Emerald trees bent around them, shielding the two children from the outside world. They ran with the wind blowing through their hair, swirling and surrounding them in the effortless joy of youth.
They sat with their feet in the lake, their secret place between their houses, hidden deep in the forest. The girl with hair like the black waves of the lake beamed at the boy with green eyes like the trees, always enveloping her in them.
"I'll miss you," she whispered with a tone beyond her age.
He grabbed her hands in his, holding them and wishing he wouldn't have to let go. "I'll come with you."
She shook her head, shooting him a melancholic smile. She would have to hold her own out in the world.
"You can't. You have to take care of your family."
His father had just passed away. His sister was always sick. His cousin hated how her parents always fought. But he would leave them all for her.
"Promise you'll come back."
His gaze is sharp and almost petrifying. No one could deny him anything, least of all her.
"I will."
"It's time to go, Aurora," a woman's voice called out to the girl.
She looked at the boy, terror in her eyes, pain at being torn away from her bestest friend in the world. She didn't know it then, but in her heart he was the someone she belonged with.
"Wait for me?"
"I will."
He reached out for her.
"Ro!"
Her sweet voice echoes for eons, stretching time and space and memories. As far as the wind would take her. The girl of his dreams becomes but a pinprick of light as the forest that once welcomed him as a child of the trees turned cold and dark, leaving him alone in the black shadows.
"Ro!"
It is eyes of the warmest hazel brown like embers haunting his dreams that follow Roman into reality.
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It was afternoon the day of the full moon when Roman sat up without so much of a warning, determination on his face and clarity in his eyes. He pulled the breathing tubes off his face as his eyes landed on a half-asleep Rory, curled up in a pink armchair dragged next to him, a book in her lap, the sunlight wrapping her up in it's warmth. Cute.
