𝑾𝑨𝑳𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑬𝑫𝒀━━𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒎.

𝒗𝒊𝒊. 𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒚

( walking tragedy ! )
chapter seven, abby
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━━the basketball game was in the final stretch once ara arrived back at the gym. the boys on both teams were drenched in sweat and completely exhausted; you could tell by the way they walked. shoulders hunched and heads hanging low.

ara had ended up walking around the school until she finally found a water fountain, and seemed to have drank enough water to fill a bathtub. though she felt like collapsing in the middle of the floor, she decided it was best for her to make her way back to the game.

the entire walk back, she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened━━why eddie had been so nice to her all of sudden. but more importantly, why she was nice back. it could of been the way her head felt like splitting open and that she didn't want to argue at that point, or because she was mentally and physically exhausted. but she couldn't say for sure.

entering the gym, chrissy engulfed her in a bone-crushing hug, and since she missed most of the second half of the game, her friends had to catch her up on what was happening━━arabella really had no clue how long she was gone. chrissy didn't pry her for information, figuring she was gone due to a similar reason for what had happened to her just earlier that day.

there were six seconds left on the clock, and jason was going for the gold. the basketball left his fingertips, soaring towards the hoop. you could feel the silence in the gym, all except for shoes squeaking on the court. the ball hit the rim and bounced back, right into the hands of the freshman on the team.

ara knew he was in hellfire club, but seemed to put his new social priorities in front of his other friends. lucas was his name, she thought. she had never spoken to him, but could tell all of that by just observing; one of her greatest qualities.

it was a way to gather information without anyone else knowing. sort of like a hidden talent or superpower. the number of other peoples' secrets that ara knew were uncountable, and it made for the best blackmail. but she would never use it, of course━━not unless she needed to.

the buzzer went off right after the ball flew into the air, leaving the three-point line. chrissy grabbed ara's hand and they stood there in awe, waiting. watching. it seemed to all move in slow motion.

it went between the rim and the backboard, going up and down and up and down until it finally went through the hoop. the crowd jumped out of their seats and began screaming their heads off.

the cheer squad and the rest of the basketball team ran up to the kid, hoisting him into the air and chanting his name.

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"you ready for the party tonight?" a girl on her team turned to her left, looking at ara.

"hell yeah! chrissy are you━━" she looked beside her and realized her friend wasn't there. "hey, guys? wait for me please, i'll be out in a sec."

going back towards the way she came, she began looking for her friend. parents and students were piling into the hallways from all different directions and she couldn't see any trace of chrissy. she wasn't going to give up on her though, she had promised that she'd go with her to the party tonight━━if they had one.

maybe she had already been in the parking lot, waiting for her. ara jogged out of the closest exit door and looked around at all of the cars, noticing her friend nearing a van. eddie's van. "you've got to be fucking kidding me." she wanted to scream, to yell at her. but really, what good would that do? her heart filled with some sort of awful, sinking feeling and she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. a mix of betrayal, confusion, and something else.

so she just stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, watching as the car pulled out of the parking spot. she could have sworn they'd seen her, but they didn't seem to pay her any attention at all. she probably should've been used to that by now.

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"abigail!" ara shouted up the stairs. no response. she rested her head on the wall and closed her eyes. she had decided to go home, figuring that she couldn't bring herself to party on her own. plus, she didn't want to deal with getting back home and all that shit.  asking for a ride would be a pain in the ass.

"abby i swear to god, mom told you to put your dishes up!" she grabbed the half empty plate and glass off of the coffee table and began walking up she stairs. she nudged open her sister's bedroom door with her shoulder, almost dropping the expensive china in her hands.

"abs? are you just gonna ignore me or what?"

the plate slipped out of her fingers and hit the ground, scattering pieces of glass and food all over the carpeted floor. the fork that was previously resting atop the plate nearly stabbed arabella's foot as it stuck into the floor, but it didn't seem to fathom her. the only thing holding ara's attention was her sister slowly turning around, her once blue eyes replaced with a glossy white.

a scream escaped ara's lips as she watched her lift into the air. she wanted to look away, to run━━but she was stuck. frozen.

"abby? please. it's your sister." no response. she slowly approached the small girl, holding her hand out to offer some sort of help. a small finger cracked, sending a wave of nausea passing over arabella. another finger. her entire left arm. her legs. and eventually her eyes. they were gone.

ara fell back onto the floor, knocking over a glass vase that fell onto her hand and broke into pieces, causing her to jump once again. two pairs of footsteps came thundering up the stairs and into the bedroom.

as her parents turned into the room, they laid eyes on their youngest daughter and gasped, rushing to her lifeless body on the ground. "what did you do?" her mother reeled at her.

she swallowed down the bile rising in her throat. "wh━━what?" ara's voice failed her, breaking.

her father slowly stood up from his previous crouched position, reaching for the gun on his belt. ara shot up from the ground and raced through the second floor of their house, barely making it to her bedroom as her feet were stumbling from underneath her. she slammed the door shut and locked it behind her, eyes frantically searching her room.

she picked up a bag slouched by her closet and slung it over her shoulder, throwing open her window and climbing onto the tree branch waiting outside of it. her dad pounded his fist on the door. "arabella! we just need to talk!"

he did not want to talk. he wanted to kill her.

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( note ! )

━━ .* ੈ✩‧₊˚ / what do you think ara is going to do next?

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