Didn't We Say Forever?

By Laikyn Meng

Sometimes we don't get a say in what love we fall victim to; we have to trust that it is true.

 

"I Promise."

We vowed forever too many times that over the last two years, the word faded meaning.

Our adolescent heartbeats reached a fatal foretelling from life's cruel realities.

 

Harper, a c

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Orange 9 Publishing Company LLC
• Release date: Mar 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781088120934

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product(s) of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental or meant to lend credibility and authenticity to the story. The use of brand names and locations should not be read as an endorsement of this author’s work. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

18+ Mature content explicit language and sexual content.

ISBN: 9798625222075

COPYRIGHT © 2020 LAIKYN MENG

THE ORANGE 9 PUBLISHING COMPANY LLC

Contents

Dedication

Prologue

1.Chapter 1

2.Chapter 2

3.Chapter 3

4.Chapter 4

5.Chapter 5

6.Chapter 6

7.Chapter 7

8.Chapter 8

9.Chapter 9

10.Chapter 10

11.Chapter 11

12.Two Years Later

13.Chapter 12

14.Chapter 13

15.Chapter 14

16.Chapter 15

17.Chapter 16

18.Chapter 17

19.Chapter 18

20.Chapter 19

21.Chapter 20

22.Chapter 21

23.Chapter 22

24.Chapter 23

25.Chapter 24

26.The End

27.Chapter 27

Chapter

28.Follow & Connect

About Author

Also By Laikyn Meng

To all the ones that break, and yet shine bright. Believing in a happily ever after never made us weak, just gave us hope.

Prologue

D on’t do this, please, Shay. My fingers tremble a little as I pull the seatbelt tighter around my body.

Harp, baby, calm the hell down; everything is going to dandy! We’ve driven before plenty of times while under some sort of influence. He loosens the grip on the steering wheel as if he honestly believes the confidence in his words over my concern.

Shay, I’m serious, someone could be hurt. You could get injured; I could get injured. We both have too much to risk.

Babe, trust me, I would never do anything to hurt you. Don’t you trust me, Harper Calico? I love you. I promised you forever. It’s his voice that changes; the look in his eyes is different. The distant place his mind goes, where I long to be. The safe-haven covers him as he laughs, but I’m still stuck in a limbo I can’t uncover. My breath won’t even out, and it increases as the speed does.

I love you too. We did promise. Shay, I’m just worried. We shouldn’t be out on the highway this late. A bad feeling is surrounding our actions, that may never be fixed. It sounds like some garbage that my hippie momma would yell at me when I ran out the door without a jacket.

Stop with that new age guru shit your momma fills your brain with babe. Come on, scoot over and sit on my lap. I wanna hold my girl. His words slur, as they usually do. As they reach my ears, I edit them as I become more aware. There was the scent so convincing; it smelled like the first bite of a sour apple turning sweet.

I roll my eyes, unbuckling my safety harness, and crawl over the bench seat to sit next to him. He stares with intensity as his mouth slips words of forever onto my neck, kisses on my cheeks, making promises. I don’t realize that he hasn’t looked at the road, checking in with the status of traffic. No, he sees me, and I close my eyes as we run head-on into the curve of the crunching mountain.

Scars will never be able to fade from my skin, the ones he leaves on my heart and soul; those are ones I try to erase from myself altogether.

Chapter 1

Shaymus

Istep in a line straight to the orientation building. Everybody’s face is fresh, and I am relieved every time I turn around to see strangers. Not one familiar face comes to clamor me or call out an old nickname.

Nothing delighted me more.

Name. A chick signing people in doesn’t look up at me, her evident cleavage on display for all the members of the student body.

Amos. Amos Griffin. Awe, there it is, the slow prowl up my body to my face. I am meant where I need to be.

Here you go, looks like you are housing in the C wing. River Hendrix is your roommate; the dorms are behind me. Welcome to the University of Colorado. Would you like a rape whistle? Rape whistle came out of her mouth like a flirty comment, which is confusing for everybody behind us.

What color is it?

Blue.

Sure. I lift a shoulder and gleam a half-cocked grin at her.

I doubt you’ll need to use it. She sizes me up and down, scanning my body to remember my build. Her eyes flock to the muscles that have not stopped flexing since the beginning of summer.

Never know, honey, sometimes boys say no too.

Doesn’t seem like you are the type, though. Am I wrong?

Not wrong. I think back to the summer. I took my time exploring the canvases of the very willing women in the area.

Here is your information and mine, if you ever want to see who calls it quits first in the bedroom. Maybe we could use our whistles for good use after all.

She wrote her number on the emergency contact form.

Thanks. See you around. I plan to.

I rub my left shoulder; the bruises haven’t faded, but the internal injuries are going to go away if I have to will them apart myself. I don’t let myself think of a wavy-haired brunette that I shattered. I think about a new life, where I leave Shay behind, and Amos is a king.

