” Sam replies. Sam looks into the sky, “Hey it’s getting dark, let’s head back to base in a few.”

They meet back at base after about an hour. Sam found a person as well. Now it’s the four of them, Sam, Max, George, and Philip. Philip is a pale ginger and is so small, like a toothpick.
“Okay, Max and I need to lay some ground rules before dinner that you must swear to obey.” Sam says. All eyes are on Max and Sam.
“Max and I are the leaders of this group. Whatever findings, you bring to us first. You must obey orders from us and respect us. If you respect us we will respect you. More rules might be coming. Do you understand?”
“Yeah.” Philip answers.
“Yes.” George returns. They both take an oath to obey and Max gets out some food.
“Tomorrow, we will need to go out and get more equipment. Then meet back here at about noon, or when the sun gets to the middle of the sky, we will then distribute the findings and go out looking for people and zeds again.” Max says as he pours an equal amount of food on everyone’s plates.

They eat their dinner talking about the apocalypse and then they have to spend a little extra time making beds up for the four of them. After they’re done it seems pretty late, so they head to bed. Clueless of what is waiting for them the next day.

“Up! Get up now!!” Sam screams at the guys. Outside you can hear moaning getting closer. Max jumps out of bed, followed by Philip, then George. While they were making up the beds last night they were lucky to find a couple of extra guns and resources. All men grab their guns that are laid against the wall. They each get a wall with a couple windows and shoot.
“A lot are coming! Where did they all come from?!” Philip screams.
“I don’t know but just shoot them, all of them. Aim for the head and they should be easier to get rid of.” Sam says. As they get rid of hundreds of zeds, thousands are there to take their place.
“One’s in!” Max says, “One is in the building!!”
“Through whose wall?” Sam answers.
“Mine.” George replies.
“Then you need to go and kill it. Now! And hurry back!” Max answers.
Luckily George had one of the smaller walls so it wasn’t as hard to maintain while he was gone as it would’ve been if he had a longer wall. George rushes back after about twenty minutes.
“Sorry it took so long, a lot more came in and I had to kill them and block the way they were getting in. A wall was busted so I fixed it.” George says as he quickly regains his spot. The building is completely surrounded by the zeds and the guy just keep shooting. You can tell that they all have had shooting experience because the zeds are kept a far distance away. The men keep shooting for a couple of hours until finally Philip shoots the last one and they all throw themselves into the middle of the room, relieved that they are all gone.
“That was awful.” Philip says.
“That took forever.” George says.
“I can’t believe all the zombies appeared out of nowhere!” Max says.
“That was awesome!! I haven’t shot like that in a long time!” Sam says. The three men look at Sam like he’s crazy.
“My figure’s cramped!” Max chuckles at Sam.
“Ok we need to go out and look for anyone who might be in the remains. If you see anything like that coming run back to HQ. But first here,” Sam passes a walkie talkie to George and Philip, “If you see something like that again heading our way or find a person report it.”
George, Philip, Max, and Sam all head their separate ways.

This same procedure of them heading out everyday happens day after day with them collecting materials on the way. Days turn into weeks which soon turn into months. The four originals have gathered almost enough people to make a small town again. They have collected men, and children of all ages. They have gathered women and even the pregnant. The new people are all sizes and all ages. They don’t have any of the old though, if they are too old to take care of themselves they are either used as bait to draw away the zombies or they are just shot. There isn’t enough time to save and care for the weak. It has been under the same conditions getting cramped up in the space of the once spacious apartment.

One day at dinner Sam stopped all the side conversations,
“Okay, we have been in these same conditions of just staying in one building and one day this building is going to collapse,” He said as he shrugged to the building they were outside of.
“We need to recreate this town. I will be going around and assigning jobs tonight to people and what they shall do, which will begin tomorrow. There will be builders, guards, hunters, salespeople, and so on.” Sam looked around at the groups of people scattered all around him. He saw the looks in there eyes go from desperation to pure hope. “Carry on.” The side conversations began again and it seemed like a more cheerful environment.
“I don’t know how we are going to this,” Sam begins as he’s talking to Max, “What if the zeds come back.”
“We’d just have to fight them off.” Max reassures.
“Right. Just like the last time.” Sam answers sarcastically.
“No. Not like that. This time we will be ready.” Max answers confidently.
The dinner meal today is green beans from a can, and sloppy joe mix from a can also, on stale bread. The town hasn’t gotten any shipments in since the apocalypse has happened.
“All we have to do is rebuild this town, and slowly rebuild whatever else was destroyed. One step at a time.” Sam utters.
“Yes. That is simply how we need to look at it.” Max says as he pats his shoulder. Everyone heads to bed at their own time after they clean up and see Sam to receive their job. There is one death that night. Byle was sick and no one wanted the disease to spread so they took him far from the town and shot him.

