FOURTEEN

| dedication: wolffgang - for that dope ass cover |

FOURTEEN

There wasn't much I could do since my knowledge of putting together counter tops and kitchen applications were limited. Versa tried to hide her lack of knowledge behind her chatter whilst simultaneously reading the instruction handout. Thomas came back, glanced at all of the work, across the back room and just threw it out there that he was useless. Ryan, along with Versa, was acting like he knew what he was doing as well but quite frankly, he kept messing things up.

I stood at the door, watching Cain and Link work hard on putting everything together. Unlike my friends, those two seemed like they knew what they were doing and had their minds too occupied to even participate in most of the conversations. My eyelids kept dropping down and I was trying immensely hard to not fall asleep standing. Versa was sitting crossed legged on the floor, her hands in her lap as she gazed up at Ryan, who was looming over her with a foolish grin across his face.

"When did he start having it bad for her?" A voice asked from behind me. I flipped around and saw Thomas studying Versa and Ryan with a questioning gaze.

"I have no idea." I admitted, shifting on my feet to let Thomas through. He shook his head at my opening, taking a step back.

"I'm heading home," he declared. Palmer was at the front, locking away a few things when she heard Thomas calling it a day.

He sounded as though he pushed mountains today when he only parked himself at the front stool and chatted away with Palmer. I slapped back the retort hanging down my tongue and closed my mouth.

"Do you need a lift?" She asked him sweetly.

Thomas looked over his shoulder then back at me. I shrugged at him.

"Sure," he nodded at Palmer who held up a small finger at him.

"I'll tell my boys at the back to lock up." She ambled past me, patting me on my arm and peeked inside the back room.

"Boys! You should lock up soon and get some rest," she stated, the message loud and clear. She wanted everyone out and get some rest pronto.

Cain was the only one that lifted up his head and gave Palmer a short curt nod. Palmer went back to the front and fished for her keys in the drawer. She gestured at Thomas and went out the door, Thomas trailing right behind her.

My focused averted back to everyone else. Cain pushed up to his feet and grabbed his jacket that hung off a chair. "I have to get back to Serena," he muttered, shrugging on his navy blue coat.

Cain didn't speak much. He kept to himself, was busy with the work at hand and only spoke when someone addressed him directly. Even then he'd just point at stuff, deeming it unworthy to string a few sentence together. With anyone else, I'd wonder how big headed they thought of themselves, but with Cain, it seemed like his whole persona was moulded in that way.

I once caught him shifting his gaze on me before he muttered something low under his breath causing Link to throw his head back and let out a rumble of laughter. It was clear to anyone who paid attention that he had a comment about me and thought to share it with Link, who found it equally hilarious. I hid my discomfort and scurried to the front to Palmer and kept myself busy by helping her out with the customers.

Cain knocked Link on the shoulder before starting to walk towards the door. I took a massive step back, nearly pressing myself against the wall to give him a wide berth for him to pass. His sharp gaze cut to me when he was close enough to touch me. I held my breath at his icy glare and wondered what his issue was which was suddenly directed on me.

He might know about Link's sister.

I gulped down my throat and silently questioned why he still stood in front of me.

"Can I help?" I finally mustered enough courage to ask, my voice coming out high to my complete horror and mortification.

Cain narrowed his eyes on my face. "No." He said coldly before he turned on his heel and walked out the bakery. The door was slow to close and I saw him step inside a black car.

Versa was suddenly in front of me, gawking after Cain. "What was that about?" She asked out loud. Ryan stood behind her, leaning against the door with his shoulder. His massive frame towered over Versa, almost like a massive wall protecting her at all costs.

"I don't know," I told her truthfully.

I then noticed Versa had her coat on and so did Ryan. "You guys leaving?" I directed the question at Versa.

Versa looked up at me, a blush crawling onto her cheeks. "We're grabbing something to eat. Want to come along?" She extended the invitation but with the blush on her face and with how close Ryan was to her back, I started to realise what was really happening.

I shook my head at her quickly. "No! I'll head home and try to get some shut eye."

Versa blinked at me. "Are you sure? We can drop you off," she offered.

And be the third wheeler?

I shook my head at her again. "The night is cool, I want to walk."

"You sure?" my best friend pushed.

"Positive," I assured her. I grabbed her arm and pushed her towards the door, Ryan already walking right behind her. "Go on," I ushered them both out the bakery. "Goodnight," I called out after them just before they stepped inside Ryan's car.

With a goofy smile on my face, I whirled my body around and let out a small scream. Link was right there. In front of me. All up in my space.

"You can't just do that!" I shrieked in his face, sidestepping him to have as much distance between us both.

