Only Death Will Sunder Us

Chapter One

Two years before the accident

HARLEY

Friday, 3 June

"Before you go...
Was there something I could've said
To make your heart beat better?
If only I'd have known you had a storm to weather
So, before you go
Was there something I could've said
To make it all stop hurting?
It kills me how your mind can make you feel so worthless
So, before you go."

Roaming through aisles of fabric at the store, the beautiful relatable words of 'Before you go by Lewis Capaldi' blast through my headsets.

I take a deep breath as I try calming down from the marathon I did trying to keep up with those high notes. My chest heaves as I look through the different designs of fabric infront of me. I skim my fingers over the different textures, my eyes fluttering closed as I get lost in the feel of the fabric. Each texture sparks an idea in my mind, different designs I can bring to life appear dull in my brain.

I start counting with my eyes closed. "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10!" I pause at texture number ten. Soft silk under my fingertips, smooth like maple syrup brushing against my skin. A smile makes its way across my face as I take in the beige silk fabric, the idea for my latest design clouding my mind.

The texture gives me goosebumps as I hold it in my hands, structuring out the patterns for my assignment. I keep roaming the aisles until I reach the cotton aisle, picking out soft browns and silky beiges to match the fabric.  Feeling satisfied I rush toward the counter, too anxious to waste anymore time.

"Hi." I give the lady at the till a big smile. She replies with a curt nod, seemingly having a mood dryer than Molly's biltong.

Molly's Butchery is down the road from my apartment, owned by Molly and Micheal, my best friends since high-school. Molly and Micheal have always been there for me, whether it be when I'm having my worst days or when I'm the happiest person on earth. They have always stuck by me, even when mom died, they were my rocks.

Mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when I was twelve. Luckily the tumors just started forming so they managed to cut them out before they spread. But they began growing again when I was sixteen, at a really fast rate. They didn't know why the tumors were growing so fast, mom was stuck in the hospital for months on end. She went through chemotherapy and radiotherapy, though none of them seemed to kill the tumors.

Due to the rate at which it was spreading, the cancer was found on her lungs, breast and the back of her brain. By the time I turned eighteen mom could barely walk, she became so frail and skinny that she barely looked like the mom that raised me.

Her once sweet honey scent went away, her beautiful brown hair never grew back, the strong smell of disinfectant on her clothes was what we had to get used to. When I hugged her or held her hands I would be too afraid that she would end up shattering. Her head was bald and her eyes were sunken.

A month before my nineteenth birthday we began noticing the decaying smell in mom's hospital room. And then not even a day later mom died.

On that day my soul died along with her. Something inside me changed ever since she left us, ever since she left me. My life had no purpose.

My apartment is above Molly's Bar near the end of a little town called Honey Dew. I moved to Honey Dew in high-school to stay with my dad Nicolas and step-mom Alissa five years after mom died. But only got my own apartment a year later.

"That'll be 50" The lady says with a scowl as she presses buttons on the till. She surely seems to be a sour plum, but I'm not letting her terrible mood ruin my mood, I'm way too excited to begin my new project to be affected.