The Butterfly Effect

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Chapter Seven – The Tide Turns

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"Ashley." The blonde whispers as she approaches the sleeping girls figure. "Wake up." She says with a hand on the brunettes shoulder. Her eyes open and then close again. Giggling Spencer continues to coax her friend out of sleep. "Come on Ash wake up." Finally things begin to register in Ashley’s mind. She isn’t dreaming. Someone is really here in her room waking her at this ungodly hour.

"…Spence?"

Spencer pulls her hood off and takes a seat on the edge of Ashley’s bed. "Yeah, it’s me."

Feeling the sudden draft Ashley pulls the blankets closer. "What’s wrong?" Even in the darkness Ashley knows her friends been crying. "Is it your dad? Did he hurt you?"

"No, no. It’s not that… It’s just that you’re leaving tomorrow. Who knows when we’ll see each other again? What if we never see each other again?"

Now fully awake the brunette raises her head and laughs. "You think I’m gonna forget about you just because I’m moving away? That’s not possible Spence. I swear I’ll come back for you." She pulls back the covers in an inviting manner. Taking the hint Spencer removes her shoes and slides into the bed.

"You mean it Ash? You’ll really come back for me?"

"I swear I will. As soon as I’m old enough we’ll go so far away your dad and Glen won’t ever be able to find us."

~

The door slams shut behind her mother just as Spencer’s figure becomes visible in the side mirror. At this moment she regrets giving her mother so much trouble earlier in the day. After all the grief she’s given her she knows her mother isn’t about to let her exit the vehicle.

Remembering the conversation from the previous night she does the only thing she can think of. She takes one of her journals, flips to a random page, and writes down her promise. She holds the journal up against the passenger side window.

Spencer is left with five simple words, ‘I’ll come back for you.’

"I’m sorry." Is the only thing Christine can manage to say.

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Seven Years Later

She closes the blue test packet. Looks around for a moment and then makes her way to the front of the class.