"They all looked tempting, could appear sweet, delectable and sinfully decadent, but it was once you bit into them you realized what was really inside."

~ When Roses Collide by KraftyGal

Walking into Charlie's Factory was a rare occasion for me. I loved chocolate. Adored it. But, I was trying to avoid those heavenly sweets. After a month of pushing myself to lose the pounds I had gained, I was almost back to a healthy weight. My waistline was much slimmer, and I finally decided I had done well enough. I deserved a treat every once in a while.

Inside the store were aisles upon aisles of chocolates and other candies. Some displays were stocked up with chocolates in the shape of cute bunny rabbits, Disney princesses, and geometric shapes. They varied in sizes. Some were king-sized, others could fit into the palm of my hand.

I took a deep breath and clung to the cash in my hands as I walked past that row. I promised myself, before coming here, I would spend £6.50 maximum. I did not go back on that - besides, my mum's handbag was no longer something I wanted to rely on. I was grown up enough. I did not want her money for small things like this.

Taking a breath, I stepped inside aisle three. The left side was lined with Hershey's products. Further up, I spotted M&Ms. On my right were Reese's which sat next to Snickers and Kit Kats. I was almost tempted to pick up the peanut butter cup right there and go to check out, but I paused before my fingers could graze over the orange label.

"You need help, miss?" A man's voice startled me.

I snapped my head over in his direction. 

Holy cow!' He was hot - even hotter than Ian Somerhalder - something I never thought I would ever fathom.

Feeling my cheeks redden, I dropped my hand."Uh-er, n-no. Thanks t-though." As if my face could not be warm enough, I could feel the blush my cheeks were showing as I stumbled over my words. 'I am an idiot!' I wanted to smack myself sounding stupid.

"Not a problem. I'll be around if you need me." He winked and waved, and I thought I was going to faint.

Instead, I stood there waving like a mindless idiot. Forcing my hand down again, I sighed. I thought hard about his dreamy face. I swore I saw a twinkle on his tooth when he smiled with his pearly whites. 'Oh Lord!' Never in my life was I ever weak in the knees from such an encounter. Mentally, I slapped myself. 'GET A GRIP TAMLIN STERLING!' Rolling my eyes, I laughed to myself.

Charlie's Factory was packed with kids zooming about while their parents chattered. Upstairs sounded like a zoo. There was a restaurant with a self-serve ice cream/frozen yogurt cart. It was always busy. I hardly remember a time when only a handful of people were ever up there. Then again, I have not been up there since...a long time. Come to think about it, my mum and dad only reserved a table for birthdays and the high academic achievement awards. At best, that was three, maybe four, times a year!

"Tamlin?"

I whipped around, stopping dead in my tracks. 'Oh great,' I thought.

"Fancy seeing you here!" Distain dripped off his words.

'Go to hell,' I said silently. Instead, I screwed on a plastic smile. "Hello, Parker." 'Go find a Parking spot far, far away from me.' I scoffed at my own lame joke.

He looked at me like I was insane. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. You look as charming as ever," I lied.

"Why, thank you!" He puffed out his chest, and I wanted to find the nearest waste bin to hurl in. "You look...amazing."

I waited for the 'but', yet it never came. I stared in shock. Ever since we stopped dating, all he had ever offered was smack talk. Actually, he said backhanded insults when we dated too. But, here he was, doing the complete opposite. Shaking my head, I decided he had to be sarcastic. I wasn't going to allow him to trick me. With annoyance I scoffed and turned my back.

"No, seriously, I mean it, love."

My blood boiled. Whipping around, I returned a steel, death glare. "Don't you call me that!" I snapped.

Parker's eyes widened and he flashed his palms. "Sorry." He backed away.

Narrowing my eyes, I fought against the profanities I would have loved to spit. But there were children here, and I was not keen on having a mother scold me for inappropriate language.

"Whatever. Just go do whatever you were doing and leave me alone." I left him no room for answer as I stormed away. I did not know where I was headed, but I cared less as long as it was away from Parker Manning. Biting back my tears of anger, I realised I probably overreacted.

He was an asshole for two years of secondary school, after I was nervy enough to break off our relationship. To my relief, he transferred to a catholic school when I was sixteen.

Now,  I was out of the mood. Darn him! In a snap, my happiness was gone. I could hardly stand the thought of being on the same planet, much less the same store as him. Grumbling to myself, I stomped out of the store. 

"Arse," I muttered as I stepped into the street.

"Watch it!" a woman yelled.

My neck snapped in the direction of the large spotlight trained on me. Straight away, my feet glued to the asphalt; I could not move my legs. Holding out my palms, my heart pounded in my chest at a dangerous rate. Before I knew it, my whole side went numb as the fender crashed into me. Winded, my breath left me as my body whirled over the bonnet and off the boot, smashing back onto the blacktop. When I landed my head hurled onto the rocks. 

"Mum!" I breathed. And then the lights went out.

===

Slowly, I blinked my eyes. The lights were blinding me, but I still tried to force them open. I heard voices around me.

My blood went cold. "What happened?"

