Please Don't Let Go

Prologue

Memories... the one thing in life that would continue to remain the same as the world continued to turn, the sun continued to set, the moon continue to rise, and as humans grew closer to their graves. The one thing in life that could either make you feel safe, bring laughter to your lips, bring warmth to your chest. The one thing that could cause your body to wrack with sobs, catch the breath in your throat, cause you to shiver with anxiety, cause you to wonder, always, the 'what if'.

All she had now were memories of Jamie Fraser—of the immature redhead whom kept her company through the years.

She kept them close to her, like letters from a lover, ready to sort through them, eyes scrolling through the blackened ink in times where she felt weakest. Memories were the only thing that they couldn't take away from, that nobody but her could ever see; the one thing no one could ever be able to share with her.

Coarse, mud-colored locks that were slick with water slipped through her fingers as she twisted and pulled at them, not bothering to flinch at the discomfort they brought. Pain had become familiar to her, almost as though it were her shadow, always mere seconds away but not close enough to touch her. The sun had yet to grace the town with its presence and the weather of the day remained unknown, but still, she was almost finished getting ready. Even if the sun slept among the others, she had chores to finish—a job to do.

Even working through the screech of a roaster's call to the echoing call of the owl's hoot, she could never escape her memories.

She never understood why he chose to do what he did.

At the beginning, through the long hours of the day, the only thing that kept her going was trying to fit the key into a lock whose shape and size was unknown to her.

Jamie Fraser had always been an enigma to her. Ever since they were little, the moment she thought she had him figured out, he'd change. It wasn't like Aoife didn't know him either. She had been with him from the start, growing up with him as the two ran circles around each other. Whether it was comforting him after a punishment from his father for his immature behavior, helping him hobble back to the house after he fell from his horse and broke his leg, or clasping his hand as he laid sick in bed with a raging fever, praying that he would get better, Aoife was never far from her loyal companion.

She had always been there.

It wasn't like he had been any different, either.

Catching her before she could fall into the pond, laughing at her absurd clumsiness when she helped him after his fall—though the laughter was later through pain when she tripped and dropped him, and being there when her mother died after giving birth to her sister, Fiona. It wasn't usual for the pair to be found far apart from each other, and she wasn't unaware of the whispers that floated around their small town. Jamie's family were important people—Jamie was important—and Aoife was from the dirt that kissed their boots.

Nevertheless, the two had been together for as she could remember, and she had been happy—so happy.

Until, one day, he wasn't there.

And Aoife was left with her memories.