"I'll be back in a few weeks," he said to her.

"I know; I just wish you didn't have to go," she replied, looking down at her feet.

She twirled the silver diamond engagement ring he had given her on her finger, a habit she picked up when she was nervous.

He tapped her chin up so that she was looking into his ocean blue eyes.

"I'll be back before you know it," he told her.

"I doubt that," she mumbled.

He looked her over, his blue eyes taking in every feature of hers, as if he wanted to memorize her face before he left. But he had already memorized it. After all, they had been together for nearly seven years.

"I promise to call every night," he said.

She nodded, looking down again. He reached out and cupped her face in his strong hands. He caressed her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs before leaning down and kissing her gently.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," she replied.

Then there was a flash of light and she was in the hospital. He was being wheeled into the emergency room on a hospital girney. Doctors were shouting orders to prepare the room for surgery and she was shouting in agony and pain.

Then the red light above the room went out. The surgery was finished. This was the moment of truth. The doctor walked out and she knew by the look on his face. She knew and she screamed.

I woke up screaming and writhing in my bed. There was sweat on every inch of my body, my clothes sticking to my damp skin.

I looked at the clock.

1:00 am.

Regaining composure and steadying my heartrate, I got out of bed and went into the bathroom to take a shower. I looked at myself in the mirror, my skin pale. The silver diamond ring on my finger was slippery because of the perspiration. I slid it off and jumped into the shower.

It was raining out tonight. There had been lightening and thunder earlier; that's how I fell asleep in the first place. I loved the rain.

I threw my hood up over my head and stuffed my hands in my pockets. It was humid, so the air was thick with moisture. The night life was quiet tonight.

I made my way to La Bonne and walked in, pulling my hood off and shaking my hair out. I looked around and to my surprise, I saw Serena, the girl I had met a few weeks ago on her birthday. I took my usual spot by the window. I could hear the pat-pat-pat of the rain as it hit the window. It picked up instantly.

I ordered my usual and sat staring out the window. I heard a movement and looked over. Serena waas now sitting in front of me.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," I replied.

She was dressed up again, wearing a navy blue blazer with a tight black skirt and a white sequined tank. Her make-up looked professional and her hair shone under the dim lights of the cafe.

"Is it raining really hard out?" she asked me. I wondered why; she could easily see that the rain was coming down in sheets.

"Yes," I replied. She sighed.

"I guess I'm stuck in here for another hour," she mumbled, resting her chin on her hand. I didn't say anything. We looked at each other for a few moments before she spoke again. "Do you come here every night?" she asked.

"Ever since I found the place, yes," I answered.

"When did you find it?" she asked. I shrugged.

"On one of my nightly walks," I replied.

"Are you an insomniac?" she asked, her blue eyes wide.

"I guess you could call it that," I responded. She licked her lips and tapped her fingers on the table in front of her.

"I can't sleep at night either," she told me.

"Oh," was all I said.

"Even though I'm in school, I live at home and my parents fight at night. They think that me and my siblings are asleep, but we're not. Who can sleep with all that shouting?" she continued. I wondered why she was telling me this.

"How many siblings do you have?" I asked her, trying to steer the conversation away from her personal problems.

"I have an older brother and an older sister, two younger sisters and two twin baby brothers," she replied. I felt my eyebrows shoot up.

"Wow, that's a big family," I commented.

"And we all live together. My brother and his wife took over the basement and they live down there. The rest of the family lives in the rest of the mansion," she told me.

"You have a mansion?" I asked.

"We kind of needed one, with the size of our family," she said. "And my daddy owns the Lexus car dealership in the city. I guess we're pretty well off," she added.

I nodded, not knowing how to respond. Clearly she was better off than I was. We came from two completely different worlds. I had no money and she had all the money in the world. I didn't have the comfort of a complete and big family and she did. I didn't have the luxury to do whatever the hell I wanted and she did.

But we were similar, too. She couldn't sleep at night and neither could I. She had family problems, and so did I. She stayed up at night because of her parents' bickering and I stayed up because every time I closed my eyes, I saw him.

"Do you have a fiance?" she asked.

"What?" I asked back, distracted momentarily.

"You have a ring on your ring finger. I was just wondering if you had a fiance," she repeated. I looked down at the ring on my finger, feeling my heart clench and my vision blur.

"I don't want to talk about," I said in a quiet voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said.

I wasn't mad at her for asking. She seemed like the kind of person that told her problems to anyone that would listen. I guess she didn't care who knew about her personal life. But I couldn't just tell anyone because the things that happened to me were far too great and horrible to just talk about in casual conversation. So I stayed silent.

Jeanette brought me my coffee and I sipped it in silence.

"What do you usually do at night?" she asked. I shrugged.

"Anything, really. I mean, there's not much to do in terms of places to go since most restaraunts and shops close at 9. But there are always things to do," I answered.

"Like what?" she asked.

"Well, there's this Shop Mart that's open 24/7 and I usually do my groceries there. Then there's this place and I usually get my homework done here. Sometimes I'll go to the park and walk around. Sometimes I'll go to the beach. Sometimes I'll go around and take pictures," I replied.

"Pictures?"

"I'm a photographer," I explained.

