Love is Bright
Even in the Darkness

Chapter 1

It was a cold summer’s night as the street lights came on, a young boy and young girl around the ages of 7 and 8 came running down the sidewalk laughing and giggling. “Imma get you!” the little girl said as she stuck out her hand to grab the boys shirt. “No you’re not Zella!” but she was a little too slow as the boy already ran into a house and fell on the couch breathing heavy. “No fair you always win!” Zella pouted as she sat on the couch beside his feet.
“I don’t always win Zella.” He said as he poked her with his foot. “Yes you do…” she looked at him with her soft green eyes as her brown hair fell perfectly on her face. The boy sighed, “Fine I always win you happy?” Zella tackled him and hugged him tightly as she cuddled up to his chest and he hugged her back and then slowly rubbed her back. “Never leave Alistar.” Zella said as she yawned and closed her eyes and pulled the blanket that was sitting on the back of the couch. “I won’t Zella, I promise.” He kissed her head and she smiled and soon fell asleep. Moment’s later two grownups walked through the door and the female walked over to Alistar and whispered, “Zella fell asleep again?” Alistar nodded and yawned, “Get some rest Love me and your father will be in the room and we will tell her parents where she is.” She smiled and got up from beside him and kissed his head and walked to the room as the father grabs a beer from the fridge and looked down at his son, “Worthless filth.” He walked away drinking the beer as Alistar just sighed and held Zella closer as she smiled more and drooled all over his shirt and was snoring lightly.
“One day Zella we will run away from here and never return.” He said as he slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep holding Zella tightly and protectively. The next morning when Alistar woke up Zella wasn’t laying on him like she was last night. “Zella?” he looked around then he heard giggling coming from his parents room. “Is she in there?” he thought to himself as he got up and made his way to the door and slowly opened it. “Yayy Ali is awake!” Zella yelled a little loud, “I told you not to call me that Zel.” She giggled and sat back down and started to braid his mother’s hair as his mother was smiling at him and patting beside her for him to join them. He slowly walked over and lay on the bed and rested his head in his mother’s lap and she started playing in his hair. “How did you sleep Love?” his mother asked sweetly. “Fine, I guess?”
Zella crawled over and sat on his stomach and he growled tiredly and attempted to push her off but failed. “Awwww is someone tired from all the running they did last night?” she giggled thinking it was funny. He sighed and smiled then leaned up and hugged her then flopped back down in his mother’s lap. “Zella, Sweetie you have to go home today.” His mother said with a stern tone. “Awwwww but why?” she asked and pouted and sniffed the air. “Because we have some stuff to do today and I wish you could stay but you know how his father gets.” She hugged Zella and kissed her head, “Yeah I know…” she gets up and heads for the door, “Zella you can come back over tomorrow if…never mind I will have Alistar call you.” Zella looked back, “Otay, bye!” Zella said as she ran home. “Mom, what’s going on?”
The next day Zella came running as fast as she can to Alistar’s house. When she gets there she noticed something wrong, the lights wasn’t on or anything. She went to open the door and look inside. “Locked?” she ran to the window and looked inside and saw an empty house. “Noooo!” she started to tear up and then ran to the door and kept trying to open it and see the inside for herself, but she soon gave up and sat against the door crying.
“Wh-why d-did th-they m-move?” she said crying more and more as she got up and started running home. When she got home her mother was waiting outside, “Honey are you ok?” her mother asked as she held Zella. “N-no Ali-Alistar moved!” she squalled not wanting it to be true. “I’m sorry Honey but earlier this morning he gave me a note to read to you.” She looked up and whipped her eyes, “What’s it say?” her mother smiled and opened the note, “Dear Zella if you are reading or hearing this then you must know by now that I already moved. I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you because I didn’t know until after you left yesterday and your mother has my mom’s phone number just in case you wanna call me and tell me about your day. But there is a surprise in our special hideout I made for you.”
Zella’s eyes widened and ran off back down the road and headed towards the woods. Her mother sighed and smiled as she went inside and started making breakfast. After a few minutes of running Zella got to the hideout that she and Alistar made about a few years ago, she looked around the hideout and saw a box with the word, “Zella” written on it. She opened it up and pulled out a necklace that had a heart on it and a note that read, “No matter where you are, I’m always here for you just call and I will be there.”
Zella teared up and hugged the note and started walking home, smiling and humming their favorite song. Later the night Zella called Alistar but no one picked up. “Mommy no one answered.” She sounded hurt, “That’s funny cause they called an hour ago when you was asleep.” Zella puffed and ran to her room and jumped on her bed and buried her face in her pillow and screams then starts crying more, “Why….did you have to leave?” that night she cried herself to sleep not wanting what happened today to be true.