Everyone got to work before sunrise. The town was coming together again and looking nicer than before. Everyone picks up the town while the guards are out hunting. All the left resources and materials from past markets are brought up onto the top floor of headquarters. Sam stays in the town to make sure things go well while Max goes and hunts with a few groups of people. The recreating town is coming together nicely.

Meanwhile, the hunters were joking around and having fun when unknowingly a huge amount of radiation was heading their way. In the group there was Max, Aiden, Nick, Chase, Thomas, Connor, and Cameron. They have killed a deer and a couple squirrels in the past hour. It was a great day and no one suspected anything bad was about to happen.

Suddenly it was getting hard to breath and the air was getting heavier. There was an overpowering sense of danger. Their surroundings became blurred like a desert would on a steaming hot day. Out of the sounds of despair someone screamed,
“Save yourself!” As the group sees one of the men get dragged away over the horizon. Standing there in awe the group contemplates on whether to go after him or to listen to what he says and save themselves. Half of them decide to save themselves, Max being the good person that he is, decides to stay and try to go after him. While the other half gets away while they still might have just a slim chance, for the zeds are coming. Max takes Cameron and Connor and go toward where they last saw Thomas disappear into the abyss. Aiden, Nick, and Chase take off in a different direction but that’s not going to help in their case, the zombies are surrounding them fast and the radiation is getting more abundant. Their chances of their survival are becoming slim every second they waste by running. Their gate of life is closing.

Max and his crew are thriving for adventure and in about five minutes they will be overrun by zombies.

The town’s people have no idea what’s coming their way. People on the outskirts of town can sense a change in the air. Some of them are starting to becoming light headed and other’s have died already from exhaustion and lack of pure oxygen. The ones that are fortunate enough to have strong enough immune systems are trying to struggle along trying to get back to warn the others of what has happened.

People back in town after hearing what has happened can’t believe that the first zombie attack wasn’t the end and wish now that they hadn’t started rebuilding the town, now knowing that all that hard work and effort is all going to waste. Their eyes of hope are going back to eyes of despair. Their personal hells they thought were long gone are coming back with vengeance. Trying to get ready for what is to come they drop everything and try to gather as much weapons as humanly possible. Those who have grown a bond with those men who have been out hunting and have not returned are trying to be as strong as possible. The pain of knowing they aren’t coming back is dwelling from deep inside and they are going to push that aside to get everything ready.

Erica is engaged to Max, she can’t stand the thought of him not coming back. But she knows what Max would have wanted her fighting and risking her life for those who couldn’t have fought for themselves. She knows she has to be willing and abundantly ready for anything and everything to come, especially the unexpected. She looks down at her beautiful, diamond ring that sparkles magnificently in the light. “I just need to stay strong.” She thinks to herself. “I need to do what Max would want me to do.” She fights back the tears, goes to her sleeping quarters and grabs her black bag full of tools. She gets onto the towns stage and people gather.
“We need to stay calm and get ready. We need to find anything and everything we have and bring it to HQ. All the children need to go to headquarters as soon as possible. Adults, we will disperse between the standing buildings. The bigger the building, the more people will be with you. Grab a couple guns and a bunch of ammo and head out.” The children follow Erica to the headquarters building. Erica tells the children to move the beds and such out of the way on each floor. There are enough children that the job shouldn’t take that long. Erica heads out and makes sure every building has an appropriate amount of people. She tells every building to shoot outside of the town and away from buildings to avoid any extra, unneeded damage. She also says to try to avoid any of them coming in. They all need to stay at least 200 yards from the town. She makes it clear to not just focus in one direction but to take glances around to make sure none get through.

The moans of zeds are getting louder and louder.
“They’re coming! Positions!” Erica screams as she runs to HQ to meet her other partners. The zeds that come stink, an overpowering scent of death that would make anyone pass out if they got too close. Erica fires the first gunshot and from her 22 after that it’s a fantastically crazy beginning to what will be most of their end.

As the zeds ripped through and destroyed most of what had been rebuilt, all Erica could feel was a big pit of despair as she watched so many lives be devoured. This was the last thing she expected when she just got engaged and was mending the broken. But she stayed fighting, moving forward in hope that possibly her beloved fiance still has a beating heart....

“Get down!!! If they see the slightest glimpse of you you’re a goner!” Says Max as he makes his way behind an abandoned school bus. Max, Conner, and Cameron are out of breath and almost out of ammo. They all know if they don’t stay moving and let the rotation get the best of them they are for sure, without a doubt, not going to see their loved ones ever again. Max hopes that his years in military school pay off. He sees that his lessons in maneuvering are about to become really handy as he has to venture through the zombie filled junk yard. He can only hope that Conner and Cameron can keep up, he has to have someone to watch his back through the rest of their journey back to where they know they are cared for.

