Break me

It was a serene place, a place where you forgot your problems, your past, everything about that day seemed like heaven until she came along. Her name was Kate Pedro, and the day I met her was the day she died. Kacy and Trisha were late once again, we were on our way to a different country, the plane was boarding...and they were nowhere to be seen. I was getting anxious, standing in the long line of passengers, strangers all around; maybe... I should call them again. Out of the corner of my eye, I see two girls panting and running down the narrow walkway. One in blue Demin jeans, the other in a pink summer dress, they found their way next to me, unable to speak. Those two were forever running, you would think by now, with all the exercise they get, they would be as fit as ever but no. Kacy gulped down the bottle of orange juice, that she found in her bag, while Trisha hanged onto my shoulder, looking like she might pass out from lack of oxygen. The lady receiving tickets gave me a warm smile, then a concerned look as she peered down at Trisha, who I was literally dragging through the gate. Once we got to our seats, the pilot signaled for takeoff. The whole point of going on this vacation was to get some peace of mind and find a safer place than home for a while, but it was more stressful than anything else, which isn't a good way to start this run-away from home plan. Trisha and Kacy were the closest people to me since our nightmare and they were the only ones that stuck through it all. We were each others rock, Trisha is this slim, tall, olive-stained skinned, short brown-haired girl. I always found her key feature is her green eyes, but I had seen so much horror in those beautiful eyes. Kacy is short, slim too but more of a toned physique. She had an endless amount of energy and amazing natural soft brown curls that reached her shoulders. I seemed out of place with them, always thought I was never as pretty as them. I was slim but not as slim or toned as them, my dimples peaked through my long black hair and normal light brown eyes. They would argue my insecurities till they were blue in the face but I still couldn't fully believe them. The flight was only a few hours long, as soon as Trisha was comfortable in her seat, she was lights out. The turbulence didn't even wake her. Kacy and I sat talking about how lovely it will be to get away from all the people, the media, and judging eyes back home, then, there was an awkward silence, the closeness of strangers around us started to take our attention and Kacy began to feel overwhelmed and sobbed, not loudly but enough to attract the air hostess walking past. I reached out to her as I did so many times before. Kacy lied as she always did in situations like this, and said the turbulence scared her and that flying was not her most favorite thing in the world. I always knew when they lied, and I always sensed their emotions before they could figure it out themselves. With all that had happened to us in the last six months, she had every right to cry. I wish I could cry again but that broke long ago and I was almost hollow inside. I tried to push the thoughts and memories out of my head, that's all behind us now, literally. Kacy brushed the last trickling tear from her flushed skin and elbowed Trisha in the side, to wake her up. I chuckled, and stopped a little too quickly and kept my eyes focused on the seat in front of me, to prevent the invading thoughts in my head. The red seat belt fastening sign popped on after a while, thank God I thought, I was starting to get claustrophobic in here. The Pilot's voice came next; he had an unrecognizable accent and sounded like he had way too much coffee. He informed his passengers that they would be landing soon and it was very important that we remained in our seats until the light was turned off, the usual. It was difficult to take him seriously with a voice like that. Kacy and Trisha were giggling uncontrollably and so were a bunch of other people. The landing was shaky because of the rough winds. As we departed from the plane, we had to walk at a short distance before reaching the airport building. It must have been the longest walk of my life. The wind was blowing furiously towards us, making every step an effort. It was like walking up a mountain during a snow storm. It took us 10 minutes to get to the door, Kacy's dress flew violently in all directions, she cursed at every step as her hands turned pale from clutching her dress down so hard. I was sure if we had not been holding each other down, we would have flown away. Once we were in the airport building, everyone took a moment to catch their breath and warm up, before we walked over to the carousel of bags, to collect our luggage. I reached for a navy suitcase that looked like mine but a god like guy, who looked about the same age as I was, tapped my arm, I froze at the unfamiliar touch, he smiles at me, and I almost melted me in my spot. What an unusual feeling. When was the last time this feeling existed in me. He is wow and It took me a second to jump back in panic that this hot stranger was touching me, but the smile was for a misunderstanding in the bags. I sighed in relief. I had taken his and he had taken