Like flowing water, years pass by, love and hate intertwined
Chapter 1
My boyfriend Jack has an ugly scar on his
face that runs all the way down.
It is long and uneven.
Most people were so frightened that it
seemed as if they were too scared even to
approach, let alone run away.
Only I was not afraid.
At that time, I wasn’t just dating him; I was
also working three part–time jobs
desperately.
I spared no effort to save up enough money
just to have him undergo plastic surgery.
L
Then I found a temporary job at a car
exhibition.
There was no scar on Jack’s face.
He is signing the documents for purchasing a
brand–new Ferrari.
When he saw me, his eyes opened wide.
For a second, I thought I was hallucinating.
But it was definitely Jake standing there, the
nasty scar on his face was completely gone.
I froze, not knowing what to say.
I just felt cold, like someone had dumped ice
water on me.
Jake looked at me with this shocked
expression.
He started to walk toward me.
Then this girl, Ashley, came up and looped
her arm through his.
She smiled and said, “Babe, where are you
going?
We just need to pay and then we can take the
Ferrari home.”
Her voice died when she saw me.
She looked surprised.
“Halley?”
We used to be best friends, but now she was
all cozied up to my boyfriend, or ex-
boyfriend, or whatever he was.
The flyers I was holding went “splat” on the
floor.
Suddenly, my relationship with Jake seemed
like one giant, cruel joke.
I turned to walk away.
But Jake grabbed my arm.
“Hailey, listen, it’s not what it looks like.”
“Then what is it?”
く
I yanked my arm away, staring him down.
His face was perfect, the skin was smooth
and he was decked out in designer clothes.
He looked nothing like the guy with the
hideous scar, the guy who wore clothes from
the discount bin.
Suddenly, he was a complete stranger.
“Jake, I thought you were a poor guy whose
face got messed up in an accident.”
“I’ve been working my tail off at three jobs,
skipping meals, not even buying a soda when
I’m thirsty, just so I could save up for your
surgery.
“Were you just using me?”
く
My voice shook with anger.
“No, I swear, I didn’t mean to trick you.”
Jake looked like he was about to cry.
He tried to grab my hand again.
Ashley pulled him back, glaring at me.
“Hailey, do you even know what today is?”
“It’s Tommy’s anniversary.”
“I set Jake up to play you for a year.
I wanted to get you back today.
I want you to remember that you are the
reason that Tommy is dead.”
L
“I want you to know that you can’t save
anyone.
You are not a hero.
You are a waste of space, you should just
die!”
Ashley’s words cut me like a knife.
We used to be inseparable.
She knew exactly what would hurt me the
most.
Three years ago, my brother, Tommy, got his
face slashed and his vocal cords ruined.
The kid was a musical genius, he couldn’t
deal with it.
He tried to kill himself more than once.
I stuck by him, trying to pull him out of it.
Then one day, he asked for a lime popsicle.
I went to the store to get it.
When I got back, he’d jumped off the roof.
I couldn’t save him.
And Ashley, who had been in love with
Tommy for five years, turned on me.
She blamed me for not watching him close
enough.
And I was stuck in that summer, forever.
く
I stood there, numb.
It was summer, but I felt like I was freezing.
I forced myself to speak.
“Get out.
Just get out of my life!”
I grabbed whatever was on the table and
threw it at them.
Ashley laughed, a cold, nasty sound.
“Seeing you angry makes me so happy.”
“I want you to know that no matter what you
do, you can’t fix what you did!”
“Enough, stop it.”
Jake roared at her, then turned to me, his
face a mess.
“Hailey, I didn’t trick you to get revenge, I
swear. I did it because I liked you…”
“Slap!”
I hit him hard, staring at him, my eyes
burning.
“You’re a liar, a user!”
I turned and ran.
A year ago, after Tommy’s death, I found
Jake trying to cut himself in the bathroom at
school.
L
He had that scar on his face.
Seeing him, I saw Tommy.
I saw the kid trapped in the dark.
I ran over and stopped him, hugging him tight,
begging him not to do it.
From then on, I was always with him.
I made him food, took him out, and tried to
make him happy.
I was scared to leave him alone.
I was scared it would happen again.
At first, I was just trying to make up for what
く
happened to Tommy.
I wanted to fix things.
If I couldn’t save Tommy, I was going to save
Jake.
But after we moved in together, I couldn’t
imagine my life without him.
He wasn’t moody like Tommy, he was so
much brighter.
He’d sing to me, dance for me.
That’s when I knew I liked him, not just
because he reminded me of my brother.
I thought he was the light that Tommy had
left behind.
く
Now I knew he was just darkness.
He and Ashley had been playing me the whole
time.
:
I went back to the dump of an apartment
we’d shared for the last year.
It was tiny, just a bed, a tiny kitchen, and a
shared bathroom.
But we were happy because we thought that
as long as we were together, we could handle
anything.
But I was alone.
く
I’d been killing myself for a few bucks, and
Jake must have been laughing the whole time.
The money I made in a year wouldn’t even
cover the tires on his car.
My heart was dead.
I packed up all of Jake’s stuff and tossed it in
the dumpster.
I remembered when I bought him those
clothes.
He said he loved them.
He was such a good liar.
I went back upstairs and saw Jake.
He was still wearing the fancy clothes from
the car show.
He looked so out of place in that rundown
apartment.
He grabbed my hand, his eyes desperate.
“Hailey, please, don’t leave me.”
I looked at the table.
There were some leftovers from the other
night: a couple of chicken wings that had
turned green.
I hadn’t wanted to eat them myself.
I was saving them for him.
But we didn’t have a fridge, so I just left them
on the table.
“Jake, see those chicken wings?”
My voice was quiet.
He nodded, his face sad.
I said, “They’re moldy.
They’re spoiled.
