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~ Day Dreams ~
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~ Prologue ~*~ Part Two ~
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~ Childhood Promises ~
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~ July-Thirteenth ~
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~ Eight-Years-Old ~
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~ Hazel's POV ~
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  ~ Authors Note ~ 
{{Trigger Warnings}}
{{Child Abuse}}
{{Neglect}}
{{Mental Illness}}
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A gentle yet sweaty hand reached out to grasp my own trembling one, pulling me safely to my feet. Glancing at our hands, unfamiliar feelings ease their way through my mind. I felt odd; though protected by Jake's close proximity.

"I look away for a second and I almost lost you already," Jake's breathy words trembled in my ear. "You need a cow bell, but are you okay?" Jake examined my face intently, looking to my ghostly stare for answers

I felt my breathing ease as he intertwined his fingers with mine; I nod in agreement, explaining, "Sorry, my shoelaces came undone and then all of a sudden, you were gone and I was all alone again! You see... I hate feeling lost. It, it scares me," I gaze down at our hands, my heart racing as another unknown sensation spreads throughout my body. This is something that I have not felt in a long time—happiness.

Jake nodded, understanding. "That's okay, Hazel. You don't have to apologize to me," he clarified as we shuffled ourselves in the direction of the congested stall crowded with greasy, sunscreen coated bodies.

"Well, it's nice to meet your acquaintance, Hazel," Jake said with a genuine smile, dimples showing on his cheeks, gesturing towards the overflowing crowd. I replied with a smile and fidgeted with my fingers as my already burnt face darkened to a deeper shade of red.

We arrive at the crowded ice cream stall hand in hand, still feeling the protection of Jake's presence surrounding me. Jake released my hand, making me feel uneasy for a moment before shaking the odd feeling away.

Who is this boy? Why is he making me feel this way? He has a sense of familiarity to him but we have only just met. This is scary, but this is amazing; have I just made a friend?

Waiting in line and feeling like it would last forever, we finally reached the front counter. The man working the ice cream stall greeted us, "So, what can I get you kids today?" he asked happily, smiling down as he recognized me from earlier.

"Can we please have two whipped rainbow ice cream cones, sir?" Jake grinned and signaled two fingers toward the man.

"Alright, sure," the stall man shouted before asking Jake, "Is that with added sprinkles at all?".

Jake shook his head and said, "No, unfortunately not."

The stall man added up the bill and stated, "So that'll be four dollars and twenty five cents, thank you."

Jake nodded, standing on his tiptoes to present the sandy coins to the man before Jake realized he had suddenly disappeared from view. After a few minutes had passed, the stall man reappeared holding two whipped rainbow ice cream cones, but both with added sprinkles placed in each gloved hand.

"Alright, here we are," the stall man had announced. "Two rainbow ice cream cones, with added sprinkles on the house!" the stall man expressed, leaning over the bicycle-stall bench and handing the cones to Jake. Both Jake and I "Oooh'' and "Aaah" in unison.

"Thank you, Sir!", Jake said with a wide grin, excited for his ice cream. Jake passed me the cone, already melting in response to the heat and blissfully replied, "Wow, thank you."

Jake and I shuffled along the damp beachside shore, holding our ice cream cones as Jake's voice suddenly broke the silence, "Hey," Jake paused for a moment, pondering, "Do you want to come over and play at my house? As it's only around the corner from here. But only if your parents are okay with that, of course?"

"Sure, okay," I replied, wide-eyed. "They haven't even noticed that I'm gone yet," I said, talking through a mouthful of delicious ice cream.

"Well, I've noticed," Jake said, smiling, "Here, follow me. I'll lead the way!" He reached for my hand again, his still sweaty and mine still strangely cold. Meanwhile, Jake's ice cream started melting and dripping down and onto his other hand.

"So, how long have you've lived in Seaside for?" Jake asked, licking the melting ice cream that was beginning to drip down his arm.

"Uhh," I hesitated, "I was actually born here. Never left." I lowered my voice, keeping it just loud enough so that he could still hear me. I held my head high, struggling not to seem like this was a touchy subject; I wanted to be honest with my new friend.

"So, you must know your way around here?" Jake questioned, glancing behind him with excitement in his eyes, his melting ice cream covering his chin.

