Twisted Heart: A Crushed Love Novel

Twisted Heart (Part 11 - My Platinum Heart)

Isabella

Where was it? I'd been looking for almost an hour. It should be here.

Scarlett hadn’t come home. It’s not like I’d expected her to.

I opened another box. This was the book Father had packed away, after Mother had died. It was full of her memories – her favourite scarf, some photos, her jewellery box, and –

There. I’d found it. The little black velvet box that contained my most precious treasure of all. Scarlett had an identical red one, and her’s…Lily’s had been white.

I opened it, slowly. It was there, exactly as I’d left it, six years ago. It was a locket, shaped into a fragment of a heart.

It was made from platinum, with my name etched into the front.

I opened it slowly. And there were the two minute, faded pictures of the most important people in the world.

Scarlett and Lily.

If you just glanced at it, you would only see two pictures of me, one when I was a toddler, and another when I was still a pre-teen. It was only when you looked closer, you would realize that they couldn’t be me. The toddler’s eyes were a gorgeous green, and the smile on the other picture’s face was an expression I could never make. It was a heart-warming grin that reached all the way to her eyes.

More tears fell from my face. If only she could smile like that once more.

I pressed this locket to my heart, the cold metal raising goosebumps on my skin. There were two more pieces, that when pressed together, made the shape of a heart.

That heart was broken six years ago. The pieces can never be put together, ever again.

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

Scarlett

I breathed in and out slowly, my head between my knees. I was calming down. If I were half-crazed and scared, I could not help anybody. At least, now I knew. I’d already formulated a plan in my head. Wait for one more day. If he did not come back, I would leave and fly to San Diego for him.

I was in Central Park, collapsed on a bench. It seemed like a good place to go, which the soft, soothing breeze whispering through the trees, rocking the branches rhythmically, and ruffling the leaves. It had always been one of my favourite places to go, as a kid. But that was different time. Mom and Dad were still married, and we’d all been together.

A shadow of a doubt falls onto my mind. Was Isabella telling the truth? Did I really…drive them apart?

I have to fight back the tears again, and I gnaw so hard on my bottom lip, a little blood trickles from the cut I’d made. Isabella was so cruel. She’d said all the things that would hurt me, the things I’d thought myself, but never had to guts to confirm.

I remember years ago, when I still had cancer. I was so weak, and I’d looked to Isabella for strength. We were close back then, like proper sisters. But even then, Isabella hated Lily. Lily drew all the attention away from her, the attention she needed badly, the attention she did not receive when most of our parent’s focus were drawn to my cancer. I wondered how long she’d planned it.

I shiver. The wind was faster now, more brutal, and the branches of the trees surrounding me were no longer rocking, but swaying wildly. I’d forgotten my coat, so I was cold. I gazed at the full moon. The night was almost perfect, the sky completely clear except for a few wispy clouds.

I wasn’t ready to return to the cold, empty apartment with too many corners. Somehow, in that wide space, I felt more lonely and scared than when I was alone outside at night. I had no idea how Alex could have stood it. Now I understood why Father had refused to live there.