échos du silence

iii.

Me chest feels like it's about to explode . There's not enough air in my lungs and I feel like I could pass out right now .

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to visualize that I'm sitting relaxed in the bedroom . But I'm not . I finally open my eyes and see that my apartment building isn't so far anymore .

The sweat is dripping off my forehead as the bright sun hits me . I have to stop and take a break from running because I can't breathe anymore .

I'm panting trying to breathe as much air as I can . Right now at this moment , I can hear Lana's voice in my head .
"Come on , move it , move it ! You have to work on that body if you want to impress important men"

I start running again and this time faster and harder . The more I run the more calories I burn and better shape I am in .

I'm about to reach my goal when a fancy car catches my eye . I almost fall on my face as it slows down by me .

It's a beautiful black Ferrari . A brand new one . The thought of having one is unreachable to me . Those are easily about $180,000 and up . I'll never have that much money in my life .

The door slowly opens and I see that it was Hayley getting off the car . She has a ton of store bags . I watch in amusement as she pulls out bag after bag after bag .

The driver rolls down his window and I see it's the same guy from last night . "Thank you ." Hayley says smiling .

The guy nods and then looks at me . I quickly close my mouth because I still can't believe they bought Hayley all of this .

The guy drives away and Hayley hugs me . "Hey." She says . "Hi ." I say staring at her clothes . They're brand new because it's not what she was wearing last night .

"Help me carry these ? I brought you stuff ." She says with a grin . I nod my head helping her pick up the bags .

"We're you running ?" She asked as we walk into the building . "Yes . Wasn't that a different car from last night?" I ask as we approach the elevator .

Hayley nods her head , "Yes . Those men have a ton of cars . They're all new and they have all types of them . Tacoma , Malibu , Mustang , Equinox . Any care you think of ."

"Wow ." I reply fascinated . When we got to our floor we walked down the hall to the very last room

Hayley and I share an apartment since we have no other family here in this city . We put the bags down on the kitchen table .

I'm anxious to see what the bags have inside but they're not mine . Hayley begins to open them and starts pulling out the cutest clothes I've seen in my entire life .

"You got all of this for one night ?" I ask . She nods her head as she pulls out a fancy watch . "I got this for you ."

"Really ?" I ask taking it in my hands . "Yes . I also got you this jacket , and a few shirts and jeans . Oh and some shoes !"

"Wow . I can't believe it ." I say staring at everything she pulls out . "How's the house ?" I ask .

"It was huge . It's a mansion . Asher invited some of his business partners and I had to be with this one guy . Not too bad looking . He didn't treat me bad either ."

"I see that." I say staring at the bags . "But I decided to quit ." She mumbles . I immediately look up at her . "Quit ? Are you crazy ?"

"I just don't want to live like this anymore." She says avoiding eye contact . "You're going to live worse if you quit . That guy gave you a ton of things and money and-"

"Yeah he did , but for sleeping with him Annie ." She answers , looking in my eyes . "I don't see what's the big deal . You've done it before ." I told her.

"I have , but I can't do it anymore . I've been thinking about quitting for a while now and I think you should too . We could do something else , Annie . We don't have to humiliate ourselves every night ."

"And do what , Hayley ? Do what ? We don't know how to do anything else . We don't have any degrees , any talents . Nothing . All we know how to do is this ."

"We can work somewhere else . At a food restaurant, cleaning , babysitting . I don't know .Just somewhere else."

"Fast food restaurant ? Babysitting ? Cleaning ? Do you know how much money we would make from those jobs ? Hayley , we're used to making a thousand or two a week . We're used to going to restaurants every day . We're used to sending lots of money to Dad and Mom to help them . Tell me how are we going to do all of that if we're only going to make two hundred dollars a week ? Hayley , we won't survive . As shallow as that sounds....we just won't ."

"I don't know Julianna ! I don't know !" She slams the shirt she was holding in her hands to the floor . "I just don't want to do this anymore . It's shameful to do this . There's other things we can do besides being...." her voice trails off and she looks at the floor .

"So you are quitting ?" I ask . She nods her head , "yeah . And I've been thinking about moving with mom and dad ."

My heart drops . "What ?" I choke out . "You're going to leave me ?" The tears spill from my eyes in a matter of seconds .

"No . Come with me . Let's start over . We can do it Annie ." She gets up and grabs my hand . "Hayley....you know I can't ."

"But why Annie ? Why ?" She sounds so desperate, and I felt her squeeze my hand tighter . "Because you know I can't do anything else . Hayley , I'm worthless"

She hugs me tightly and I lay on her shoulder . "You're not worthless Annie . You're worth everything . Okay ? Don't bring yourself down because of your past . Just forget it all ."

I squeeze her into a tighter hug as the tears fall from my eyes . If only I could forget .