Picture Perfect: A CaptainSparklez Story {COMPLETE}

Chapter 13: Forgive and Forget

I sat in Ruby's car, staring up at the apartment complex with a look of complete sadness and uncertainty. This was it; my last stop before I took off for good. I knew I couldn't leave without more clothes and some food at least. I knew I couldn't leave without saying one last goodbye to my home.

That apartment was the first place in years I could actually call home. I was so happy, thinking I would finally be able to rebuild my life here, even if I was technically living under my sister's roof. My photography was growing, I was making decent money selling my pictures, I had fallen in love; everything seemed perfect.

And all it took was me getting shot and coming to my senses about who I was. I was a girl that would always be shrouded in darkness. I was the girl that could never be happy because the evil always followed her. I was the girl that would get anyone she ever loved hurt, or even killed.

I pressed my head against the top of the steering wheel and took several deep breaths. My mind was reeling with a thousand questions.  How would Ruby handle my disappearing act? How will she cope? Will Mark stick with her through it?

What about Jordan? He would be crushed more than my own sister! Would he be able to move on from me? How would he be able to continue making videos knowing the one girl that truly fell for him abandoned him?

I groaned. That made me sound like a complete bitch.

To be honest, that's exactly how I felt.  But I was being a bitch to save their lives! I was doing this for them! That's a good thing...right?

Damn my internal conflicts!

I opened the door of the car and crept slowly up the stone steps to the front doors. Luckily, the doors were still unlocked.

I opened the doors and stepped silently into the lobby. Suddenly I found myself gazing dreamily around the lobby. My mind was taking me back to the day I had officially met Jordan in that very lobby.  That day felt like a lifetime ago when I knew it had only just been yesterday. I couldn't believe it. In just two days I had fallen head-over-heels in love for a dorky gamer boy that I simply adored.

I wrote my phone and apartment number at that front desk for him, I helped him open his mailbox, I stood in that very spot and just gazed headlong into his gorgeous eyes.

"Ugh, damn it!" I said angrily as I slammed my thumb into the elevator button. "Stop thinking about it! You're gonna compromise yourself!"

The elevator only took a minute to arrive. I stepped inside and the silver doors slid closed. I had stood next to him in that elevator as we were making our way down to the lobby to meet Mark and Ruby for the festival.

The festival that nearly cost me my life...and he had saved me. Jordan Maron, the famous CaptainSparklez, had saved my life. He was a hero.

He was my hero.

"Stop it stop it stop it!" I screamed in the empty elevator, grabbing at my head and sinking to the floor. "Is this your way of getting back at me, Mom? Is this how you think I'm gonna change my mind about leaving? I can't take it anymore! Just leave me alone!"

Hot, angry tears were spilling down my cheeks. My entire body was shaking like a lost pup in an ice storm. My heart felt like it had split in two, coating my ribs in crimson and filling my lungs with blood. I was drowning.

I was drowning in my sadness, in my cries.

I was drowning in my broken heart.

I pulled myself off the ground and up on my wobbly legs just as the ding of the elevator signaled the arrival at my floor. The silver doors slid open to reveal the white walls and carpeted floors.  I tiptoed silently down the hallway in hopes of not waking the neighbors. I produced Ruby's apartment key as I stopped in front of the door.