Words of Fate

Chapter 4

Vivian's POV

Arabella stops and looks at the car, I grab her arm and try to force her to continue running. No way in Hell we're getting into that car.

"I know him, come on" Ari rips her arm out of my grasp and runs to the car and opens the door.

She gestures for me to follow but I freeze, I hear the sirens getting closer and closer but I don't know the guy. If I keep running I may have a chance to get to safety. But would I be able to leave Arabella? I curse at myself knowing the answer and get into the stranger's car with my fated who I barely know.

Before I even get a chance to put my seatbelt on the car lurches forwards and speeds off. I almost hit my head on the seat in front of me but I manage to get back into my own seat and clip my seatbelt on. I take a few deep breaths and hope I've made the right decision. I look out the window trying to figure out where we are but the buildings are nothing more than a blur.

"How the Hell were you there Luca?" Arabella asks. So the man's name must be Luca, I then remember why the name seems familiar. He's the boy Arabella dedicates photo credits to on her posts.

"I promise I will get someone to explain all of that later but for now I need to get you two to safety." Luca's voice is soft but stern as he slows the car to normal speed realizing that we're no longer being chased.

"How can I be sure that you're not just trying to get information from us before you turn us in?" I challenge.

"Vivian!" Arabella scolds me, clearly, she believes he'd actually help us.

"No, it's fine Ari. I don't blame her, I'm a complete stranger that's practically k********g her and not telling her where we're going. It makes sense for her to be suspicious but I actually can't tell you anything Vivian, because honestly, I'm not sure I can trust you either."

I stay silent after that, I don't know what to say to him but I somehow find it in me to believe that he isn't going to turn us in. Now that the Bizziers are looking for me they'll find out about Ari if they look on security cameras. 

I find myself unintentionally reaching for Arabella's hand. She notices and intertwines her hand with mine, she gives warm smile with her cheeks tinted an adorable pinkish colour.

"So when did you find out you're Fated?" Luca asks as the city starts to thin out to just houses.

"A few days ago, we tried to ignore it but it didn't work" Ari speaks without thinking. She must really trust this boy, I don't know if I would trust him with that. Currently, he sounds like an interrogator but there's a chance I'm just paranoid.

"It's impossible to ignore. You're made to love each other and that's not something you can just ignore. You need to realize that loving each other is okay and that you'll be safe where I'm taking you. I promise. I just wish you would have told me Ari,"

"I knew you'd understand Luca but you can't really blame me for not telling you, I could've been killed"

"Don't worry about it, I've been keeping a secret from you too." Luca pauses for a moment clearly what he's going to tell Ari is something that he's been stressing about.

"I have a boyfriend"

"Really?" Ari shrieks excitedly.

"His name is Dylan"

"So when do we get to meet him?" Ari asks.

"It'll be at least another four hours of driving but probably later today" I never realized how far out of the city we are going.

"Great" and with that, the car ride dulls down to the quiet hum of the engine and I allow myself to focus on the fewer and fewer houses we are passing.

I notice Arabella's hand move a bit before it comfortably falls into place with mine once again. Everything I've known is turning upside-down and I'm going to have to get used to this new life because I have a feeling things will never be able to go back to normal after today. I have no job, no apartment to go home to and no parents I could go to. My mother is too strict and my father hasn't even bothered contacting in over a year.

All I have to hold onto is a girl who I barely know and a secretive guy that I met a half hour ago. Why did life have to become so complicated? I get lost in my thoughts for what seems like hours though it's probably not very long before Luca speaks again.

"Now that I'm sure you have no clue where exactly we are and now that we're two hours away from the city I can tell you that we're going to the mountains." I have a feeling Luca only trusts us with this information because our city is surrounded by mountains meaning we would have no way to tell which one we're going to.

"There's a place called Aceria hidden in the trees, I guess you could call it a town. There are about two hundred people living there of all ages. It's a place for people like us to go and be safe with their loved ones. Once our leader knows for sure that she can trust you she will allow you to freely move around and walk among the others. If you want to stay we can figure out housing for you but if you want to leave we can arrange for you to be taken back to the city though it's probably safer to stay with us." I listen to Luca carefully.

"So, is that where you were sneaking off every weekend?" Ari asks.

"Well kind of, we have some houses closer to the city and he'll meet me at one and stay for the weekend," Luca explains.