"She's awake! Jim, Jim!" my mum called.

"What's happening?" I asked again.

"You're in the hospital." A woman, whose voice I did not recognise, answered.

I was alarmed for a moment. "Who are you?"

"My name's Doctor Scott."

"You're alright," Mum said.

"No. No. No, I'm not ok!" I sucked in rapid breaths.

"What do you-" Mum asked.

I flinched when something crashed.

"Tam! Oh God! You're okay!" my dad's voice registered.

"Dad! Where are you?" My lip quivered.

"What do you mean?" Mum asked.

"We're right here!" Dad said.

I imagined their confused and frightened faces. Heck, I was terrified enough for all of us.

"Where? I-I can't see you!"

"We're standing right next to you!" Dad replied.

"Oh, God. I-I can't see you. I can't see anything. It's all a blur. Why can't I see anything?"

"I'm right here, Tammy," Mum whispered.

I felt a warm hand curl over mine, so I gripped it as tight as I could.

"We're right here, love." Dad's calloused hand wrapped around my palm.

One of them kissed my forehead, I could not tell who though. All I wanted was to cry. How could I live my life with blurry vision?

"Doctor, why can't she see?" Dad asked, not able to hide the concern in his voice.

"The test results should be back soon. Let me get them."

My head was throbbing, but that was far from my concern. I needed my sight. It was everything to me. My whole life centred around being able to see. My heart was racing as I anxiously waited for the findings. To pass the time, my mum and dad asked questions regarding what I could see. Just before I was going to pull out my hair from impatience, the door opened with a click.

"You're daughter hit her head so hard that she got a bad concussion and her brain tissue is swollen which affects her nervous system," Dr What-Was-Her-Name? reported.

"How bad?" Mum rushed.

"Her CAT shows contusions to the frontal and occipital lobes."

'What? Speak English, Doc!'

"Is she bleeding?" Dad chimed in.

"It's not life-threatening," the doc said. "They're like bruises."

"Then why can't she see?" Mum asked.

"The occipital lobe controls vision. It's not uncommon with a severe head injury like this for there to be some temporary blindness."

'Temporary! Hallelujah! Oh my gosh!' Temporary was the one word I cared about in that moment.

"How temporary?" Dad sounded upset. More upset than I was.

"Don't worry, her brain should heal in a couple of days, and her vision should return."

"Should? What does that mean?" Mum asked. "There's a chance she won't see?"

 "Di, she said she's seeing bright lights and shadows," Dad whispered, but I still heard him.

"That's good news then!" Doc said. "Mrs Sterling, her MRI showed swelling in the optic nerve. We'll know more in a few days, but she should be fine. We're going to watch her over the next several days to make sure though. Do you have any more questions?"

The room was quiet except for a few sniffs.

"No. Thanks, Doctor Scott." Dad sounded defeated.

"Just press the call button if you need a nurse," Dr Scott said.

"Yeah," Dad replied.

The door opened again and closed.

"I'm so sorry, Tam!" my mum cried.

"I'm ok, Mum. The doc said that I should be able to see soon, so I'll be fine. I'm a lot more hopeful than I was a while ago." I tried to smile to encourage her, but instead, I grimaced.

"Just get lots of rest, love. We'll be here by your side," Dad said. His hand smoothed over my forehead, and I could not help but lean in. "It'll all be alright, darling. God will see us through."

I smiled. I know He will.

∞∞∞

The next few days I was sleeping a lot, so I do not remember them too clearly. However, my vision returned like the doctor said, much to my relief. I begged my parents to allow visitors.

Erika and Kelly stopped in to chat with me. They updated me with all that I missed and showed me the newspaper of the car crash since my parents had been avoiding discussing it. I needed answers, so I had asked them to smuggle in the information I sought.

'Wow.' I swallowed. The headline was not anything too flashy or creative, but the report sounded horrific. "So, that's what really happened..."

"Yeah, do you remember it?" Kelly asked.

"No. Thank God. It's sorta blurry."

"What do you remember?" Erika sat at the foot of my bed.

"Um." I looked to the ceiling as if it were going to rain down some answers. "I was going shopping for something..." My eyes went back to the paper, trying to find the location of the accident. I searched the archives of my brain, wringing it out for every drop of detail it would provide. "Chocolates! That's it! I was going to buy myself chocolates!"

Erika gasped. "You broke!"

"Yeah, I finally decided I was happy for the time being with my weight." My cheeks flushed. "Besides, it isn't like a candy bar is going to make me as fat as a walrus! I already lost weight from being in the hospital!" I laughed sardonically. "Heh, someone should have told me that all I had to do is get into an accident to lose weight!" I snorted, sarcasm oozed from my mouth.

Neither girl laughed.

"You could have been permanently hurt, Tam!" Erika cried.

"I am..."

Their faces fell serious.

"What does 'I am' mean?" Kelly asked.

"The doc said I hit my head really bad, and although I was lucky enough to come back with my sight, I'll have seizures..." I tried to keep my tone monotonous - like we were only discussing the weather or something trivial. It was the only way I could keep back the tears.

