Hopeless Place

Chapter 9

"What did you say?" Valentina was sitting down on the edge of the bed, the bag she was trying to fill with all her belongings pushed aside.

"Look, you need to listen, Vale. I didn't know you when she asked me and I can't afford any of this so I took every chance I got to get money. I thought it would be easy but then I got to know you and I didn't want to ever let you go. I actually like you, I love spending time with you and I don't want you to leave me behind." Juliana explained as best as she could, pacing in front of Valentina.

The girl on the bed wasn't listening. She didn't want to hear what the other girl had to say but she had no escape. Eva was behind all of this. Eva, her own sister, had paid a girl to be her friend. What kind of bullshit was this? She didn't know what the hell she was supposed to do.

"Valentina?" Juliana crouched down in front of the bed.

The two girls locked eyes and for a second, for the first time, the thought of just pretending none of this happened crossed Valentina's mind. It would be so easy to lean in and kiss the girl. It would be so easy to pretend, to give in.

"Eva checked me out already, I need to go." She spoke finally with her teeth clenched. She wasn't sure what she filled when she stood up and continued throwing stuff in the bag.

"Please don't leave me, I've never felt this before. I've never trusted anyone like I trust you."

"Trust? You want to talk about trust? Well, I trusted you, I told you things no one knows, I gave you everything and you were lying the whole fucking time. So maybe I don't care how you feel right now. I feel betrayed by the only person who made me feel anything after my father passed away, after my boyfriend left me, after my family gave up. You were the only one here for me but you just did all of it for the freaking money." Valentina yelled, anger filling her voice while tears formed in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I never meant for it to get this far. I never meant to hurt you."

"But you did. You took my broken heart and threw it in the trash like it was nothing."

"I don't know what to say or do to show you that this wasn't fake to me. Maybe it started out as a job but it became so much more. What I was to you, you were to me." Juliana couldn't hold the tears back anymore.

Somewhere in the back of her mind Valentina knew that Juliana wasn't lying right now. That every word she said was completely and utterly the truth of how she felt. But the anger was still present in her chest and right now Valentina wasn't able to forgive the other girl. Right now the wound had just opened up and it needed time to heal before she could forgive this lie.

She zipped up the bag and walked passed the crying girl. When she was no longer in the same room as Juliana, she herself broke. Tears fell down her cheek and her heart broke. Maybe she had just made the biggest mistake of her life but right now she didn't know what else she could have done. This was what she needed and the more she repeated it to herself it felt like it was the best for both of them.

Eva was waiting for her. She was seated in one of the seats in the big entrance hall. As much as Valentina tried to hide how she really felt until she was home and had Guille's support, it didn't work. A glance of concern passed over Eva's face.

"Is everything okay, Vale?"

The younger girl didn't stop walking when she reached her sister but just continued leaving the building. She'd stay quiet the whole ride home. Even when Eva started talking about new rehab centers she didn't reply. She didn't care where her sister would ship her off too next. But while the woman was talking and talking the puzzle pieces fell into place in Valentina's mind. She had wondered why Eva didn't put her in one of those super fancy, super expensive centers but now it made sense. It would have made bribing the patients more difficult.

The image of Juliana crying wouldn't leave Valentina's mind. It kept replaying on loop and every time her heart would break again. It was when her mansion came into sight that she wanted to turn back for the first time. She wanted to drive back to the center and run into Juliana's arms. She didn't care anymore that Juliana had been pretending. If the other girl wanted her than why couldn't Valentina just play along. All of this was for her happiness anyway. And all of it had worked. Every time she had been with Juliana her sorrows and sadness had vanished into thin air and all that was left had been happiness and love. She wanted it back, she wanted Juliana back.

But at the same time she knew that she couldn't. She had made her decision. There was no option to turn back and drive back. Even though in theory she could go back. It was all too late now.

The gates in front of the mansion slowly started sliding open. "Why did you do it, Eva?" Valentina finally asked with a horse voice.

"What did I do wrong this time?" Eva threw back annoyed.

"You paid Juliana to be my friend. Why do you always need to ruin everything? Do you really think I wouldn't have been able to get around without you having to bribe someone?"

"I was just trying to protect you. You don't know what kind of people sit in those centers and Juliana seemed like a fine person so yeah I offered her money but I did it all to protect my little sister."

"Has it ever crossed your mind that I don't need your protection anymore. I'm an adult, Eva. I can make my own decision and yes, I'll make mistakes but that is the best way to learn. Stop meddling in other people's lives. Can't you just focus on your own?"

Eva didn't reply anymore. The woman had clearly seen that her sister was too upset. She couldn't reason with her like this. She'd explain it tomorrow, when everything had calmed down between them.

But the day after Valentina was locked up in her room. No one was able to enter and the young woman didn't exit. Guille was the one who said that they should give Valentina some time. Eva had sighed but agreed. Weeks went by and the two siblings didn't see Valentina once. After 8 days Guille decided to knock on the door but the girl didn't reply or open the door. The only living soul that ever saw Valentina was Chivis who was allowed to enter once the other two had left to bring food and drinks.

It was on day 11 that Valentina had forgotten to lock her door after Chivis left. It was on day 11 that Guille knocked on her door and discovered that it was unlocked. It was on day 11 that Guille got to talk to his sister again.

"Hello, how are you?" Guille asked.

Valentina didn't reply. She was laying, rolled up in her blanket on her bed. For a second her brother thought she was sleeping but her eyes remained open.

"You've been locked up here quite a while now, why is that?"

"I miss her." Valentina mumbled into the blanket.

"Who?" Guille asked who had remained out of the loop of what Eva did.

"Juliana." His sister crawled up. Her eyes were red because of the crying she did. "I had hoped it would pass, that it would only hurt for a few days but it won't go away. It's like someone cut a hole in my chest. After losing dad I thought I would never be happy again and then Juliana proved me wrong but what do you do when you find out it was all just one big lie. I can't believe that it all was just one big orchestrated play to amuse Eva."

"Eva is controlling, she wants to be the one to help others. She wants to be the one other's owe their happiness to. But whatever happened you can't let her take away what you want. If Juliana is the one that made you happy during your worst days then go back to her. You might have just found your soulmate and you can't let Eva ruin that for you." Guille grabbed his sister's hand.

"She paid her. The only reason I met Juliana is because Eva paid her. Because Eva wanted me to meet Juliana." Valentina cried.

"But it's not because that's how you met that that is how the story should end. Juliana might have met you because of Eva's games but she stayed because of you, right?" Guille tried to reason with the younger sister.

"Guille, I don't know what to do?"

"Let's see, do you like the girl?"

"Yes, I like her a lot. She was the only person that made me smile after dad died. She made me feel things I never felt before."

"Then go get her."

It was on day 11 that a small smile sneaked into place on Valentina's face.