EDITED VERSION: Chapter Twenty-Seven

I grasped Nathan's hand tightly as I weaved our way through the Calgary Airport that Sunday. When I told him I had to go home, he insisted to come with me. Partly because he wanted to help me with whatever I was walking into and partly because I think he's genuinely worried I will murder Alex. At this point, I might. Deep down, I was glad he came because Alex wasn't my only concern--Kieran was.

It wasn't as crowded as the last time I was here and it felt strange to be back in the place I once wanted to escape from. Once we located our suitcases, we made our way outside and I got Nathan and I cab.

The cab driver was fairly old and had glasses perched at the tip of his nose. His beady eyes looked at me through the rear-view mirror. "Where to, young lady?"

"Trillium Creek," I sighed, thinking about the fact this was going to be an hour more before I get home.

His eyebrows shot up, probably thinking about all the money he's going to get by the end of this trip. "That's quite a ride, what brings you to the town of Trillium?"

"Home."

Finally, we made it to my parent's house. I got out my phone to see the time and quickly remembered that Trillium was two hours behind Toronto. I mentally did the math and realized it was nearly dinner time, no wonder I was so hungry. In Toronto, it's nearly eight o'clock. As if it were on cue, my stomach started to growl as I got my luggage out of the trunk and I rolled my eyes. "Oh, shut up."

Nathan got his out of the trunk as well and he stood back to observe my house.

Much like his, it was big. But instead of it being made mainly out of brick, mine had more of a lodge feel to it, made mainly out of wood. The porch lights were on and I saw Alex in her bedroom window on the very top floor. She saw Nathan and me outside and she waved frantically, wanting us to come in. I rolled my eyes and looked at the numerous stairs we would have to climb to get to the front door, so to make my life easier, I grabbed Nathan's hand and led him to the garage.

"When you said your house was big," he began as he walked behind me. "I didn't expect it to be huge. Why didn't you tell me there were mountains behind your house?"

I laughed at Nathan's excitement but I quickly stopped. It was great to share this place with him, but it wouldn't be mine anymore and that thought alone made me even angrier with Alex for wanting to sell our home. I let out a depressing sigh. "Yeah, you can see them from my bedroom."

"Hey," Nathan stopped walking and placed both hands on my shoulders and made me look into his warm eyes. "Everything will be okay, princess."

"I know," I sighed, leaning into him. "I know she isn't doing this to be mean, I just wish my parents were here so she wouldn't have a house to sell."

"I know, baby girl," Nathan said, kissing my forehead. "I know."

"I'm starving," I mumbled into his chest. "Let's just get this over with."

We started to walk through the garage once again and finally made it inside the house. Alex stood at the top of the stairs that led up to the main floor. "Well, it's about time you lovebirds got in here! I ordered pizza."

I muttered a couple of profanities under my breath. Thank God Nathan was here because I soon as I saw her face, I wanted to strangle her. Nathan could tell I was already disturbed by her existence so he put his hand on the small of my back as we went up the stairs and he whispered in my ear. "Easy there, princess. It's just pizza."

"Pizza ordered by Satan," I mumbled, causing Nathan to chuckle loudly.

***

An hour later, the doorbell rang. Alex was looking through the movie binder to find something to watch and Nathan was staring at the ceiling, no doubt starving at this point. Instead of getting up, Alex said, "Audrey, can you get that?"

I rolled my eyes and grudgingly stood from our white section couch and made my way to the front door. Without looking up I said, "Hey, how are you do-?"

Looking up towards the end of my sentence, I stopped mid-sentence and my mouth opened but I soon closed it, unsure as to what to say.

"Audrey!" She squealed, her high auburn ponytail swinging back and forth as she did so. "I have missed you so much! Are you back, like, for good? Kieran always said your move was a phase."

I licked my lips and grabbed the pizza. "Was that before or after you started having sex with him?"

Abigail's smile dropped from her face instantly and she paled drastically. "How did you k-"

Nathan must've heard what I said because he came up behind me and placed his hand on my back. "Is everything okay, princess?"

Abigail visibly straightened and her smile was back on her face. "Well, well. Who's this beauty?"

"Oh, fuck off," I snapped, although I was stunned by my boldness. Throwing her a couple of twenties, I continued with a sweet smile. "Tell Kieran I said hi."

Without further hesitation, I slammed the door.

Home sweet home.

***

I sat in my old room, surrounded by photo albums and little trinkets I used to cherish as a child. Nathan was downstairs still munching away on pizza and Alex was somewhere in the house doing whatever.

After seeing Abigail, I didn't want to be bothered with anyone. Being back was hard enough but seeing her took my already crappy mood into an unbearably crappy mood. I told Nathan I wanted to be alone and he was pretty understanding but I could still tell he wanted to make sure I was okay because every once in a while, I'd hear footsteps outside my room--footsteps that I knew belonged to Nate.

