see i thought love was black and white

[elizabeth]

and i was wasting all of my life just thinking of you
SO JUST COME BACK, WE'LL MAKE IT BETTER

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Alfred Lord Tennyson once said, "It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." It is probably the most hotly debated quote of all time. Was it truly better to have loved someone only to lose them later? At least that way one would have experienced love. Those who had once had love though would argue another point completely. The pain of losing love was something that changed a person for an entire lifetime. It was the most difficult thing there was and even though most people would never take back their short time of being in love to get rid of the pain, they would still say it was better to never have loved at all. Some compare it to giving candy to a baby then ripping it from their hands before they've been able to eat more than a bite or two.

Whether it was better or not to love and lose though wasn't important to Elizabeth Tomlinson. That was already a done deal. She didn't have time to waste trying to figure out if others were better off simply because they had never fallen in love. She'd already fallen head first for someone; and subsequently lost them. No. The quote that kept circling her mind was from Kahlil Gibran when he said "Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."

Nothing had ever been more true. Elizabeth hadn't even wanted to fall in love in the first place! She had tried her hardest to keep her heart away from Zack Holtz' clutches but she'd failed miserably. It wasn't fair. She had tried so hard to make sure she didn't end up with the kind of pain she'd recently been living with.

Zack had never given her a chance though. She'd accepted falling for him. That was something even she could live with. Then he proposed. It was the most amazing thing she had ever experienced. He asked her to meet him at a new art/photography exhibit. One of the rooms was full of pictures she had either taken or starred in. The last one read "Turn Around". And there he was. Everything she'd ever want down on one knee. What else could she have done? She couldn't have turned him down if she'd wanted to.

Then she began thinking a little too much. What if they ended up the way her parents had? What if he hurt her later? Or worse, what if she hurt him? She had thought for sure that leaving was the best thing to do to ensure no one made a mistake. Beth had really done a job of it too. She had been determined to make sure there was no chance she could change her mind later. She hadn't realized that they were in too deep to just drop everything without any pain. She cheated on him and made sure she was caught. It hadn't meant anything and it had only been the one time - but it had done the job she'd wanted. Zack left.

People said that time healed everything. Elizabeth had expected her healing time to be rather short, but as of yet her pain had only worsened. Her life had gone on of course, but nothing was ever the same without Zack. For years she thought endlessly of returning to California to try and amend things. Surely no future pain could be as bad as what she was living with. It only took one morning to make up her mind. She picked up the newspaper to find out about the death of Zack's father.

She had been terrified to go to the funeral when he died but she'd had no other choice. The man had been more of a father to her than her own father. So she went. And of course she saw Zack. That was when the last bit of her resolve left. It had been next to impossible for her not to blurt out everything that had been running through her head over the past years in the first few moments she saw him. She had gone to the funeral with someone else though. It wouldn't have been right.

So she didn't get a chance to say more than a few words to Zack the entire funeral. It didn't matter though. She knew what she had to do. Beth packed up everything and as soon as she could returned to California. Everything was just as she left it. People moved in and out of the old town constantly but there was always someone similar to take their place and plenty of drama to follow. It had only taken a couple of days to get reused to the old city and then Beth was out of excuses to avoid the reason she had come in the first place. She had no reason to put off going to see Zack any longer.

So she woke up the morning of her first Saturday back in town just as nervous as she had been on the night she made sure Zack caught her with another man. Her intentions had been to go straight to Zack's place that morning and refuse to leave until he spoke to her. That simply wasn't going to work though. Elizabeth was going to need more time to prepare than that. What she needed was a visit to the old, familiar park first. Taking pictures always managed to calm her down so at 9 a.m she found herself wandering around the back trails of Valkyrie Park. For at least a few hours she could forget about her daunting plans for the day.


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TAGGED ?! anna!
STATUS ?! fini <3
WORDS ?! 952
OUTFIT ?! outfit
LOCATION ?! The Park
LYRICS ?! secondhand serenade
PLAYING ?! maybe by secondhand serenade
NOTES ?! Sorry it's so horrible. haha. I'm doing history homework at the same time.
CREDIT ?! RUN, DON'T WALK BETH . of CAUTION![/center]

[Zackary Holtz]

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Zack R. Holtz
Time shows us that all that ever mattered
all that ever mattered leaves us in the cold
If you ever believe this is what you need
it will spin around and shatter
throw you to the floor as it leaves us in the cold

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Things were... well, things were shit but Zack was great. Honestly, he felt better about himself at least. Because while he was a tad more of an asshole, he was also less of a push over. If the world was going to treat him like shit, why shouldn't he be able to return the favor, huh? Zack was just tired of being the bitch in every situation. Even the people he liked seemed to find some way to screw with him. Like living in Valkyrie, everyone was physical perfection, except him. No one seemed to truly dislike him, but he was never the one anyone had wanted to be with. Even Alessia Summitt skipped town when she found out it had been him she talked too all night over half a year ago at the New Years Masquerade. People would look at him, and probably his closest friend in the town, Riley turner and then forget Zack was even there. But honestly, lately, he could not give a damn if these people saw him as hot. All that was on his mind was trying to enjoy the time he had left. At least that's the way he put it all the time.