Max prays before telling the two other men that they are about to move out and they need to get prepared fast to run, dive, slide, and cover through the junk yard. They get up off the ground to check and see how surrounded they were and to see what would be the best way to go. Coming up kind of fast was the zeds staring straight at the three men. Max orders “We are heading for that hill over there hoping it’s the same one that we saw earlier. Don’t take a single shot unless they are close enough where you can hear their breathing...NOW RUN!!!!” That was the last thing he said to both of them, because after that Conner got taken. Taken right before them. The zombie that took him didn’t even glance at Cameron and Max. He just took Conner and left....

Once Cameron and Max were on the top of the hill they could see town.They had to made a quick plan to try to get through to head quarters. Max prayed so hard and much that he would find Erica there and she would be safe and out of harms way. Little did he know Cameron was praying for the the same thing. Cameron has been in love with Erica for as long as he could remember. When he found out that they were engaged he was so furious he couldn’t keep his urge to try to kill Max under control. He had hired people to kill him but they were supposed to start the day of the first apocalypse. His plan was ruined, it took him awhile to figure out that if the zeds killed Max then his hands would be clean of the blood and he could finally have Erica back. Cameron did not expect for Max to live through the first and is getting even more antsy with him almost living through the second. He’s trying to contemplate a plan to get rid of him on the way to head quarters without it looking like his fault.

Cameron decides that if he shoots Max in the leg then he won’t be able to make it. And the zeds would hear the shot and come running. But hopefully giving Cameron enough time to get away. He had it all planned halfway down the hill he would shoot Max’s leg. BANG! It happens and he feels a little sorry because Erica cares so much for him but what was he going to do let Max have her just like that so easy. But stupid Cameron forgot that Max had put on layers of steel netting on. Like 6 layers, so that shot didn’t do s*** to him it gave him a bruise but that’s it. Max can’t believe after all he’s done for Cameron that he just shot at him like to try to make him slower to get eaten.

Max decides not to shoot him and save his ammo for someone or something that causes a real threat and isn’t so ignorant and pitiful. Max decides it would be a lot less time consuming and if he just beats Cameron to headquarters and lock the door. The zeds haven’t got to the middle of the town so Max knows that this will work. He is fast on his feet and advanced when it comes to planning and executing.
Max takes one last look at him alive, in disgust and the race is on. The zeds are getting closer and the door to the town is closing as all the zeds take their places. Max is in the lead with Cameron short behind him. Max sees a zed coming straight at them out of the corner of his eye and he slides under a low tree branch. As he’s sliding on his knees he sees the zombie coming at Cameron and he shoots the zombie at least 15 rounds before it’s dead.
“You’re an idiot!” Max yells while running.
“Like you could kill it better!” Cameron yells back.
“Actually, I could with one shot.” Max sees another zed, shoots one and bullseye, right in the head. Cameron shuts up. Max can see the town and even see all of the buildings being shot from and prays that he doesn’t get mistaken for one of the zeds.

You can hear a shot from Cameron and it’s bullet is going towards the town. Max runs faster and finally reaches the town.
“Don’t shoot me” He yells, glad to have made it. “Don’t shoot me, and don’t let Cameron in, he tried to kill me.” He makes it to the headquarters building and runs inside and locks Cameron out. He tells all the children to get away from the windows or to get right next to a wall, as long as it’s not in front of a window. Max then runs upstairs and greets his fiance and gives her a precious kiss.
“Let’s kill these things!” Max yells. The next thing he hears is yelling a moaning in pain. He looks out a window and sees Cameron get grabbed by a zombie and the zombie runs away with him. It’s actually pretty funny to see. He sees someone out of the corner of his eye about to shoot,
“Let him die!! Look! The zeds are leaving with him!!” Everyone takes a look around and as the zed that grabbed Cameron is leaving so are all the others. They just wanted a tribute.

Max calls a meeting and everyone gathers around the stage.
“I have a plan.” Max begins, silencing the crowd. “Instead of starting to rebuild everything again, we need to build something around this town that the zombies wouldn’t be able to get through, and then rebuild it.”
“Like what?” A voice from the crowd bursts.
“I don’t know. Something big, tall, something that would kill them to attempt to get over. I got it. We must build a barbed wire fence. We need to build it fast. All the children are going to need to stay in the town and clean up while all the adults build the fence. We were building fences already for our livestock but we will use those fences for this instead and worry about that later.”
“Who will watch the children to make sure nothing back happens and who will watch from the headquarters building in case more come?” A women questions.
“Pregnant women will stay in the town and watch the children, Erica you will need to stay watch for the zeds.”
“When do we start?” Is asked.
“Now. Men with welding experience will make the fences and teens will need to bring the fences to us.” Everyone heads out and the adults grab as many fences in sight and then head out. They agree to set the fense up about 400 yards away from the town. The fences are about 25 feet tall and take about 8 fair sized men to put up. After the first one is put up all the others work off of it as a guide while teens gradually bring more pieces. The fence is coming together fastly and after about two weeks the fense is all put up. A couple months pass and gates to get in through the fences have two guard stations each.

