Ravyn would disappear at random times. Sometimes she would be gone for hours. At one point in time, she was gone for an entire day. She'd come back to the barn with strange cuts and splotches of paint covering her pale skin. But any time anyone asked her about where she had been, she would shut down any thoughts in a heartbeat.

Honestly, I haven't missed my house that much. I no longer had my tv, or the butler, or even my own room, but I finally had my friends. I got to be with them day and night, playing random card games or even just talking.

If I was to guess, I would say nearly all of us were happy. I knew why Noah had come, and Ravyn. I even knew why Elliot had come. The only two who I wasn't sure of was Oakley and Hudson. They must have their reasons, but I figured it was disrespectful to ask. I didn't know their secrets and they didn't need to know mine. It was a mutual, undiscussed trust, and I was okay with that.

Despite not being as close to Elliot, I knew that we all had someone here. I had Noah, Oakley and Hudson had each other, and Ravyn would defend Elliot with her life. We all firmly believed that he was the only one she loved on earth. Of course she cared about us, but there was something special about her relationship with Elliot. She was hard, and he was soft. In a fantasy world, she would have fangs while he would have wings. He was innocent and she was rebellious, yet, they were the perfect pair.

I laid on a few of my blankets in my stall one night about six weeks in. It had to have been around three in the morning. The crickets chirped and the barn was silent. I was alone with my thoughts. Thinking is all I seemed to do anymore, if I was bored I would think, if I was lonely I would have conversations with myself in my head, and if I happened across a great idea, I would write it down in the back of my journal. I had been writing down our adventures in the woods. This is a time I wanted to remember forever, I wanted to be able to write my story and publish it. This was going to be it, this would be my legacy. This is how I would leave my mark on the world.

The barn door creaked, which caused me to poke my head over the top of the stall, I couldn't see who it was. Soon enough, the door was shut and it was dark again. The footsteps echoed throughout the barn and I heard tapping along with counting as the intruder counted the stalls.

"One, two, three, four."

I held my breath as the intruder stopped at my stall. Tap, tap, tap. "Ash?" Noah opened the door to the stall and crawled in. "You awake?"

"Aren't I always?" I whispered.

He smiled. "Come with me. I have a surprise for you." He threw my blankets off of me and dragged me out of my stall.

"Where are we going?" I asked him. He counted the stalls and then his steps as he made his way back to the door.

"It's a surprise." I was beginning to get butterflies in my stomach, I had no idea what he had planned. It'd be a lie if I said I wasn't nervous.

We walked through the woods for a while before he stopped and picked up something on the ground. It was a flashlight. After he flicked it on, I could see the fallen leaves and dead trees. It was freezing. I wished I had brought my blanket.

"Are you ready?" He turned to me after we got to a tree wall. The trees were so densely packed that I couldn't see through them.

"I-I guess.... What are we doing?" I asked again.

"Shhh." He turned off the flashlight and it was dark again. As my eyes adjusted, they focused on the tree wall and I saw some sort of a glow coming from behind them.

I walked towards them and looked at where the light was seeping through. "Noah!" I gasped.

"Come on." I followed him around the wall until he got to a gap. He ducked through and reached his hand back to help me. I stepped in and ducked. I was greeted with jars upon jars of fireflies. In the center of the circle were a couple of blankets.

"Noah," I was shocked. "What? Why?"

I turned around only to have him grab my waist. "Happy three year anniversary." He leaned in to give me a kiss, but was interrupted by my laugh. "What?"

"You have the date wrong." I told him. "It's not our anniversary yet."

He looked at me in shock. "Nuh-uh!" He pulled out a piece of paper that was littered with tally marks. "Today is our anniversary: December, 23rd."

"No way!" I snatched the paper out of his hands and counted the tally marks. So we have been here for much longer than I thought.

Now it was his turn to laugh. "I know you're used to being right but you're going to have to let this one go and enjoy all the hard work I put into this!"

Once I had finally accepted that he was right for once, I gave him the paper back and kissed him. "Happy anniversary, I guess."

He looked at me and rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the enthusiasm."

"Oh, shut up!" I walked towards the blankets he had laid out. I sat down on one of them and grabbed a firefly jar. "How did you even find all of these in the middle of December?"

"Hard work and determination." He claimed.

I glared.

"Fine, I got lucky. I was going to buy fairy lights but this was the cheaper alternative."

"Oh, thanks." I laughed at him jokingly. "Glad to know I'm worth a few dollars."

Sensing my sarcasm, he played along. "Yeah, I have another anniversary coming up in a few weeks that's more important. Priorities you know."

I playfully slapped his arm. "You better not."

"I'm only joking!" He reached under the blanket and pulled out a small box. "I didn't buy the fairy lights because, one: where would I plug them in, and two: so I could buy you this."