Chapter 2

A few years has passed since Alistar had moved and Zella often found herself wondering what would have happened if he didn’t move and had just stayed there. “I wonder where he did move to.” She sounded older as if she just turned 15, “He has missed soooo much from when we were little.” Zella had grown quite a bit since she was 7, her brown hair was longer and she had grown tall but not too tall, she had the most beautiful face anyone could ever lay eyes on, and her eyes were just a beautiful mixture of brown and blue, even though she practically looked like an adult, her parents were still treating her like a little kid even though she hated it. She smiled as a tear ran down her face as she looked back at the empty house where she once had played all the time with Alistar.
“Zella!” a girl voice had called, “Wait for me!” a little girl about 13 is running to Zella holding books to her chest, “Adeline I told you I wanted to be alone right now.” Zella looked to the side and whipped her tears away hoping that Adeline wouldn’t see. “I just thought you’d need a friend is all since you always are alone.” Adeline looked down as her blonde hair fell over her face. Zella lifted her head and smiled and looked into her ocean blue eyes, Adeline smiled and hugged Zella as the sun began to go down behind the trees. “I have to go Adeline.” Zella said as she turned around and started walking home from Alistar’s old house. “Oh, okay bye Zel.” Adeline turned around and ran off and tears formed in Zella’s eyes from that nickname as she ran home and locked herself in her room and went to lie on her bed.
A few hours later a knock was heard on the door, “Sweetie it’s time for dinner.” Her mother said and then walked away. Zella sits up and rubs her eyes as she had just woke up, she sits up and yawns and covers her mouth with her hand and she went to stand up and stretch but fell back on the bed. “I’m hungry but I don’t wanna get up…” she sighed then finally got up and popped her back and neck and walked out the room. “Good afternoon sleepy head.” Her mother said joyfully and Zella groaned and laid her head on the table as her hair was messed up and all messed up, “Mom what’s for dinner?” she asked not looking up but started to yawn, “Pork chops, corn, green beans, potatoes, and your favorite drink, milk.” Her mother said as she set down a cup of milk beside her head and Zella sat up, “Thanks Mom.” She smiled and took a sip of the milk and then looked at the door.
“What’s wrong Zella?” her mother asked with a slight worry in her voice. Zella didn’t answer her but kept staring at the door as if she was waiting for something to happen. “Okay then, Zella how was your day at school?” Zella looked at her mother and smiled, “Good not great and not bad so good.” She said and started eating her dinner as her father walked through the door and then sat down at the table. “Hello Dear.” He said as he kissed his wife and Zella gagged as if she didn’t want to see it, “And hello Zella.” Her father said with a dull tone cause the joke has gotten old. She giggled and then continued eating her dinner.
After dinner Zella was washing the dishes and listening to music so she couldn’t hear what was happening in the background. After she got done washing the dishes Zella went to her room and laid back down and cuddled up to her pillow by laying on top of it and wrapping her arms around it and closing her eyes thinking about how her and Alistar used to sleep together when they were little. “Zella, Sweetie wake up,” her mother shook her awake and she groaned and looked at the time, “we are getting away from your father cause he did it again.” She said with tears in her eyes and a big bruise on her face as she forced a smile. “Mom, I will get ready but first let me make his drink, okay?” Zella said quietly while she was sitting up and looking at her mother, she nodded and Zella got up and walked to her dresser and grabbed a pill and held it in her hand and walked out to the kitchen and goes to make her father’s drink.
“Father it is almost ready.” She said as she put the pill in the drink and smirked as it dissolved quickly. “About f****** time I don’t work all day to not have a f****** drink when I get home!” he yelled at her. She sighed and brought him the drink and he chugged it down then held his head, “YOU DRUGGED ME!!” he went to hit her but he passed out before he could and laid on the floor unconscious. “Mother pack your bags and make sure there is no trace of where we are going.” She said as she walked back to her room and started packing her big suitcase bag and put all her clothes and necessities in it. Her mother ran through the house making sure she hadn’t forgot anything and they soon headed out the door and got into the car.
“Mom, call the cops.” Zella demanded but her mother just shook her head and started driving away trying to forget about what just happened. “I can’t call the cops Sweetie I love him too much to do that.” Zella sighed and laid the seat back in the car and held her pillow close to her and tried to go back to sleep, but once she saw that empty house down the road she teared up and held the pillow tighter. “Mom, why did Alistar have to move?” she said holding back tears and looking at the necklace she has never taken off from when she was little. “I don’t know Zella, I just don’t know.”
Her mother proclaimed and continued to drive. After a few hours of driving they reach her Grandmother’s house. “Well well, look who wanted to show up for an unexpected surprise!” Zella’s Grandmother said with joy and surprise. Her Grandmother looked old but she wasn’t that old maybe in her mid 60s but she had nice long blondish hair that touched her shoulders and soft green eyes like Zella’s from when she was a kid and she didn’t have that many wrinkles in her face for her age. “Hey Mom,” Zella’s mother stated as Zella got out the car and carried her bag inside yawning, “We need to talk about her father.” Her mother showed Zella’s Grandmother what happened.
Zella went up stairs to her room she’s always had at her Grandmother’s, but something was off about it as if something was missing. “Great another empty dream.” Zella said to herself hoping that her mother didn’t hear what she had said. She went to lay in the bed when she noticed that a picture was broken and she went over to it and picked it up and smiled a little. “Summer of ’02.” She read off the back of the picture frame and then looked at the picture hoping to find Alistar but she found her cousin that never liked her in the picture with her. “He looks almost…happy.” She shrugged it off as some sort of hoax and went to lay in the bed but she couldn’t get herself back to sleep.
She got up and turned on the light and a room that was painted a midnight purple had pictures of her and Alistar on the wall and family in them to. She smiled and walked out the door and down the old wooden stairs and out into the yard that trees was scattered everywhere so you could barely see the road. “Well look like someone is awake now.” Her Grandmother said while holding a glass of warm tea in one hand and the newspaper in the other. “Erf, I just wanna sleep MawMaw.” Zella said and sat in the chair on the porch and stared off into the distance. “Zella, Honey I have this nice boy who helps me around the yard and I think you will like him.” Zella looked at her and raised her arms and stuck out her tongue while rolling her eyes up and groaned. “Zella you know I hate zombies next time imma just get the water gun and shoot you with it.” Zella smiled and giggled a little as a truck pulled up.
When the trucked stopped a man stepped out with a full beard and tight fitting jeans and a full button-down shirt. “Zella MawMaw, how old is he?” she asked holding back a laugh. “He’s 19 dear.” Zella busted out laughing, “MawMaw he’s too old and he’s not my type.” She kept laughing. “Well young lady you will treat him with respect and your mother doesn’t care if you date him.” Her face straightened up and looked at her Grandmother, “I’m not dating him MawMaw.” She sighed and looked back out into the forest and saw a small house there that looked like it has been there for ages. She smiled and got up and walked back inside where she was greeted to the smell of eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns. She ran into the kitchen and saw her mother cooking and she sat at the table. “Do I have to move schools too?” Zella asked while taking in the smell.
Her mother nodded silently, not saying a word. Zella got up and hugged her mother. “Mom its gonna be okay I just know it.” Her mother turned around and hugged her tightly, “I’m glad you are comfortable with this Zella.” She smiled and let Zella go and she went to go sit back down, “Zella set the table please.” Her mother said and Zella nodded and then started setting the table for everyone. Zella smiled and sat down at the edge of the table closest to her mother and waited. Her mother put food on the plates as her Grandmother and the young man walked through the door and sat at the table. “Oh I didn’t know we had another guest her take my food I can eat later.” Her mother said handing him the food and he smiled and nodded, “Mom you eat, I can wait.” Zella said while getting up from the table and walking outside holding a book and her Mp3.
Her mother shrugged and everyone started eating. Zella went out back and sat under the Cherry Blossom tree that she had her Grandmother plant when she was 4. “Your still here, huh?” she smiled a soft smile and put in her headphones and started reading her book. A few hours later Zella’s mother came out with a plate of food and nudged Zella with her foot. “Huh?” Zella looked up at her mother then looked at the time, “7:30!!!!!” she yelled and looked back at her mother. “Yeah, you just been here reading that book for about 10 hours now.” Zella looked down, “I…I’m sorry.” She sat the book down and took the plate. “It’s fine Sweetie you can actually do what you want here.” Her mother smiled and walked back inside and Zella started eating.