mine, I blushed, why am I blushing, why is my guard down, I tried not to make eye contact as we exchanged bags. After a few awkward smiles and thanks, I stupidly walked away as fast as I could. Kacy and Trisha smiling broadly and winking at me as I approached them, they jokingly nudged me and Trisha found the need to say something, "you are already finding romance and we haven't even been here that long hmm wish my luck was that good." I smiled completely embarrassed, turned, and met the unknown guy's gorgeous brown eyes. Wow that moment just took my breath away. I instantly turned around and bit my lip, enough to feel the pinch pain resonating, I focused only on the pain. I am not worth the love of another is the only thought that bombarded me. The smiles disappeared instantly. I took a moment to push that darkness from me and refused to turn to catch one more look at him. Kacy and Trisha caught the sinking moment, as if they could read my mind. No words, we shared, could make that feeling leave us so easily. The moment didn't last too long, as we stepped out into the cold icy wind of a foreign planet and looked for a way to get the warm hotel. We proceeded to call a cab and make our way to the 4-star hotel which Kacy's parents generously offered to pay for. I think that they were just worried and wanted us to stay somewhere safe. Safe was good. So, they booked us in a very expensive hotel. The hotel was absolutely gorgeous. We were greeted by a pristine waterfall fountain in the lobby. The walls were white, marble my guess, with a hint of gold lining, and curved patterns engraved in them. It was beautiful, the sight just made you feel so calm and happy. Once we got to our room, all we wanted to do was jump into those puffy white beds and sleep and so we undressed and did exactly that. Even though the beds were absorbingly soothing, I didn't sleep for very long, the nightmares were back again and under no circumstance was I going to wake Kacy or Trisha up. I couldn't let them know the dreams were back, they just got rid of all those unwanted thoughts. I quietly walked onto the balcony and stared up at the stars. It must have been nearly 10 now. It was a beautiful night, it was a quiet night. Then all of a sudden Trisha popped her head through the door, I gasped in shock and she giggled in delight as she saw my stunned appearance. I started to chase her into the room as soon as my heart was no longer in my throat, she quickly apologized and we decided if we couldn't sleep, then neither would Kacy, we jumped onto her in the bed. After she attempted to murder us with the feather pillow, we decided we needed some fun, dancing was on the top of our list, we sought out a club. We dolled up, I couldn't remember the last time we just had fun, and we made a call for a driver who took us to a really lively club. Club Casa G. From the outside you could see multiple flashing lights reflecting of the walls and the building vibrating with the music. We couldn't help ourselves and danced for almost every song. We tried to absorb every bit of happiness that we could in that moment. It had been ages since we went out dancing. A couple hours later, we were all absolutely exhausted and thirsty. I walked over to the bar, to get some drinks for us and something odd caught my eye. I saw an extremely thin, fatigued lady with a man who looked like the scary muscle-man bouncer of a club; the lady had this expression written all over her face. The expression seemed to be so familiar to me, like I had seen it somewhere before, and my heart started to beat fast, like my mind was trying to put the puzzle pieces together. She slowly turned her ghostly expression to me, and the air left me body. I felt like she was looking at me to help and a violent shiver ran through me. A hand, then reached over and touched my shoulder, it shocked me out of my trance of puzzlement, and I allowed air to re-enter my body. It was Trisha; she gave me a quick concerned scan then pulled me away from the counter. She directed me to a table, where Kacy and three guys sat. I wanted to jump out my skin, just knowing these two brats invited strangers to our table. I attempted to free myself from her grip to flee but she was too quick and the guys had already seen me. No turning back now, one of the guys was the airport guy. I swallowed hard and awkwardly smiled at them as I sat. What were the chances I saw this perfect guy again. Kacy laughed at me, she had perfectly read my thoughts. I sent a snarky look towards her. We sat for a while in silence then they introduced themselves. Airport guy was Jai and the two other guys were his older brothers Kallium, who insisted we call him Kale, and Marcus. Kacy and Trisha had their flirt on with Marcus and Kale, and they were really enjoying themselves. I was happy the therapy was working for them or maybe it was the alcohol we had consumed. They were opening up to the opposite s*x after months. I couldn't say the same for myself though. Jai and I decided to leave them to it and get a drink. We made very little small talk, there were a lot of silent moments. He wasn't close to where we were from and he had this underlying mystery about him. I wander what he is hiding. I knew I