I stared at my old plush which was the classic Winnie the Pooh--before he was designed with a red shirt and I reached over to hug it. It was Mom's before she had given it to me. Quite frankly, she didn't want to give it to either of her children because it was her favourite toy. But when I was nine, I started to have really awful night terrors, especially on nights where she would be away for her job, so she let me have her bear for comfort. It still smelled like a hint of her rose perfume.

Still gripping the bear tightly, I awkwardly crawled over to my bed that was still covered with a basic grey comforter and a couple of fluffy blanket throws. Wrapping myself up in the numerous blankets, I held on to my Pooh plush and closed my eyes, hoping sleep would come over me quickly.

I woke up to the sound of someone snoring. That someone apparently being Nathan. He was completely passed out on the big comfy blue chair that was by the foot of my bed and his feet were stretched out on the matching ottoman. His head was arched back with his mouth slightly open; I also could see that behind his crossed arms, he wasn't wearing a shirt, and merely wearing some dark grey sweats.

I glanced at the clock on my nightstand and it read ten-fifteen a.m. Deciding it was an appropriate time to start the day, I took one of my pillows and threw it at Nathan. Once it hit him, he jerked awake, nearly falling off of the chair. I giggled and gave him a beaming smile. "Why didn't you sleep on the bed?"

Nathan rubbed his eyes roughly with his hands and then shrugged. "I didn't want to wake you up."

I nodded my head and was silent for a moment before speaking again. "I wanted to go out for a bit today, do you want to come?"

Nathan nodded his head eagerly and stood from his chair and quickly started to get dressed. After throwing on some dark-washed jeans and a blue hoodie he planted a kiss on my temple. "I'll have some coffee ready for you downstairs, take your time getting ready."

I nodded my head and gave him a small smile. After he left my room, I walked over to my closet, curious to see what clothing I had left behind. When I found my red flannel shirt I squealed in excitement and quickly found my high-waisted leggings to complete the outfit. Buttoning up my shirt halfway and then tying the rest, I shimmied on my leggings and tried to locate my ankle boots that were not only warm but insanely beautiful. Finding them by my suitcase that Nathan must have brought up last night, I slipped them on and then quickly brushed my hair that was still slightly curled from yesterday.

Smiling in the mirror, I finalized the look with my black beanie. Grabbing my purse and car keys, I walked out the door and went downstairs to meet up with Nathan.

Unfortunately, Alex was the first person I saw on my way to the kitchen. She let out a holler and fist-pumped the air. "Trillium Audrey is back and ready to attack! Nice flannel sis, how long did it take you to decide between the fifty different colours you have?"

"Bite me," I snapped and went to the kitchen. I was not in the mood for my sister. I wasn't a morning person and the last person I'd ever want to face is Alex. Sure, she was my sister but she was loud.

I came into the kitchen clearly looking annoyed because Nathan gave me a knowing look. "What happened?"

"She mocked my flannel," I pouted, taking the travel mug out of Nathan's hands.

"Awe," Nathan chuckled and then kissed my temple. "Well, I think you look very cute in your flannel. It's a nice change."

I smiled and kissed him quickly on the lips. "Let's go. There's lots to see."

***

For most of the day, I took Nathan to the little shops that I used to go to on nearly a daily basis. He thought they were pretty cool but his two favourite places were the vintage clothing store where he had found a leather jacket that apparently looks like the jacket a character wears in the movie Top Gun so naturally, he bought it and refused to take it off since. The second place he loved was the ice cream shop where he had three giant scoops of the black cherry chocolate flavour and I had the butterscotch. When he finished his portion, he nearly went back for more but I stopped him so he'd still have room for dinner.

By the time we finished looking around at all the shops and galleries, it was nearly six so I suggested we eat somewhere rather than going home and eating leftover pizza. Nathan agreed and we drove around until I realized the best place Nathan would like was down by the ice cream shop we were at.

Pulling into the closest parking lot that wasn't full, I groaned. I forgot how busy this place gets at night and I knew I'd likely run into someone from my high school, which wouldn't be the worst thing but it wouldn't be best. Unbuckling my seat belt, Nathan followed suit and we got out of the car. We walked to the restaurant at a steady pace as I told him how much he'd love their burgers when a group of guys that vaguely recognized walked past. When we got closer, Nathan put an arm around my waist and brought me closer but doing so got more of their attention. One of them, a blond from what I could tell with only hints of the light of the moon and street, broke from the group and squinted at me but I kept on walking. "Audrey?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned to see who it was and I felt my stomach drop. "Josh?"

"Who is Josh?" Nathan whispered.

"Josh is Kieran's best friend, if he's here Kieran isn't far behind," I responded as quietly and subtly as I could.

Josh didn't hear though and continued to get closer to me. "What brings you back home? From what I heard, Toronto was treating you well," he eyed Nathan and smirked. "A little too well, perhaps?"

