5 years later. “What happened here?” I sucked in a sharp breath as I glanced around what was supposed to be the children’s room but seemed like a battleground. World war three happened here. “It was him!” Bella cried in her high-pitched voice, I cringed at her tone and glanced in the direction of her voice. My heart skipped a bit when I could not find her, but if the mop of blonde curls that peaked out from beneath the bed was anything too go by; I was definitely on the right track. I took tentative steps toward her and crouched down to her height, “Baby, what’s going on?” my voice trembled slightly with worry but that was not the only thing threatening an anxiety attack from me at this moment. It was already 10:00 am and I wasn’t even dressed — forget about dressing up, Tyler wasn’t even around to handle the kids and he promised me. Today was my big day and he promised he would fill in, but as always, he just runs off with his burger. Bella reluctantly reached out to me and
If I could turn back time – I'd go back to those times I constantly wished I was an adult. Because this... this wasn't the adult life I signed my lazy self -up for. At twenty three, I didn't have anything to be proud of, well except for the beautiful certificate that is hung in my mother's room till date. Would you believe me if I said I was a first class medical doctor working as a receptionist in some down run hotel? No? okay. Well, at least I was. I continued to pack up my stuff into a small box, it had been barely thirty minutes since the letter was sent to me, my letter of termination and in the lame man's words – I'd been sacked. Why? I can't explain it. I don't know why it took them so long to sack me though. The only reason I agreed to get this annoying job was because I had to pay rent in the small room I lived in after I got kicked out of my father's home by my mom's boyfriend. Pretty harsh right? I looked around the small counter I used to call an office. It
"You want me to sleep with you don't you?" I asked and the first tear rolled down my cheek. "I see you are blunt. So what do you say?" My Yaser said with a smirk. "You have a daughter right, she's um? Twenty two?" I said as I got closer to him and locked eyes with him; "Go sleep with her" I spat. I didn't wait to see his facial expression before I began to walked from him - towards the apartment so I could pick up my things. It was official. I was homeless. Now, Desperate times called for desperate measures and I was about to do something that would change everything completely.No matter what it took. ___________ I sucked in a deep breath as I picked up my things, I had a lot of stuff so I decided that I would sell some of them off if push comes to shove. I was never selling myself to a man. It was for that reason I hated my mother. Sometimes I try to put myself in the woman's place, yeah I get that she was confused when she gave birth to a child at age sixteen and she prob
Someone screamed as I dug my hands into Emiliana's hair. The pale blonde dug her hands into my hair in response and the moment, I slammed her into a wall, she stared at me with wide shocked eyes; I wasn't the tallest person on planet earth and I definitely wouldn't win an award concerning great body build, I was slender – slender, beautiful but slim. People often confused my body stature as someone who wouldn't be able to hold their ground in a fight when the truth was, I knew exactly how to maximize my skin and bones if push came to shove. "You are hurting me!" She screeched as she tried to push me away. I let her go and slapped her across the face twice, she roared and tugged on my hair tighter, her knee connected with my rib and it was my turn to let out a yelp, I grunted and rolled over, I didn't know why no-one was stopping this fight, but I appreciated it. It was high time people like Emiliana got what was coming to them. On a normal day, I could never imagine myself doin
He grunted loudly. I thought this free time to turn and finish her off but when I did - Emilia was gone, that little coward ran away. How iconic. "Look what you've done!" I said as I pointed to the ground frustratedly. "Look what I have done?" He matched my tone as I held his jaw, his steel-blue eyes piercing my skin in what seemed to be a stern manner "I just stopped you from committing homicide and probably spending the rest of your life behind bars or six feet under" I ran my hands through my hair, this dude was dumber than he looked "oh really?" I gasped in fake shock "thank you so much! Thank you so much for saving my life!" I exclaimed as I glanced around and then locked eyes "but what fake shrink convinced you that I needed saving? did it not cross your mind that you could have just held her down and let me finish her off?" I spat and looked in the direction Emiliana ran in. "I am not a murderer" the man deadpanned. I rolled my eyes and turned to face him "Thanks to yo
"Wait!" I heard the woman call out to me as I dragged my belongings with me and ran "I didn't even catch your name!" she yelled again. I spun around and with a goofy smile I replied "Danielle Brown" Now, I wasn't stupid. I knew that I was no dancer and it would be almost impossible to learn how to be a professional dancer in one week – which was the stipulated deadline for the recruit. I could barely carry myself talk less of doing stunts and whatnot. But if there was anything I had learned in the past year – it was the hard painful truth that I was all alone. I had no mom to call, no dad to bother, and no friend to Scott with, I also had no job and was practically homeless so as insane as this may sound, this was my last chance to turn my messed up life into something well, meaningful. There was one person though, who was an amazing dancer and who I just happened to know, I had a minus one million in one chance that she would agree, but then again, if there's