Throughout the few hours we spent helping around, without actually helping as much, Link didn't say a word to me. He answered whenever someone asked him something which were usually Ryan or Thomas. Other than that, I could literally pretend he wasn't in the room. I found it slightly alarming since Link never passed a chance to throw in a jab, or twist the knife in my stomach at every opportunity since he had graced us with his adorning self. I induced myself into believing that Link had an ounce of humanity somewhere in his self, and the fact that there were people around was not a factor to consider at his sudden distance.

He followed me close behind when I quickly walked to the back, grabbing my coat from the chair. I muttered profanities under my breath whilst trying to calm down the erratic beating of my heart. I was alone with him again, to my utter dismay.

Who knew what Link would do? I couldn't hack into his brain and he was prone to act out spontaneously.

"You fine to close up by yourself?" I asked him without turning around. I shrugged my coat on, throwing my hair over my shoulder to not catch it in the zip.

"You walking by yourself?" Link asked, not answering my question but rather throwing one of his own.

"Yes," I replied, still not turning around. My mind feebly crossed to when Cain muttered something to Link and he had laughed. I contemplated to ask him, then asked myself if I really wanted to know what they found amusing.

"What did Cain say to you?" I suddenly blurted out.

Link came to stand in front of me, saving me from turning around to face him. "You caught that?"

"Hard not to, since the way you laughed and all."

Link gave me a surprised look, "the way I laughed?" he repeated.

I nodded at him, "yes." I walking over to the other side to grab my bag. "You going to tell me what it was about?"

"No."

Right. Okay. I didn't even want to know anyways.

I kept the childish retort to myself and silently walked out of the backdoor, towards the front. I had it open just slightly before a hand came over my head and slammed the door shut in front of me.

"What on earth," I whirled around and saw Link looking down at me with a blank face, "is your problem?" I shrieked in his face, planting a hand on his chest and giving him a mighty shove. He didn't expected it and ended up take two steps back to catch himself.

"You can't walk by yourself. Shit happens to girls that walk alone," he retorted. I blinked at him, letting my mind digest what he just laid out on me. My overly radical feminist side was pulling up to the surface and I could feel myself getting riled up.

"I so can," I said through gritted teeth, latching on the last bit of control I had over my fury. Things could get ugly and end in a bloodbath if I let out The Radical Orianna.

He let out a sigh, "I didn't mean it like that."

I planted one hand on my hip, knowing perfectly well that I was emitting all shades of attitude right now and it painted an ugly picture. "Sure you didn't. Now I'm leaving."

Link breathed out again. "Let me walk you home. I have to speak to you."

I raised my eyebrows at his peculiar reason. Link had nothing to say to me. I should be avoiding him like a plague and not engage in any sort of conversation with him. "Say it here." I fired back.

"Rather not."

"Link, just-" Link ignored me and went about closing up, checking the windows, sauntering to the back and reappearing with his jacket hanging over his arm. He closed the door behind him and came back to me.

He reached over my head and pushed open the door. "Let's go," he ordered in a gruff voice. I didn't know why I listened to him as I stepped out the bakery and I didn't know why I waited patiently to the side whilst he locked up.

Maybe it was the everlasting curiosity that I possessed and quite frankly, I wanted to know what he had to say to me.

We ended up walking along the sidewalk silently, a fair distance between us. There were hardly any cars driving around these streets, half of the population dead to the world. My house wasn't so far from here but by walk, it should take us half an hour, give or take.

I found myself lost in my own mind, my eyes gazing far into the night. My legs carried themselves on their own accord, leading the way home.

"Far from here," I heard him mutter, snapping me out of my zone. I swayed my tired eyes to him.

"What?"

"You're far from here." He explained.

I turned back to facing the front, taking a while to reply to his observation. "Here isn't such a great place. Far away is."

"It has its reasons for not being so great," Link pointed out to me, sounding like he knew what he was talking about. "Only person that can turn it around is yourself."

I frowned at his forthcoming. "Have you ever been in a shit place?" I asked the stupid question. A person like Link, with his background, was probably camped out in a shit place.

I, for one, definitely knew that.

"Haven't seen such great places but I've not seen shit places," he shared.

Any out looker in our conversation would raise their eyebrows and probably scurry away in confusion. But I knew what he was implying.

"Great life?" I asked him with fake sweetness.

Link's eyes cut to my face. "Wouldn't go there."

I shut my mouth quickly at his icy tone.

Right, so not going there.

I carried on walking, half expecting Link to carry on the conversation. But he didn't. In hopes of avoiding an awkward silence that would soon descend on us, I opened my mouth to speak.

"Did you ever find yourself in a dark place?"