I was speechless. He handed me the box. I had a few tears in my eyes when I looked up at him. "You better not make me cry." He laughed when I opened the box and multiple tears fell at once.

Inside of the box was a silver necklace with two charms: a G and an L.

"I hope you like it," He touched the charms. "I had them put a G for gum and an L for lunch. Your two favorite things."

I looked up at him through tears and laughed. "Why thank you."

"They're really for Garland and Laning." He clarified.

"Oh you think I don't know that?" He took the necklace out of the box and went to place it around my neck. I reached down to touch it when he lifted my chin and kissed me.

"I," He kissed my chin. "Love," he kissed my neck, "You." He even laid a kiss on my collar bone as he pulled me closer to him.

"Hey." I pushed him away. "Not here."

He sighed and laid down next to me. "Alright."

"Thank you." I snuggled up next to him and smiled when he put his arm around me. "For waiting."

He hugged me tight. "You make life very hard Ashley Laning. But I want you to know I wouldn't change a thing."

"Sure you wouldn't." I joked.

He waited a minute, "Okay maybe one thing."

We laid there for over an hour, just staring at the sky and keeping each other warm. He held me close and stared at me as I stared at the stars. I never wanted to get up, I loved the way he held me. And I loved the way he wanted me. But I couldn't let him. Not yet anyways. I had to wait. I didn't have a choice. I had to be smart, and if a mistake was made. Even a little one, it would jeopardize our plans for the next year. A pregnancy only lasts nine months, and I could never have a child in the barn. I would need a hospital, and as much as I can't stand her. I would need my mother.

Sometimes, I thought about her. Did she even care I was gone, or did she just tell her friends I was gone at my grandmothers. Did I even get a single tear from her? A prayer? I wondered if she was asleep in bed or staring at the front door, waiting for me to come home.

I fell asleep in Noah's arms with these thoughts in my head. I may not have my mother, but at least I had my family. And I was perfectly fine with that.

"Ash?" I woke up to Noah roughly shoving me. "Ash! Get up!"

I groggily rolled my eyes. "What?"

"Hurry up." I saw him standing up and looking up at the sky. "It's an emergency!"

I stood up as soon as I saw it. A cloud of smoke was rising over our date spot. "Oh my God." I jumped up and started running towards the barn with Noah right on my heels. I had to get there. They had to be okay. We got to the barn in a matter of minutes. There was a mountain of flames, causing plank after plank to fall off of our temporary home.

"Oakley!" I shouted. "Elliot!"

"Ravyn, Hudson!" Noah began calling for them as well.

I screamed as a piece of wood fell next to me. I ran closer to Noah and called for our friends some more.

"I'm going in." Noah said. "Run!"

"No I'm not leaving!" I cried. "I'm going with you!"

We ran into the burning barn and checked stall after stall. I found Elliot in a corner trying to find the easiest way out.

"Elliot! Jump!" I yelled. A border of fire encircled him. He was trapped.

"I don't want to get burned!" He yelled back shakily.

Noah walked past with Ravyn in his arms. "What the hell do you think is going to happen if you don't jump?" Ravyn shouted.

Elliot made the leap and we all bolted to the front of the barn. We all met Hudson and Oakley outside of the barn towards the back. Oakley was on the ground and Hudson was pushing on her leg.

"Ow." She winced whenever he would touch it.

"Are you okay?" I ran to her side, "What happened?"

"I couldn't make it to the door. I jumped from the loft."

Hudson bent over and picked her up bridal style. "We need to go." He said. "Now. We can't be here when the firefighters show up."

"It's over." Elliot said. "We can't do anything. We have nowhere to go. We've been caught."

I jumped out of the way as another piece of debris fell.

"I think I know where we can go." Ravyn claimed. "There's an old farmhouse. It's been abandoned for years. I think we can set up camp there.

"How far away is it?" Hudson asked. He would have to carry Oakley.

"About a mile or two." She responded.

"I can wa-" Oakley was interrupted by Hudson.

"No. I'll carry you. I can make it." He told her.

We ran towards the house. We made it there pretty quickly, but we were still worried. We had to hope that our belongings were burned with the barn. We couldn't have any evidence of us being there.

Ravyn opened the front door and led us upstairs. She seemed to know her way around well. Too well.

"Ravyn how did you know about this place." I asked her after Hudson laid Oakley down on one of the beds.

"Welcome to the Elle residence." She responded. "My personal paradise."

We all stared at her. How on earth did she know it was abandoned? Why is it still in such great shape? Will we be able to stay here?

Noah gripped my hand. "We're okay. We're all okay." Even though we had almost lost everything. We were finally in a place where we could actually live. A real house. Despite it being an absolute mystery, I thought it was pretty great.