The Loop.

Chapter 1

Seven years gone in an instant. The love, the kids, the death just wiped away like nothing ever happened. It could never happen again the way it did and I knew that. This time everything would be different.

Chapter one

June 19th 2014. It was so hot you would be scorched. But I didn't care, not one bit, I had just finished year 13 and in my mind I was free. I had no job, no school, no commitments and I would be 18 in 9 days. Yeh that meant I could legally drink but all I cared about is that I could hop in my car and keep on driving and no one could tell me to stop. All I dreamed about since I was 13 was to convert a little, white, sketchy looking van into a mini home so I could travel round Europe till my heart's content.

On the inside, I'd have a bed, bigger than a single for the nights I met beautiful foreigners, but small enough so I could fit in a counter top, mini fridge, cupboards and hopefully a kettle. Then I would pack all my spare space with books and plants that would rustle around every time I drove off. At the back would be two big windows, so every night, wherever I end up, I can just sit there and watch the sun go down.

But let me remind you that was just a dream, the reality was that I was a scared soon to be 18-year-old with no job, no van and potentially a future degree in astrophysics.

_

So, I said my goodbyes to the girls I had been to school with since 2007, wishing I could keep in touch with some and for the others, never have to lay eyes on them again. Then came the saddest part of the day, the final trip home on the bus with the same driver that had taken me there and back every day since year 9.

He was a small, balding man probably in his forties and he would often turn up at the bus stop really early or really late, but it didn't really matter as if I wasn't there yet he would sit and wait for me. So, as a parting thank you gift, I got him a travel mug that read "world's best bus driver" and a pair of socks that said "EAT. SLEEP. DRIVE BUSES". He laughed and, in that moment, I hoped he would be one of the faces I could see again.

_

Exactly three months and two days had passed since I finished school and the summer had passed quickly and more or less uneventfully. I visited Spain with my cousins, went camping with a telescope and my little brother for company and got a job in an expensive retail store. Other than that, I spent my days in quiet, exotic locations with a book in one hand and a pen in the other. Writing, reading and scribbling away until it would get too cold and dark and I'd wait till the next day to go again.

But now I was socialising with strangers as I dragged heavy boxes up to my new accommodation on the campus of Birmingham university. The sun was out yet again and I had a wonderful view out of my window. Lots off grass that was buzzing with people, a tall clocktower and a small yet glimmering lake. My room was of a moderate size and had two windows on the north and east walls, two wooden, silver beds poked in corners and a desk either side of them. I picked the bed that was in the nicest position and waited for my roommate to arrive.

"Hi.", came a sweet voice from the doorway, and instantly the angelic sound drove my attention away from the view and in that direction. Then, as I turned around returning the greeting, that was the first time I saw Her.