Close As Strangers

The story of two people in love, Prologue

     Hi, it's me again.
I promised you I'd tell you about Jaiden, didn't I?
  Well; here goes nothing.

I first met Jai in playschool, he had always been one of those you keep away from, he would always have his guard up so high no one could climb it - to be honest he scared the crap out of me. He would hang around the school with his two friends, Lucas and Thom, no one could touch them.
   Me? Oh, I was the quiet, lonely, bullied freak, no one saw me behind my thick bangs and acne. I would always have to give my lunch money up to some idiot requesting them, I would never fight back - that could lead to a bad comeback, and as a matter of fact I had never been in a fight at the time.  I would simply give them my money and try to stay out of their way.
     At least until Jaiden came my way. One day, out of nowhere, there he was - behind the bullies, requesting they'd give me back the money, if they preferred to eat with teeth still in their mouth, that was. The bullies had laughed at him; until he actually proved his point and punched one of their faces in. I got my money, and I got three new friends in a matter of minutes.

The time went on, I kept hanging out with the three boys, passing time getting drunk and flying around town on Jai's motorcycle. I loved my life, for the first time since for ever I was not afraid to go to school, I would stare my former bullies in their faces and I would fight anyone trying to touch me. Eventually everyone stopped trying.
     Jai told me all about fighting, he made sure I could always defend myself in any kind of situation, always making sure I would be safe - including safe from my own head. With my teenage years my demons started showing up almost daily, screaming, clawing my soul from the inside and I couldn't handle them without Jaiden. I don't know til this day how many times he's saved my life, and that makes it ever harder to realise I couldn't really save his when he needed me. I blame myself everyday for what was to happen to my sweet boy - how could I let it happen? Why didn't I just think that talk through? Why hadn't I heard in his voice he was broken? It was all my fault.
       I still remember the evening we were sat upon the roof of the school, drunk as skunks, all four of us - me, Jai, Lucas and Thom. Jai had challenged his mortality once again; standing on the edge of the roof, growling he was the king of Sydney, when he was about to fall. Lucas catched him, but I had the time to freak out never the less. I couldn't think of a life without him, how could he even try things like that?! How could he challenge life in such ways? I needed him here with me, I would never survive without him by my side, the thought itself sounded so wrong, it wasn't in my head.
     
The day I got home with a lip piercing was the day my parents freaked out, I wasn't their little girl any longer, I would talk back to them and defend my honour in a way I never had before - but it was the little diamond in my lip that made them flip. They threw me out, and I had nowhere else to go than to Jai. I called him from the park, asking if I could live with him until my parents had gotten back to their sanity, he promised to come get me right away, told me I could stay as long as I needed to.
     The house he led me to was big and luxurious, I was afraid to touch anything in case it would break, I would never have the money to replace it. I got to meet his parents, Carol and Darren, they were amazingly kind to me, they took me in like one of their own. It felt amazing to finally be accepted as I was.
     By now you would think things would clear, I would stay with Jai and nothing else could go wrong. Well it did- everything collapsed, crumbled and fell to the ground when one day my idiot parents came to his house, dragged me away and put me on a plane to Sweden.
"I have gotten a new job, and sweetheart you must understand that lowlife boy is nothing you can live with, what will he ever be able to give you? He's not good for you, and therefore me and your mother have decided you are in no way allowed to speak to him or his shabby friends" dad had said, and with those words he had ruined my life. I never even got an honest chance to explain it all to Jai, the last thing I saw of him was his face, drained in tears as he pressed his hands to the window of the gate. I never thought Jaiden was able to cry, but apparently I was totally wrong.