Chapter 127
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Arianna found herself on a beach and instinctively looked to the side to notice her father by her side. She smiled, knowing she was right to have taken his hand.
Her father was dressed entirely in a white outfit and when she looked down, she was wearing a flowing white dress as well.
“Daddy!” She screamed and ran into his open arms. Arianna felt like she was back to being a kid once again and relished the feelings. It was a dream come true.
“Arianna,” He whispered back, running his hands through her hair while she pressed her face to his neck.
“I missed you, daddy. I missed you so, so, so much,” She confessed, hugging him tighter as if he would vanish if she dared to let go. Arianna didn’t want to be separated from him ever again.
“I know, I know,” The man admitted and kissed her face out of happiness. They remained that way for a while until Arianna finally let go of him yet held onto his hand. She was not letting go of him this time. A life without her father was not worth it. He was her light.
“You know you have to let go now,” Her father said, looking down at their intertwined hands.
.....
“Why?” Arianna was suddenly scared, having a hint where this conversation was going.
“It is not the time for you to be here, Arianna,” He told her, a pained look on his face.
“No, no, no,” Arianna shook her head fervently, “No, I’m not letting go of you, father. I can’t do this without you! I’m all alone!”
“You’re not alone, Arianna. You know that I’m always with you,” He told Arianna who had tears running down her cheeks. She was not strong enough for this.
“I don’t care... I just want to be with you! Can’t I do that?!” Arianna became wide-eyed when she felt a strange wind begin to blow, sweeping up sands and clouds of dust with it and making it hard to see.
“Please, don’t do this,” Arianna pleaded with him when she felt her father grow distant even though their hands were still together. But she knew it was only a matter of time before that touch vanished as well.
“Be strong, my little Ari,” Was the last word her father said to her before his hand slipped right through hers and they got separated.
“Nooo!” Arianna screamed, as she was pulled somewhere. Someone was calling her name in the distance and it beckoned to her.
Suddenly, something hard pushed down on her chest and Arianna woke up with a loud gasp, before turning to the side and vomiting large amounts of water.
“Seriously!” She heard a furious voice behind her and glanced down to discover that the person who had brought her back to life was no one else but Cassie.
“The next time you want to kill yourself, do it when I’m not around and likely to be suspected of your suicide!” She yelled at her
But Arianna was not moved by her scolding. She sat up instead, not caring about her naked form, and asked, “Why?”
“What?”
“Why did you rescue me? Huh? Why?! You should have just let me die!” Arianna said in an outburst, yelling right at Cassie’s face. However, what she received as a response was a slap to the face.
The intensity of the slap whipped her face to the side, and Arianna had to sweep her wet hair away from her eyes to be able to see.
Her lips turned up in a sneer, “Is that all you can do?”
Pah!
Another slap landed on her cheeks.
The slap was quite painful and that was what she needed. Arianna needed the pain to be able to feel alive; she needed to feel something else above the hurt. Something intense – and deserving.
She turned to Cassie again, “Is that -”
Pah!
Pah!
Cassie landed two more slaps on her face making it a total of four. She then gripped Arianna’s shoulder and shook her hard, “Get a grip of yourself, you spoiled bitch! Do you think that you’re the only one going through shit right now? So what? You kill yourself and it ends? No, that makes you nothing less than a coward who is unable to make do with what’s left of her life. You think marrying Big Joe is that horrible? Other women are being trafficked, r*ped against their choice, and is used as sex worker, but you didn’t go through such. So be grateful for once and suck it up!” She shouted at her.
Arianna was speechless after that speech and like a wake-up call, she wondered how she became this way? She was usually a strong person.
“God, I’m so sorry,” Arianna apologized, feeling stupid for her behavior. She wiped off her face with her palm saying, “I didn’t mean to land you -”
“Save it. I just hope this doesn’t repeat itself once again,” Cassie told her before dropping the bathrobe on her body and left for the room.
She must be angry, Arianna felt guilty for putting her in distress without knowing that Cassie almost left her to drown.
Cassie came to her room, as usual, to check up on her only to find out that her bed was empty. Knowing that Arianna wouldn’t be able to escape with the amount of security outside her room, she decided to check in other places only to discover that the bathroom door was standing ajar.
She opened a bit only to stumble upon Arianna the moment she submerged her head in the water and though she almost screamed, shocked at the scene, Cassie changed her mind the next minute.
Truthfully, Cassie liked Arianna from the beginning but after she got in the way of her relationship, she changed her mind about her. And then when the incident with Kenith happened, she loathed Arianna completely. Arianna was a good pretender who appeared to be frail yet was full of all manner of imagination.
Cassie was so consumed by her jealousy that she wished Arianna would die somehow and God answered her prayer by making her drown.