Chapter 1

                                    

                                          
A pair of empty, yawning eyes overtook my vision. They were dark, all consuming, like stepping into the orbs would mean an eternity of imprisonment. The eyes were forceful, they wanted me – I was an insect to a flame, too overcome to realize the fate awaiting me if I gave in. 
                          
              I blinked - and blinked again - remembering to concentrate and count. It would be over with soon, and I could leave it all behind. The eyes were then swallowed in their own darkness.
                          
My life's sole purpose was to count down the weeks, days, and minutes until it was over. Twenty-one weeks, one hundred and forty-seven days, three thousand five hundred and twenty-eight minutes was all I had left to endure. 
                          
              How strange it was to be nothing but a shell housing a ticking clock.
                          
              Even stranger was though my life continued afterwards, I couldn't see beyond the end date. It was blurred and faded, as though another person would take over while I fell to the sidelines. But I didn't focus on this; my sights were set on the singular date. Nothing subsequently mattered. 
                          
Twenty-one weeks and I'd be free. 
                          
Campus was actively buzzing. The outside air was so cold and brittle, it threatened to shatter anyone standing outdoors long enough. As I glided down the main building hallway, I took note of the many faces I recognized but didn't know a fragment about. I wondered if they saw me, the girl I used to be. Or maybe I appeared as completely hollow as I felt, a ghost haunting Columbia Gorge Community College.
                          
Tucking the stick-straight strands of chestnut hair behind both ears and smoothing my rumpled sweater, I trudged farther until I saw the group of people I knew only recognized me as the older, but better, model of myself. 
                          
"Elliot! Come over here!" 
                          
Sucking in a breath as though I hadn't in months, I ventured towards the group and slid into place.
                          
               "Hi, Tyson," I said, meeting the gaze of the person who had called my name. It was evident the others had been in the middle of discussing something I would rather avoid but was now forced into by association: the party last weekend. 
                          
              I hadn't attended, nor had I had any desire to. The party was held in the same house at the same time nearly every weekend. Having gone once was enough, as every time following was the exact same experience. 
                          
              "You missed out, Elliot. It was crazy!" Hudson, who was standing to Tyson's left, exclaimed, accentuating his already excitable features. 
                          
Cambrie, the raven-haired girl next to me, nudged my shoulder softly. "'Crazy' is a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?" She smiled slyly.
                          
              "An exaggeration?" Hudson repeated, mouth hinged open. "Serious shit when down!"
                          
               Cambrie rolled her deep, coffee eyes. "Right. I forgot. A fight breaking out at a party is 'serious shit.'"
                          
               "It is if it's over the girl who told you she'd go out with you the following weekend, but was hanging onto somebody else all night," Hudson proclaimed.
                          
               The sly smile returned to Cambrie. "You know, the real tragedy is you thinking Lilah Evans wasn't dating four other guys simultaneously when she told you that. She has a bit of proven track record."
                          
               Hudson winced, but continued. "But that guy? Drake, or whatever his name is. I mean, she could be with me!"
                          
               Cambrie's next words solidified why she was my best friend, until death do us part. "Anybody could be with you, Hudson."