❝I wish I were a little girl again, because skinned knees are easier to fix than broken hearts.❞

~ Julia Roberts

I don't think I was ready to talk to her. I didn't want the wounds to re-open.

I was at a bad place when Aiden stopped talking to me.

"Come on. Just let me do this. It won't hurt. You'll love it." A stranger said softly while touching me.

"No ple-please stop." I said while sobbing.

I shuddered with horror. I didn't want to go through all of that again. I'm already hurting myself by reading those letters.

I can't do this.

"El! Open the door!" Val shouted while pounding on my front door.

I opened the door to see an angry and hurt Val.

"I'm sorry Val. I can't talk about it. It hurts too much." I said while silently sobbing.

"Ella, I'll wait, but you need to tell me." Val replied.

"Why do I have to tell you?" I asked.

"Because I want to be able to help you. When I first met you, you were absolutely broken, and I never questioned it. But every year on this day, I go to James' party, and this one guy always asks me whether you miss him and whether you're okay. And today I decided to ask him what his name is. He said 'Aiden Parker.' You're always telling me not to get attached to Parker. Now that I think about it, I think you're talking about Aiden. Who is Aiden?" Val asked.

"Aiden Parker was my best friend 2 years ago. We were best friends for 4 years." I answered truthfully.

"Ella, what happened?" Val asked softly.

"VALERIE SPARKS! I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" I screamed. I was violently sobbing now. All the memories were coming back. I couldn't do this anymore.

Val tried to comfort me, but nothing worked.

"Can you please just leave me alone for a while?" I asked softly.

"Sure. I'll be back soon though." Val replied while getting up to leave.

I had no idea what she was going to do. But I guess I will just have to wait.

I went upstairs to read another letter.

I finally calmed down a bit, but I still felt sad. I went downstairs, and just laid down on the couch.

In a couple of minutes, I fell asleep, but I didn't sleep for long because the door bell rang.

"I've got a caramel macchiato and a container of chocolate ice cream for you." The guy said.

I looked up and gasped.

"No." I said to myself.

"No what?" Aiden asked.

"Go away. Get away from me. Where's Val? I'm going to kill her." I yelled.

I slammed the door shut.

I slid down the door and started sobbing. This was just too much for me.