Chapter 1: Golden Days Before Goodbye

The rain came without warning that evening — heavy and fast. It made the streets look like rivers of silver and gray. Five-year-old Aaliyah Nora Jeffery, known as Liya, sat quietly in the backseat of her family’s car. She held her favorite stuffed bunny close to her chest. Her mother was softly humming a lullaby, and her father focused on the road, hands steady on the steering wheel. A soft jazz tune played on the radio, and for a moment, everything felt calm and safe.

Then it all changed.

Bright headlights flashed into their car. A loud horn blared. The world spun upside down.

And then — crash.

Liya would never forget that moment.

She remembered her father shouting her mother’s name. The terrible sound of metal crashing. The glass breaking. And then — nothing.

When Liya woke up in the hospital, her world had changed forever.

She was wrapped in bandages and full of fear. Her three older brothers, her grandparents, and other family members came to see her, but she didn’t say much. She only asked one question: “Where are Mama and Papa?”

No one could give her the answer she wanted.

After the accident, Liya went to live with her grandparents, Abraham and Eliana Jeffery. They had always been close to her, but now they became her parents. She moved into their big old house in Scotland — the same house her family had moved into two years earlier, when she was just three.

Before that, Liya and her family had lived in Norway. That’s where she had first met Emmett Jaxon Malcolm. Emmett’s mother, Olivia, and Liya’s mother, Naomi, were best friends. So was Macsen’s mother, who was also Liya’s aunt. All three women were like sisters and had promised to be godmothers to each other’s children. Liya was just a baby when she met Emmett, and they spent time together until she was three years old. After that, her family left Norway and moved to Scotland to be closer to her grandparents.

When the accident happened, it felt like Liya lost her whole world. She became quiet and distant. She didn’t cry much, but she stopped smiling. Her stuffed bunny became her only comfort. Loud noises scared her. She didn’t like the color red — it reminded her of blood and pain. She would flinch when doors slammed or when people shouted.

Her grandparents did everything they could to comfort her. So did her three older brothers — Dawsyn, Adain, and Hayden. Dawsyn, the oldest at fifteen, became more like a father than a brother. He stayed strong for her. Adain, calm and gentle, always knew how to make her feel safe. Hayden, the more playful twin, made funny faces and silly jokes to get her to laugh. Together, they helped her slowly heal.

Even though the big house had love, it also had memories — shadows of what was lost. But over time, new people and moments began to fill the empty spaces.

Liya didn’t go to school like other children. She was homeschooled by her grandmother and private tutors. It was safer that way, and more comfortable for her. Her days started with warm breakfasts and soft music, and ended with bedtime stories from her grandfather, whose deep voice calmed her fears.

Their home wasn’t lonely. Her parents’ close friends often came to visit. They brought their children, who soon became like family to her.

There was:

• Jasper Kai Walsh, always full of energy with messy dark curls and a playful grin.

• Jade Grace Walsh, Jasper’s older sister, who was neat, kind, and protective like an older sister.

• Grayson Hitoshi Ikare, thoughtful and sweet, who never minded sharing his toys.

• Anya Gale Smith, a shy and quiet girl who smiled often and always made Liya feel included.

And then… there was Emmett Jaxon Malcolm.

When Macsen — Liya’s cousin and Emmett’s best friend — moved into a house near theirs at the age of ten, Emmett came along too. That’s when Liya met Emmett again, after seven years apart.

At that time, Emmett was twelve and Liya was ten.

Even though they had played together as toddlers in Norway, they didn’t remember much. Now, they were quiet around each other. Emmett wasn’t like the other boys. He didn’t run around shouting or play noisy games. He preferred books and helping his mother, Olivia. He watched things more than he joined in. Liya was quiet too, so they often sat near each other without saying much.

Still, there was something special about their silence.

They both understood sadness in a way other children didn’t. Even though they hadn’t become close yet, they saw each other in quiet moments — in the way Emmett always sat beside her at dinner, or how he gently stepped in when others teased her, even if it was just playfully.

Macsen, her cousin, was full of life. He had always been Emmett’s best friend since birth. Their moms were best friends, so they had grown up like brothers. When Macsen moved into the house nearby with his family, it was a new beginning for everyone.

Liya’s house soon became the gathering place on weekends. The gardens echoed with laughter and running footsteps. There were tree swings, rose bushes, and picnic blankets. Hayden would paint with her under the trees. Aunt Arinna would bake cookies with her in the kitchen. Sometimes, Uncle Archer and Macsen would build toys or wooden furniture, and on her birthdays, they made her feel extra special.

For her seventh birthday, she got a gold locket with a photo of her parents inside. She wore it every day. For her eighth, Macsen helped build her a dollhouse with Uncle Archer. At nine, she painted a picture of a lavender field with Hayden — it was her first landscape, and her grandparents framed it and hung it in the hallway.

Slowly, with the help of her brothers, grandparents, and friends, Liya began to smile more. She started talking again, at least with people she trusted. She even laughed when Hayden made faces or when Jasper tried to juggle apples and failed every time.

By age ten, her life had a gentle rhythm. It wasn’t the same as before, and she would never forget what she had lost. But she was healing, little by little.

Though Emmett was always near, they still weren’t very close. He was like a shadow in the corner of her peaceful world — always there, always quiet. Their bond hadn’t formed yet, but it was growing quietly under the surface.

That would change the next year, when Emmett’s mother — Olivia — died in a car accident. Just like Liya’s parents.

Emmett would be thirteen. Liya would be eleven.

His sadness would finally match hers, and in that moment, their paths would begin to truly cross. Not just as childhood friends or old memories from Norway — but as two hearts who understood what it meant to lose someone so dear, so suddenly.

But for now, that part of the story hadn’t begun yet.

This chapter ends with Liya standing alone in the apple orchard behind her house. It was twilight. The sky was painted in orange and gold. Her curly hair glowed in the fading sunlight. The laughter of children floated in the air. Her stuffed bunny was in one hand. Her golden locket lay against her heart.

She looked peaceful. Not healed, but strong.

Aaliyah Nora Jeffery had survived a storm no child should face. And though she didn’t yet understand it, she was growing into something rare and powerful — a girl shaped by pain, but built up by love.

And this… was only the beginning.

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