Pretty Girl

Chapter 7

Well hi everybody! Long time no talk...I am so sorry that I have been gone for such a long time. Life has been extremely difficult since the last time I uploaded. To the point where I don't want to do anything. I have been through something that some people find unimaginable and I am not going to lie--I am traumatized by it, completely and utterly. I have felt like there has been this block in my mind from this traumatic event that keeps me from writing. I will sit and try to write and then, I freeze up. And I have been so scared that you guys won't like my writing or something that I have been terrified to upload when I was able to write. But, I am throwing caution to the wind and just jumping in because what I know--is that writing makes me happy. It is an escape for me and right now, I need an escape from this chaos called life. I hope you guys are doing amazing and wonderful. I love you all so much and I am so excited to see what 2019 is going to bring and I CANNOT wait for you guys to see what is going to happen in this book. Now, enough babbling...ENJOY<3 I love you all! 

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

CHAPTER 7: Sydney sat and watched the tv channels flip from one to the other, her mind deadly silent in the worst of ways. 

She knew she should have been screaming. 

Crying. 

Sobbing.

 But she wasn't. In fact, she was more numb than she had ever felt in her life. 

Sure, she had flickers of emotion like sunlight peeking through water, but then it was engulfed back up again by icy darkness.

 Her mind flitted back to the moment she had gotten out of the shower and how she had known she should have been embarrassed, horrified even. 

She remembered how her eyes had shamelessly roamed over the twins and she remembered looking at Marcello's body. 

 He had gotten more muscle on him than he'd had for a few years, his shoulders bulky with muscle while his waist was trim and cut with muscles that could've been carved with stone.

 In the icy numbness that filled her, she felt a flicker of warmth, like a waking ember that burned and stoked, waiting to burn brighter to something that could not be contained. 

It was quickly gone as soon as she realized it had been there, like a shy animal not wanting to be noticed for fear of being discovered.

 But she knew it was there. She knew it had always been there. 

Forcing her mind to the T.V., she tried to decide between the news or a Spanish soap opera, finally deciding on the news. She leaned back against the pillows, laying her head against them and letting her arms and legs flail outwards like she had done when she was a little girl whenever she wanted to feel bigger rather than something so tiny in such a big world. She let her eyes trace over the plaster on the ceiling, letting them roam to the corners of the walls that she found were surprisingly clean. She took the entire room in and she was vaguely listening to the news, already knowing well of the horrors that lurked in the world. 

She let her eyes fall shut while her fingers twiddled and fidgeted with the loose corners of the sheets, rubbing the smooth but slightly scratchy material between her fingertips. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a breaking news article come on and it forced her eyes open and her to sit up slightly to look at the T.V. 

Her brow furrowed as she watched.

 A stunning woman with big beautiful locks of strawberry blonde hair held a microphone to her full lips that framed the whitest teeth Sydney thought she'd ever seen.