𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 |𝟏𝟖+| Slow Updates

Chapter Five

"Then I'll need to remove this," Dale shrugs, adjusting his Chief badge proudly. "Heading to Tracey's?"

"Yeah."

"I'll see ya there," he salutes me, patting Hades on the head on his way out.

I lock up behind me and walk to my red truck, leaving Hades inside. A chilly breeze rolls in off the water, biting my exposed skin. As it nears eight PM, the night sky is a deep velvety blue canvas with a blanket of stars stretching far and wide, igniting a flicker of a memory to flit through my mind.

Lana and I used to search the skies for constellations while we laid side by side with our hands intertwined. We spoke about our wants, our dreams, and our future.

We made all these plans like we have been since she came riding into my life on the promise of forever. Stealing my world from me. It's been clear for years that my world no longer belonged to me. She stole it. Every inch, every molecule, every atom of it.

With a deep sigh, I run my hand through my tousled hair. I turn the key in the ignition, my truck rumbling to life. I put on the lights, and they illuminate my yard, reflecting off the wings of multiple bugs and I reverse.

I drive slowly past her parents' home and lo and behold. She actually listened. Shocking.

I attempt - keyword - to disrupt the trajectory of my thoughts from going further down the rabbit hole but I can't.

'Cause all I've ever known since the age of five, is Telana Ellis.

Her eyes - the bluest I've ever seen - captured the very essence of my soul.

My dad died serving his country when I was five, I was too young to fathom the pain and emptiness I was enduring. I was unable to comprehend the gravity of the dire situation. I couldn't make sense of my loss.

I was too young, but I know my world shifted. My role model, my hero, was missing and he was never coming back. That much I understood.

But Telana, she made my grief more bearable. She came skipping down the sidewalk ahead of her parents with her brown locks in pigtails and a woven basket on her arm. Her pink dress flowed behind her as her white sparkly shoes produced a tapping sound with every skip.

Her smile shone brighter than the sun that morning while the moving truck rumbled to life next to a flabbergasted, five-year-old me.

In that moment, my already tilted world shifted back into its natural rotational orbit expect it orbited her.

I know how this seems, how could a five-year-old possibly understand emotions so complex but I didn't. Not really.

All I knew at that stage was, she was my world. Her smile, with two missing front teeth, made my bad emotions dissipate. Seeing her, being around her made my hurt and emptiness much less noticeable.

Her folks welcomed us into their lives like we were already family.

Nathan Ellis became the father figure I was missing, and Jodi Ellis became like a second mother to me.

My point is, Telana had a massive impact on my life from the mere age of five. She made me believe in forever. She made me long for it.

She came riding into my life on the promise of forever. She vowed for better or for worse and she broke her promise.

Maybe it was I who pushed her over the edge.

Perhaps it wasn't her who broke the promise.

I can't fully place the blame on her for our demise. We're both at fault but I was willing to fight. I've been fighting. For her. For us.