"How did our life turn for the worse?" Grace cried, sitting besides Ariana inside the cell. Ariana hasn't been able to say anything ever since they arrived here, and they were hauled inside this place like church rats.
It made Grace feel bad for involving her into her mess, but what the young lady didn't know was that Ariana was busy calculating their next move. The detective that has questioned them, didn't even give them any room to prove their innocence and explain their part in the whole ordeal. All he did was read them the possible sentence that they might get, if Madam Sophia refused to settle with them.
Again, she has used her money to bribe the police. She was at a nearby hospital getting treatment which Grace was charged with paying for her hospital bills, adding more fire to the problem because where the hell was she supposed to get such an amount of money?
As if that wasn't enough, when asked about settling with her, Madam Sophia has demanded that they pay her a million dollars to settle the case, failure to do that would end up with Grace getting locked up. It didn't come as a surprise that Ariana was free to go, but had stayed behind because of her friend.
Unlike her, Grace wasn't that strong witted, she might look cold at first but warm and kind when you get to know her, and right now, all the young lady was thinking about was how to get the money to pay for both Madam Sophia's hospital bills, and the settlement fee.
"You know you don't have to be here with me." Grace said, interrupting Ariana's thought. She knew what Grace was doing, trying to take the fall alone, in as much as Grace was the only person to be convicted if things didn't work out, she also contributed to making her situation worse.
"Shut up." Ariana shunned her..
She has pushed Madam Sophia to the floor, but that wasn't intentional. It's not like it's her fault that she barely has any stamina, yet, she wants to fight. Had it been that she didn't push the woman to the floor, she wouldn't have attacked her and Grace wouldn't have hit her with that stick right?
Ariana tried convincing herself that she also contributed to Grace being here, but the obvious truth is that Grace was the one who put herself in this position. She had hit the woman so hard that she was bleeding, what if she had died right there at that spot?
Grace didn't even think about that part, and neither did she talk to her about it when she knew that she's the reason why Grace did what she did, to save her. Which is why she won't abandon her when she needs her the most.
Ariana vowed that she won't be like her parents that had abandoned her, Grace is her only family so if she's going down, she's going down with her.
"You know you never really told me the reason why you are back so early today." Grace said, trying to form a conversation with her. She wanted to get her mind off the problem at hand, and she didn't mind if that was talking about Ariana.
Hearing her words, reminded Ariana of her own predicament, as if things couldn't get better for them. It didn't occur to the young lady that there might have been a higher force that had tampered with her job, which got her fired, because she believed that it was because of Mr.Brooks wickedness.
"I got fired." She said nonchalantly, not feeling the need to hide anything from Grace at this point.
Grace sat up instantly hearing her words, "what did you mean you got fired? You were supposed to be promoted this week, I..you said that yourself, Ariana, what really happened?"
Grace asked, taking her hand into hers to rub it affectionately. If there was anyone who knew how much Ariana loved her job, it was her. Why does it seem like bad things always happen to Ariana?
It's not been two days since Andrew dumped her for his rich fiancée, and now she lost her job?
"It doesn't matter, I was getting tired of serving anyway." Ariana said,forcing a laugh on her face for Grace to drop the topic about her job, it hurts that she couldn't be of help to her, seeing as the both of them were back to square one, no one knew how they are going to sort their problems out, if not to hope that a miracle happens.
"He took the money, I couldn't believe that Sawyer would play me like that knowing fully well that i introduced those clients to him. Am i going to go to jail?" Grace cried, her hands trembling whenever any detective walked past their cell. It made her jump at any slight movement, since she didn't know when they were going to take her away from here and put her in a real prison.
"I need to call my uncle, he's going to help me, right? I mean i haven't asked for anything all these years, so he's going to help me." Grace said, running her bloodily hands through her hair and when her eyes landed on them, she started scrubbing her hands against each other trying to get the dried blood off her skin.
She's going crazy at this rate, the sight of the blood on Madam Sophia, that was the first time that she had witnessed something so bloody upclose.
"I need to get rid of this, what if she dies?" Grace cried, scrubbing her hands hard that the area was blazing fed from how harsh, she used her clothes to try to get the metallic scent of blood off her skin.
"Grace, stop it, you are hurting yourself.." Ariana called, trying to get her to calm down. She's scared too but with what she's doing, it wasn't helping at all since all her mind was on about getting the both of them out of this situation is by calling Harry Smith.
While Grace was crying since they were locked in here, Ariana had put her hand inside her pocket to see that she still had his business card. At first, she didn't have in mind that she would call him for help, not after knowing fully well what his price would be.
She can't just get married like that, to a total stranger.
All her life, Ariana had taken her love life serious, she has vowed that she would marry for love. The love that her parents couldn't give her, to abandon her infront of an orphan, she had promised to give it to her children while receiving the same from her husband.
Her dignity is the only precious thing she has left, so why would she give that up to marry some rich old dude?
But watching Grace right now brought tears to her eyes, she was stuck in the middle of the devil and the deep blue sea, without any escape.
"I need to get it off my skin." Grace mumbled to herself before a hot slap landed on her face which brought her back to her senses and she looked up at Ariana. "I don't want to go to jail." She cried.
Ariana had nothing much to say, since there was no need reassuring her that help was on the way when they had nobody to help them.
She couldn't help the tears that filled her eyes too, before she hugged Grace. "It's alright, Grace. I will sort something out." Ariana assured her, petting her head while Grace cried on her shoulder.
It took a good ten minutes for the both of them to calm down, and Grace had no option than to fall asleep to escape reality holding onto Ariana's hand tight, while hoping that when she wakes up that all this will be nothing but a nightmare.
Ariana watched her sleep from where she sat in the cell with her, she patted her head while smiling and at the same time wiped the tears from her face that she couldn't control.
She didn't want to do this, but for Grace she will do anything to make sure that she's okay. Ariana cursed her life, maybe in her next life she won't be born an orphan and get to struggle in life.
The young lady didn't want to be born a human in her next life, she wanted to be reborn as a beautiful butterfly. So that she could be free and be able to fly and see the world from above. She knew that she would be happy if her wish was granted.
Without wasting much of her time thinking about how unfortunate she was in life, she stood up and called the attention of the detective.
"Can i make a call?" She asked him, and watched him get the telephone closer to where she was.
She took out the business card from her pocket, and dialed the number. With one last look at Grace who was still sleeping, she knew that this was the perfect time to do this, since Grace would stop her if she knew what's about to do.
"Harry speaking." She heard his voice after two rings.
Gripping onto the bar of the cell, she felt something crawling up her throat. It was as if something was trying to stop her from doing this.
With eyes closed as a tear ran down her smooth porcelain skin, she said the words that would change her destiny starting from this moment.
"It's me, Ariana."