Chapter 2

Harper

S hay? I say rough, my throat dry with indecision. Where am I? What is that buzzing noise? I try to blink and find my mother on her knees praying to a Lord she has long since forgiven. At least mention Mother Nature while you’re down there, so it’s a little more believable.

I don’t have the energy to argue with her, to protest the flighty brain waves leaving her starving for red meat. Her tofu must be fat-free this week.

Shay. Where’s Shaymus? The tears in her eyes break any boundary I have of reality. I shift my aim at my dad, and he only clenches his fist, his long beard overlapping the buttons on his striped shirt.

Let me get you some water, baby. Shit, this must be really bad; they don’t use pet names on me.

Where is he? Again, the sniffling starts from my mom, and my lovely dad rolls his eyes, unfolding his lumberjack arms. A thought occurs to me, and I rush to panic, but am met with a hand raised in the commotion.

Because if true sobs are coming from my water is life mother, then the only conclusion is the worst one of all.

He’s fine. He dropped you off here, saved your life, I’m sure. Don’t worry, sweetie, he won’t be walking long. I’ll break his legs when I find where the little shit is hanging out. His knuckles are raging red. I try to remember the events that lock me in a hospital bed, and when I do, there are no emotions for the absence of the boy I thought I loved and assumed loved me.

Forrest, how dare you say that about his legs, given the circumstances! She’s hysterical and goes on a rampage smacking my father’s chest. My eyebrow peaks at him, shakes his head, at that the dramatic eye roll.

I didn’t mean anything by it, Sunny. No need to worry until the doctors come back with the results. Harper here is awake, and now they can run more tests. Everything will be okay, calm the hell down. Goodness woman, pull yourself together and go have a spinach grass shot. His attempts at soothing her crack me up. He is severely uncomfortable as she continues to sob.

Forrest, Sunny, where is he? They know to whom I’m referring. We don’t have to pick sides or point fingers; tell me the truth. Give me the full information I have been wondering since I woke up to find a vacant seat next to my hospital bed.

He isn’t here. Obvious one we’ve got on our hands here, captain.

No? I don’t show all my cards at once, I stare at the dust-filled chair as the particles above it dance in the stream of the morning light.

No. It is firm. Even if he was here, it seems my father’s voice would make sure it wasn’t a possibility. Nurses rush in as my heartbeat escalates. The doctor with a balding spot makes his way around the entryway.

How are you feeling? His voice is nervous; his eye contact needs improvement.

Fine.

Is it okay if I ask you a few questions?

Do what you got to do, Doc.

What’s your name? Do you know what month it is? What city are you in?

Harper Calico McKinley. Colorado Springs. Month, dare I say June? Wait for the heat and the wind chill, maybe a soft September. Yes, we are arriving in the summer breeze entering fall August, then? I joke around, which seems out of character, but I can’t seem to hold back the sarcasm, the gates are broken; the bad news is I don’t know which barriers were holding in my lewd comments.

Griffin. Her last name is Griffin. It was his idea, and now I am sure he rushed to the plan that my high school boyfriend and I would end up with a happily ever after.

Oh! Right, thanks to you, Daddio, it is Griffin, Harper Griffin. Which is strange, the circumstances now that I have time to think about it. My own mother doesn’t keep her husband's last name, and yet I am stuck with a boyfriend who split after his graduation.

Going to be checking the response and sensations in your feet. After your physical exam, there are police officers in the waiting room to talk about the accident. He taps with a pen on both sides. He glances at me for any indication.

Everything is numb. I assume it is a side effect of heartbreak, so I don’t say anything. Especially not the tingling in my toes, because I can’t feel anything. For the first time in my years alive, I don’t know if I ever want to be able to again.

Sweetie, can you feel your legs? Can you wiggle your toes? I wiggle them; my right doesn’t flinch, although my left dances freely. I try to bend my knees, yet the right remains flat.

Where is he? It must be eerie how calm I am right now. The fact half of my body seems to be cut off and replaced with a mannequin. Where Shaymus has gone is the only topic of gossip I care to indulge in.

I am afraid that this isn’t a good sign, we had a small hope for when she woke up. Her hip was crushed from the accident; it has knocked her spine out of alignment, causing the limbs to be unresponsive. Doctor Bald Spot and Tremor Nurse are collecting evidence for their catalog of procedures.

He’s alive, somewhere, isn’t he? Back to the critical facts here, people.

—won’t be able to walk. Needs physical therapy. The doctor continues on with my death sentence, but I could care less. At this moment, all I need to know is one thing and only one thing.

He is okay, right, Dad?

He was driving irresponsible; punishment will claim his name for the bed you are confined. Daddy knows best we all make mistakes.

Now that I think about it, the word Daddy sounds like some strange sex kink.

Gross.

"Are you sure? Or am I responsible