The Aftermath ...

April 2005...

Savannah

He tilted her head to the side as his tongue lightly touched hers. She froze. What was going on? Why was Kyle kissing her? Should she be happy or angry?

This one moment brought back memories that she thought she had buried long ago. She tried hard to erase those thoughts, but they kept coming back with every contact their tongues made. Her heart beat faster in her chest. As much as she wanted this feeling, this moment, to last forever, she didn't want to bring back those horrible memories. Her heart ached as tears rolled down her cheeks. Kyle probably noticed because he suddenly pulled away. Confusion was written all over his face. His hands were still cupped on her face. Savannah didn't want to explain the reason for her tears. She wanted to sit in a corner and cry. Why did everything have to take a turn for the worse? Why did Kyle have to kiss her?

She didn't want to keep replaying those thoughts so without thinking twice, she pushed him and ran out of there. Everyone's attention turned to her but she didn't look back. She heard footsteps approaching her but didn't turn to look.

"Savannah!" She heard a voice call out her name but already knew that it was Kyle.

She ran out of the house, tears streaming down her face. She didn't know her way home but didn't want to call her mom to pick her up.

She kept running until she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore. As soon as the footsteps got so thin that she couldn't hear them, she stopped in her tracks and looked at her surroundings. She had been so focused on avoiding Kyle and everyone around her but didn't realize that she had gone so far away from his house that she was now on a deserted road.

Already tired and panting, she started walking down the road. The weather became chilly and Savannah started shivering. It didn't help that her dress was short sleeved. The sun started setting and Savannah didn't know where to go.

Fortunately for her, there was a bench by the side of the road. She walked to the bench and sat on the cold iron. Memories of all that happened that day kept replaying over and over like a video on repeat. She rubbed her hands on her arms to reduce the cold but it didn't help.

Thoughts of the kiss, the thoughts she had during the kiss...

No! Savannah thought to herself as she fell to the ground. Her heart, her head and her entire being ached from just the thought of what had happened. Everything would have been so much better if that incident didn't happen. If that kiss didn't happen...

Tears began rolling down her cheeks. That incident ruined her past, her present and her future. She couldn't even tell anyone about what had happened. She had to suffer through it the entire time.

She sat down on the dirt and hugged her knees. The tears were still rolling down her cheeks and it made her head hurt. She wanted to scream and vent out all her pain but couldn't. She wanted to destroy everything in sight but couldn't. She wanted to cry but couldn't.

Though it all happened 2 years back, the memories were still so clear in her mind. The way he looked at her, the way he touched her, the way he forced...

No! No! No!!

She needed to forget, she needed to move on from all those horrible memories. She needed to clear her mind and knew just the thing to do the trick. She got up from where she sat, the dirt had already ruined most of her dress but she didn't have the time to think about it. She dusted some of the dirt off her dress and began walking.

Usually, whenever she's overthinking about something or can't think of a way to get something off her mind, she just takes a walk around the neighbourhood. But she hadn't practiced doing that since they moved. Maybe because she didn't need to...

She started off by going straight. The road didn't have any connections so she hoped that she could be able to find her way back to the bench and hopefully back to Kyle's house so that she could call her mom to pick her up.

She didn't want to see Kyle for a while. Maybe by keeping her distance, it wouldn't be too awkward thinking about their kiss.

She walked straight for a while, the wind blowing her dress and making her even more cold. It was already dark outside and Savannah didn't have a watch with her. The trees around her made the road before her look almost infinite. For a second, she didn't know whether to just walk back to the bench or just keep walking. Her curiosity got the better of her and she ended up continuing her journey. The road ended up taking a turn for the right and she still continued.

She walked for a couple more minutes before noticing an old abandoned mansion . It looked like nobody had lived there in over a decade. She felt a little concerned about her surroundings and started looking around for anything unusual. That house that she saw made her wonder if people actually live there.

Her pace started to quicken. She didn't know whether it was her imagination playing tricks on her but every time she took a moment to look around her, she saw strange things and heard weird noises. She paused for a second and took a moment to look around her. Everywhere was dark. She didn't know her way back and didn't want to take any chances. The place was still cold, it almost seemed as though it would rain soon. With the strong wind and dark clouds.

Savannah started taking a few steps back.

'shrrr'

There was a sound coming from the bushes. She took another step back.

'shrrrrr!'

This time it was louder and more fierce. Without thinking it through, Savannah was on her heels. She started running and with each building she ran past, she realised that it was all just part of her imagination, but she still didn't want to take chances, all she was waiting for now was to see that old mansion she walked past.

She ran faster and kept increasing her speed. She looked at her right for a second, it seemed as though she had seen the mansion but in the blink of an eye, it was gone. Like as if it was never there, just a few trees and...

Savannah slipped on a rock or stone or whatever it was and fell. She landed on her back and for a second, everything looked hazy. Savannah's head felt like it weighed a tonne and her arm ached. She managed to sit straight and caressed her forehead with her other hand. She looked at her right arm and there was a slight cut surrounded by dirt and it hurt every time she moved her arm.

She got up, dusted the dirt of her arm and began walking back to the beach. Things still looked a bit blurry but within minutes, it was clear. She slowly walked through the road she remembered following.

The bench was surprisingly further down the lane than she'd thought, but she didn't dare look back to see if she had passed it.

After an extra few minutes of walking, she finally reached the bench. She sat down and rested her head on the side and soon enough, dozed off...