I groaned as I stared at the tall fence in front of me, the house had been built as a gift for my mother on her thirty-seventh birthday. I could still recall that day as vividly as I could recall the events that followed. Daniel had given my mother the house as a gift and that night was the night he died. He was found at the back of the house, laying on the ground, his body void of all the life it used to emit. The doctors claimed he had a cardiac arrest and it was a heart attack but to date, I refused to believe it. To believe it was just that and nothing more. I looked around, it was late and I could barely see but it was clear that the moon was casually leaving the sky because it was morning already, yes, I had stayed up all night trying to figure out a way in. This is not one of those cliché stories where the main character just dramatically finds a ladder from someone and gets in. Think people! Let's brainstorm.I pulled out my phone. It looked worn out and was
"Can you explain why you are here?" Rye spat the moment we locked eyes, her lips were curled downwards and she folded her arms around her chest. She glared at me through her long eyelashes and wrinkled her nose in displeasure, her barely packed ponytail and loosely worn pajama pants made it clear that she had hurried come out hereGood. I had riled her up. This was better than I had imagined."I need your help," I said simply – going straight to the point as I had always done ever since I was a child. Rye seemed to find it funny though, her lips curled upwards as she wriggled her lashes at me in what I assumed was disbelief, her heavily medicated glasses sat on her nose, fitting perfectly into her oval face."And why would I help you?" she gritted out in a nasty tone. In reality, she wasn't a nasty person at all, Rye was a kind person who was just unfortunate enough to be raised by the wrong people."Because you don't want me to release this," I said as I waved my phone in her face an
5 years later. “What happened here?” I sucked in a sharp breath as I glanced around what was supposed to be the children’s room but seemed like a battleground. World war three happened here. “It was him!” Bella cried in her high-pitched voice, I cringed at her tone and glanced in the direction of her voice. My heart skipped a bit when I could not find her, but if the mop of blonde curls that peaked out from beneath the bed was anything too go by; I was definitely on the right track. I took tentative steps toward her and crouched down to her height, “Baby, what’s going on?” my voice trembled slightly with worry but that was not the only thing threatening an anxiety attack from me at this moment. It was already 10:00 am and I wasn’t even dressed — forget about dressing up, Tyler wasn’t even around to handle the kids and he promised me. Today was my big day and he promised he would fill in, but as always, he just runs off with his burger. Bella reluctantly reached out to me and
You know how you can spend your entire life walking on the wrong path. You can feel like you have it all figured out even though you are just starting and struggling to be a good version of yourself. There are some memories, that don’t die when dawn comes barging in. Some dark times that even the sun can’t chase away. My point is: They are too many things out of our control and the last thing you want to do is get stuck with the guilt of not fixing or doing things that were never in your control, to begin with. As I ran my hands through my soaked scarlet hair, a lone tear crawled down my cheek and I swallowed sharply. I bit hard on my bottom lip as I thunderstruck and pierced my skin. It was almost scary how three years had felt like decades, how much I had linked to come here, all the promises, the guilt, everything that had built up to this exact moment. I wiped my tears which were mixed with rain. I found to hear the hesitant footsteps from Rye, but I did not turn. My fists cle
“There’s still time for us to run.” I glanced at Emilia as if she had grown two heads, but she had a serious expression on her face and I knew that she was freaking out deep down.So was I.“Run to where exactly?” I decided to humor her risky thoughts with a raised eyebrow, her stance deflated and she let go of my hand. We were outside the church now. It was crazy how much time had passed and how things were happening so fast.Until two weeks ago I was at Alice’s grave. Now I was walking down the aisle. I frowned and breathed. “When did Rye say she was going to get here?” I asked Emilia, the blonde seemed to be too engrossed in starting anything but the church that waiting for her. Her blonde hair had been styled in a perfect bun and Isabel had performed magic with her makeup. Her dimples were visible and she wasn’t even smiling. Emilia took a hold of my hand again, a small smile broke out on her plump lips.I held my breath as she stared me dead in the eyes before she broke out into