I slapped myself inwardly for such a deep question when I could have settled for something much simpler and would definitely lead to an easy flow of conversation. When Link didn't reply, I doubled the slapping. I wasn't entirely sure where the question came from, but I had a strong force pulling on me to find out his state of mind.

"So dark... that you wonder if you'd see the light again," I whispered mostly to myself, knowing that Link would not grace me with an answer anytime soon.

Maybe it was a pull to know if there was someone out there, on the same wavelength as me. Who understood that once you fell into the dark, gnawing at the pretend light was our only saviour.

"Been there," Link finally muttered. I looked at him and saw a faraway look on his face. He wasn't here with me mentally, but just physically.

I swallowed down my throat audibly. "And you think you're crazy," I carried on in a very small voice. He had to strain his neck to catch my words but strangely he heard every word.

"You're not crazy, Orianna." Link said, sounding tired.

"You don't understand," I disagreed. "When you're so far gone in your head and there's no one there to pull you back, you start convincing yourself about certain things."

"You shouldn't do that."

I let out a small scoff, sticking my tongue inside my cheek. "Yeah, well, ain't no one stopping me."

And there wasn't. I wasn't cut from the same cloth as ruthless and heartless people that could live their lives knowing it was at an expense of another. I was torn between my own conflicted emotions, what's right from wrong and the social exclusion I was bound to face. There was no winning in my situation. I knew that much.

"I've been in the dark," Link repeated what he enlightened me with just moments before. This time, he bestowed me with a full explanation. "You feel like crap. Endless sleepless nights. No ending. No beginning."

He knew.

"Are you still there?" I asked him over my shaky voice, the realisation that I wasn't alone hitting me hard. Of all people, I found a connection with Link. He was on the brick of landing in a territory I was afraid to let him jump into. He wasn't pressing for information about my dark moments, not asking for the main root of them mainly because he knew why.

Yet he wasn't taunting me with them?

"Still there."

My heart seized up at his words. "How do you stay sane?" I questioned.

I wanted an out. So bad.

"I convince myself with fake shit but remind myself the true meaning behind it."

I was confused at his reply, wondering what he meant by it. He further confused me with his next word. "Smile."

I raised one eyebrow at him. "Smile?" I repeated.

He stopped walking and jerked his chin over my shoulder. I flicked around and saw that we were opposite my house. I noticed that, even though it was past ten in the evening, my Father's car wasn't parked at front. The lights in the living room were on, telling me that my Mother was probably still awake, waiting up for whoever walked in the house first.

"Smile, the worst is yet to come." Link whispered close to my ears, causing a wild shiver to course through me inwardly. The goose bumps rippled all over the back of my neck, the thin hairs standing up straight.

My back stiffened, as did my hands and my feet.

"I tell myself that." Link finished before I heard him take a step back and felt his presence slowly fade. I didn't turn around to him, forcing my legs to push forward towards the safety of my own home.

When I stepped inside, I didn't spare a glance through the living room as I took the stairs two at a time. I saw, through my peripheral vision my Mother sitting in an armchair, a book open on her lap. She was staring at me whilst I climbed up the stairs. I hoped, for her, that she stuck to my demand to stay the hell away from me.

I flipped on the switch in my room and threw my back behind my door. I changed out my clothes and grabbed my massive oversized Beatles shirt from last night and slipped it on. I walked to the bathroom, did my night routine with washing my face and brushing my teeth before coming out.

I went back to the switch and turned it off, dragging myself to my bed. I face planted in there, and, to let out all the emotions that were boiled up inside me, I screamed in my pillow.

_

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I woke up to a loud thump coming somewhere in my room. I blinked in the dark, trying to adjust my eyes and make out my room. It was near impossible, considering the lack of light and the pitch blackness my heavy curtains created.

But I heard the thump. It came from something inside my room and it would bug me until I found out what caused it and sorted it out. I flipped the covers off body and got out of bed.

I turned on the lights and looked back to my room. A sharp scream came out from someone, and it took me a few seconds to realise that it came from me and I quickly threw a hand over my mouth, trying to sustain it.

My eyes widened at the state of my room, my heart exploding and my skin crawling all at the same time. Bile rose up my throat.

In front of me, my whole room was submerged with spatters of crimson red blood. My bare walls had bloody handwriting on it and I barely made out the words as I choked back the vomit in my throat.

Murderer.

But it was the picture that was stuck right in the middle, of a young dark-haired girl, an estranged smile stretched across her face, which petrified me to my bones.

Smile... The worst is yet to come.

****

> sorry for the late update. Uni started. I'm planning on updating once a week now!

> hope you liked this chapter. Tweet me your favourite part so far @xPureChances :))