Walking Through the Time Capsule

Prologue

Walking Through the Time Capsule

Prologue

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It seemed like Niall's life had been one thing after the other.

He was forced to move away from his best friend at thirteen. The only person who knew everything about him. All his quirks, his fears, his secrets. The only person who knew him inside and out, and who he knew inside and out.

Barely even a year after his hurtful goodbye, he had to bare the news that his dear friend had been murdered in his absence. Even though it was a lie, naive little Niall was devastated and heart broken.

Thrown into a world of hurt, he was stripped of himself, who he was, and lost everything he believed in as his heart hardened into stone. He fell into the pit of deception, and turned to anything he could to forget. He got tangled up in the dangerous web of parties, sex, drugs, and lies. All to coat over the hole that was left over the biggest lie of all.

He was cemented into that world, with no leftover trace of the real him, for four years. It was all normal for him. It was all a game, and the game followed him as he was forced to move back to the place where it all began.

Where she was.

With all the wounds reopened, and the pain resurfacing, he did what he had learned to do best.

Cover it up.

Except, the only way he knew how was cruel and unjust in ways he didn't know. To him, he was only doing what he had always done. Toy around with girls for his pleasure, play with their hearts, and leave them in the dust. It was always just to mask the pain. He never intended to hurt anybody. But the evil net that wrapped around his heart blocked his sight, blinded him from the harm. So when he found a girl who was already marked as a target, he saw no wrong in joining in. After all, it was only to hide the wound that was burying into his soul deeper and deeper with everyday he spent back in his hometown, without her.

But it was her all along.

Blinded by pain, old lies, and anger, he didn't realize what he was doing. But once he did, his world came crashing down. Once he realized the horrible things he did to not only his best friend, but the one he secretly loved deep down, he was devastated and horrified.

After weeks of having constant wars with himself over what he had done, he finally started to find himself again. The saying, 'the truth will set you free' never connected to anyone as much as it did to him. The news of her death being a lie, and the truth of her being alive, lifted and dissipated the thick black cloud that had been weighing him down for years. He learned to forgive himself, with the help of her, and everything was perfect.

They were perfect.

He had finally gotten what he secretly wanted all those years. Her. She was his. It was perfect. He was finally himself, and whole again. He was fixed, and rid of the demons that had haunted his brain.

But with one mistake, it all came tumbling down.

He didn't mean for it to happen. He didn't intend on unintentionally harming her. He didn't want to find out the harsh truth of what her life had been, and he didn't want to sit and watch her nearly die in front of his own eyes. After he had just gotten his break, he didn't want it to take the sharp turn that it did.

The saying, 'the past will always come back to haunt you' also was meant for him. Now more than ever, because his whole past, all the cruel things he had ever done, were written in her eyes.

Niall just wanted his Annabelle back. He wanted everything back to the way it was.

But with his own monsters and demons attacking him again, could he muster enough strength to save her too?

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"When will it stop, Louis?"

"When will what stop, Niall?"

"The pain." My voice cracked.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know, Niall."

"Do you feel it too?" I asked softly.

"I do. It hurts a lot."

I wanted to scoff and tell him it didn't hurt him nearly as bad as it did me, but I didn't have the energy. "I just need a break, Lou. The past almost six years now, have been nothing but hell and pain. When will it end? Am I that bad of a person?" I said in an almost pleading voice, as tears pooled in my eyes. "I just want to be happy for once. Genuinely happy."

His broken eyes stared into mine with massive amounts of pity and understanding. "You're not a bad person, Niall. You've just made bad mistakes. All you can do now is fix them."

"But the biggest mistake I've made, just broke the one person I love most."

"Then to fix the mistake, you have to fix her." He countered.

I sighed in response. "I don't know what to do. How do I fix her when she won't even look me in the eye?"

"Do you still have that box she dug up?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think you need to help her remember by re-telling her the both of your story. Walk her through your time capsule."

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