The sight of Jake made me giggled as his messy eating habits lifted my spirits. "Uh no, not really. I don't get out much," I laughed a small smile, unsure of what to say next, before quickly adding, "How long have you've been here for?"

"Oh okay, and I actually just moved here with my Mom and up until now, I've had no friends," Jake smiled a wide smile.

Why would this strange boy would want to be 'my' friend? It's odd and unknown territory for me.

The two of us walked along the shoreline, deep in conversation as Jake told me about how he wanted to swim professionally when he was older. I tried not to give much thought to what my future holds because I was sure a girl like me didn't have a good life ahead, as Fiona never hesitated to remind me. Although Jake's spirit did give me a new perspective on life, maybe everything isn't as terrible as the life I have lived so far.

The hot afternoon sun began to die as we strolled through the warm, patchy grass sprinkled with sand. We were approaching what I assumed was Jake's house, and it was big—very big.

It was a large house with stained white wood and brown wooden beams; I had never been in a house like this before. It was beautiful, and there was a dreamlike meadow on the lot behind his house. It was reminiscent of a scene from a movie, and I was in awe. My eyes were continuing to widen with each step we took, bringing me toward more and more beauty to take in.

The front door was large and paneled with glass; I did my best to peek through to see what was waiting inside, just a few feet from the entryway to the house. Jake softly jogged toward the deck, continuing up the steps and toward the front door.

A stunning woman appeared, standing on the polished deck with her hands on either side of her hips. "Hey baby-cheeks, where have you been?" the woman asked in a fake demanding tone, "Oh, Jake, who's this?" she questioned, looking past Jake who was now halfway up the stairs and meeting her cold gaze with my own. I stood feeling like an intruder just near the foot of the stairs, doing my best to avoid the woman's piercing stare.

Embarrassment consumed me as I fiddled with my fingers again, pondering my disheveled appearance and silently comparing myself to this woman's own spotless one; she appeared to be a business woman wearing a long black dress with an apron around her waist, indicating that she is off duty for the day. She had waves of blonde hair and dark blue eyes that were not quite as bright as Jake's.

In comparison, I wore long baggy overalls, a sweater which was way too big for my tiny frame as I barely eat much; alongside frizzy apricot hair which was scruffy and tangled as it had not been cut in years or even brushed with a proper hairbrush; instead, I used my fingers to smooth out the matted mess.

"Oh, meet Hazel, Mom," Jake says confidently. "Wait, where'd she go?", a confused expression crossed his face as he peered back toward where I stood, perched on the sandy grass.

"Hi there, sweetie," Mrs. Rivers said, emotionless alongside a plastic-looking smile. She forced her attention toward her son once more, continuing to hold both polished hands on her curvy frame.

"Look at your face! Haven't I taught you any manners at all, Jake?" Mrs. Rivers questioned with a sigh, narrowing her gaze at Jake as she crossed her arms across her ample chest. "We'll talk about this later, but first say goodbye to your... friend and come inside to start your homework and clean up that disgusting room of yours!" she ordered, wiping his chin clean on her apron.

Jake squirmed, trying his best to escape his mother's grip, but she was holding on too tight, determined. "There you are, good as new," Mrs. Rivers said, clearly deeming her efforts as a job well done.

Jake finally managed to free himself from her grip. "Hey Hazel, come and check out our chickens, they're out the back!" he yelled with excitement, running down the stairs and grabbing my hand again as he ran in front of me; he continued by guiding me toward the backyard where I could only assume the chickens were.

That odd feeling came over me once more—protected.

"You had better finish your homework and clean up your room, later, young man!" Mrs. River's voice yelled, fading as it echoed toward us. We had just reached the chickens that were freely roaming his backyard when Jake laughed.

"Haha, look at how cute and fluffy they are," Jake chortled, pointing at the flustered chickens running around on the grass and startling them in the process.

"Heh, yeah—" I let out a small giggle, still a little thrown off from the previous interaction with Mrs. Rivers.

"I have something to show you, Hazel, but it's a surprise!" Jake's gentle voice stated as he tugged me away, but this time he was pulling me towards the garden patch. "It's a surprise, remember, so you can't peek," Jake told me, suddenly releasing my hand.