Days turn into weeks which turn into months, which shortly add into years. Within 8 years jobs are determined and the town and country is becoming put back together. Life is great. Erica and Max are soon going to get married. The buildings are looking better than ever and now hunters go out with concentrated potassium iodide to protect themselves from radiation any zombies may bring. The hunters have fought many more zombie apocalypses and the world has begun to fight it all off and now Tryantville gets resources from the outside world. The town’s atmosphere has loss how tense it was and has relaxed. Things aren’t as serious as they once were. Aiden, Nick, Chace, and Thomas all were never seen again. The town is in the process of building a memorial for Thomas, Max, Connor, and Cameron for their bravery. The town is disgusted by the fact that the other crew were planning to leave Thomas behind and are in no sorrow for them. They are still debating on whether or not to include Cameron in the memorial because he tried to kill Max, but if they still want to include him then he would be the smallest. The towns hunters still watch out for the famous missing Hunter and Bella. They are still missed greatly by the townspeople. There are still a few people who weep about them gone and compare the doings of other people to how Hunter and/or Bella would have. The town agrees to have Erica and Max be in charge for now but if Hunter and Bella turn up after surviving on their own for so long they will be the new leaders with Erica and Max shortly behind. The town built a building that is locked and only Max has the key where weapons, food, and other resources are stored in case another apocalypse is to happen. The town isn’t stingy for what food is left that they don’t store because they plan to store all the good stuff so they can have something to look forward to if anything bad was to happen. The building is sorted into different categories on what type of food it is, the ingredients, the preservatives, and the expiration date.

The delivery trucks come every Tuesday and food is stored based on what they need and the rest is sold. If an expiration date is coming up with the stored food then they move it into the market and move newer food into the storage. No one has been inside except Max and the workers, and sometimes Erica comes in to help. The town has about 200 people for population. More than the town has had since before even the first apocalypse. Life in the town is going great and there are no worries. Technology is progressing and they are getting farther than they ever were in the economy.

“Stop! Stop!” You could hear giggles from a young girl voice. It’s Bella, she’s in a pond with Hunter and Hunter is splashing water at her. You can see a wooden prairie house in the distance and pine trees around it. It’s a beautiful sight. In the close distance there are mountains that they could walk to the air is crisp and it’s spring. Flowers are beginning to blossom and wondrous creatures are starting to come out from the long winter. Almost everything in the house is hand made. Here, Bella and Hunter take things slow. They are happier than they ever have been. Bella is 18 now and Hunter is 23. They consider themselves married. They are honest with each other and care for each other greatly too. They couldn’t live without each other.
Hunter then picked Bella up out of the water and says, “I love you!” He receives a very heartwarming response of,
“I love you too!” As soon as those words left her mouth they both went under. Hunter just simply laid back with her in his arms and a big splash went about. When they rose from the water they laughed and plainly gave an honest kiss. Hunter held Bella tight. Bella was wearing all white and Hunter was wearing black boxers with a white T-Shirt. They walked out of the water holding hands and entered their wooden cabin they call home. The zombies didn’t bother to come near their home but Hunter and Bella were prepared just in case. The apocalypse was broadcasted nationally. The cabin was very admirable! The inside was a mix of hard wood floors and carpet. Their bedroom had black carpet and dark blue walls with designs and quotes on them. The bed was a king sized and the mattress was so comfy you could lay on it and it’d mold to your body figure and when you relieved the pressure it went back. The bedding was a gorgeous dark blue with black thread forming a single flower. Some pillows were black and others were dark blue to match the covers. The bed frame was smooth shiny wood. There were a lot of unfinished extra rooms in the house. The dining room and kitchen were hard wood floors. The table was a rich dark wood and the same with all the counters within the two rooms. The sink was an unordinary gold. The walls of the kitchen and dining room were painted a bright yellow. The living room’s walls were painted a lovely red and the carpet was white.

