Nothing.

I
The full moon made the sea glimmer eloquently like a precious jewel whilst the crystals in the sky gleamed, shining down on the world, showing their innate beauty to all that could see. The two lovers sat on the rocks edged slightly out of shore, desiring to be away from the world and its problems, just to be in each other’s arms. They sat in warmth, admiring the cool breeze that lingered in the ageing summer air, holding hands and neither wanting to ever let go. The dim lights among the distance of the promenade shone, as if like candles, grasping the silhouette of romance that they were both finding within each other’s arms. She looked him deep in his emerald green eyes and whispered softly “I will always be here, forever.” With that he kissed her sweetly on the forehead and they both looked out toward the sea, almost as one.

II (three years later)
The monotone of Lucas’ alarm clock reverberated around his cold room. It was 7am and Lucas needed to see Constance, his girlfriend, out of the house before his mum came in from “work”, evidently meaning the local pub; getting smashed and coming home a wreck- and expecting Lucas to then be home ready to calm her. Lucas groaned and slowly lifted his arm to where Constance lay, but instead of feeling her soft skin, he felt air. His face was filled with perplexity and his heart with pessimism as he called her name but heard no reply. She must have already left.

After he got himself dressed and ready, he went downstairs. It was 8am and Lucas still hadn’t eaten breakfast or even got his bag ready. He didn’t want to go to school but he knew Constance would be there, she never missed a day of education. He sighed, looked at his watch one more time, and ran into the kitchen to grab a banana from the fruit bowl, and then rushed to the front door to leave. As he got there Alyssa, his mother, stumbled through the door, eyes shiny and face smudged.
“Not today mum. I’m late already.”
“You were with her again last night,” Lucas cut her off before she went into one of her speeches about how much she loathed Constance and that he could do better. He frankly didn’t want to hear it and defiantly didn’t care. “MUM, it’s none of your business. Look I have to go, Love you.” He pushed her out of his way and walked through the door without waiting for her to reply.

Alyssa was stuck in reality; all her dreams had been interrupted and faded into her past ever since she found out about the affair. Her ideal world imploded as she read the seedy text messages on her husband Nathan’s phone, to her so-called best friend. Not only was her husband cheating on her but it was with her best friend that had been telling her for the past seven months that she was busy with “work” as her excuse for rarely meeting up. The two things Alyssa thought she loved more than anything had betrayed her. She was lost so decided she would go to the doctor, and since what she felt seemed to epitomize symptoms of depression, she requested anti-depressants.

Alyssa walked back to the kitchen. As she swallowed the two red pills, and guzzled the water from the glass she stared at a photograph of her son and Constance together, hanging on the empty fridge door. She dropped the glass onto the pristine marble floor, causing it to shatter, with a few sheers of glass lodging deep into her bare skin below the knee. Constance was meaning more to Lucas every day, and she wasn’t ready to lose her son to someone else. As the blood trickled slowly onto the floor Alyssa finally smiled, she had at last felt some real emotion…


As Lucas approached the school entrance, the bell just resounding, he waited underneath the large chestnut tree; a conker depot in late autumn that they had first met. Lucas and Constance were both timid kids, heaved out of the security of a leafy, small primary school and chucked into what seemed to both parties as a vast hellhole, and they were rooted desperately at the bottom of the hierarchy. Lucas didn’t exactly make the greatest first impression on Constance, an older guy having stuck out his foot resulting Lucas falling flat on his face in front of the crowded road.

Constance was perfect to Lucas in every way; he described her like a Penguin chocolate bar, always with a terrible joke but still sweet on the inside. Her face was pale and her hair was dark with a streak of green through the fringe. Her voice was soft and angelic, and every time she smiled the sun shone brighter in Lucas’ eyes.

Constance felt bad, she had left Lucas without notice but she had to go, her mother would wonder where she was and she didn’t want to have to deal with arguing. She ran down all the long curved roads till she got to her house, and then ran through her front door, kicked off her shoes and shouted “Mum, I’m home!” Oblivious to the voice of a well known stranger but fixated on finding a story to explain where she was last night.

She soon realized she didn’t need to worry about her story telling... Constance walked down the narrow hallway, without waiting to be greeted, she shouted again, “MUM I’M HOME!” Her mother’s door being slightly ajar; she glanced through and froze in shock. She felt her already pale face turn ghostly white.

“I…I can explain,” Her mother rushed in to say before Constance could make up her own mind on the situation.

He continued waiting… It was 09:17 now; the bell had gone seventeen minutes ago, He started to look worried, she was never late.

Lucy, Constance’s mother stood beside her double bed in her short silky nightgown, guilt drawn on her face. There was nothing she could say, no excuses that could cover up her mess. The man lying in the bed looked familiar. His dark eyes glared at the company of Constance and his body jumped to shock. Constance blinked to make sure she was seeing correctly… Her eyes had not deceived her; it was Lucas’ dad.