“This was the last place I thought I would ever come,” The words rolled out of my mouth and left a bland taste in my mouth, I could feel the heat from the ground tear my skin apart, and my eyes stung with fresh tears and my fists clenched.If anyone had told me, years ago, or even a month ago that I would do this, I would have laughed in their face and given them a fitting reply, yet here I was, tears pouring down my cheeks with a void in my heart that I was not sure time could heal.“It wasn't supposed to end like this, Alice. This wasn’t the plan. This wasn't the freaking plan,” I whispered and I could barely see from my clouded vision. “You always hurt me when it was alive and I always used to think that I would be happy when you died...” I trailed off and wiped my tears.“I’m not Alice,” I admitted. “I’m not happy at all ad it feels like my heart got ripped out. You took a part of me with you and it space you left stings a lot.” I swallowed and sucked in a sharp breath. I ran my
Tyler chuckled and his hand went to his neck for a nervous moment. “I don’t think you have realized it but… Alexander is in love, and it’s not with you,” I blinked in confusion.Tyler laughed at what seemed like my facial expression. “Alexander is madly in love with Lee.” My eyes widened and I immediately clicked the dots.Lee’s strange behavior ever since Alexander came into the house, her sudden change of heart, the reason she begged me to stop the wedding, why she was so devastated during the shoot-out, why she kept her gaze on Alex, and most of us, why she was bosses with taking care of Bella. “But she’s just a child and he- he’s twenty-five or something! This isn’t right!” I informed him.“She’ll be eighteen in a few weeks, by then she will be an adult, right?” Cole asked in a calm tone.“Well yes, but…” I trailed off and walked past him, I turned and continued. “She’s still a child, he’s five years older than she, and I don’t know, I’m just not comfortable with the idea.”“It’s
"Are you okay?" Tyler was standing at the doorwhen I came out, I nodded and walked past him. "Where's Gemma?" I asked with a straight face and glanced around the place. "She left," Tyler informed me absentmindedly. "She asked for a divorce." He added."Why? Did she finally realize that you are nothing like you claim you are?" I spat at him and he shrugged."She was pregnant for someone else," He continued. My eyes widened and I shrugged. "Oh wow." I chuckled. "You sue to surround yourself with the best kinds of people," I informed him and he relaxed on the wall"You don't seem okay, do you want to get some rest?" He asked and I rolled my eyes at his fake concern."I want to leave. Why did you bring me here?" I demanded in a sharp tone."You fell unconscious, I had no other choice," Tyler admitted bashfully and ran his hands through his hair. His lips were pursed into a straight line and he kept his gaze firm on me."Want some coffee?" He offered and walked towards what I assumed w
"I never thought you would come here." I heard a voice as I sat on the closest rock.From the view I had, the lake was breathtakingly beautiful, it had been months since I came here and I was dying for a breath of fresh air."Do you remember the last time we came here?" the voice continued on a steady pitch, I rolled my eyes at the tone and turned away. "Danielle, you are going to have to face me at one point or the other." Tyler finally confessed in what sounded like a defeated tone, I scoffed at his words. "There's nothing to settle." my voice came out strained. It had been one entire month since Alice was murdered and Aiden died at my hands. The memory still sends chills down my spine and for many days I refused to leave my home because I was terrified of the outcome, I sucked in sharp air and glanced at him."You ended this, remember?" I added in a soft tone, my eyes stung with tears but I blinked them away. Tyler sighed. He broke the small distance between us and sat beside me
I lunged at him. With all the force and anger I could muster at that moment. This was the moment I had waited for so many years. Three long years — I lived with that guilt and pain for three long years. I was broken, I had to deal with the pain and nightmares and the intense feeling that I could not protect the man who did nothing but love me. The only thing I had consoled myself with back then was that I would avenge his death.And only when I had avenged his death, would I visit his grave. Today, I would fulfill that promise.Aiden lost balance in shock, the gun went off immediately. My eyes widened when we hit the ground. I was basically on top of him, dangerously close with the gun between us and my breath hitched.My heart raced and it took me a few seconds to register the fact that the bullet had not hit me, rather it was stuck in Aiden who was bleeding from his nose.I must have taken too long to connect all these dots because the next thing I knew was hands around my neck, c
"Aiden," I growled and he smiled. He had a fun held up straight to my face and I was almost thrown off by the audacity of the man. Here, in broad daylight, he was pointing a gun at me, a smug grin plastered on his face as if he had just been given hot coffee on a stressful morning."Danielle" His voice was calm and held no remorse at all, his eyes narrowed at me and rested on Alice's body which was behind me. I watched as Aiden's grey eyes darkened for a bit before they returned to their previous form."For the first time in my entire life...I'm sad I was right about something." The words were not directed at me, rather it was where his gaze rested. Completely fixed on Alice. "If you cared about her, you would have stopped this a long time ago." I shot a glare at him, and he scoffed and stared at me with a piercing gaze. "It's because of her, I did this!" He snapped and shot one of the medics, I stumbled on the side of the van, my eyes went wide and I clenched my fist."That's a li