These past few weeks have been AMAZING.

Liana and I hang out almost every night, sometimes with kissing and sometimes without.

Honestly, I never thought a girl like her would even bat an eyelash at a guy like me, but here we are. She says it's just hooking up for fun, but I see the way she looks at me. We both want it to be more, but something in her eyes holds me back.

I love her. If not being together is what she needs to be happy, then I'll do anything for her.

Including develop a six pack.

I look down at my tight chest, smiling at what I see. When I was younger, I failed PE every year up until I left for college. I've just never really cared about working out before, but as soon as she laid her pretty gray eyes on me, I started going to the gym.

I swear, there's a some kind of spell on me or something.

"Hey." Liana yawns. She comes into my kitchen, looking gorgeous in a ratty old sweatshirt of mine.

"Did you sleep well?" I mutter, leaning in for a kiss, and she stands on her toes to give me one.

"Oh, you know, the usual amount of sleep for an unemployed lawyer." Liana whispers, pulling away and moving to the cabinet. Pulling out her favorite chipped coffee mug, she moves over to the coffee machine and begins pouring herself the leftovers.

For a minute, the sun's early-morning rays shine on her face and I am in a trance once again. 

"Adam?" Liana smirks, pouring some sugar into her mug. "You okay?"

"Oh, um yeah," I stammer, grabbing her around the waist, "Just thinking about how beautiful you look." Liana is plenty aware of the effect she has on me. When she does catch me staring at her, her mouth curls up into a little grin, and she blushes.

I don't think she's used to being praised for her looks. It's kind of cute, honestly.

"Aww, stop," she gushes, slapping my shoulder and I let her go. 

"No, seriously." She laughs and wrinkles her nose at me, grabbing her toast from the toaster.

"Can you stay late today?" She asks, changing the subject. She grabs butter from my fridge, walking towards my dining room table.

Walking further and further away from me.

I shake my head. Snap out of it. She's not going to leave you.

"No, I'm sorry, Liana," I rush over to the table, grabbing my laptop and adjusting my tie. "Harold will kill me if I go in late for the third time this week." I say, kissing her on the forehead and rushing out the door.

"See you later, then?" She calls, looking lonely in my vast hallway. For a second, I just want to drop everything and crawl back into bed with her. 

When I'm with her, nothing else matters. Not the fifteen missed calls I get from Harold, or the pound of work that I most likely have waiting on my desk.

There was a hole in my heart. She mended it.

"Your place?" I ask, and she nods. 

I blow her a kiss goodbye, memorizing every inch of her smile.

~

Love. Love. Love.

A beautiful word.

You can love a lot of things. You can love your mother, your best friend, your sister. You can love an object so much that you keep finding yourself drawn back to that item.

But nothing is better than loving another person.

You love everything about them. Their smile, their sense of humor, their laugh. They can do no wrong in your eyes. 

That's what's so great about it.

~

Knocking.

I get up from where I lay with Liana, pulling on my pants.

The relentless pounding on Liana's apartment door.

"Stay there," I whisper to her, "no matter what happens to me, don't come out." Something flashes in her eyes, but she nods. 

I run out of Liana's room, just as the door to her apartment is kicked down by two buff looking men, armed with rifles.

"Hands on your head!" I drop to the ground, hands on my head, just as Liana comes running out of her room, phone in hand.

"Adam, what's happening?" She asks, voice frightened, but eyes as stern and confident as always.

"Liana, run." I beg, making my voice as clear as possible.

"No, let me-"

"Yo, you better listen to your boyfriend and get out of here." The man shouts out her, waving his rifle in the air. 

"I'm calling someone." Liana picks up her phone and hurriedly dials. 

A gunshot. For a second, it's like time stands still. All I see is the bullet flying at an impossible speed towards Liana's throat.

So I do the only rational thing.

"No!" I run towards her. For a second, something warm pierces my chest and I fall to the ground, knocking over a coffee table. 

Liana bends down, and I can see her lips moving, but nothing comes out. It's like I'm underwater and on fire at the same time.

My chest burns.

The last thing I see is Liana fall to the ground, dead.

Let me be with her, please.

𝒮𝒶𝓁𝑒𝓂 𝐹𝒶𝒸𝓉 #𝟩: 𝒮𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓃𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓁𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝓂𝓅𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁-𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉. 𝐹𝑜𝓇 𝑒𝓍𝒶𝓂𝓅𝓁𝑒, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓃𝒻𝒶𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝒫𝓊𝓉𝓃𝒶𝓂 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒𝓇 𝒹𝓎𝓃𝒶𝓈𝓉𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑀𝒶𝓈𝓈𝒶𝒸𝒽𝓊𝓈𝑒𝓉𝓉𝓈 𝐵𝒶𝓎 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝑜𝓃𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒶𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂𝓈𝑒𝓁𝓋𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒.

This is true! John Alden, a sailor in Massachusetts, is a distant relative on my grandma's side. His father, John Alden Sr. was a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and one of the people who came over on the Mayflower. 

Yes, John Alden Jr. was accused of witchcraft by Mercy Lewis, for various reasons that I am not aware of. Since the Salem jails were so full, he was carted off to Boston to await his sentence in jail. His friends helped him break out of the jail in Boston, and yes, he did flee on horseback.

Alden hid until the witch trials were over and was pronounced innocent by Samuel Sewall, an old friend of his. A transcript of his trial still exists, as well as a firsthand account of his witch trials experience.

There ya go! Some facts!