You could smell the lasagna cooking in the stove. Hunter and Bella sat on the white sofa and watched some television. They watched their favorite series of Criminal Minds. They love their Law and Order, Criminal Minds, CSI, House, and Bones series. Bella also likes to watch Pretty Little Liars and Hunter likes to watch The Walking Dead. Their TV providers allow them to record shows to watch them later. It’s a Sunday so Walking Dead will be on later. When the oven beeps Bella gets the meal out of the oven and sets the table. She serves the plates and places a pitcher of water on the table.
“Babe, it’s time to eat.” She says.
“Okay.” He gets off of the couch and sits at the table.
The smell of the delicious food spreads through the whole house and the opened windows bring in a breeze that takes the scent out to bring the scent of pine in. There is a fireplace on the wall over from the television it’s made of bricks and there is still a huge pile of chopped wood outside left over from the winter. The T.V. is turned off and you can hear the crackling of the fire. There is also another fireplace in their bedroom, but that’s not burning. After they finish their dinner Bella takes the plates and washes them. Hunter sits across from her at the bar and watches her. He admires her precious face. Once she puts some dishes in the drying rack he gets up to help her dry. After dishes they turn on The Walking Dead. Hunter sits on the couch and Bella sits down close to him. Hunter puts his arm around her and holds her tight. Once the show is about to start she looks up at him and he lowers his head to give her a kiss. They continue watching the episode with her in his arms and once it’s over Bella and Hunter go into their bedroom. They both undress and get on their pajamas. They lay down in bed. The windows are left open just so that it’s a little chilly and they have to sleep tight to keep warm.

They had an amazing day. In the morning they picked some flowers, but not too many because they want to let them grow, they only picked a few. Then they started on their garden and took care of their horse, cows, pigs, sheep, and dog. They have a sheltie. Bella wanted one because she loved hers as a child.They named her Lassie, after the old movie. Lassie has her own room and loves to be outside, as long as it’s not raining! Lassie will occasionally get into the pond but she just doesn’t like the rain. Not like light rain but storms with hard rain pouring down. Lassie hates thunder and lightning. She is only a couple feet tall and is really fat.

The only thing better than having a happy couple is having a happy family.
“I’m ready.” Bella says after they are done doing the dinner dishes. Hunter looks up surprised.
“Are you sure?” Hunter questions, “You don’t have to if you aren’t ready.”
“I am. We’ve been together for years now and if you want to, I will.”
“Okay.” Hunter answers. Hunter gets up and walks to the bedroom while Bella finishes the dishes. Once Bella is finished she heads into the bedroom as her stomach is attacked by butterflies. She’s extremely nervous and excited. She doesn’t really know what she’s doing, this is her first time. When she enters the room Hunter stands up and the meet at the foot of the bed. Hunter grabs Bella into a tight hug. They begin to kiss and slowly undress each other. They lay on the bed and continue.




Later Bella woke up to find herself on the right side of the bed. She’s tucked under the covers and she feels the silk smooth sheets rub against her bare body. She’s smiling.
“Good morning beautiful.” Hunter says with a smile as he walks in. He’s carrying her a tray of breakfast. There’s chocolate chip waffles with a little whipped cream and a strawberry on top. There is a bowl of fresh strawberries that look freshly picked that he must have gone to the market for. There is also a glass of chocolate milk. Hunter gives her the tray and lays in the bed next to her. They kiss.
“Good job last night. I could tell you were nervous.” Hunter says as she takes a fresh strawberry from the bowl and places it in her mouth.
“Thanks. Was I that bad?” She says as she looks down at her food and runs her fingers through her hair.
“No, you weren’t bad at all.” Bella finishes her food while they talk about random things.
“I fed the animals already so you don’t have to.” Hunter says.
“Aw thanks babe. But I could’ve done it myself.” Bella answers. Hunter looks at her like she’s crazy.
“You? Get out of bed?” Hunter chuckles and he receives a playful hit in the chest.
“You’re so funny.” She says. When she takes her last bite she gives her tray to Hunter and says, “Then you can do the dishes too!” Bella stands up and gets dressed. Hunter still just sits on the bed,
“I got up, your turn.” Bella says. When Bella walks out of the bedroom to brush her teeth she notices she’s a little sore. After she finishes brushing her teeth she finds Hunter still laying on the bed. Bella runs and jumps onto the mattress right next to him. Hunter holds here in his arms and they stare into each other’s eyes. They look at each other way differently now. Bella and Hunter seem to fall deep within each others eyes and get lost.

When they wake up again it’s about 1:00. They are still in the position they fell asleep in.
“I love you.” Hunter smiles when both of their eyes open to meet each other.
“I love you too.” Bella answers. They really love each other.
“I can’t live without you.” They both say at the exact same time and smile.
“I was thinking,” Bella begins, “What it would be like to go back to our old town.”
“Tryantville?!” Hunter exclaims, surprised she ever would want to go back.
“Yeah. Just to visit and meet up with friends and family to let them know we are alive.” Bella explains.
“Are you sure? If you do and they managed to find something we did when you were 13 they could still put me in jail, the officer told you this. And we have a chance to get attached again and get talked into moving back. We would have to leave our house that we spent so long building. Everything we have at our beautiful home will be gone.”
“We should at least think about it.” Bella concludes.
“Ok.”

