Shades of Purple

Chapter 23

'Marina sees the hallway light flicker on; before she can say anything, the door opens. The light from the hallway pours into Sienna's room, and in the doorway is Lila.'

* * *

Sienna's mouth drops open as she stares at her sister's flinty stare, shock evident on her face. Lila opens her mouth, probably to berate them, but Marina quickly put her hand over her mouth.

"Lila, please! If you wake up your parents, there is no telling what they will do," Marina tries to reason with her.

Lila's expression softens as she gives a slight nod of consent, and Marina slowly takes her hand off of Lila's mouth.

"What the hell are you doing here," Lila asks with a sharp whisper? Marina debates covering Lila's mouth again, but she then thinks against it.

'I mean, she kind of has the right to be surprised that a known felon is hiding in her sister's bedroom,' Marina decides.

"Why are you even awake anyways," Sienna questions?

Lila's face turns red as she stutters out a reply.

"What? Are you sneaking out to see your boyfriend again?" When Lila does not immediately respond, Sienna says something else, "Look, I will not tell Mother or Father about you sneaking out to see Jackson if you do not tell them about Marina and Roz." Lila looks at her sister in shock.

Marina opens her mouth to say something, but Lila beats her to it.

"You need to leave," Lila tells her.

"What," Sienna exclaims in shock? "You cannot do that!"

"I am not going to tell Mother or Father, but they need to get out of here," Lila continues.

"Lila, how can you possibly force them out," Sienna asks? Never before has Marina seen her friend look so angry. Her expression is almost exactly like it was in her hallucination.

* * *

'"Can you not see me? I do not understand. Why are you all ignoring me- did I do something wrong? I did not mean to do anything to hurt any of you. Can someone please just tell me what I did to deserve this?"

"You left me," Sienna's tear-filled voice calls out in a gut-wrenching scream!

"You left me," Isaac's voice calls out from somewhere behind Sienna!

"You left me," her mother's piercing scream fills the air!

"You left me," her father says next. Unlike the other's, his voice was calm... too calm. Looking at her father, Marina sees his nostrils flare and knows that this is just the eye of the hurricane.

Deafening silence- it lasts for, what feels like, an eternity.

The battle cry of the assembly rings out as everyone bellows out, "You left us!"''

* * *

Marina is brought back to reality when Lila replies to Sienna's question.

"It's not like that, Sienna. Marina knows I care about her, but this will be one of the first houses the government officials check. Anyways, we have no clue who Mother and Father will side with; they love this country and their jobs," Lila reasons.