Words of Fate

Chapter 3

Arabella's POV

I step out of my apartment and begin walking down the sidewalk, the burning pain in my chest has been getting worse and worse since I told Vivian that we should stay away from each other. I walk aimlessly feeling a pull in my chest and allowing myself to follow it taking deep breaths hoping the pain lessens. I walk down the sidewalk focused on my breathing when I notice that today is a practically warm day, the sun is out and there isn't a cloud in the sky.  As I walk, I continue wandering to my unknown destination, the burning pain begins to decrease.

I find myself in the centre of Oak Park, I look up searching for a place to sit in the shade and rest. Instead, I see a beautiful girl, with dark brown wavy hair, her face placed in her hands as if she were crying. I soon realize that the girl is Vivian, why was she crying? I swear to God if anyone hurt her I will end them. Wait, is that why the pull I felt lead me to Oak Park? I rush over to her, not allowing my thoughts to be about myself for another second.

"Viv? Are you okay? What happened?" My voice was soft and soothing, she seemed startled at first but then she realized who I was. She quickly attempted to dry her tears and gave me a week smile.

"I'm sorry, I'm fine. I just lost my job today and I don’t know how to move on or find a new place to work. What are you doing here?" Her voice cracked and my heart broke for her.

"I'm so sorry. I'm not sure what I'm doing here, there was just something that made me get out of my apartment and start walking. Then I ended up here." I say to her.

"Would you like to go for a walk? I could use one." Vivian asks me wiping her eyes still trying to get rid of any tears.

"Sure, that'd be lovely. Did you want to talk about what happened?" I ask Vivian.

"No, I'd rather not." Her voice still laced with sadness but I seem to catch a glimpse of anger and I’m really hoping it’s not because of me.

"That's okay," I assure her.

Vivian and I walk down the sidewalk. We haven't talked much but the silence was calming and blissful. I want to ask her so many questions, like what her childhood was like, what was her favourite memory. But, I was afraid of talking and screwing this up. Stupid shyness.

"Um, Vivian?" I ask timidly. 

"Yea? Just call me Viv, Vivian just sounds weird to me." That got us both laughing.

"Right, Viv, would you like to come over?" I ask timidly, as I look nervously down at my shoes slapping across the pavement.

"I'd love that." At that point, I wasn't sure I heard her right. It took my brain a second to register but as soon as it did my darkened face light up, and a huge smile on my face. Viv, giggles at me as I got a sort of happy step in my walk. Suddenly, our fingers lightly touch, the feeling of her skin on mine sends tingles through me at a rapid speed. I instantly smile, I want to grab her hand and never let go, but it's too risky. I think Vivian does too but she controls herself fearing the same consequences I do.

"My apartment isn't too far away, we'll be there soon enough," I say to her, she simply nods with a smile on her face. Soon enough we reach my apartment complex, I pull my keys out of my bag and unlock the building. We walk quietly up the stairs and soon enough we reach my apartment. I unlock the door and we both walk in I don’t know why but a wave of fear washes over me as though I’m embarrassed to have her in my home. Vivian doesn’t notice the expression that had taken place on my face, she’s just focused on taking off her shoes.

"Don't worry about your shoes, would you like anything to drink?" I ask her politely, as I throw my bag on the table and go over to my fridge.

"Water would be great, thank you." I grab two bottles of waters and walk over to the couch where Viv was sitting.

"How old are you?" I ask as I sit down next to her.

"I'm 19. You?"

"I just turned 20 about a week ago."

"Wow, happy birthday," Vivian says to me.

"Thanks, when is your birthday?" I ask her.

"October, 18th. Your's?"

"June 25th." We went back and forth asking questions to get to know one another for the longest time. I learned a lot about her tonight and she learned a lot about me including things I've never even told Luca. Somehow, we had gotten into the conversation about my past, and not the good part of my past. I felt comfortable in telling her the hell I've experienced with my birth parents.

"My past wasn't the best, if I'm being honest, it was a living hell. This was before my adoptive parents came into the picture." I struggled to tell Viv, this was something that I had only shared with my diary when I was younger, and then my birth family found it, they shared it with everyone and then burned my only friend.

"You don't have to tell me," Vivian speaks kindly to me, her voice soft but strong.

"No, I want to, I've never told anyone, it was something I've always wanted to forget or hideaway. But it’s always haunted me, so why not tell someone." I said to her.

"My birth family consisted of two bitchy sisters and one older brother who never gave a s**t about me, and of course my mindless abusive father, and a mother who didn't know right from wrong," I explained.

"First off, my sisters were twins, meaning double trouble. They always got me into trouble and they always picked on me. Whether it be stealing my stuff or putting hair dye in my shampoo. They were always trying to ruin the little happiness I had in life." I confess to Vivian.

"My brother, r***d me once when he came home drunk. I never forgave him, but he seemed to just ignore me after that, but he never did it again. I think he was regretting his choice, and he didn't believe I should be in the situation but he could never do anything about it." I sighed heavily thinking about that dreaded family.

"My mother never stopped any of it, but she liked to watch. She was a sadistic b***h, and she never stopped it." Vivian's soft eyes stare at me in horror.