Hunter made a good point. He made her realize how much she doesn’t want to ever go back to her family. She doesn’t even want to call them her family. It felt like they completely shunned her, she was never part of the family to begin with. Moving away with Hunter was the best thing she could do besides killing herself. She was going to kill herself except when she texted Hunter telling him what she was planning to do he suggested that maybe his idea about running away together was the best thing to do. Hunter talked her out of suicide and into running away. When the two of them got pretty far she asked him to pull over. When he did she got out and smashed her phone so her parents would never find her.
“There is no way they are taking my happiness away from me again.” Bella said when she smashed her phone with a smirk on her face. Bella then got back in the car and they kept driving. The next place they stopped would be their last. They love the place they decided to settle in.

“I’m pregnant!” Bella screams as she leaves the bathroom one Saturday morning and runs outside. The sun is shining bright and the birds are singing. “I went to town last night to get a pregnancy test and I just used it! It came out positive!” Hunter is shocked, and amazed. They run towards each other and end in a hug.
“You’re going to be a daddy!” Bella whispers in Hunters ear.
“That means we are off to start that baby’s room!” Hunter says as he grabs her hand and start walking towards the house. They still need to floor it and do the basics.

When they finish the hard stuff all that’s left to do is paint, put furniture in, and to carpet it. Bella called the doctor and in 19-20 weeks the doctor wants to see her so she can figure out whether it’s a boy or a girl. Hunter has been doing a lot more around the house and a ton of outside work. Bella feels really bad but Hunter is just so happy that he’s going to have a child. Hunter doesn’t want to put Bella in a bad mood or anything so he treats her greater than a queen. Instead of Bella asking Hunter what he wants for dinner he asks her. A lot of things have changed and Bella likes it. All she has to do is help Hunter a little here and there but mainly just relax.

It is like that for the entire 20 weeks, then Bella and Hunter go into the doctors to see what Bella is carrying. The doctor puts a blueish green cold goo substance on her stomach and glides a white stick acrossed it to see what’s inside on his little television. Hunter is sitting in one of the chairs slouched over with his hands on his knees, he is so nervous he’s almost trembling. The chair Hunter is sitting in is right next to the bed, he grabs Bella’s hands as he anxiously waits for the results as the doctor looks inside on the other side of the bed. While waiting Hunter and Bella deeply gaze into each others eyes. Neither one of them can believe they have made it this far. They have been together since Bella was in 7th grade and 13, now she’s 18. The doctor looks really intense.
The doctor stops and cleans off Bella’s stomach and lets her sit up.
“Well,” The doctor says as he clears his throat and the couple look up at him in disparate eyes, “It’s a boy!” There is a huge sigh of relief as those words escaped his mouth! “Congratulations!” The doctor says as they all stand up. Bella and Hunter shake his hand and thank him. After the doctor leaves the room Bella takes off the hospital gown and puts her street clothes back on. Hunter and Bella walk out holding hands with a huge smile across both of their faces. They go up to the front desk to pay and when the lady there looks at the papers she looks up and tells them congrats too. Hunter pays and when they get to his car he opens the door for her. The whole drive home they are in amazing moods and Hunter takes Bella out to eat at her favorite restaurant, Red Lobster.
“You know,” Bella begins after they get their food, “I should be watching what I eat.”
“Yeah but one dinner couldn’t hurt anything.” Hunter replies and they dig in. The food is delicious. There isn’t many people eating dinner here tonight and that’s the way that Hunter and Bella like it.
“I ate so much I swear I’m going to tumble over!” Bella jokes.
“Careful not to hurt your baby sweetie.” Hunter says.
“Oh so now you only care about the baby?” Bella laughs.
“Well..” Hunter chuckles.
“Oh ok. I see how it is.”
The car ride back home is mainly joking around about not loving each other but it’s clear to both that they’re completely joking. When they are about half way Bella changes the subject, “So, what are we going to name him?”
“We have plenty of time for that, I’m more worried about his room! What colors should it be? What theme?” Hunter gets excited and they think.
When they get home Bella goes straight to bed and soon Hunter joins her. They snuggle tight and then eventually say goodnight.