"And you're doing all of this under the radar?" I start to ask questions.

"Well we haven't been caught yet, we're very good at covering our tracks" I can practically hear the smirk on Luca's face.

I can tell that Ari and I both want to continue asking questions and as she decides against it I make the opposite decision and keep digging for more answers.

"So how did you find Aceria?" I ask.

"Well I met Dylan when he was in the city, he took my first photography class with me and three weeks into the class we both said our words of fate and realized that we were meant to be with each other. We snuck around and became friends and a few months after he told me he knew about a place that we could go and be together safely and we went. When we got to Aceria, they were incredibly welcoming and asked us to stay but I wasn't willing to give my life in the city up which lead to us only seeing each other on weekends." Luca seems to have every little detail to every question we can ask. I'm still skeptical but I think I'll be able to trust him if we make it to Aceria and find out if it's actually real or not.

My mind begins to settle and I realize there are no more questions that can truly be answered before we reach Aceria. I allow my head to rest against the window even though the road starts to get bumpy. My eyes close, adrenaline is still rushing through my body but the day has been long and exhaustion overpowers me.

*****************************

"Viv, Vivian, Viv" I open my eyes slightly to see Arabella in front of me and shaking my shoulders.

"What?" I ask before remembering I'm in Luca's car.

"We have to get out, come on" Ari gestures for me to get out of the car, which I slowly do. I realize quickly that the sun has almost set and as I look around I only see silhouettes of trees.

"Where are we?" I ask groggily, still tired.

"The car ran out of gas because Luca didn't have a chance to fill it up before he came to get us, we're about a quarter of an hour away and we need to walk the rest of the way," Arabella explains slowly as if I'm a child.

"So now the stranger that randomly picked us up in his car while we were running away from Bizziers now wants us to walk miles with him in the dark to a place we've never been?" I snap.

"He's not a stranger Viv, I know you're worried but I promise you we can trust him"

"I don't trust easily" I glance at Luca who is standing just far enough away that he can't hear us.

"I can tell but let's just trust him this once, either that or we try to find our way back to the city at night in the middle of nowhere when we don't even know what direction we're going."

"Fine, but if he kills us it's on you."

"He's not going to kill us" Arabella looks at me sternly.

"Girls, come on, I don't want to be walking in the total darkness, plus I have to get someone to take me here to get gas in my car before the sun rises." Luca raises his voice and gestures for us to follow.

"We're coming! I promise you he won't hurt us and that we are going to be safe" Ari says the last part quietly and gives me a soft smile as we walk down the road to Luca.

I'm still in a daze and I force my legs to move forward even though all I want to do right now it sleep. I can tell that everyone is tired and I should stop mentally complaining because I'm the only one who actually got some sleep. I rub my eyes and try to focus on the road.

"I hope we can get there before sunrise. Technology doesn't work out here or I'd just call Dylan and ask him to come get us. If I remember correctly we're about fifteen or twenty minutes from the closest entrance to Aceria. We’ll have to walk down the road for roughly ten minutes before we have to head into the woods and walk for another five or ten minutes. If we keep a good pace we should be able to make it in twenty minutes"

"What time is it?" I ask realizing I have no idea.

"When the car ran out of gas it was 9:07 PM," Luca tells me, I stay quiet and unresponsive, I'm rarely this tired at this time of night but it's been a long day for me. I wonder if my father has ever walked roads like this at night. When he would call me he told me he had to walk so far on his mountain to find a spot with any signal. I don't even know which mountain we're on but I'm sure walking at night is pretty similar on any of the mountains.

The time drags by but I'm thankful it's summer so the nights are still warm the main problem I have are all the insects that see us as food. The last of the sunlight leaves us but the moon still allows us to see our way so we're not blindly walking down the unpaved road. The farther we get the less maintenance the road seems to have, we’ve only been walking ten minutes and the road has turned into what looks like nothing more than a trail a vehicle had trampled through once. Luca abruptly stops and motions for us to be quiet, we listen though Ari and I are both confused.

A branch snaps loudly to the left of us, I don't allow myself to physically jump at the sound but Arabella does and her breathing hikes. We all stand silent and still staring deep into the woods trying to spot what made the sound. What was big enough to snap a branch? It couldn't possibly be a rabbit it would have to be something much bigger and I'm not sure I want to stay here and find out what it is.