God, it sounds like he thinks he is going to die soon. It's ridiculous. But when Zack was depressed this is what it looked like apparently. And what does it look like? What did his life look like right now? Well, it looked kind of like toilet water looks as it swirls down and gets flushed away. You see, a few months ago, Zack had received a call. The call came from his uncle up in Seattle, it had been about his father. He had fallen ill. Zack had of course rushed up. He hadn't really given real reason to Riley or anything. He hadn't wanted to worry the guy or get that sympathy look he hated so much. When he arrived he had spent all his time either at the hospital with his father or helping out with Jacob, his severely autistic fraternal twin brother, who did not quite understand why his father wouldn't get out of bed. Zack was always certain his father would come out of it. He was so certain. He couldn't comprehend the idea that god might actually take him away from him. Zack's mother was a mild schizophrenic and his sister was deaf, his twin brother Autistic, so it was always Zack and his father taking care of them, over and over, it was always them. Don't misunderstand, he loved his brother, sister and mother. He loved them dearly. He always had but there was a bond formed between him and his dad that he didn't get with the others.

And honestly, it wasn't even that. Zack's mother and sister had been killed in a car accident while they were on their way to a comedy show Zack had been in. He had never really forgiven himself, even if logic told him it wasn't his fault. But logic rarely came into emotions in a rational way. But how could god truly stomach taking his father from him too? No, there was no way. Zack had been certain and he had been wrong. When his father went flat line, Zack had not been able to register it. He... he couldn't. Every person he loved... it was just him and Jacob now. His mother and sister were dead. Elizabeth had done everything but kick dirt in his face, and now his dad was gone too. So what else was there? And god, he couldn't even save his brother from being placed in a home. Zack was trying to petition the hospital to get him transferred to Valkyrie Hospital. Jacob did not really grasp the whole death thing so he was incredibly angry right now. Only person he ever seemed to want to be around was Zack and Zack couldn't be with him as much as his conscience told him too. But so far they were being difficult. Anyways, at the funeral for his father, already feeling alone enough, he had to run into Beth. It just made him feel even more isolated and how did Zack decide to deal with his sense of loss? Gambling.

At least for the most part. There was also sleeping with more girls, pulling random stunts to have fun, pissing people off, and some of the most notable, dropping out of college and just taking odd jobs to pay any bills he needed. Although, most of his money kept being poured away to card sharks, many of whom want Zack's dick on a plate. See why I used the toilet bowl metaphor for Zack's life now? But it was also his attempt to keep his kneecaps intact that brought him to the park this day. He just needed to pay off a guy. He didn't have the full amount. He owed him some eight thousand dollars Zack didn't have. The brunette male walked through the park over to a tall oak tree where a skinny man with greasy hair and dark circles under his eyes stood waiting. Zack nodded to him as he neared, "Hey calvin, where's hobbes?" the man didn't even crack a smile, "you better have the cash to support that humor, smart ass" Zack forced a smile and shrugged, "Aww come now, Cal, I was just trying to lighten the mood." He replied putting his arm around the skinny, shorter man having him walk with him. "but about the money-" "you better not cheap out on Don again Zacky, he already wants to eat your heart for brunch." "guy's like don eat brunches?" Zack asked with a slight smirk as Calvin threw his arm off. "calm down, now.. I have some. I'll get the rest. he just has to give me some more time." He added.

The card sharks lacky rolled his eyes, "how much you got boy?" Zack pulled and envelope out of his pocket, "Half," He said, handing him the envelope, "half, in cash. and I'll get the rest, I've got a real chance comin' up soon and Imma get it. scouts honor." Calvin looked into the envelope and quickly counted out the money before stuffing it back in. He starred at Zack for awhile as if judging him before shrugging, "I'll see what I can do but Zack, I'm telling you this as a pal, i like you kid. But if you want to keep the ability to walk on you're own two feet you'll get his money and you'll get it fast. I can't delay any longer." Zack nodded, swallowing back his worries. Calvin then slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small sheet of paper and handed it to zack, it was a card with how to reach the new number. From a distance, the exchange almost looked like a drug deal. Zack pocketed the number and watched as the skeezy man went off down the street. Zack took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment, god damn he was so screwed. He opened his eyes again and turned on his heel about to walk back to Hitton when he saw, probably the second to last person he would have expected to see, the first being Juan Person, the Argentinean dictator. "Beth?!" He called out, hardly thinking.

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STATUS;; complete
TAGGED;; Beth<3
CREDITS;; format to me, inspired by everyone, graphics to me
LYRICS;; 'In the cold' by acceptance, (such a good song for zack pov)
WORD COUNT;; 1236
CLOTHES;; here
NOTES;; SOOOOoooo late, I am soo sorry.
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