Hidden Secrets // H.S

Chapter 3

Avalon Faulkner

I stare at the crowded space filled with many shopping bags and boxes. I spent a month sleeping on Amaya's uncomfortable couch before I got approved for the apartment next door and bought enough furniture to make something out of it.

I have a job at a coffee shop because it was the only place that called me back. Do I hate it? Yes. But I have bills to pay. Besides, it's something temporary. I can't deal with the constant small burns to my hands and entitled customers.

My life has been- - interesting this last month.

I've changed my name back to Avalon legally. My new license just came in and my passport should be coming in next week. I'm standing in my very own apartment.

I think it's the first time I'm living all by myself.

After college, I moved in with Christopher and then lived with Zara in New York. I thought I was living alone while I worked for the Styles' but Zayn as my roommate was something I still find myself missing some nights. There's no roommate to bump into in the morning during breakfast. No room who uses the bathroom at three in the morning and abruptly wakes you up. No roommate to watch reality tv with while cuddling your own separate blankets. No roommate to entertain with all of your problems.

None of that.

I'm all alone.

I've talked to Zayn a few times this month. His new life is just as chaotic as mine. He got a job back at the agency and is taking a few criminal justice classes. He said something about having a few study dates with a girl. He's brought her up three times already. That's never happened.

I've avoided asking too much about Harry.

I can't.

Anytime I think about him I want to burst into tears.

Of course, I miss him. I spent two weeks regretting my decision. My eyelids were puffy and hurt to blink for days from all the crying. I felt like an awful human being. I was convinced I was.

I don't know where I'd be if Amaya hadn't been there to give me her big sister speeches. She helped me remember why I left in the first place.

Was it shitty to ghost Harry like that? Yes. But I don't know what would've happened if we had gotten a formal goodbye. Our 'breakup' was painful enough. A goodbye? Way worse.

I don't think he would've understood why I wanted to leave.

I walk a few feet to where my bed is, taking off boxes from the mattress. I set up my bed first by putting on new sheets and a comforter with pillows. There's a window by the foot of the bed that gives me a decent view of a few buildings. It looks better at night than it does in the morning in my opinion.

I've never been a fan of moving yet I seem to be doing it a lot in recent years. I hate starting new again constantly under new identities. This time I'm here to stay.

No more name changes. No more moving to run away from my problems. No more fake personas.

This Avalon is here to stay.

My front door creaks open, making my head shoot toward it. Amaya sneaks inside the open slit and her eyes widen. "Why don't you lock your door?"