On The Edge

Prologue

Prologue 

"Childhood memories are the sweetest memories of the past." 

The young girl clutched her stomach as giggles spilled from her lips, trying to run from the young boy but he held her still, refusing to let her go. 

"Gray! Stop!" She tried swatting his hands away but he was relentless, his eyes twinkling with mischief as he continued tickling his best friend. 

"Not until you say sorry!" He was still angry at her for calling him a big baby, he was far from one and he would show her that. 

Tears were pricking the child's eyes now as laughs continued to tumble out from her lips, her stomach aching. She knew she wasn't going to last long at all. Whenever she was against Grayson, she would always lose unless he purposefully let her win. 

"I'm sorry!" She finally caved, and he swiftly pulled away with a proud smirk on his face, watching as the girl took in deep breaths, trying to catch her breath before she stuck her tongue out at him to which he just merely rolled his eyes at. 

Even at the young age that they were in, the two were absolutely captivated by each other. Melanie was always a mess, tumbling over her feet, head strong, and difficult. Grayson on the other hand was not. He listened as his parents had taught him to do, and never talked back or out of turn. He wished he could be like Mel. He wanted the parents that she had. He wanted the love she got. 

But two didn't realize how much they would balance each other out later on. 

Nora stood from the doorway, watching the two kids play outside a smile making it's way to her face. She was quite happy that her daughter had someone like Grayson. Even though they were both still kids, she knew that Grayson would protect her. 

It was a shame that Grayson had to be raised in the household next door even though she was practically raising him. The people who were once both her and her husbands closest friends were nothing but mere strangers at this point. She made it her mission to give the boy everything she could. He deserved so much more than what he got. 

The sky was darkening above them and they all knew what this would mean. A storm was coming. Yet the two kids continued chasing each other around, laughing and twirling with each other even when small droplets began to fall, without a care in the world.

It always surprised Nora that Grayson loved being in the presence of Melanie. Most boys his age would've ignored her simply because she was of the other gender but that wasn't Grayson. He stayed by her side no matter what. She was proud to say that he was different. He was a bubble of sunshine whenever he was around Mel. Mel brought out the best sides of him just as he did in Mel. 

"Grayson, bring Melanie inside. It's going to rain!" Nora made sure to tell the boy rather than her daughter. Her daughter was full of mischief and always wanted her way. Grayson would drag her in if he had too. 

His eyes flickered to the women he thought of as a second mother before he went back to the girl who was still laughing to herself. He could feel the droplets hitting him now and he wanted to do nothing more than bring the girl inside. He knew she would get sick and that was the last thing he wanted. 

"Mel, we have to go before your mom gets mad." The boy with dark golden brown eyes said as he gently tugged on the small girls arms. He watched as a small pout made it's way to her lips and immediately knew that it wouldn't be easy to get her inside 

And yet Melanie let him pull her inside the house even though she was anything but happy. "Mommmm, you promised we could go hiking today. Please, we can wear our raincoats."