Chapter 1

Today, we got closer to the departure.Looking at the "sold" sign in the courtyard, I sighed. I had always lived in Florida. It was my house, my mum and I were  not ready to leave. It was the only place where I felt more intimately connected to my mum.

My mother died when giving birth to me.She lost  consciousness after I was born and later passed away.There was a lot of blood loss. They couldn't save her. I was raised by my grandmother.

I keep looking at this sign that I see.I knew I didn't like the idea of leaving.I didn't want to move and had to start all over again. I was happy here, I had friends, Jude was here. 

At 18, I was doing pretty well. I only had A's, I had a part-time job, my life was beautiful overall.They were going to take everything from me tomorrow at the same time. How could I leave my friends?My boyfriend?

"Maddy, you are 18 years old. You will make new friends, you will have a new boyfriend.We need this change, darling, it will do us good."

My grandmother was not Jude's biggest fan. She always said that there was something about him that she didn't quite understand. Jude was a little older, but not much, he was 21 years old, owned a car and had the brightest blue eyes I have ever seen. Yes, he was my first boyfriend.

But deep inside me, I knew that I would meet new friends, that I would move forward and start from afresh.Leaving them behind was not my main concern.

"I'm afraid of losing the link with her. By being here, in this house, I can feel her presence with me every day."

"Maddy, my darling, your mother is here", she whispered, placing her hand against my heart.

"She will never leave you, wherever you are in the world. She loved you, my dear, never forget that."With her hands placed on my shoulders, she hugged me in her arms. "How about a hot chocolate and watching the sunset?" She asked.She moved away and wiped the tears on my cheeks.

"Okay, I'll get the cover."

Another reason I didn't want to leave was that we lived by the beach. Most of the time, we came here in the evening and watched the sunset together, it was a kind of tradition. The beach was my favorite place for everything.

Listen to the waves crash and feel the sand between my toes. There was no such place.I put the blanket on the sand and took off my socks. The view was so beautiful. I sat down and looked at the water.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Jude, what are you doing here?"I got up and looked for my grandmother.As I earlier said, she really didn't like him, but she tolerated him for my good. We had already said goodbye, he was not supposed to be here. This has only made things more difficult.

"I can't leave things like that,"he said. "Maddy, I can't help but think that after today, I will never see you again."Reducing the gap between us, he slipped his arms around my waist.

"Jude!" I whispered as he got up to wipe my tears. "You shouldn't have come, you're just making things more difficult."

"I'm sorry, my love". As he tightened his grip on my waist, a voice was heard, interrupting our last moment together. "I'll see you again one day Maddy, I promise you." He gave me a last kiss on the lips, turned around and went down the beach in the opposite direction.

Looking at the ring I was wearing on the middle finger of my left hand, a scream escaped me. A promise ring that he had offered me six months after the beginning of our relationship, but that I refused to wear to the ring finger out of bad luck. It was special, it was good and I would never see him again.

"Maddy?"

"I'm fine." I wiped my eyes and scraped my throat. Just the idea of never seeing him again just made me even sadder.

My grandma wouldn't change her mind. We were leaving tomorrow and I couldn't do anything about it.

  "I have to prepare the rest of my things". I told her as I noticed  it was already sunset.

"Goodbye Florida, hello Texas."

We had been on the road since 8 pm. at the gas station.We were stopping from time to time to fill up the car  and eat. When we stopped at the last gas station before we arrived, I jumped out of the car  to stretch my legs.

"Texas is not that bad, " my grandma smiled as I looked around.

"We're only half an hour away, " I replied.

" I'll pay here and you'll go for a coffee."She handed me money and I went into the gas station.

  It may not have been such a bad  idea though, but it was still not my environment . Something was wrong here.While I was preparing two coffees, I heard the door ring and the hair on my neck rose.

My body felt weird.That's when I felt a presence behind me.

My heart was beating abnormally fast, my palms starting to trance.It's rare I had such a feeling.

Laying back my shoulders, I poured the sugar, put on the lids and, taking a deep breath, I turned around.

There was no one.

Ok, I was officially going crazy. I would have sworn to have felt the presence of another person behind me. Shaking, I went to the cash register to pay for my coffee.

"Normal or big?"Asks the girl with a radiant smile.

I picked up the Twizzlers and threw myself into eating them. Yes, I was the greatest gourmand of all time.

"Sorry", I smiled.

"A sweet tooth with a craving for sugar,"She said.

Suddenly embarrassed, I held out my money and lowered my head.