"Oh my God!" Erika's jaw might as well dropped two levels down as she winded me with a bear hug. "I'm so so so sorry!" Her tears slid down my nape as she cried on my shoulder.

Oddly enough, I could not cry with her. I had shed enough tears, and I had no more left. Tears were tiresome anyway.

Kelly moved to my other side and began rubbing my shoulder. She had a look of sadness but it was not pity I saw in her eyes. God only knew I hated a pitying look. Her frown was tight as were the creases between her eyebrows. But her green eyes were set like she was going to rip someone apart. That or it was her encouraging look. I hoped for the latter.

When Erika pulled back, I saw her mascara running down her cheeks.

My hand fumbled for the tissue box and I helped her wipe away the black smudges. "It's ok, Erika."

Erika chuckled bitterly. "I shouldn't have said that...I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," I said with a tired smile. "You didn't know."

A knock came from the door. All of our eyes shot to it, but none of us moved. We stared at it as if we had magic powers, and it would magically open.

Kelly moved finally and she pulled back the handle.

"Rhys!" She said with a grin. "Erika, come on, we should give them some space. We'll see you tomorrow, Tammy?"

"Yeah, sure." I smiled.

Kelly nodded and grabbed Erika's arm as they let themselves out.

Once the door closed, Rhys handed me some flowers.

"Thank you." I smelt them and smiled. The carnations were fresh. My grin dropped when his did not appear. "What's wrong?"

He stood there in silence as if he were a manikin.

"Rhys, please, say something!"

"I-I don't know if I can do this..."

"What do you mean? Do this? What are you talking about?" My heart skipped like stones over water.

"This. Us."

My whole world came crashing on top of me. Suddenly, I felt suffocated, I could barely breathe. Tearing my eyes away from the plaid button-down he wore, I saw salty raindrops plop onto lap. "Why?"

"Tam, it isn't because you were just in a car crash. I've been feeling this way for a while..." he confessed.

I hid my face behind my palms. "Get out!"

"Tam, wait, let me-"

"GET OUT!" I screamed and threw his bouquet in some random direction. I heard the shuffling of his feet as he scampered about.

"I'm sorry, Tamlin." The door open and closed behind him, leaving the room dead quiet.

I sobbed and sobbed.

'Why did he have to tell me now of all times? How long was he unhappy with our relationship? Why did he not tell me earlier? Nevermind that,  I do not even want to know! Why did he think we could not work anymore?' I thought. Bitterly, I wondered why. 'It was probably because he was a cheating SOB!' I had seen him eye Elaine, the school's straight-A, scholarship winner girl, when he did not realise I was looking. I wanted desperately to throw the glass vase on the bedside table into the window, but instead, I clenched my fists as my brain reminded me of all the guys who had broken my heart.

First it was Parker, then Nick, and now Rhys. Strike three!

Parker had dumped me over a text. I was mortified and swore never to get into a relationship until secondary school.

Nick, after our trip in Vegas, had come to the decision he would rather pursue his personal future rather than a relationship.

And Rhys. For whatever the hell reason he decided to dump me.

As I sat sulking, I wiped at my blotchy, bruised eyes. I willed my tears to stay away. I wanted a load of chocolates to take away my aching heart.

Food was my source of comfort, which was why I had to maintain a diet programme. After Parker, no matter how disgraceful his exit, I fell into depression - or at least what I thought was depression. I never let my parents know how awful I felt. They did notice my growing stomach, but I had waved them off, insisting I was hungry a lot. Half of that was true. After a year I moved on, and started exercising to get rid of the weight. It took double the time to lose the weight than it did to move on. I thought that was punishment enough.

Then Nick happened. And I found myself at in the same situation, except, my 'hero', Rhys cut my grief in half.

I had still gained, for Rhys had not come in at the beginning. However, he had saved me from continuing to eat unhealthily. Rhys encouraged me to lose the weight I had accumulated, and, I did. Well, most of that was from actual dieting and exercising and the rest was from the crash.

If there was one thing I was not going to do this time around was eat myself silly. I owed it to myself.

By the time my parents came back, I was dozing off into sleep. This was going to be my new solution.

Erika and Kelly stopped in, as promised, bringing me a box of chocolates. Their visit was short, as they only were able to come in during school lunch period. We briefly talked, and I decided not to let them in on Rhys yet. I was still trying to wrap my head around it myself.

When they left, I carefully untied the lavender coloured bow and tore off the 'Feel Better!' wrapping paper. Removing the lid, I swallowed. Inside were three large chocolate balls surrounded by smaller chocolates. One of the large chocolate balls had a cute flower shaped garnish, the other had tiny crushed nuts littered on the top, and the last one was a white chocolate with swirls. Just as I was about to bite into the white one, I stopped and placed it back in its designated place.

Parker, Nick and Rhys barged into my mind as I stared down at the three chocolates. I thought for a moment.They all looked tempting, could appear sweet, delectable and sinfully decadent, but it was once you bit into them you realised what was really inside. And I closed the box.