"Can I see some some of your pictures some time?" she asked.

"Ummm...yeah, sure," I replied. She smiled at me. I tried to smile back.

"I should probably get going now," I said, getting up. I started walking out of the cafe, but once I got to the door, Serena spoke up again.

"I'm sorry if my personality is a little overbearing. I just need someone to talk to sometimes," she said. I paused at the door and then looked up at her. I forced a smile at her and then walked out.

Since it was raining, I had left my camera at home. I didn't have any groceries to do and I had finished my homework the night before. I had nothing to do. Putting my hands in my pockets, I decided I would go to the beach and watch the rain droplets disturb the peaceful ocean water.

I got to the beach as the rain slowed to a drizzle. I found a large boulder and sat on it, not really caring how wet it was; I was already soaked to the skin. I pulled my sleeves over my hands and brought my knees up to my chest, cuddling myself to keep warm.

The sky was dark over the ocean. Thick, black rain clouds could be seen in the sky, obstructing the view of the stars that I had once loved as a child. The ocean water itself was dark and stormy. Unlike its usual peaceful self, it looked angry and full of rage. But even so, it looked as expansive as ever, an endless sea of anger.

I watched as the light rain droplets fell on the surface of the water, creating a circular ripple effect where each drop fell. Each circle rippled out until it hit another and smoothed out. I wished I had brought my camera. It looked so beautiful.

I looked down at my hands and thought back to what Serena had said earlier and the nightmare that had caused me to wake up from my restless sleep. The diamond ring shone in the dim light that came from the boardwalk, glittering like the stars that were hidden by rain clouds.

It had been nearly a year now.

Sighing, I got up from the boulder, my heart feeling as heavy as the clouds above my head. As I walked back to the boardwalk, it began raining again. I pulled my hood up over my head and held my jacket closer to my body. The wind was picking up now. The storm had started again.

There was a rumble of deep thunder that rattled through the night like a beating drum. It shook me to my very core and I wondered if it was safe to be walking outside during a storm like this.

"Thunder can't kill you; it's just sound," I mumbled to myself, continuing to walk forward.

Just then, a bolt of lightening split the black sky, illuminating it with a blinding yellow-white light.

"But lightening can," I said, stopping in my tracks.

As the wind blew my hood off my head and whipped my hair all around my face, I looked around for a place to hide in until the storm calmed down a bit. But then wind kept picking up and the water fell into my eyes, obscuring my vision.

"Shit," I hissed, reaching town. My apartment was still a few miles off.

I started to cross the street, when a pair of headlights blinded me and made me slip. I let out a shriek and fell in front of the car on the slippery pavement of the road. What the hell was someone doing driving outside at four in the morning?

Luckily for me, the car stopped instead of running me over. I heard the slam of a car door and knew that whoever it was was coming to see if they had been the cause of my fall. I made to get up, but felt a strong pair of hands grab my elbow. I looked up to see who the driver was and then frowned. I shook the driver's hands off and took a step back. It was Caleb.

"Oh, great. It's you," he said.

"Why do you always say that?" I asked.

"Because I'm never happy to see you," he replied.

"Well, I'm not too thrilled to see you, either," I snapped back. He blinked a few times to get the water out of his eyes.

"What are you doing walking in the rain this late?" he asked.

"None of your business," I said, starting to walk past him.

"Wait," he said, grabbing a hold of my arm. I stopped and turned to face him. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Home," I replied.

"You're going to walk?" he asked.

"What does it matter?" I answered.

"Look, let me drive you. It's not safe to be walking out here alone, especially in this weather," he said.

"It's not like it's the first time I've done it," I said.

"I'm trying to do something nice for you," he said.

"I don't need you to do anything nice for me," I replied back.

We stood glaring at each other, with sheets of rain falling between us. I was soaked to the skin and shivering, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of showing him I was weak. If there was one thing that I was good at, it was pretending that everything was all right.

"Just let me drop you off," he said again.

"Why do you care if I get sick or jumped?" I asked.

"It'll be one less thing on my conscience," he answered.

We stared at each other for another moment before I sighed.

"Fine," I said. He let out a breath of relief and went back to his car, opening the passenger side for me. I got in without thanking him and he slammed the door shut behind me. Then he got into the driver's side and turned the heat up. My entire body was shaking from the rain and I knew I probably caught the cold.

Caleb shifted the gear into drive and I told him where I lived. We drove in silence, the only sound the rain as it hit the car. I didn't have to give him directions; he knew where he was going. I didn't question this. Maybe he was just familiar with the city.

"Thanks," I muttered to him when he pulled up to my shabby apartment complex.

"Yeah, no problem," he replied.

I looked at him briefly before I opened the door to get out. He was looking at me with those dark green eyes of his, something hidden behind them. I wondered if when he looked at me, he saw something hidden as well.

"Night," I said.

"Night," he replied.

Then I slammed the door shut and he drove off, disappearing in the rain and darkness.

______________________________________________________________________

A/N: Slowly but surely they'll start having real conversations.

What do you think happened to Nicole? I think I made it pretty obvious.

Once again, keep Serena and her story in mind.

Leave me a comment!

Please vote!

XOXO