CAUTION: BEFORE STARTING i SUGGEST YOU GO TO THIS LINK AND PLAY THIS SONG WHILE YOU READ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8NgF5s4ewc
JUST DO IT AND DON'T ASK QUESTIONS K?
K.
ALSO THE SOUNDTRACK TO WHAT A GIRL WANTS (WHAT'S GOOD FOR ME) ARE AMAZING THEME SONGS.
I couldn't find a lot of my papers, like letters, work I did for Adsila, and magazines I collected her and such but it didn't matter anymore. None of it did. I put my airplane ticket into my purse and Junebug zipped up my suitcase. She sniffled. I walked over to her and squeezed her shoulder.
"Please don't cry."
She sniffled again. "I just can't believe you're leaving."
I looked at my head maid Alma who had her head bowed looking a tad sad and defeated. Junebug did nothing to hide her tears but Esmeralda had an angry, deep, bitter scowl on her face. Her lips were pressed to fine line, her head was lifted but her eyes were low and her brows were furrowed.
"Of everything's that's happened to me within these palace walls,"You're the one thing I don't regret."
Then Alma break. She cracked and her knees gaze out below her, her brown hair falling around her, and I'd never seen her like that before. Esmeralda grabbed her shoulders and looked at my eyes burning a fierce vertigo but I couldn't overlook the sadness in them.
"Alma no, please don't!" I ran over to her and embraced her as tightly as I could. I cried out all my tears already, and the last of them when I booked my flight all on my own and the very last tear fell when I called my father and told him I was tired and was going home. For good. I just wanted to be wrapped up in my father's embrace as quick as i could. I wanted to go back to life as normal. Before the selection. Before all this.
Before Will.
"I just-!" Alma sniffled. "I'm just going to miss you so much!"
I squeezed Alma tightly. I wanted to pack all three of them into a suitcase and take them home to Carolina with me. I couldn't do that.
"If you'll excuse me," Esmeralda said and we all turned to face her. "I'm off to go pack my things."
"What?"
This time Junebug spoke. "What do you mean pack?"
I stood silent the whole time, waiting for an explanation.
"I handed in my resignation this morning."
My eyes flew wide open and I could tell the girls were equally as shocked as I was. They went on talking frantically and it wasn't until Esmeralda raised her head that I saw the tears in her eyes. She cleared her throat and looked at her fingers.
"It won't be the same," she said weakly and it frightened me because Esmeralda was not weak. "I don't want to work in a place where it isn't the four of us."
Suddenly my throat felt dry and when I swallowed it felt like sandpaper. I let go of Alma and turned to Esmeralda. She wiped at her cheek quickly refusing to look at us.
"I just," she looked down again. "I don't want to be here."
"We could all go with you!" Junebug offered. "I don't want to be here if it's not us all."
Alma's eyes lit up.
"Girls, girls, girls." I shook my head. "I would sleep on the floor in my house if it meant you guys could be with me. But I don't have money to pay you."
Alma waved her hand. "Nonsense. We all have hefty savings."
"I couldn't ask you-"
"You're not," Junebug took my hand. "We want to."
I was breathless. "You'd leave all this behind for me?"
All three of them nodded and I finally identified the feeling way deep down inside. This was what love looked like. Love was selfless and all enduring. Love was putting someone else's needs above your own. I was so God damned lucky. I pulled all three of them in for a huge. My girls.
My girls.
"I love you guys."
"We love you too."
***
Ora put my suitcase down and grunted dramatically. I giggled. It really didn't weigh that much. She looked at me and through all her bravado, despite the grin, she looked like she was crumbling from the inside out. Because she was staying and I was not.
"I'm going to miss you." I told her. "Promise you'll call?"
Ora nodded and her lips went up in a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Of course." she stood quiet for a while. "I'm gonna miss you so much Maia."
My voice cracked. "I know."
It wasn't so much so arrogant but more of a statement. We looked at each other and all the memories came flooding back. The first time we met on the plane and she was eating like there was no tomorrow. The first time she made me sing in front of a crowd. All the secrets we shared. I felt like I was amputating a limb.
We looked at each other then collided, squeezing each other tight in a warm embrace. I started to cry even though I knew I shouldn't have. I was going to miss Ora more than anyone else in the entire world. Ora made me who I am. I've changed so much because of her.
"I love you, you psychotic weirdo."