"I'd have to say my father was the worst. He'd find any reason to beat me, like if I took too long in the shower or ate more than I was allowed to. He never stopped hurting me, my sisters would laugh along with my mother. Normally, he'd beat me until I passed out, even then he wouldn't always stop. At that point in my life, I wanted to die. It was just too much for me to handle at such a young age." Tears begin to well up in my eyes, these most hated memories coming back in small horrifying pieces. Yet, somehow telling Vivian feels as though I’m freeing myself from them, like it’s allowing me to get rid of some part of me that was holding me back.

"That family scarred me. Both mentally and physically." I turned around and lifted my shirt revealing a few scars that litter my back. I hear her breath hitch and she lightly traces her fingers over one of the scars sending a line of tingles as her fingers move.

"Oh my god," Vivian whispers. I stay there for a moment or two and then I turn around and face her again, the tears in my eyes slowly cascade down my face. Causing a river of tears to follow, Vivian slowly reaches up and wipes away the tears. We hold each other gaze for the longest time. Suddenly, a loud banging erupted from the front door.

"Bizziers! Open up!" Shouted a man outside the door, Vivian and I looked at each other with an alarmed look on our faces.

"Please tell me they're here because you didn't pay the electric bill?" Vivian whispers to me. I slightly shake my head no. We both knew in our hearts they were here because of Vivian and I. 

"Bizziers! Open up! We know you're in there Vivian Reeves!" The man shouts again and bangs against the door. I bring my finger up to my lips, singling to be quiet, she nods her head and then I point towards the window, I knew it was easy enough to open. We both stand, and I quietly walk over to my shoes and put on my sneakers. The Bizziers keep banging on the door, I hear them talking to each other saying that someone needs to go get the landlord.

I knew it was only a small amount of time for us to get out. Once I was ready to leave, I walked over to the window as Vivian waited for me, I open the window and it just had to squeak, lovely. I pushed it all the way open and then let Vivian go first. Once I'm through the window, we both stand on the narrow platform as the warm breeze flows through our hair. I look into Vivian's chocolate browns eyes, I can tell she’s scared, but her body was clearly filled with adrenaline. If I'm being honest, I feel the same way.

"We need to get down to the first level, and then jump. It's only about an 8-foot drop, it'll hurt but we'll be fine." She nods her head and we begin making our way down the fire escape, we're fast and because of that the fire escape shook and kept making loud high pitched noises. Just what we need, as we got down to the first level, I heard the Bizziers break through my apartment door, and  I pause for a second in a moment of fear when I see them poke their heads out of my window. They spot Vivian and I quickly regain my confidence moving quickly down the ladders.

"We need to jump now!" I yell as a few Bizziers follow us down the fire escape. "I'll go first!"

And that's what I did I jumped the 8-foot drop. It hurt like hell be soon enough I was able to get feeling back in my legs. Vivian suddenly lands next to me. We both heard yelling coming from my apartment, the Bizzers were trying to get us to stop running. For obvious reasons, we didn't. Suddenly, a gun rang out in the dark alley and I force my legs to move faster.

"My apartment isn't too far away from let's go there." Vivian grabs my hand and we run off in the direction of her apartment. Soon enough we reach her apartment, we rush through the building and up to her apartment throwing her front door open.

"Here, get food and water in one bag, and I'll get the clothes in another bag. They’ll be her any minute now and we have to move quickly," A voice of authority sounds through Vivian and I find myself feeling the need to listen.  She rushes to her closet and throws a bag to me and she rushes to her room collecting her clothes. I run to the kitchen and grab a bunch of water and food that wouldn't spoil if it weren't in a fridge. Soon enough, Vivian runs out of her room with a wad of money in her hand and a bag filled with necessary items.

"Ready?" She asks. I nod my head.

"We should go down the fire escape again, just in case if the Bizzers are out front," I suggest.

"No, it's too of far of a drop, there is a back door after the second story. It has a set of emergency stairs that go down to the ground." And that's what we did. We rushed down to the second story and went out the back door and down the set of metal stairs.

As we both make it safely to the ground, Vivian grabs my hand and we rush onto the street.  Vivian curses under her breath as she tries to open her car. Her keycard isn’t working and she’s clearly panicked and frustrated every second we waste with the car. If it's not granting her access she must be flagged under the red list made for criminals.The worst part is, at least in our situation, The Heart controls the access to the cars and if Vivian got flagged that means there’s no chance we’re getting out of here in a car.

"There is a man that's my mother’s friend who may let us stay with him. He lives on the outskirts of The Heart and we’d be safe there. The Bizzers won't be able to connect him to us or know we're there. The only problem is it’s far away and they've cut my access to the car. We'll have to go on foot." Vivian says to me. I nod, and we both hear the sirens in the background getting closer to us. Vivian looks at me with fear in her eyes, I'd be surprised if my eyes didn't hold the same amount of fear. Vivian grabs my hand and we begin racing down the street, the sirens getting closer, we only had a short amount of time. Unexpectedly a slick black car pulls up beside us. 

"Get in!" I hear a familiar voice yell frantically.