this is my second story (my other one is called "A Dream Come True" self-advertising :)).

i started writing this in german, and i thought i should upload a chapter and see what you think.
i'm also going to rewrite some things - i noticed my two stories have way too much in common, for example the initials of the first names xD

now, i'd like to ask you if you think i should keep writing on this, translate and upload it ;)

please read and review!

Full summary:

Ten years ago, Lilly ran away from her hometown, after her boyfriend Chriss broke up with her to be with the girl responsible for her being abused.

Now they have met again, but nothing is the same. Lilly is tormented by a secret she refuses to share with anyone, including her childhood best friend Chriss, and he seems to be overcome with guilt of what he did all those years ago.

Once upon a time, they promised to be together forever, but will their love be strong enough to cast away the shadows of the past and of Lilly's soul?

Chapter 1: Remembering

You will always be my endless love

This line out of a song he knew all-too well crossed his mind as Chriss leafed through the photo album he'd found while finally unpacking his boxes.

The first few pages showed him as a baby and as a one-year-old. After that, there was hardly a picture without her in it. They'd grown up together, had been inseparable – he, his sister Hannah and her. Lilly.

He came across a picture that had been taken eleven years ago, on their first Valentine's Day together. They both wore identical necklaces. Lilly had wanted to order necklaces from a catalog – a necklace that would keep them together for always. They'd arrived that day.

His own necklace was around his neck, and he took it off to look at it. It was pretty grazed, because it was some kind of a lucky charm for him and he didn't like to take it off for a long time.

They had gotten words engraved on it. On the front, it said 'My Endless Love', her name, Lilly, had been engraved on the back. He knew that his name would be on her necklace. If she still had it.

Endless Love. It had been her favorite song. They'd danced to it countless times. He could see her – smiling at him and saying: “I bet they wrote the song just for us. Don't you think so?” He'd smiled back and agreed with her.

Together forever? What a joke.

“Chriss?”

He looked up when he heard Hannah's voice. The door opened and she stuck her head inside. “Do you need help unpacking?”

He indifferently shrugged his shoulders and put his necklace back on. About a week ago, he'd willingly transferred from Portland, Oregon, to Issaquah, a suburb of Seattle, and since Hannah also lived in Issaquah, they'd decided to move together.

Hannah entered the room and flopped down on his bed. “What are you doing?”, she wanted to know.

He held up a few pictures. “Looking at old pictures.” The picture of him and Lilly on Valentine's Day was on top.

Hannah took and looked at it. Chriss and Lilly looked as happy as they had been. Everyone in Lakeview, Washington, where they'd grown up, had seen how happy, how much in love they'd been.

Lilly hadn't been able to talk about anything else before and after that Valentine's Day. Chriss had always grinned like a Cheshire cat when asked about it.

It was the only Valentine's Day they had spent together.

His greatest weakness had been Lilly and his love for her. He belonged to the type that would do anything to see the people he loved happy, to protect them. Cora, seeing Lilly as her rival and being envious of everything Lilly had, had known and taken advantage of that.

On Lilly's and Chriss' second Valentine's Day, she'd lured Lilly away from Chriss with a trap, given her a drink mixed with sedatives and had ordered her then-boyfriend Justin to violate Lilly.

Chriss had gotten worried when Lilly neither showed up nor got in touch with him, and had started to look for her.

He'd been too late.

When he finally burst into the room where Justin and Lilly had been, he'd taken one look at her and hat known what had happened.

Boiling with rage, he'd lashed out at Justin, but then he'd heard Lilly crying and had gone to her. He'd hugged her tightly and comforted her, promising her that he'd always be there and love her.

However, shortly after that, he'd been forced to break his promise. Cora somehow had gotten pictures showing Justin and Lilly, and had threatened Chriss to publish them and make Lilly's life hell if he didn't break up with Lilly within a week and be with her instead.

He'd agonized over how he could stop Cora, but in the end hadn't been able to find another way and had broken up with Lilly.

Lilly had disappeared some days later, and Chriss – now dating Cora – had suffered terribly.

Hannah remembered the night when Chriss had told her about the whole thing while trying to drink himself dead. They'd celebrated some kind of a farewell party, because the next day, Chriss was leaving for Portland to attend the police academy.

'I ne'er wanted to break up with her. Would've been there until the end and would've helped her, but I had to protect her. Otherwise Cora would've 'stroyed her life.”, he'd mumbled. “And then ev'ryone would've blamed me, 'cause I wouldn't let her go. She'll get over a break-up eventually. But if Cora had published the pictures ...” Then he'd fallen asleep.

She returned the picture to him. “Do you think she's alright?”

Chriss didn't answer. He really hoped so, but he had no idea.

With her knees drawn up and a cup of coffee in her hand, Lilly sat on her windowsill in her room and looked out at the empty street.

She didn't know why, but thoughts of Chriss kept going through her mind and wouldn't go away.

She'd managed not to think about him for the past three years. It had been vital for her, because otherwise she would have gone crazy.

Besides, it hurt too much. It hurt, because she'd always been dead sure that Chriss would always be there for her. Because she'd trusted him with her life and he'd let her down when she'd needed him the most.

It had been an unexpected shock when he'd suddenly broken up with her. During the two years they had been together – and even before that – they'd been inseparable. They had never been far away from each other. Their names had all but been one word; “Chriss and Lilly were at the movies yesterday” or “I saw Chriss and Lilly in the park”.

And suddenly, he was Chriss, whose girlfriend had spent Valentine's Day with another guy, and she was Lilly, who'd cheated on her boyfriend on Valentine's Day.

Who would've thought that everything was a joke for Chriss? She couldn't even acknowledge him that he'd waited a week until breaking up with her. He should've done so immediately, instead of holding her in his arms when she'd cried; instead of standing up for her when others had indicated that she'd wanted it. Instead of promising her to be there for her when she needed him, only to break that promise a few days after.

“So what.”, she told herself, drank up her coffee and got up. It was unlikely that they would ever meet again, unless fate played a dirty trick on her. And if that should happen, if they ever met again, nothing would be the same.

She wouldn't be able to trust him. She wouldn't be able to be with him. She wouldn't be able to love him.