She laughed through her tears. "I love you too you damn goody goody."
We both pulled away to laugh with each other and I bent down to pick up my suitcase. The palace doors opened up and there was a car waiting for me out front. My dress flared out like blue flames behind me and Ora helped me get my things into the trunk.
I smiled at her and hugged her one last time. I watched her go back up the stairs of the palace and looked at the building. I could've spent my entire life here but I'm not. I'm going home to Carolina the way I should've once my three months were up.
I opened up the car door and stepped inside not looking back. The palace doors shut for the last time and the front doors opened.
"To the airport please." I said.
The driver started easing down the driveway when I reached up for my mother's necklace. I felt like it was her fault. Maybe she cursed me with a horrible love life. I reached for my wrist when I realized something.
Angelo's bracelet.
My eyes flew wide open. "Stop the car!"
The driver didn't hear me and I yelled it out again. He slammed on the brakes and I threw the car door open. I ran up the path leading to the palace grabbing my dress. There was no way I was leaving Angelo's bracelet here. It was mine.
"Open the doors!" I shouted. "Open the doors!"
They opened up and I flew past the guards leaving them in my dust and I raced up the stairs. I ran down the hallway for my bedroom and I tripped inside. The door was open and when I saw my room I just...
Didn't know what to do.
Nothing let anyone know that I had inhabited this room for so many months. The bed was stripped of my favorite bed covers. The walls were barren as were the dressers, the wardrobe, and my vanity. There was the box with the wedding ring and I opened up the second drawer. My bracelet was there like I suspected and I put it on.
I glared at the box before grabbing it and shoving it into my pocket. I knew that if I looked back I'd cry my eyes out so I walked out of my room-
No. I was starting over.
I walked out of the palace bedroom and shut the door behind me. I let out a deep breath. This was it. I walked down the hallway then down the stair when I heard something coming from the Women's Room. I hadn't said goodbye to Krystal and Tiny and they deserved it.
Against my better judgement I pushed the door open and nearly fell over. Cecilia was laughing with the other former selected girls and when she turned around to see me she stopped. There was a wedding veil with a tiara on her head. I'm pretty sure she hadn't been proposed to yet, Will wasn't informed of my departure yet as I was waiting until I was actually on the damn plane, but she looked guilty nonetheless.
"I came to say goodbye."
At that moment Tiny ran up to me and threw her arms around me squeezing tightly. It was almost like holding a baby. I smoothed my hand over her hair and pulled back to smile.
"Keep in touch, ok?"
She had tears in her eyes and nodded.
Krystal came up to me next and embraced me, knocking the wind out of me. She leaned up and whispered in my ear someone only she and I could hear.
"It should've been you."
I let out a deep breath. "No," i pulled back. "Everything turned out alright in the end."
I turned and saw Cecilia. It hurt because we were once best friends and I wondered what went wrong. I wanted to believe she was still the kind angelic red head I met. I dug into my pocket and pulled out the ring still in its box. I held it out.
"Long live Queen Cecilia."
She took in a deep breath, the tiara glittering on her head. She looked like a queen. She looked royal. She deserved it. Cecilia clenched her jaw. She looked back and forth between my hand and my face. I extended it further.
"Here," I said. "Take it." I leaned in. "I don't want it anymore."
She reached out hesitantly and took the box. When she did I gave everyone one last withering look and I walked right out. I let out a deep breath and walked down the hallway. I turned the corner and someone bumped into me so hard I nearly fell back.
Will reached out and grabbed me. "I was looking for you."
Shit.
I walked around him. "I'm leaving."
"I heard," He grabbed my arm and spun me around. "Plane ticket. I know."
He was breathless like he'd been running.
I squinted. "How did you-?"
Will held up and bundle of tied to together letters. MY eyes flew open. "I read them. All of them."
I jumped to reach for them but he pulled his arm back.
MY letters.
My letters.
How did he get my letters?
"Give it back!" I grunted. "Where did you find those?"
"I went into your room to find you and I saw them so I thought-"
I jumped one last time and snatched them from him. I wanted to spit flames and angry tears started to burn the back of my eyes. "How dare you invade my privacy like that!"
"I read them!" he said it like a plea. "Listen to me-"
"They're old." i held them against my chest protectively.
"No, they're not." he took my hand. "Alessa listen to me I can fix this I-!"
