Broken Hearts & Lonely Stars(girlxgirl)

Chapter Eighteen: Haunting Past of a Second Life

"Andy, I need my hellcat again," his velvety voice slithered into my mind and automatically, my hand flew to my shoulder where I felt a large scar from my collarbone to my shoulder hidden underneath a tattoo.

"I told you I'm done, Tony," I snapped at him.

"This might help you with your medical bills," he mused. "After all, it helped you in the past in the early stages of your predicament. Either way, Andy, if you do this for me, I'll return the favor--"

"Favor?" I spat out, not trusting his word completely but something inside of me wanted to trust the faceless man in the other end of the call. Something that grasped the thin thread of hope tightly.

"Don't treat me like I'm your enemy, Andy. I'm asking as a friend--who still wants our friendship to be renewed by the way--to help me with this little job and all contacts with you would be erased as if we never met. As if you never existed in my record."

"And in return?" I asked, hesitantly, my mind working its engines, calculating this deceiving voice if it had any tricks up his sleeve.

"Something you always desired yet still wage in a balance of life and death."

His words echoed in my mind as I glanced up at the kids skating in the skate park. The familiar young man leaning against the wall, taking large gulps from the Powerade bottle he held tightly in his grasp. His ash blond hair blew softly from the light wind as the sleeves of his flannel shirt was rolled up to his elbows, revealing a familiar name in beautiful cursive inked into his skin forever. A name that shouldn't be worthy to be shown off proudly. A name that broke this young man's heart and tore a friendship apart into regrettable ashes...

"If I agree, my name would not be whispered in the streets. My name would be buried along with me. This is my final job and I'm done. Do you understand?"

Tony chuckled, "Yes, Andy. I'll call you again for the details, for once, enjoy your day without any worries. And Rhea?"

My body tensed, my grip tightened as he suddenly called me by name. He never once called me by 'Rhea'. He mostly called my 'Andy' or 'Hellcat' but never that. My heart pounded against my chest as I listened to his final words of this conversation. Words that reopened a wound that was so close to healing. Words that scarred me because it was the same words my brother made me promise before he left to war.

"Keep fighting..."

I don't know how long I stayed there in the shower with the water hitting my back but I quickly turned off the faucet and stepped out, wrapping a towel over my body. I glanced at my reflection only to come in contact of a bald headed girl. Golden blue eyes gazing back at me, the only living color from the pale skin. Myriads of tattoos inked from the neck to the knuckles. On the girl's chest, a tattoo seemed to stand out. It was in cursive writing with thorns decorating the swirls it branched out from the three words that inked the skin. Three words that would never escape the mirror girl's mouth.

'Forgive Me Father' 

I looked away hastily as I left my bathroom and quickly dressed into a pair of black jeans that hugged my legs perfectly and a random band shirt. I put on my gray beanie not bothering with shoes knowing I would be spending the day here awaiting for the call. I walked out of my room deciding to go to the kitchen and grab something to eat but I didn't make it to the stairs. I collided into a soft, warm body that blocked me to the direction of the stairs. My hands automatically grasped the person's hips, thinking it was my mother or Miranda but the feel in my hands, it felt soft.

A pair of gray eyes bored into mine as red streams of hair fell over her shoulders, framing her beautiful face. A white cotton dress covered this young woman, sadly. Her body flushed against mine, her perfect, round breasts pushed against mine. I towered over her as she gazed up at me, her pink glossed lips parted in a sudden intake of breath. Her hands grasping my arms as I steadied her.