Stars

02 | shades of insanity

"I'm going to fix this." Ria's tranquility remains and she approaches the hospital bed. Slender hands touch the air before her as if afraid of an imminent attack from a vicious animal.

"H-how?"

"Lo uccideremo."

Dea's eyes widen as Ria declares that they're going to kill him. "R-really? How?" she responds in Italian.

Sophia scowls and stares between them. "What's going on? What are you saying?"

Ria stands before Dea and places a tender hand on her shoulder. She continues to speak in their native tongue. "I have a plan. We will get revenge for your brother and take our friends back, I promise."

"Ria, what the hell are you saying?" Sophia demands.

"Sophia and Ashton won't agree, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that we're going to fix this. I have a plan to kill Vincent. I won't stop until he's dead. I promise."

Dea shrivels under Ria's touch as she holds her tear-stained cheeks. "Th-thank you. So much." She crumples into her and releases her sorrows as Ria sends slender fingers through her hair, whispering promises and reassurances.

"What are you guys saying? Why are you hiding it?" Panic rises in Sophia's voice. She grabs Ria's arm and attempts to shift between them. "Ria, how are you feeling?"

"I'm not what's important right now, Sophia. Jared and Vivian are gone. Dea just lost her brother. Ashton just watched his best friend die. We have to do something."

"Okay...but what are you planning to do? Wh-where's Ashton?"

"He's trying to talk to the police, but it's useless. They won't listen. We need to do this ourselves."

Foreign emotions mix across Sophia's face and she stares at Ria as if something were wrong with her.

Clearly, something is wrong with Sophia.

Ria seems to understand Dea. Their thoughts are aligned. They have to take matters into their own hands. They have to do something about that monster. This is no longer a game of wrong and right.

There is no place for morals here.

"When was the last time you took your medication?" Sophia wonders.

The hazel in Ria's eyes ignites like a wildfire. "Are you serious? My medication is the least of our worries right now," she snaps. "Dea just lost her brother." Dea flinches at the bluntness of Ria's furious words. "Our friends are stuck with that monster. I am trying to have a baby. We have far more important things to deal with."

Sophia shrivels under her friend's rage and drags her eyes away. "I just don't want you to spiral. Last time, y-you were so broken. You fought so hard to get to a good place again."

"I am the only one seeing things clearly!" Ria sweeps her hands across the air while hardening her voice. "I was blind for so long. I thought there was a way to get through this without violence. I thought we all could be happy together. We can't. If we don't do something, Vincent will continue to tear us apart! We've lost so much, Sophia. S-so much. I will not let us lose anything else. I don't care what it takes, and no one or nothing will get in my way."

Torture bleeds into Ria's declaration. Evidence of all the suffering she's endured in the past year. From losing Ashton, her first child, nearly dying and being manipulated over and over again. The sanity she once tried to maintain has disintegrated into dust.

Things will never be the same.

Dea hugs herself and bows her head. Reality hits again like a hot iron. "I-I want my brother back." Tears fall from her widening eyes as she stares at the ground. "I can't live without him. H-he's all the family that I have."