I smiled as sweetly as I could once I smelled the alcohol that lingered on his breath, not wanting to piss him off. "I'm just here for a few days. Alex is selling the house and I just came to gather some of my stuff to bring back to Toronto. Sorry to cut this conversation short but I'm really hungry and am craving cheeseburger at the moment."

I turned to leave and continued to walk towards the restaurant, not bothering to hear if he had a response and Nathan still gripped my waist, probably worried about Kieran swooping in at any moment. Luckily, we reached the restaurant without any more interruptions and got a booth almost instantly.

Nathan unsurprisingly ordered a cheeseburger with extra cheese and extra bacon and extra fries and I order a basic cheeseburger with extra pickles. When the waitress dropped off our food, she looked at me with a lingering stare, probably recognizing me from the history class we shared in the tenth grade. She had a crush on Kieran and teased me relentlessly as a consequence of our dating. I gave her an obviously fake smile and she looked at Nathan and back at me and then squirrelled away until we were done with our meal.

By the time we had finished both dinner and dessert, it was fairly late and cold when we got outside and it was clearly the temperature dropped quite a bit in the past couple of hours. When Nathan felt how cold it was, he turned to me and said, "I'll jog up to the car and pick you up here, I don't want you walking in this."

I nodded my head and he began to jog down the street to the car. Hugging myself to keep me warm, I sighed and saw breath as I did so. After a moment to myself, I heard a voice from behind me. "I knew you'd be back."

I turned and came face to face with a very drunk Kieran, uncrossing my arms I began to speak. "Kieran I-"

Very suddenly, he lurched forward, grabbing my arms and started pulling me towards the side of the building, where no one could see us. He pushed me against the hard brick wall and gave me a sinister smile. "I knew you'd come back; I knew you'd miss me too much to stay away."

"I didn't come back for you," I gritted out, trying to pry my arms out of his grasp but I couldn't.

Kieran looked hurt when I said that and I thought maybe he'd let go but his grip only tightened. "You don't mean that, baby. You know Abigail meant nothing to me. You know I love you more than anything."

"You don't hurt the people you love," I snapped, swiftly brought up my knee and hit him in the most sensitive of areas.

He immediately let go of my arms and started to yell. "ALL I EVER DID WAS LOVE YOU AND YOU LEAVE ME FOR SOME ASSHOLE!"

I tried to make a break for it but Kieran got a hold of my wrist and jerked me back forcefully. Thinking back to what Nathan taught me, I swung my free arm, punching Kieran in the jaw.

Kieran fell over and he spat on the ground as he tried to get up. Despite it being dark, I knew it was blood. "You bitch."

"Look," I said as I backed away from him, trying to get near the street so someone could see us. "You and I both know we weren't working out. I promise you I didn't leave you for Nathan. Nathan and I didn't start dating until months after our break up."

"YOU'RE A LIAR!" He spat. "YOU DID THIS TO ME! DO YOU SEE HOW HEARTBROKEN I AM? YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A FILTHY BITCH!"

Getting his footing, he swung at me with lethal speed. I fell over and took deep breaths, trying to think of something to say to get out of this situation. Nathan always said, if you're on the ground, try to take them down with you.

Kieran towered over me and chuckled like a maniac. "Sorry isn't good enough."

He raised his leg to kick me in the ribs but I pulled on the one he was relying on for balance, causing him to fall backwards and giving me time to run.

Getting out onto the sidewalk, Nathan pulled up and saw the fresh bruise on my face. Without even bothering to take the keys out of the ignition, he ran over to me. "Who did this to you?"

"Kieran," I breathed out, pointing to the alley behind me.

At lightning speed, Nathan ran into the alley. Just like when they got into a fight in the apartment, Nathan was on top of Kieran, who had just gotten up from my stunt with his leg, and was punching him repeatedly in the face screaming. "IF YOU EVER LAY A HAND ON HER AGAIN, I WILL END YOUR FUCKING LIFE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Kieran nodded his head lamely and didn't say a word as Nathan got off him and ran over to me. "Princess I am so so sorry I took so long, I couldn't remember which lot we parked in and then I couldn't remember what the rental looked like. God, I'm such an idiot!"

I just sank to the ground and said nothing. My head was spinning and I couldn't tell if it was from the adrenaline of taking him down and getting myself out of the situation, or if it was because Kieran managed to punch me before I was able to get him to the ground. I stared at Kieran and wondered how someone who used to fill my head with the happiest of memories and ruin everything we had.

Nathan leaned down and inspected my face gently, snapping me out of my thoughts. "We should go get that checked out, your eye is starting to swell."

I started to nod my head but my vision became spotted and I couldn't grasp what was happening. The last thing I remember was saying, "Nathan, I'm going to-"

And then there was nothing but darkness.