"Nothing, just wanted to walk with you," My face must be the epitome of shock and surprise because the boy met my gaze and then laughed. "Never mind then?" His laugh was charming and blood shot straight to my stomach at the sound.
"No, no, I was just a little shocked," I confessed. Honestly, I had felt his eyes on me from the start of the tour but I just didn't want to give myself any sort of false expectations. It wasn't like guys hadn't liked me before. Okay, maybe I wasn't model-like but I wasn't too bad either.
I was only a few inches shorter than Lilian himself, standing at 5 feet and 7 inches. The green colour in my eyes was a striking contrast to the red mess of hair on my head. I was usually very confident with my appearance but to be in a completely new place with completely new people kind of made me more nervous than it should've.
Regardless, I cleared my throat before turning around to face him. If he felt like I was off putting he definitely would not want to stick with me, right? "I don't mind walking with you. Also, where exactly do you live in town?" When I spoke Lilian looked shocked for a moment but soon enough he recovered.
"I live next to the big grocery store on the fifth street? What about you?" I stopped in my tracks and turned to him again.
"Really?! I live next to the big grocery store on the fifth street too! That means we're neighbours AND classmates!", he laughed a little but matched my excitement with a high-five raised up.
"We could literally walk to class together every morning, that's awesome!"
We both continued talking about little plans and along the while my eye caught Ace dropping a gentle kiss onto Daisy's lips. Oh so, they were actually dating. I involuntary smiled and Lilian followed my gaze. "They're cute together. Been like this since middle school."
"Very cute, you guys practically grew up together then," he hummed in agreement.
"Man, I wish I had something like that," Michelle pitched in suddenly catching both of ours attention. I leaned a little forward to look at her. "So, are we walking or?", she trailed off.
"Actually my dad's going to pick me up, I just need to drop a quick text. Where do you live Michelle? Nearby or is it like a long walk?", the girl shook her head before she answered.
"It's only a couple of minutes away, I'll see you off and then go," I nodded and pulled my phone out to text my father but before I could, his contact popped up on my screen and my phone rang loud enough to make the three of us jump.
"Hi dad, I was about to text-" My dad cut me off with frantic breathing and in the distance I could hear my mom's equally panicked voice. "Mom? Dad? What's wrong?"
"Ariella," I gulped at the tremor in his voice and then he quickly added, "We're coming to get you. Stay right where I dropped you off in the morning."
"Atleast tell me what's wrong-" Before I could finish my sentence, he had already ended the call from his end and I was left flabbergasted in panic. "Oh god," I whispered miserably and a hand made it's way onto my shoulder.
Michelle was giving me a concerned look at she spoke. "Is everything okay? Do you need help?"
"No, I just- I don't really know what happened. He asked me to be where he dropped me off, nothing else just really heavy breathing," I sighed loudly. My heart was beating out of my chest. My parents had never been so panicked before and the thought of something being so wrong to the point that they couldn't breathe properly, made me sick to my stomach.
"Ariella, breathe, just hold on, I'm sure they'll be fine," Lilian's brows clashed together in concern and I could only nod in agreement. Please, god, let them be fine. Just as I closed my eyes for a moment, I heard the whirring of the familiar corolla's engine in the distance and my eyes shot back open.
I gulped when I spotted the car a shiver crawled through my whole body. Oh something was so, so wrong today. I trusted my gut. While I kept my eyes on the fast approaching car, I happened to not notice the equally speedy black mercedes behind it. However, once I noticed it, I found it weird how they kept their car right behind my parents' instead of stopping or overtaking.
"Ariella," Lilian spoke out slowly, his syllables slightly jumbled up as he tried to warn me of what might be happening. Then it happened all at once, tires screeched and the smell of asphalt fogged up my senses.
The black car collided with my dad's.
I think I might have screamed. I must have screamed and if I didn't I should've because it was all a blur after that. My parents' car turned offtrack and flipped upside down, it slid to our end of the road and before it could hit me, an external force wrapped around my body.
My head spun while my body rolled onto the concrete with another one tangled with mine. Michelle? Lilian? I couldn't tell. My limbs felt like they were frozen and only one scene played in my mind over and over.
The man in the black car. His silver eyes and the look of victory in them.
What the hell just happened? I tried to fight away the body on top of me only to realize I was neither conscious nor strong enough so I submitted with a gut-twisting sob.
The only two people who cared about me had just died in front of my eyes.