Days before the tragedy, she mulled over the last three months she had to endure.
Her family would be saying goodbye to their home for more than twenty-five years and there was no way she could buy it back with three jobs that barely gave her enough to save for the rainy days. She also wanted to save up for moving into city where her dream job was. Mr. Redford, her father, who was soon nearing the age of retirement, had a back injury after the deadly fire that swallowed fifteen beautiful homes along 8th street. This kept him from earning more than enough for priority expenses, as the maturity of his insurance was still 5 years to count. Mrs. Redford on the other hand has been going through stages of depression triggering pain in different parts of her body. Mood swings here and there, chaos after chaos. Tania, her younger sibling, was dragged into a major offense that ruined her chances of graduating as Valedictorian. Everything seemed to be going down the drain from finances to family problems but one - her engagement with Luke.
They'd been together since college, making that six years of going steady. It was their dream to get married, start a family, raise the kids and grow old together. Six months ago, when Luke knew everything was ready for the next stage, he finally proposed to Haley. He had to be out of the country though for three months because of work, but this wasn't really a big issue for them. They still made time to talk despite the 12-hour difference, but at some point there was something that got in the way.
They had an argument triggered by Haley's painful outburst, that wasn't settled all at once considering their time difference and means of communicating, hence the agony prolonged for two weeks or so. This was the first time it happened in their six years together, and it was the most devastating. Luke grew colder day by day, and no matter how Haley tried holding him closer, the more he wanted to be away. He told her the words that made her break - "I am broken and I need to find myself... we can't be married if I don't know who I am. I feel like there's more to learn, more to discover, more to be. At the right time, I will come back. "
In a snap, everything started falling apart in front of her - her dreams, the wonderful six years they've built together, the man she truly loved and the man she never thought would break her like this. It was because of her love that she had the strength to let him be, even if it was all too painful to hold. In their last conversation, all she asked for is his assurance of loyalty and faithfulness, despite having to go separate ways for some time, but he only gave her a vague promise that pierced her heart even more- "I don't know, but I'm only certain of one thing - I want to come back."
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