The Promised

- Gaia's pov

When I was 14, I lived with my parents and brother in a small town in California called Forks. We moved there when I was six years old, before that we lived in Brazil, yes, I was born there and spent part of my childhood there.

When my mother got pregnant, we moved to California, and a new life and routine soon followed. After a while I realized that my parents were no longer the same, there was no longer that sparkle and love in their eyes.

As soon as Matteo was born, my parents' relationship got worse, with swearing and fights, everything happened in front of me, I always cried because I was afraid of what would happen next, and this went on for years and years.

On the day of my 16th birthday, when we were singing happy birthday to the guests, a woman burst into the party and revealed that she was having a "relationship" with my father, leaving me and my mother disappointed, so soon came the divorce, along with the fight for custody of me and my brother.

My father didn't get custody of Matteo, but unfortunately, he got custody of me. I didn't want to go with him and my mother tried to convince him to let me stay, but all he did was pull me out of the house, where I was forced to leave everything, I had, including my mother and my brother who had just turned nine, so that I arrived in Brazil with only the clothes on my body.

Rafael was absent, irresponsible, sexist, and insensitive towards his daughter, forbidding me to keep in touch with my mother and brother. He only allowed me to keep in touch with Pedro, my best friend from Forks, after much insistence on my part. Until Pedro moved here and we went to college together.

And after seven years...here I am, driving my car that I paid for with my sweat and toil, on my way to Forks, determined to find my real family again.

"Jesus, Gaia, we've been in this car for a century! I'm hungry as hell!" Oh yes, I forgot to mention that Pedro had come along and that I was about to throw him out of the window.

Pedro is the sheriff's nephew, his mother died in a car accident and his father abandoned his mother a few years earlier, leaving her pregnant and alone. Luckily, his uncle Noah Dixon decided to raise him as a son, together with his wife and son Pietro, but unfortunately, his wife also died after a while. It's all very crazy and confusing for both of us, I think that's why we understand each other so much.

"I told you to bring the f*ck*ng food, I'm not going to stop somewhere where we could risk being mugged, kidnapped, or even killed!" I complained because he's an idiot, hard-headed and proud who doesn't know how to listen to me.

"Did I mention that you're paranoid?" he asked a look of debauchery on his face.

At the thought that had crossed my mind, I smiled mischievously and slammed on the brakes, causing him to hit his forehead on the car's airbag and stare at me in sheer revolt.

"Sorry! It's just that I'm very paranoid and I wanted to check the car's brakes. You know how it is, right? Safety first!" As you can see, I'm a bit vindictive and spiteful. That's right, I'm very vindictive and spiteful.

"The maturity of a 22-year-old, my God!" the boy mocked as he searched for something in my bag, probably a cereal bar or chocolate.

"I'm seriously thinking of leaving you here in the middle of this dark road, and believe me, I don't care if you run the risk of being kidnapped and having your organs sold!" I threatened him, making him raise both hands in surrender.

After many conversations, fights, threats, and laughs, I finally see the sign on my right, indicating that in less than 100 meters I'll be entering Forks, which makes me press down hard on the gearshift due to nervousness and fear that my family won't take me back and I'll end up being rejected.

I seem to be confident, determined and secure, but to be honest, this is just a real façade, a barrier I've built to hide what I'm feeling so that people don't see what I'm feeling at the moment, or as I like to call it: "my weak point", I'm not very proud of it, but if it prevents me from getting hurt, I'll use it and take advantage of it whenever necessary.

My friend, who was standing next to me, must have noticed my nervousness, as he put his hand on mine and squeezed it as a form of support so that I would remember that he was there. I gave him a thin, short smile, then sped up the car, before I regretted it and ran away as quickly as possible.

After that, I only saw the outline of the green sign that signaled that I was coming. As soon as I passed it, I felt a chill run over my skin and sweat drip down my back.

I asked my friend to change seats with me, and after a lot of complaining and threats from me, if anything happened to my car, he agreed.

I got into the passenger seat and Pedro accelerated the car. Furthermore, I lowered the window and felt the cold breeze that was blowing through the city during the fall, along with the beautiful orange-leaved trees that gave the place an exceptional landscape.

The whole thing gave me a chill in my stomach. I missed this city so much, it was still the same.

Forks, you don't know what a pleasure it is to be back!

I've been in this car for over 30 minutes, staring at the house in front of me. Soon the memories and flashbacks hit my mind again, memories of me running with Matteo on the porch of the house, while Mom tried to catch up with us, when we sat on the steps counting the stars in the sky, there were countless beautiful memories.

- Gaia's pov

            I had left Pedro at home earlier, who wished me good luck and said that if I thought about backing out, he would hunt me down and rub my face in the asphalt.

            I took a deep breath, building up enough courage to get out of the car and knock on that door, I couldn't run away from this forever, I'd waited years for this, it was high time.

    It was with this thought that I got out of the car and walked to the door, counting to ten in a failed attempt to control my breathing, approached the door, and raised my wrist, ready to knock.

   But once again insecurity hit me, memories of Rafael coming home drunk and telling me that he had done them a favor by taking me away, or that I would get in their way, and that they would be much better off without me. Maybe it's true and he's right, it's been years, maybe they've forgotten I even existed.

           I put my wrist down and press my foot