Twisted Heart: A Crushed Love Novel

Twisted Heart (Part 6 - Breaking free)

Amazing song :) Please listen as you read, I know most people just ignore the youtube vid, but BIFFY CLYRO are amazing!!! God & Satan is so deep, yet so realistic. He has an awesome Scottish accent :)

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Taylor

I organised my folders, with a little difficulty. I tried not to show I was still pain. Somehow, I didn't want the person who had inspired me to change in so many ways notice my weakness, and see me as unworthy.

Finally, I turned around. I'd decided on a friendly smile.

"Isabella?"

She looked up immediately from her bag. She'd been fingering one of the tassels, looking like she really didn't want to be here, talking to me.

"Yes?" she said her voice gentle and soft.

This was wrong. All those years ago, Red didn't speak like that. She spoke with confidence, with self-assurance, which was one of the reasons I'd wanted to be like her so much.

"Hi, let me properly introduce myself," I said. I pushed the doubts behind me. It's been six long years. People change. "I'm Taylor Jones."

She says nothing, but smiles instead. This can't be Red.

I decide to go straight out.

"I don't know if you know about it, but six years ago, I saw you at Manhattan Central hospital. I know you had cancer, Isabella. You were the one who inspired me to become a doctor."

The grin slides off her face. Is this Red?

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Isabella

It's our birthday. Does she remember? Does she still care? I don't think so. It's no one's fault but mine, of course. I drove her into those alleyways and crack-dens, forcing her to live with beggars and thieves, and Alex.

I'd never liked Alex. From the first time we'd met, back when all three of us were kids, he'd always seemed dangerous somehow. There was always something different about him. I didn't believe in souls or spirits and all that crap, but I have to say that he had an aura.

A dark twisted aura that burned faster and hotter than fire itself.

I know he will hurt Scarlett in the end. It was the way he looked at her, like a predator stalking its prey, but more protective. I guess guarding would be the right word. He was a lion marking his territory, biting and slashing at anyone who tried to come close. How didn't Scarlett see it? I guess I know. She was always the naive and innocent one, strong but way too trusting. I was too good of a person. That was how Alex had manipulated her into leaving with him, feeding the hatred she had for me. She would have forgiven me in the end. It's too late now.

Dawn is coming. The sun is seeping through the glass panes in through my skylight. I sigh. My room, as modern and pretty as it was, with its huge, wide windows and skylight so big that during the day there was no need for light, I still seel caged in. I can't help but yearn for time I'd lived with my family - Dad, Mom, Scarlett and me, in our minute two-bedroom apartment, eating around a dining table so small our knees would knock together and our plates would touch. I didn't feel trapped there, even though our whole apartment would have fit into my bedroom now. Life was so easy back then.

I'd felt free.

Nothing could ever give me that feeling again.

I miss Scarlett. That was the simple, human truth. At the end of the day, even though I act so special and different, I am a simple human. A human away from home, with no friends and no family. Scarlett would never come back. I don't blame her. After what I -

Why am I thinking about her? Scarlett should be the last person I was thinking about right now. It was just, after Taylor brought her up, and talked about her cancer, I couldn't help but go back into the past, the months spent huddled around a white hospital bed, watching my sister rot away, the grown-ups all telling me "It was going to be okay", Mother crying and getting thinner and thinner.

And the fear. You can't forget the fear. No one could forget fear.

I remember thinking, why her? Why not me? She was a hundred times better than me. She had no cruel thoughts. She didn't want bad things. She was as pure and snowy as a newborn baby, holier than angel.

Maybe that was why, six years ago, Taylor noticed her and not me. She was mature, even then. She had to be.

I am jealous of her. I hadn't felt this emotion for so long. Without Scarlett, there is no emotion at all. Taylor and Scarlett were the only two people who had ever been able to coax feelings out of me. I was always jealous of Scarlett. Taylor told me how she'd changed his whole life, changed his ways, in the space of just the few minutes he'd known her. If I didn't know any better, I'd thought that those two were fated to be together.

But that's impossible. Scarlett will never meet him. Because meeting him would mean coming here, to where I am. And she would never come here. She will go the rest of her life without seeing me. She will never see Taylor, and fate will never get its way. Fate doesn't exist.

Taylor and Scarlett will never meet, and the string of destiny between them will be cut.

Fate doesn't exist.

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Scarlett

We'd done it. Alex was a genius. He'd set up the whole thing, called the cops himself, and even made sure we dealt in an alleyway with easy defence, so the rest could run away before us. Alex knows so much about psychology, it's actually astounding. He would be the master of manipulation if he was actually heartless enough to try it out.

Normally, when we were trouble, our parents gave us a chance first, letting us explain first. Not this time, though. We could tell that we were in some deep trouble. My heart can't help thumping, even though I know that this is what we wanted.

The car ride was long and boring as always. Alex didn't talk, which is strange. We usually chat on car rides, so Dad's driver knows we're not afraid. Maybe this was part of the new act? Act afraid, to make them think that we're guilty?

But there was something in that his face that was so very real. It was like a shadow, a subtle hint of darkness underneath the surface. Maybe he was really mad? What about...? My bad acting, or maybe...Isabella?

I automatically cringe as the disgusting name brings back the demons that haunt my dreams, which I force down quickly before they push to the surface. Did I have to talk to Alex about Isabella? I sigh, but I know I will. Alex is my brother. I have to help and sacrifice everything for them. Even if it meant for me to talk about the person I despised the most on the face of this planet.

"Alex?" I ask, tentatively. After all these years, I am still a little afraid of him. "What's wrong?"

He turns his head towards me, so I can see his face. The dark shadow had left it.

"Nothing," he says, laughing, ruffling my hair in a way that was half-way between condescension and endearment. "What could be wrong?"

I laugh now. He was right. Nothing could be wrong. This was Alex, my cheerful best friend.

"Nothing, I just thought you could be worried. You know, about Isabella..."

My voice trails off in alarm. A monster, deep in his eyes, flickered. It was like a light bulb had been turned out in his in his eyes. Instead of the cheerfulness I usually see, I saw darkness. Waves and waves of poisonous fire, burning hot and cold, burning away everything else in my vision so all I can see are his black, burning, fuming eyes.

It was just for a moment. A second later, he snaps out of it and he's back.

"Yeah," he said, grinning. "I'm worried. I haven't seen her in so long."

He expects me to reply, but I'm too frightened, and even after he turns away, I'm still looking at him.

What just happened...?