Before they know it the baby is almost six months, then seven, eight, and finally nine. Bella is huge. Like oompa loompa huge! Finally the morning comes where Bella screams.
“Hunter! Hunter! It’s happening! I need to go to the hospital!” Hunter jumps out of their bed, grabs the already prepared bag, walks her to the car and speeds to the hospital.
“Breathe, stay calm. Take deep breaths.” Hunter reassures her. He’s holding her hand and every time she squeezes it he calms her down. When he finally arrives at the hospital Bella is rushed in and the operation begins.
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” You could hear her screams all the way to China. Finally after an hour in labor the baby’s head pops out. He’s got beautiful deep, blue eyes, a scalp with a little blonde hair on it. The baby is quickly cleaned off and the necessary procedures take place. When the nurses finish they hand the baby to Bella.
“You’re a mommy.” Hunter whispers. Bella looks into Hunters brown eyes and says with almost all the energy she has left, “And you’re a daddy.” The baby is gorgeous. He is the most precious thing Bella and Hunter have ever laid eyes on.
“You did it.” Hunter whispers.
“No, we did it.” Bella responds. Hunter lowers his head as Bella raises hers and they kiss. When they finish their kiss Bella begins to think about how her mom wasn’t there to see her first child being born. Then she realizes that she would probably be a total b**** about it since she’s against Hunter in the first place. Bella spends only a couple days in the hospital but is then sent home with a newborn child they named Gage William McNeil.
The crib is a classic white pearl with the walls green. The carpet is blue. There are monkeys all around the room painted on the walls. The carpet is the softest carpet they could find. The blankets in the crib are green with monkeys on them and the sheets are blue. The closet is about halfway full of clothes that are multiple colors. On the walkin closet door is a nailed in mirror.
“We’re a family now.” Bella smiles.
“A perfect one.” Hunter adds. They lay Gage down and silently close the door. They walk into the living room and Hunter takes Bella from behind, picks her up and runs into the bedroom. Once he’s in he shuts the door and then puts Bella onto the bed then lays right next to her. They start laughing.
“I can’t believe I just had a kid.” Bella says.
“I can’t believe I get to spend forever with my princess” Hunter replies. Bella responds with a huge smile. “ I love you sweetheart.” He adds.
“I love you too.”


They are scared awake by the cries of a baby. Bella almost forgot that it was real. She jumped out of her bed and got Gage out of his crib. She rocked him while feeding him a bottle.
“You are so beautiful.” Bella whispers.
“He is.” Hunter says as he sneaks up behind her.
“Goodness babe, you scared me.” Bella just gazes into his new eyes and realizes how precious he really is.
“You know, I used to hate kids. I think I change my mind. I once said that I’d never have a child.” Bella says.
“Really?”Hunter questioned.
“Yeah.” She sighed. The baby has brought Hunter and Bella closer to each other.
“Let’s visit home.” Hunter says while they are sitting on the couch after putting Gage in bed that night.
“Home? But what about you? I can’t let you go to jail.”
“All you have to do is lie, say we didn’t do anything besides talk. No PDA. We didn’t run away together, after our first year we found each other and stayed with each other to stay safe. It was out of your will. Nothing happened until after you were 18. We need to make sure that they know we do not want to stay. If we can convince those things, we can go.”
“Ok, I promise!” Bella agrees.
“We will leave tomorrow.” Hunter affirms. Bella ran to their room and grabbed a suitcase from the shelf on the farthest wall in their closet. She started putting outfits together and folding them tightly into the suitcase. Her suitcase is black with a pink sparkly make up bag. She packs her best clothes but yet not dressy clothes along with some everyday clothes. Hunter meets her in the room after about 15 minutes and gets his suitcase out of the closet from the same spot Bella got hers and set it next to her. He got out one outfit and when Bella glanced over at him she said,
“There is no way I can let you pack that.”
“Why not? It’s my favorite outfit!”
“An awful one!” Bella convinces Hunter to not pack it and there’s no more issues with that. After Gage wakes up in the morning Hunter watches him while Bella gets his clothes and needed materials ready for the trip and stay. When she’s done they eat breakfast and head on their way.
When the family finally arrives at the town they are shocked to see the fence around.
“I guess the zombie apocalypse really affected them.” Hunter says.
“Yeah I guess so.” The guards let them in and they park their car in a designated area close to the headquarters building. When they get Gage out who is now awake they walk in the town. They are exasperated to find a memorial dedicated to them. It’s a beautiful gold.
“I never knew people cared so much for me.” Bella cried.
“Me either.” He adds. They were told by the guards that they needed to check into Erica and Max before they had their freedom about the town. Max and Erica open the door before Hunter has the opportunity to knock.
“Bella? Hunter?” They say in disbelief.
“Yeah?”
“This town has been looking for you for 5 years and one day you just show up on our doorstep! This is crazy!” Max and Erica shake Bella and Hunter’s hand.
“Aw and you had a baby?!” Erica screeches. “He’s so precious!”
“Thanks.” Bella says.
“Well we should make an announcement, come in and when all the hunters and searchers get back I’ll make an announcement saying that you’re here.” Erica and Max move out of the way and show Bella and Hunter where they’ll be staying for now.
“Don’t get too comfortable, you might be moving somewhere else.” Max adds and he shuts the door.
“Wow, who would’ve thought that we were searched for in this tiny town, I thought they would’ve dropped it thinking we were dead.” Bella pondered.
“Yeah same with me. I knew that they would be looking for you for a long time because I’m the bad guy, but me, I thought would be dropped after the first couple weeks. 5 years is a long time.” Hunter replies.
“I wonder if our parents are still alive out there.”
“The only way we will be able to discover that is when Max announces it.”
“I know, I know. But I wish that they would let us walk around before they made an announcement.”
“I think they want it to be a surprise.”
Gage is still awake playing with his toys. He is able to sit up and crawl but he’s still in the process of learning how to walk. Gage likes to play with Bella’s hair even though he’s got a short little head of blonde hair of his own. When it’s time for Gage’s nap they go to sleep too.