The sirens started to blare so loudly it brought Will and I to our knees covering our ears. The glass windows shattered and the screams of the girls in the Women's Room down the hall filled my ears. My instinct was to go and help them. So I did. I ran, the letters forgotten tossed somewhere and there open the door to the Women's Room. The girls all ran out and I looked around.
"ALessandra!" Krystal yelled over the noise. I grabbed her hand and pulled her out. "The large safe room is under the main ballroom! We have to get there!"
Tiny came running afterwords and I grabbed her hand.
There were strange circular objects being thrown the window and when one exploded one of the former selected girls yelled. A cloud of smoke filled the halls and Tiny started to cough.
The sirens made my jaw hurt and I couldn't think of anything other than surviving. I pulled them along. The girls and I raced down the stairs and there was a guard directing people to the main ball room. He was covering his mouth with a handkerchief.
"This way!" he bellowed. "This way!"
Krystal guided us through the crowd. "What is this?" she yelled.
"The New Asians!" the girl Perri yelled.
I couldn't think straight.
Damn it!
We entered the main ballroom and it was chaos. I looked around frantically for Maxon and America. I wanted to make sure they were ok first. They needed to be okay.
"There!" Krystal pointed. "That's the entrance to the safe room!"
The windows in the ball room shattered and everyone screamed. It was like black tear drops coming from the sky and people were flying inside. They were holding onto ropes and they landed on their feet with guns positioned. MY heart dropped.
"Go, Go!"
Screaming mixed with my gun shots and I yelled when someone's dead body collapsed at my feet. I didn't want to think I just ran. Krystal pulled my with her and my priority was Krystal and Tiny. Krystal and Tiny.
Krystal and Tiny.
Tiny.
Where was Tiny?
I looked behind me and screamed her name. She bent down next to Cecilia who was bleeding out from her side. Oh God, Cecilia.
She was bleeding out from her side.
I didn't have time to think and Krystal knew that. She ran ahead grabbing Maddy who had fallen and made it to the safe room. I bent down next to Tiny when I realized Cecilia was gone. She was gone and Tiny was speaking the last words she'd ever hear.
"Go in peace." she whispered over and over again.
MY voice was hoarse with tears. "Tiny come on! We have to go!"
Gun shot after gunshot. I watched the guards take down several men in black but they were still gunshots nonetheless and Tiny needed to be safe. I pulled her off the ground and ran. I didn't have time for this.
"Let's go!"
We ran careful not to trip over anything. I noticed one of the former selected girls- Sophie, Sam?- trapped under a table. I ran over to her pulling Tiny along with me.
"Help!" the girl screamed.
I pushed with everything I had in my and the table rolled off of her legs. She'd have a limp but at least she was alive and one of the other selected girls picked her up and helped me get her walking.
"Come on!"
"Alessandra!"
I heard to gunshot before I saw it and it was heading right towards me. I felt the impact and it was like my life flashed before my eyes except it wasn't the impact of a bullet but of someone else's body. It was Tiny and she weighed a lot of being so small.
We both landed on the floor and when I peaked up the guards were shooting bullets like crazy and the men in black shrunk dramatically in numbers. I laughed nervously.
"Good job." I grabbed her hand. "let's go."
"Alessan..."
Her words trailed off and I was terrified to look down. I felt it. The wetness on my hands. It was blood.
But not mine.
My knees began to wobble and I fell down beside her. I looked at her, her hand clutched her side, and I shook my head frantically my tears flying everywhere.
"No," I reached carefully and added pressure to her side. I began to sob. "No. Tiny! What did you do?"
"I s-s-saved you."
I choked out a sob. "You shouldn't done that. Oh god, Tiny."
she looked at me one last time with those wide innocent eyes and she wiped away my tear. "Will loves you."
I cried harder.
"Tell my mom and dad I love them and t-t-tell my brother I'm s-s-oo proud of him."
I squeezed her hand so tight i thought i might brake her hand.
"Tiny please." I pleaded.
She wasn't looking at me anymore. Her eyelids had fallen shut and her last breath was like a blessing to the world and then she was gone. I sobbed over her, my tears mixing with her blood, and I held her close as close as I could.
"Lady Alessandra!" One of the maids was trying to tear my away from her.
"NO!" I screamed. "NO! Leave me! Leave me!"
I cried and screamed when they pulled me away from Tiny and I was soaked in her blood.
It all went black after that.