Chapter 3
It was that Monday and Zella woke up to her alarm. “Hush, technology I’m trying to sleep.” She rolled over and her mom came in, “Zella, wake up time for school.” Zella groaned and rolled out of bed and got dressed in a black t-shirt and some tight dark blue pants and her normal black and white shoes. “Ugh, my breath is rancid!” she exclaimed and ran to the restroom and vigorously brushed her teeth. After a few minutes her mother called out, “Zella, hurry up girl!” she looked in the mirror and sighed, “My brush,” she started to look around and ran to her room, “ah there you are!” she smiled as she searched through her bag and pulled out her hair brush and started to brush her hair. “There now I don’t look bad.” She smiled and walked downstairs and ran out to the car. “Are you ready to go?” her mother asked while texting on her phone. “Yeah let’s get going.” Her mother smiled and drove her to school. When they get to the school she hops out and runs off into the school and into the office to get her schedule, “Okay room 421.” She looked up and saw a boy sitting in a corner and he looked familiar, “Alistar…” she whispered to herself and then started to walk to class. “Here we are.” She said as she approached the room and started to open the door.
“You’re late.” The teacher, Mrs. Sizemore said. “I…I’m sorry but it’s my first day at this school.” Mrs. Sizemore didn’t want to hear it and told her to take a seat next to the boy she saw in the hall. She walked over hiding her face and sat beside him. “Miss what’s your name?” the teacher asked, “Zella…” the boy’s head shot up and looked over and then looked at her necklace, “Zel?” the boy said and she looked over and looked in his eyes and smiled, “Please don’t call me that.” She said softly, “No Zel it’s me, Ali.” He said then kind of flopped his head on the desk at the nickname that she had given him all those years ago.
Her face went pale and then she held his cheek, “Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were moving?!” she silently scram at him while twisting his ear. “I’m sorry I didn’t know until that night.” She hugged him tightly and started crying softly, “I…I’ve missed you so much.” She clinched onto his shirt tightly.