𝑾𝑨𝑳𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑬𝑫𝒀━━𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒎.

𝒗𝒊𝒊𝒊. 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆

( walking tragedy ! )
chapter eight, gone
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━━arabella caught her balance on the tree, unwinding her arms from the large branches once she had done so. she filled her lungs with a deep breath of air, jumping off of the tree and to the ground at least eight feet down. her feet landed in the soft grass with surprising precision and steadied themselves under her━━this was something she had attempted many times before. catching her breath she glanced up at her bedroom window, the curtains draped on the inside swaying in the breeze now coming through the open space. another thud against her door sent her sprinting for the driveway and to the small pickup truck waiting for her.

she tugged on the handles, harder and more aggressive when the door didn't open. "shit, shit, shit, shit." she scolded herself, remembering her mistake of setting her keys on the kitchen counter after entering the house. but she didn't have time to go back for them, so she did the only thing she knew how to do.

she ran.

ducking under the thick cover of leaves and vines, arabella made her way through the dark woods. she didn't have a flashlight and could barely see the ground in front of her. did she know where she was going? absolutely not. but what she did know, was that she needed to get away from them━━her parents had more than likely called the cops by now; she was a murderer. at least, in their eyes. and they would do anything to avenge their youngest daughter's life, even if that meant putting the life of their oldest's at risk.

cradling her hurt hand to her body, ara used the other to swat low hanging branches from in front of her face, each quick motion resulting in scratches down her arm. jagged thorns caught on her cheer uniform, creating rips in the thin fabric and occasionally catching her skin, too.

it wasn't until her feet couldn't carry her any farther that she slowed down, the cool, crisp air of the night chilling her skin. goosebumps formed on ara's body and she shivered, folding her arms across her chest as she continued walking through the woods.

her vision began blurring and her breaths became jagged, hands shaking and legs threatening to collapse under her. thoughts of what had happened not even ten minutes ago flashed through her mind, making it swim.

abby's bones snapping, the screams of her parents when they realized what had happened. what she had done.

ara couldn't take it, the pressure building in the back of her head causing pain to burst from within it. she collapsed on the ground and her knees met rough asphalt as it dug into her flesh. she wanted to scream, to cry out, but not a single thing came out of her. the only noise she could hear was her rapid heartbeat pounding in her ears and the faint sound of tires squeaking on the road.

her body wouldn't move, no matter how hard she tried. the headlights coming from the vehicle continued getting brighter and brighter, illuminating the crumpled girl in the middle of the street. but ara hadn't processed the fact that there was something coming straight at her. the twisted image of her sister was still stuck in her mind, her death replaying over and over again, becoming the only thing she could focus on.

so no, she didn't notice that the car had stopped moving. she didn't notice the door opening as someone climbed out and━━

"ara?" the boy edged around his van to look at the girl, noticing the redness on her cheeks and the outlines of tears streaming down her face. "hello? please listen to me." he pleaded with her.

it was as if the harder she tried to respond━━to say something, the harder it got. each breath became shorter and shallower, causing the boy to react.

"holy━━" he kneeled down beside her, catching her when she fell over, not able to hold herself up anymore. "ara. please━━please breathe with me, okay?" he held onto her, making sure that she was following his lead. "in and out. okay, there we go."

her eyes fluttered open and she met a familiar pair of large brown ones, looking down at her.

he managed a small smile of relief. "oh, christ. thought i lost you there for a sec." ara squirmed out of his hold, struggling to stand and almost falling over as she did so.

the bag she had before was now lying a few feet from her, as she must have thrown it some time during all of her trouble. "are you okay? you look like you were mauled by a bear." she trudged over to it and picked it up, ignoring the question and noticing the way her hands trembled as she wrapped them around one of the straps.

"what were you doing in the middle of the road anyways?"

"running."

"pretty sure you were on the ground, having a panic attack. i don't think that counts as running." she craned her head to glare at him, "i mean, i'm not a professional but that's just my perspective..."

"eddie. i'm not in the mood." she grabbed his forearm to help him stand up, trying not to let her knees buckle. "but i guess it doesn't matter since i'll wake up eventually."

"what..?" he scrunched his nose in confusion and watched as she paced in front of him.

"i mean, this is just a dream. you're not real, i'm not real, and i can just wake myself up." she put her hand to her cheek, feeling how cold it was, then brought it back and slapped herself. repeatedly. "wake! up!" she screamed.

he quickly realized what she was doing and ran up to her, harshly slapping a hand over her mouth, "shut up! you're gonna attract the wolves. and stop hitting yourself."

she thought of coming up with some rude remark, but the words died in her throat. she wasn't dreaming after all. ripping his hand off of her face, she stormed to the passenger side of his van.

"where do you think you're going?"

"i need to get out of here."

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( note ! )

━━  .* ੈ✩‧₊˚  /  this took forever to write, i felt like i couldn't get the dialogue right.

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