I froze. This was new ground. "Uh yeah... She is..." I lowered my head and because of the awkward silence, I raised my head slowly to see her looking thoughtfully at me."There is no need to be ashamed of that." Was she joking or was she mocking me?"We all have to survive somehow," She reasoned. "Dignity is nothing compared to that."I should have felt offended because she was inferring something that should have made my blood boil but surprisingly I felt consoled and as though someone understood that some people have no choice. People like my mother."And I find it blatantly unfair that she gets called names when the man is also willingly involved gets called a victim but that's just the life we live in." I nodded and smiled ruefully. It was hopeless because she was right; that was just how the world worked. I took another munch of the sandwich satisfied at least that I could talk to someone about the issue without being judged. "What's your sister's name?" I asked"Sarah." She r
Zoe's POV "We found it," The men were back. "We took a picture. We figured it would suffice." "Let me see it," I said, ignoring the man berating me. "Here," He brought his phone closer and allowed Sandra and me to have a look. It had diamond patterns on its back. "God!" The girl named Lucy exclaimed clasping her hand over her mouth. "It is a diamondback!" I looked up at Lucy and asked. "How deadly is its venom." "Extremely," She told me. Luck was nowhere near our side. "How long did they say they will get here?" I asked the driver. "Twenty minutes," He answered, looking as panicked as everyone else. About five minutes had passed already. I examined Sarah again. She was slowly losing consciousness, her eyes fluttering. They would not be able to get here in time to save her leg or her. "How will the ambulance make it here on time?" Someone finally asked the obvious question. "Why don't we go and see what the problem is all about first?" The two men once again sprint towards t
Zoe's POV I squinted as I tried to adjust my eyes to the bright rays of light. It took a while but once I could keep my eyes long enough to know where I was, I realized that was in a hospital. I raised my head in a bit of a rush and startled the person whose head was resting on my bed. "Zoe," The person was Sandra. "You are awake." She said, gleefully. I was disoriented and asked her. "What are you doing here?" I looked around my white surroundings. "What am I doing here?" "You don't remember," She asked as she got up. "I am trying to..." It was coming to me in flashes but still nothing distinct. "Sarah..." I groaned as I held my head in pain. Gosh! it was spinning. "She is fine," She told me "I will call the doctor and dad." she headed out. Did she just say 'dad'? It was coming back now in slower flashes. The snake, Sarah, the ambulance... But how did I end up as a patient? Sandra came back not too long after with a doctor and a tall, middle-aged man in a suit. "How do you fee
Zoe’s POVWhen we got home, Andrew was sitting on the stairs waiting for us. Once he saw us highlighting from the taxi, he ran up to us and held on to my leg.“Don’t disturb her, Andrew,” Mum scolded. “She needs to rest.”Andrew looked up at me worriedly and I gave him a wink just to assure him that I was fine. Mum unlocked the door and we all entered. Regina and Todd were at their usual hang-out spots and were not at home. Mum led me to my room and sat me down on the bed. There was long awkward silence since being as caring as she was now was very uncommon. “How are you feeling,” She asked as she sat on the bed with me. I shrugged. She sighed. “What were you doing with that girl?” She asked. I frowned at her question, hurt. And to think she actually cared when all she wanted to do was to interrogate me. “We went to the park,” I told her. “She is my friend.” “You are friends with a Callahan?” “So?” I moved away from her to look her in the eye. She had the same look of horror sh
Zoe's POVI did not know exactly how unstable I was until I stumbled. Luckily, Mr Callahan caught me before I hit the ground. “Easy there,” He sat me down on one of our lumpy couches. He knelt in front of me. “Zoe, I…” My mom stuttered. “I am sorry,” I could not even react to her apology because I was still busy trying to make sure that my brain did not fall out of my ears. “Are you okay?” Mr Callahan asked me with a gentleness that no man had ever awarded me with. It was the way I imagined a father would talk to his daughter. “Yeah,” I assured him. “I just need to sit for a while.” He looked at me, disbelief very well apparent in his brown eyes, “You should not be up,” He criticized, his voice hard. “Sorry…” I found myself saying. He smiled warmly. “No worries. Have you taken your medication?” I nodded. He turned to Sandra, who was still standing there with her palms covering her mouth. “Take her to her room.”She did as told and assisted me to my room. Once she had me lying
Louis’ POVExpectedly, she was not at school today yet I found myself still searching through the hallway for any sight of her. I pushed her out of my mind at least that was what I wanted to do. Then I saw Sandra and remembered that I had seen her at the park. Her driver also followed the ambulance. She was with the posse, that included Jennie Hardings, Franky what’s-her-name, Lisa something. They were a group one would call the two bratty princesses and their servants. It was very apparent who was who. Jennie and Franky walked in front with pride in every step they took and how the other two were behind them with books and bags in their hands. My eyes strayed on Sandra Callahan. Yesterday, I did not even know her surname but her relationship with Zoe had roused my interest. I needed to talk to her. From what I was able to get from my inquiry in the hospital. Sandra’s younger sister had been bitten by a snake at the park. I was confused as to what that would have to do with Zoe endin
Zoe’s POVI let Sandra in for the night. In her hands, was a little bag and two pillows. She was also in her pyjamas. We sat a the living room since Regina was in the room and would soon leave for a club at any moment. Once she was gone we would go to the room. The only problem I had left was Todd. He would most likely come home drunk. “I can’t believe that my dad let me come.” She told me, her eyes twinkling with excitement. “Yeah, that was really nice of him.” He had allowed to her to have a slumber party with me. We planned to do a countdown to my birthday. “He was so complacent this time, I did not need to convince him,” She said as she unzipped the bag she had been carrying and took out a well-wrapped gift. “He even told me to give you this.” I took it from her. “That is so thoughtful of him,” I put the gift box on the small wooden table in the middle of the living room. I heard footsteps and perceived the choking smell of perfume. Gosh, it was already inducing a subtle heada
Zoe's POV"Regina!" Todd yelled again. "I hope this bitch Is not out whoring around.""You better hope not because I beat your ass right now," The man threatened."Come on, man you said next week," Todd complained. "Only if I get a nice bitch without chlamydia," He reminded. "You said the Rodriguez's mistress was your wife right?""Yeah...""Then where the hell is she?" The man yelled. "Come on man no need to get rough over two hundred bucks." "That can buy you with that much and still get change," he disparaged. "Okay, man," Todd said. "I'll find them,""You said the bitch has a daughter too," "Yeah, two," "I'll get a taste right?" I could tell he was smirking."Anything you want boss."“Teen?““Yeah and a hottie like her mother, a bit flat but she's getting there.““Um… too bad the grass is on the field already.““You into those kinda stuff?“ Todd tried his best to hide the disgust in his voice.““Boys and girls,” the man boasted. “At that age, there is no difference to me.“