“It’s time for the announcement.” Max says as he wakes Bella and Hunter up. Bella takes a deep yawn, brushes through her hair, grabs Gage and they leave. The three are put behind the stage to wait for their que. Once they walk on everyone is silent. Bella looks at Hunter as if she was questioning if they did something wrong. When she took another glance she saw the disbelief in the people’s eyes.
“Mom? Dad? Are you still out there?” Bella asks hopefully.
The crowd falls dead silent. Bella nods her head and turns to face Hunter with tears in her eyes. Hunter grabs her in a quick hug and whispers,
“I’m sorry.” Next, Hunter walks up to the mic and the same thing happens.
“Let’s stay strong.” Hunter murmurs to Bella. The two of them answer any questions that are asked and then someone asked,
“Are you staying?”
“I’m afraid not.” Hunter answers which is followed by a lot of sighs and disappointment. “We are staying for a few days, maybe a week.” As soon as those words left his mouth Bella screamed,
“Mom! Dad!” Bella was running towards them and gave them each a huge hug. Hunter calmly walked up to his parents and gave them a tight hug.
“I know you guys didn’t want this to happen but, meet Gage. He’s my son.” Bella says as she grabs Gage and shows him. She could see her mom and dad’s eyes melt faster than an icecube in the microwave. David, Bella’s dad, pulls Hunter aside and gives him a little talk and Bella and Kell start laughing.
Bella walks up to the mic and says, “Meeting dismissed.”
When Hunter and David finish their conversation they walk back over and David says, “Congratulations.”
“Please stay.” Kell begins. “You could even stay with us, just don’t disappear again. Please.”
“We can’t mom,” Bella begins, “We have a beautiful place of our own and we love it there. It’s just the three of us and we’re happy.”
“Well if you change your mind and if you ever need anything we will be here.” Kell persists.
“I don’t know how long we are staying here for but when we leave we will be sure to come back again.” Hunter promises. Bella has never actually met Hunter’s parents and so they invite Hunter, Gage, and Bella to their place for dinner. They politely accept and when they head over there it is an amazing family gathering.
“So do you consider yourselves married?” Hunter’s dad asks after dessert.
“Yeah, even though we aren’t legally.” Hunter says.
“Well, before you go back home, we’re going to have to change that won’t we?” Hunter’s mom asks. Bella looks at Hunter excited,
“Don’t be giving her any ideas!” Hunter says.
“Too late!” Bella and Hunter’s mom say as Hunter’s mom pulls her out of the chair and drags her somewhere holding her wrist loosely.
“My name is Lucy. Nice to meet you Bella. Now if we can agree on one thing to do it’s let’s go wedding shopping!”
“Okay!” The girls get in the car and drive.
“Do you have your license?” Lucy asks.
“No.”
“Well then I guess we’re going to have to change that too.” Lucy gives Bella a whole bunch of tips for driving and teaches her everything. Lucy takes Bella to a driving test center and she signs up for classes. Bella’s extremely excited to be able to drive soon. She’s taking a shorter class so she can get her license sooner. After that stop they go off to the wedding store where everything needed for a wedding is there. Bella tries on millions of dresses and they both know when she finds the perfect one. The dress is a completely white traditional color, it’s a strapless corset at the top with a poofy bottom, it looks like a princess dress. There are sparkles and small diamonds within it that make her sparkle in the light.
“It’s perfect.” Bella says amazed.
“You are beautiful.” Lucy says. Bella gives Lucy a tight hug and they get the dress fit and purchase it.

Bella got her license and drives a yellow Jeep Wrangler. Bella and Hunter also had a beautiful wedding and by then Gage could walk so he was the ringbearer and it was especially special. Bella felt like a princess from day one and still does. She has never been this happy in her entire life. They are still living in their own gorgeous house but once in a short while come back to their old town to visit. There have been no more reporting of any zombies and the town is nice and cute again!


They all lived happily ever after...