There was absolutely nothing okay about this. Nothing whatsoever. Bella didn’t know how to react. She didn’t know what to do with herself. She’d just arrived back at headquarters after a wonderful time in the savanna when her phone vibrated in her pocket. It was Rico who knew better than to call her, ever. Bella hated phone calls, but it was the text that came in, demanding urgently that she called him.
“Are you sitting?” he’d asked. Nathan had already retreated to his room to freshen up after hours in the endless heat. Bella had remained standing outside, her brows furrowed now. “Rico, come out with it,” she’d said. But she wasn’t prepared for his next words. They were like a stake through her heart. The phone nearly slipped out of her hand, and her back pressed against the exterior wall of their sleeping quarters. “You’re lying,” she said, her words breaking in the middle. “What kind of twisted joke is this?” But she knew there was no way he’d lie about death. Especially the deaths of their father and two of their brothers. “Don’t call me again,” she said before disconnecting the call. She didn’t know where she was going; she was just walking. Farther and farther away from headquarters, towards the open fields where she and Nathan liked to look up at the stars. The afternoon sun beat down on her while her heart hammered in her chest as though it intended to break free. She didn’t realise that she was shaking, not until she finally stopped to catch her breath. She stood there, her hands on her knees, her chest so tight that no matter how deeply she tried to breathe, her respirations came in painfully shallow puffs of air. She was out there all alone, her loved ones dead. She hadn’t seen them in years. What had become of the brother that she once idolised? And her younger brother? Her father? Gods… she couldn’t breathe. Hadn’t she just told Nathan that she needed to reunite with her family? It was too late. She was the worst daughter and sister there was, and there was no redemption after this point of no return. Bella could feel everything in her wound tightly as a rubber-band, soon to break if any more pressure was added to it. She was just about to shatter into a million pieces when a warm voice graced her ears. “Bells…?” She didn’t know how Nathan had found her but she was grateful. At least if she'd die out here too, she wouldn't die alone. “I...can't breathe..." she told him. It was a plea for help. To make her heart stop beating too fast, to regulate her breathing... to bring her family back to her. All of which she knew was impossible.
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Isabella Kaylee DwyerWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
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