was terrible company but I had forgotten how to be cordially, when it came to making friends. We were always instructed to play the part but never speak to anyone. After a couple more minutes, we returned to the table to find Kacy and Kale joined at the lips and Marcus and Trisha were missing in action. My jaw must have hit the floor in shocked. Jai chuckled awkwardly next to me. He placed two of fingers under my chin, to assist me in closing my gaping mouth. The sudden feeling of his skin on mine, made my body shiver and freeze. I allowed my mouth to close instantly, and locked eyes with him. We must have been deeply staring at each other for a while, when some dancing couple bumped into us and knocked us out of our electric bond. He immediately removed his contact from me. I almost realized a whimper from the loss of his touch. He must have noticed my reaction and gave me a half smile as an apology. I smiled back, I don't know when was last time I actually smiled for real and not just faked it. What was Jai doing to me, I barely knew him. I decided to focus my attention on the make out fest in front of us, Which clearly was not the best idea. These two were moving way to fast, we just met these guys and they should know better than to jump into anyone's arms. A sense awkwardness hit us as we stood near the kissing couple, we telepathically agreed that it was best that we go find Trisha and Marcus. As we made our way through the crowd, a scream stopped us in our tracks. People started retreating towards us, half falling, half running in a panic state. Almost at once Jai grabbed my hand as though a prehistoric male instinct was kicking in, but instead of letting him pull me to safety. I pulled him to where the commotion was happening.  Jai wasn't the easiest person to pull, I might add. I felt like a past memory was replaying. I stopped taking flight in dangerous situations because those dangerous situations always involved Kacy and Trisha. I can't say that was the best idea at the time but being against the rules of nature just fitted me well, it kept us alive for the most part. There was a circle of curious viewers; I wormed my way through the circle till I could see what was happening, still attached to Jai's hand. That man and the lady that was with him, were in the middle. She was on the floor draped with streaks of blood and the man towering over her. He was beating her, slaps, punches, kicks, he wasn't holding back...her screams were drowned out by my screams for someone to do something but everyone stood still, motionless, unable to grasp the concept being laid out in front of them. I slipped out of Jai's grip. I needed to act. In frustration, I pushed everyone out the way and grabbed a full green wine bottle from the counter and made my way to the center of the circle. By now I was a master at inflicting pain, it was necessary in the situations we were in before we came here. The man didn't even notice me standing behind him, he was too busy beating the life out of the lady. Jai finally made it to inner part of the circle, he went pale as he saw the man's face. The man stopped the minute he saw Jai. Jai reached behind him but before he could expose what was behind him, I acted with a forceful blow I hit the man on the head with the bottle, it shattered into countless pieces and the man collapsed, unconscious on the floor, Jai let out a sigh of relief. The lady was still on the floor with a pool of her own blood and red wine around her. I moved to her side. I cradled the top half of her body in my arms which were still shaking, speaking soft words; I told her that she was going to be okay, I knew it was a lie, the minute it slipped through my lips; "the ambulance is on the way" screamed a stranger. There was a scary silence around me next, everyone in a traumatic trance state. She started to mumble some words, so I brought my head closer to her mouth, to make out what she was saying. She said with short breaths, "I'm Kate Pedro. That man is my husband, I knew all along that he would kill me but I'm not scared anymore." She coughed a spray of blood and pulled in a deep breath to recover her words "I'm going to be reunited with my dear parents today, today is the happiest day of my life child, call Roger Fenn please, thank you child." Then she closed her eyes and she never opened them again. I must have stared at her for about 5 minutes then looked up to see Kacy, Trisha, Marcus, Kale and Jai staring at me in horror. I said the two most shocking words after checking her pulse; that no one wanted to hear "she's dead". Kacy and Trisha started to cry, not because the strange woman died, but trouble found us again. They couldn't handle it. They held on tightly to their newly acquired boyfriends and soaked their shirts with their tears. Jai made his way beside me and put his hands firmly on the sides of my shoulders to lift me of the ground and I let him. I felt numb. There were no tears just hollowness inside me. The void that had been there since what had happened to us. I stood in Jai's arms, covered in blood and wine, understanding too well at how someone's death day could be their happiest day. On many occasions the three of us felt the exact same way as her.