Darkness Within | Sitkolson - SEQUEL

1. WASH IT ALL AWAY

RYAN

The wind was harsh. Almost as harsh as the rain that fell. I didn't really mind it. It seemed to calm me more than most of the people that fought to make it to some sort of shelter.

There was something wrong. I could feel it. There hadn't been a storm this bad in almost forty years. This wasn't your average storm, either. This was worse than a hurricane.

The wind practically tore at trees, and the rain splattered on the cement like knives hitting stones. Thunder above fought with the lightning like barbarians, and that's when I knew something up there was going bad.

With a small sigh, I turned on my heel and walked through the rain and to somewhere safer.

Stepping through the parlour, I took my saturated jacket off and ran a hand through my hair–which was starting to get longer and longer as I held back cutting it more.

"Jesus, Ryan. Do you want a spare change of clothes?"

I nodded, my eyes locked on the floor of the store.

There hadn't been any outbreaks whatsoever, so what caused them to fight like that left my mind running.

Footsteps made their way towards me, and I looked up, eyes finding the black ones of Josh.

"Thank you," I mumbled, taking the clothes off of him and walking to the small restroom they had.

Sure, it was expected that their would be arguing, but I hadn't heard or seen a storm like this in almost seventy years. There was one cause for that, too. I just hoped that I was completely wrong this time.

My hands rested on the sides of the sink, my head dipped.

I tried to get my mind to think of anything but him, but it was hard.

Usually, people forget after a few years, but how? How can you just forget about someone? I couldn't.

Everything about him was still etched into my head, but it was slowly starting to fade. I wasn't forgetting. He was leaving.

As much as I tried to remember his laugh, and his smile, and even his eyes, I couldn't. Too long had passed. And every year was full of regret.

Soft knocks on the restroom door brought me out of my thoughts, but I didn't move.

Slowly, the door was pushed open, and I later felt a cool hand touch my shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

I lifted my head up, just enough so that I could see Ryan Ashley's reflection in the mirror.

Shaking my head, I looked back down.

She sighed and pulled me away from the sink and into her arms.

I rested my head on her chest, hugging her back.

Being in heels, Ryan was taller than me, which made it a little awkward, but I was grateful to have some form of comfort.

In the growing years of our friendship, Ryan had started to become more like a sister to me. Her and Josh grew closer, too.

He got the guts to propose, and she said yes. They were a perfect couple, if you ask me. There wasn't a single flaw in their relationship, which, at times, made me jealous.

Though, I did use to have that. It was me who threw it away, so I had no one else to blame but me...

Letting out another sigh, Ryan Ashley pulled back.

"I don't want to make you think otherwise, Ryan, but I will if you don't stop."

I never forgot that she could manipulate thoughts. She had come close to doing so with me, but she knew it was wrong.

Many times I had been in so much pain I turned to her and Josh and asked them to erase him from my mind. It's gotten so bad, I can't even say his name. I didn't want to forget him, because that's over half of my life gone, but I didn't want the pain any longer. It later got to the point where I accepted the pain, and saw it as my own suffering for what I did to him.

I nodded numbly, stepping away from her, and out of the restroom.

I didn't bother telling Ryan or Josh where I was going. By now, they already knew where I would be.

After minutes of walking trough the rain, I was finally at my destination, eventually on top of it.

The rain continued to beat down on me, but that was the last thing on my mind.

His bright blue eyes... They were fading. His smile was disappearing, and his voice was going quiet. I had a single photo of us, because one is all that I could handle.

That one, black and white photograph meant more to me than anything. His smile in the photo meant more to me than anything.

Ricky was always self conscious about himself. Somehow, Ben caught a photo of Ricky and I at the right time, because to this day that was still one of the brightest smiles I had ever seen him give.

I looked up at the grey sky, watching as lighting lit up behind the clouds.

I'm still sorry, Ricky...

A/N: So, here we go... By now you all know I'm not the best with first chapters. And, if you don't, now you do. I'll publish the second chapter when I wake up, because I'm practically falling asleep right now...
Let me now how you guys are feeling with this so far, and what your predictions are!!
xxx