"I have to peek," I thought silently to myself, despite trying my best to refrain. Jake began digging his hands into the earthy soil and withdrew a carrot from within the garden bed.

Shutting my eyes and slapping my hands over my freckled face, I shielded my eyesight for a few moments before Jake informed me, "You can open your eyes now."

I followed his instructions, peeling my hands slowly away from my face and squinting in the process as my eyes adjusted to the world around me.

"Happy Birthday, Hazel!" Jake sang, holding the dirt-covered carrot out toward me, as my face flushed red in response. "This is for you! I like it because it reminds me of your hair..."

I was speechless... No one had ever celebrated my birthday, and neither I nor my family treated it as though it was anything other than another day.

My birthday was barely acknowledged, aside from being the one day that I was actually allowed to go to the beach, but it was never something that was exactly celebrated. I was never treated differently on my birthday, continuing to have the usual abuse thrown at me regardless.

However, I've never viewed my birthday as something to celebrate; I've always been told that I deserve nothing but pain and punishment. I always envied the kids who got to celebrate their birthdays with a loving family, as I was very aware that would be something I would probably never get to experience.

Being noticed let alone appreciated was bizarre to me, a new feeling that I was not used to. I have never personally received a birthday present before as my family never took the time to notice, or even cared at all, for that matter. I worried that this feeling was too good to be true, and suddenly it occurred to me that maybe it was.

Fear began to churn within me, turning my thoughts into a sudden slew of concern; someone cared about me, someone that could be taken away—this was terrifying.

A present? For me? This has never happened before, and Jake is amazing... Who is this boy, really? Even in my happiest moments, fears from the past continue to haunt me, lying in wait like a shadow, looming over my gloomy existence.

"Thank you," my voice cracked in an attempt to sound confident, "But I thought you had already gotten me a present?"

Jake nodded in agreement, stating "Yeah, but someone as brave as you deserves to be spoiled on their birthday!" Jake said, grinning from ear to ear.

Jake positioned the carrot on the palm of my left hand; stunned, I could not believe that I had received a tangible birthday present from none other than a strange boy I had stumbled upon along the beach. I suddenly remembered that it was his birthday too, and with a pang of guilt I realized that I had nothing to give to him.

Without a word, I decided that sharing the gift was the only option, and I held the carrot, bringing it closer to Jake in the process. With a nod indicating that he understood, he gripped the carrot and, with one motion of his hand, continued to tear it apart into even halves.

We washed the equal halves of carrot in a nearby stream connected to the meadow by Jake's house. Once we were done, I leaned back to rest on the soft grass next to Jake as a goofy grin lit up my face.

"Happy Birthday to you too, Jake," I said, crunching into the carrot eagerly between my teeth. "Hey, um, does your Mommy not like me?" I asked, feeling suddenly insecure.

"Don't worry about her. She hates everyone, including me, I'm sure of it," Jake reassured me as a small smile crept across his babyface.

The only sound breaking the silence was the chomping of carrots. "Hey Hazel, do you want to be my best friend?"

Too shocked to even respond, my eyes opened wide and I quickly nodded, wiping my damp hand along my dirty overalls. I held out my stained orange pinky finger toward Jake's face, almost knocking his nose in the process. I waited patiently for his own pinky finger to rise, eventually intertwining with my own stained one.

My next two words were whispered through a mouthful of carrot, "I promise..." I said gently, beginning to smile. Jake's own smile widened in response, managing to perfectly broadcast both his teeth and his dimples at the same time.

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Please, tell me in the comments what you thought about Prologue ~*~ Part Two? 🙈 I'll be greatly appreciated, thank you, you very kind soul!
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~ Prologue ~*~ Part Two ~
~ Dedications ~
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HeliiBoh
DebMorey
PeterPetruzzella
CaitlinWoodward9
DaniJones_14
ChloeMayerhofer
savvvy1998
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You guys should totally check out PeterPetruzzella short story! Lighthouse. It's amazing! Please also go check out Peter's YouTube account pure56 for awesome content on movies, tv-shows, and game reviews!
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You guys should totally check out ChloeMayerhofer story! Fallen! It's awesome!
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C.Morey 🥕 xoxo
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