“THAT’S IT! WE’RE LEAVING THIS COUNTRY FOREVER! AND NO ONE NEEDS TO SAY ANYTHING TO ANYONE…pack your bags now Constance, we’re leaving.” Constance was hesitant; the sound of Lucy’s voice seemed so serious but did she really mean it? Constance stared at her, disappointed and hurt. It had finally hit Lucy in the face that what she was doing was wrong. Seven months seeing her best friend’s husband who was of course Lucas’ dad. Now Constance had found out about the affair, the rest of the town would soon find out that the reason Lucas’ mum and dad had split up was due to Lucas’ girlfriend’s mum’s sluggish ways. She was panicking.

The bell for the end of school sounded and awoke Lucas who was still resting under their territory. He checked his Ipod for the time, to make sure the last bell had gone, and then looked confused as he realized Constance never came.

Constance ran to her bedroom, her eyes cloudy as she started packing her stuff. She didn’t want to leave but she had no choice, her mum wouldn’t let her stay and if she refused to go her mum’s anger would drive her out. She kept thinking about Lucas and how devastated he’d be when she tells him. Constance heard the front door slam; the loathsome man had just walked out.

III
Alyssa had made Lucas’ favorite for dinner, spaghetti bolognaise. As Lucas’ mum never learnt how to cook when she was young, she had taken her time making sure it was to perfection.

Lucas’ phone beeped, he had received a text from Constance. His face lit up when he saw her name, he hadn’t seen or heard from her in three days, he felt relief… Until he started reading the text-“look, I’m sorry I haven’t been around recently, I’ve been busy with things. I need to see you, now, it’s important. I’m sorry.” He read the text over and as he did his smile began to fade, he had no idea what was going on.

“DINNER’S READY!” Alyssa shouted from the bottom of the staircase,
“Mum, I have to see Constance, its urgent” Lucas said gasping due to his rush down the staircase. Before Alyssa could ask him to at least eat the spaghetti bolognaise, the spaghetti bolognaise she worked so hard to make to perfection, the thud of the front door echoed in her eardrums. With that she threw the plate forcefully onto the opposing wall and commenced to let out a scream, a scream of pure emotion. She knew it; she realized her entire suffering, she was alone.

The trees ran quickly behind Lucas, his heart pounding, as he made his way to the large chestnut tree. As he turned the corner he saw her standing there biting her coral painted nails in nervous fear. As he approached her she leant inwards to embrace him, tears delicately slid down her cheek onto his black cardigan.
“Lucas, I’m leaving…my mum, she’s making me go. I don’t want too but I have to. I’m sorry. I’m leaving tonight. I…I…”The words ran out of her mouth, her voice shaken.
“This can’t be happening. I’ll… I’ll come with you,” he said hopelessly. He couldn’t have her leave; she meant everything to him... “You can always call me, come visit. It’s going to be hard for me too Lucas, but where ever you are, I’m still going to be with you, I’m in your heart right?” She looked into Lucas’ green eyes as if beckoning him to giggle. The worse to come would be a lovers tiff between the two, the giggle never came.
A few minutes later Constance’s mother’s car pulled up on the pavement. “I have to go now, I love you…I’m sorry.” Lucas was sobbing as he watched his heroine leave without even properly saying goodbye. He wanted to be held by only her arms, comforted by the sight of only her stupid smile. He began running again, not stopping until he had too, outside his house. He needed to see his mother; he needed someone to cry on and she was all he had now.

Lucas stood in the kitchen aimlessly looking at the marble floor, in wait for his mother’s sympathy; he hadn’t yet noticed the pool of crimson red and the smashed plate on the tiled floor. At this point Alyssa turned around from the sink, revealing her blood soaked clothes and face splattered with pain. Lucas tried to scream but instead a whimper was all that would express his raw fear. Alyssa looked at Lucas, and then calmly picked up the knife.
“Look after Constance, You two have each other.” With this closing statement Alyssa finally broke the façade of her middle class illusion. The knife squelched sickeningly as it pierced her stomach, but then seemed to slide elegantly into her chest, its resting place. Lucas didn’t want to see her final slump; he turned around and ran, like various times before, as fast as his legs would take him. He couldn’t believe he was awake.

He soon reached the seafront, and by this point saw not point in restraining his emotions. As he paced along through the sand his sobbing grew stronger. He walked until he found his and Constance’s Grimy rocks and fell to the surface overcome with emotion. He sat under the starless sky, “*the stars are always there but we miss them in the dirt and clouds, we miss them in the storms.” He reminds himself as he quotes Constance from two years ago when there relationship seemed to be failing inevitably. He gazed at the non existent stars and screamed loudly to the sky “WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE ALL THIS? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW? HOW COULD THIS BE HAPPENENING?” The echo that returned reminded him of how alone he really was. He swayed back and forth and began, as he had done for the past few hours, to cry. The tears splashing onto the rocks and sliding slowly into the vast pool beneath him.










“*the stars are always there but we miss them in the dirt and clouds, we miss them in the storms.” Quote taken from To Write Love On Her Arms, (www.twloha.com)