The Viper ONC 2020

Chapter Four

Scarlett had awoken to an empty living room; the mess that she and Jacklyn made the night before dissipated into thin air. She was groggy and her mind was a bit fogged from the events of last night; there may have been a bit of alcohol involved. 

Scarlett snickered with a guilty grin; she was sure she was drunk. 

She thought maybe Jacklyn had decided to hide and surprise her.  Scarlett had to glance around to make sure that Jacklyn was nowhere hidden. Of course, Jacklyn had made an exit after the night's events. 

Scarlett stretched her arms over her head and forced her legs to move towards the restroom. A pang of worry ran through her chest as the events of yesterday flashed in her mind. She wasn't sure how she react if her eyes were like that today. With a heavy weight on her shoulders, Scarlett opened the bathroom door, flicked the lights on, and stared into the mirror. Her heart sunk as the red color seemed to only grow more vibrant than yesterday. 

With a panicked huff, she quickly brushed her teeth and settled the bird's nest known as her hair. Goosebumps littered her skin as thoughts swarmed her mind, very depressing thoughts. Scarlett thought she was going insane, and it seemed like every day only brought answers to the questions she never wanted to figure out. 

She finished brushing her hair while glancing at the quiet hallways of her and her mother's apartment. Her mother was worked, a lot. Scarlett knew that the two hardly caught a glance at each other. Her mother typically worked during the day as a nurse, and by the time she got home, late in the evening, Scarlett was fast asleep. Scarlett longed for a closer bond with her mother and more time with her. But it seemed near impossible these days. 

Scarlett stole one more long look at her reflection before she left in a hurry. She just about ran into her own bed as she slid into the living room and grabbed some random clothes from a clean basket of laundry right next to her bed. She paired some jean shorts with a plain pastel pink t-shirt and called it a day. 

Scarlett grabbed her phone off the charger and glanced at the screen with the intention to scroll through Instagram for three or so hours. But, of course, that didn't happen. Her phone flickered on to reveal a notification from that of an unknown number. It didn't remain a mystery for long. 

It wrote,

"Hey, Scarlett. This is Brandon, meet me at the restrooms at that park by two. We will work out a plan from there. Thanks."

Scarlett mumbled something to herself as she dismissed the notification, not allowing her eyes to linger on it for a second longer. The time was currently twelve thirty-three in the afternoon, the park was five to eight minutes away, quick math suggested that she could stall for as long as she wanted to. Scarlett grabbed a pack of gummies and sat herself down at the small kitchen table. It wasn't much, but Scarlett's appetite was absent. The weight of everything wrapped itself around her neck and strangled Scarlett from the inside out. 

She nibbled at the gummies while she scrolled through her phone mindlessly. Scarlett's brain refused to shut up. Her mind filled itself with worrying thoughts. She thought of ways how everything could go wrong. Whether it was death, torture, or mental strain, Scarlett could not wrap her mind about today. She had absolutely no idea what to expect. 

-

The walk to the park felt much shorter than it typically was. That was even with the fact that Scarlett tried to take as much time as possible to get to her destination. Every little detour was taken. Was there road construction? Of course not. She just wanted to stall. 

But it was pointless, Scarlett knew her fate was set and any attempt to avoid it would be futile. So when she entered the park, her stomach had dropped at the very sight of that mop of brown hair. She had walked over, her head held low. Sunglasses wrapped themselves around her eyes to avoid any attention that she may have attracted.