01.

HAYLEY

I should be in a cheerful mood with today being my nineteenth birthday. But as I sit at the diner with my boyfriend, Theo, nothing about today feels remotely cheery. Not with the solemn expression on his face.

Sitting just across from me, Theo's eyes hold a mix of quiet pain and frustration. It's a look I rarely see in him.

When I reach across the table to hold his hand, he slowly pulls away and I tug at empty air. I watch his eyes fall to the table for a moment before lifting to meet mine again.

“I don’t think we can keep doing this, Hayley.” He exhales, pausing for a moment. “I want to break up.”

Wait. What? The words hang in the air between us, and like a spell, they render me speechless. My stomach churns for a millisecond, like it's about to haul the milkshake we ordered minutes ago. 

Theo can't possibly mean that. No way. Not after everything we've been through together. And definitely not on my birthday. 

Exhaling, he leans forward on the diner table, clearly exasperated. “Say something, Hayley.”

My thoughts start to race. “Theo, what are… what are you saying?” I stutter. 

He looks up at me, and for the first time ever, there’s no affection or warmth in his gaze. There's just a cold, distant stare. “I can’t do this anymore.” He says again, jabbing a finger between us.

He’s serious. I know Theo well enough to know when he means something. My eyes glisten and I swallow the lump forming in my throat. 

In the one year of our relationship, we've had rough, patchy moments. But nothing has ever made me feel like this. 

Like a porcelain doll on the verge of breaking. 

I glance up at him, a single tear rolling down my cheek. “Why?” My thoughts spin like a ferris wheel, searching for anything I might have done or said to bring us to this point. But I come up empty.

I sniffle. “Did I do something wrong? Tell me and we can talk about it.” A few heads turn toward our booth, catching the tension between us.

“Look, Hayley, I know—”

“I’m sorry.” My heart lurches beneath my ribcage, refusing to accept his words. “If I did anything Theo, I'm sorry. Can we just—”

“Stop!” Theo snaps, glancing around, visibly embarrassed with the scene I'm making.

He runs a hand through his thick ginger hair and exhales. “Look,” he begins, “I know this is hard for you. Trust me, it’s not easy for me either.

But as I watch him, nothing about his expression says this is hard. If anything, he looks almost… relieved. Like I’ve been a weight he’s finally allowed himself to put down.

He reclines in his chair, stretching out his tall frame. “I’ve got a lot on my plate right now, Hayley. From school work, to being captain of the team, and…” His voice fades, like he’s about to say more but holds it back.

I lean forward on the table, my intuition picking up on what he isn’t saying. “Is it your dad again? Is that what this is?” I murmur. 

Theo's expression hardens. “No. It’s not about him.”

When he avoids my eyes, I know it—deep down—that I might be right.

Since he lost his mom to cancer a few months ago, things have gone sour for Theo. While he managed to cope with her demise, his father crumbled, drowning his grief in alcohol. It didn’t take long for Mr Thompson to turn into a full-blown alcoholic—a fact that’s always driven Theo up the wall, leading to altercations between them every now and again.

But even with all of that, Theo would always find his way to me. I was his safe space and we talked about everything; from his depressed and abusive father, to my always-absent one. That shared loneliness had bound us tighter than anything else.

And now, he’s sitting here, just throwing it all away? Like none of it mattered?

The longer I sit across from him, the deeper the hurt in my chest burrows. But worse than the words he utters, is the cold, detached look on his face. It's almost like he's never felt any trace of emotion for me.

His watch beeps and he turns his gaze to his wrist for a second. “I gotta go,” he murmurs. As he stands from our booth, I scramble up after him, grabbing his wrist in a desperate attempt to cling to my first and only relationship.

“Theo, please wait. We can't just end like this…” My voice trembles as I search his eyes for something—anything at all. A hint of doubt, or even a trace of regret. But there's nothing of the sort in his gaze.

“We made plans,” I whisper breathlessly. “College together, Theo. Building a life. We—”

The look of disbelief on Theo's face silences me. When he leans down to whisper in my ears, his features harden. 

“Hayley, I’ll get into college on a soccer scholarship. Once I’m there, I’ll definitely be a popular figure on the school's team.” His voice drops a notch lower and he lifts an eyebrow. “You didn’t actually think we’d still be together then, did you?”

My heart sinks to the floor.

Without another word, he slips free from my grip and walks out the door, leaving me there, shattered.

The tears I've been holding back pour down my face, like a dam has just burst open inside me. I bury my face in my palms as my body trembles with each sob. A few people glance over with quiet sympathy, but I can’t bring myself to care as wave upon wave of despair wash over me.

After what feels like forever, I lift my face, head for the exit, and make the slow walk home. Wrapping my arms tightly around my body, I try to stay warm as a sharp gust of wind slices through the air. I glance upward through swollen eyes and notice how gray the skies have turned, the clouds ominously dark and heavy now.

A storm is coming.

By the time I reach home and climb the stairs to my room, silently avoiding my mom’s curious glances, the rain begins to fall. First in a soft drizzle, and then in heavy sheets, pounding hard against the roof.

It’s the first rainstorm in months, and as I sit by my window watching streaks of raindrops slide down the glass, I let the cold seep into my bones. It feels fitting as I try to pull my thoughts away from the ache inside me. So much for turning nineteen. 

Minutes later, I curl up in bed, clutching the blankets firmly over my body as I try to sleep. Just then, a memory drifts into my mind, an old saying here in our small town: 

“When the skies open in Greystone and the rain pours, it brings something new home.”

I’ve never been one for folklore, but something about those words resonate with me tonight. Maybe, just maybe, they’re true. Because for the first time in a long time, I need something new—new hopes, new plans for the future.

Maybe even a new chance at love.

But the thought doesn’t stay for long and I'm lulled to sleep by the soft patter of rain on the rooftops above me.

••••*••••*••••

Deep into the night, a thunderclap jolts me awake. My entire body shudders as I sit up on the bed, and it's not because of the cold.

It’s fear. Raw, intense fear.

For the first time in a long while, I’ve just had a nightmare.

Staring out into the darkness beyond my window, one image burns in my mind from my dream: a creature, crouched in the shadows with its eyes glowing a deep, unnatural gold.

I rub my temples slowly. “It's just a dream, Hayley,” I mumble to myself as I clutch my blanket tightly. 

I lie down again, silently chiding myself for dredging up scary thoughts in the wake of a breakup.

But even as I try to fall back asleep, I can’t shake the feeling of how vivid the creature from my dream was. It felt too… real. A soft breeze slips through the window, and for a brief moment, it feels like the dream might’ve just been that—real.