Kayla awoke to a strangled cry. She still sat on the fire escape outside. The sun had fully risen now and the warehouse door was wide open. Kayla stood up; expecting to find that Fluffers had killed a mouse and Ariana was quite upset about it. What she saw upon entering the warehouse would haunt her for the rest of her life. A spray of blood blossomed on the carpet near the coffee table. The glass top was shattered and couch had been upturned, its many pillows spilling onto the floor.
“Ari!” Kayla called. Her heart was racing. Something was terribly wrong. “Ariana, where are you!” She found more blood by the door to the warehouse floor and she raced down the steps, following a steady blood trail until she reached the bottom and came across a sight that made her blood run cold.
Dwayne stood over Ariana, clutching a bloody knife in one hand and pointing a pistol at the redhead with the other. Ariana knelt before him, holding a hand to her side where a steady flow of blood was staining her white t-shirt.
"You have no idea how hard I had to search to find you," Dwayne said quietly. "And I see you've made friends," he glared down at Ariana and grinned. "Little bitch has got some fight in her, I'll give her that. Much more than your precious Claire. Doesn't matter though." He pressed the barrel of his gun against the side of Ariana's head. She let out a soft cry, tears of pain and terror filling her eyes.
"Let her go!" Kayla pleaded. Her mind was a blur. She couldn't even think. "Please, just... just let her go. She doesn't have anything to do with this, Dwayne. She's innocent, just... please let her go. Take me, kill me, torture me... whatever you want to do, I don't care. Please, just let her live." She fell to her knees. "We've both lost people we love, Dwayne. Nobody else needs to die. Just end this now."
"Yeah, Kayla," said Dwayne. "I am gonna end this now. See, you're right. We have both lost people we love. But see, you only lost your little slut girlfriend. You took my brother and my girl from me. We gonna be even after this." Dwayne pulled the trigger. The spray of blood splattered across the dusty warehouse floor and Kayla felt her own heart stop. Ariana slumped to the floor and Kayla watched the light leave those beautiful eyes... literally felt the life leave her best friend... and then her eyes snapped open, she sat bolt upright and she screamed.
Ariana woke up too. She looked around their bedroom as though searching for an attacker. Upon seeing nothing, she got to her knees and tried her best to calm Kayla.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," the redhead said gently, taking Kayla's hands and squeezing them reassuringly. "It's okay. You're safe."
"No! No! He killed you! You... you were..." Kayla rambled. She was hysterical; all rational thought had been blown clean out of her mind. Ariana shook her head.
"I'm fine," she said. She gently stroked Kayla's hair and cupped her cheek. "I'm okay. It was just a dream." Kayla buried her face in Ariana's chest and broke down completely. It had all been so real... oh, so real.
"Tell me it was just a dream," Kayla whispered. "Tell me you're real, that you didn't... that he didn't..."
"It was a dream," Ariana replied, gently stroking the back of Kayla's head. “It was just a dream, Kay-Kay. I’m here… I’m right here.” Kayla cried until she couldn’t anymore. She wasn’t really even sure why she was crying. The dream? Claire? What she’d done? All of it? She didn’t care. All she knew was that she had never been more scared in her entire life than when she saw Dwayne standing over Ariana. It was her worst fear brought to life.
Ariana just held her, saying nothing until Kayla had cried herself out and slowly lifted her head. She looked up rather embarrassingly at the redhead, whose blue eyes were wide with concern. Kayla wiped her eyes on her shirt and shook her head miserably.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “You must really think I’m a wimp, getting so worked up over a stupid dream.”
“Dreams can be scary,” said Ariana. One look into those blue pools told Kayla that Ariana spoke from very real experience. “I have bad ones sometimes… really bad.”
“What are they about?” Kayla asked. Ariana didn’t reply. She seemed to go to a far away place that only she could see.
“I don’t have them as often any more,” she said at last. “Not since you’ve been here.” She smiled slightly. “I guess you keep them away.”
“That’s me,” said Kayla with a laugh. “Kayla, the Bad Dream Slayer.” Ariana grinned, but her smile faded quickly.
“So, you dreamed I died?” she asked gently. Kayla nodded.
“Yeah, I… I dreamed I’d fallen asleep on the fire escape. I woke up and you were gone. There was blood on the floor by the couch… Dwayne had you down in the warehouse. He… he shot you. I… I was so sure... It was so real, Ari. So real."
"I know," Ariana whispered. "But it wasn't. It wasn't real, Kayla. It never is."
“I know,” she said, trying to smile. “Like I said, just being silly…”
“You need pancakes,” said Ariana brightly, sliding off the bed. “Pancakes make everything better.” Kayla couldn’t argue against that. Ariana walked out of the room, heading for the kitchen. Kayla leaned back against the pillows, holding a hand to the side of her head which was pounding near to bursting. Her eyes were drawn across the room to her backpack where the .45 she’d taken from her father was stored. She hadn’t taken it out since she’d arrived at the warehouse, but she decided then and there that she was going to start carrying it again… just in case.
As her mind and pulse began to slow back down to a more natural pace, she relaxed a little and allowed herself to watch Ariana bounce around the kitchen, making breakfast. The redhead was so cute when she was cooking. Kayla couldn’t explain it. Most people probably wouldn’t even notice it, but Kayla noticed everything about Ariana.
She watched the girl as she retrieved the hand mixer to prepare the batter. She put the beaters into the mixer and almost dropped it as she leapt back in surprise when the mixer came to life in her hands, the beaters spinning wildly. She got the device back under control, however, and went about making breakfast again. Kayla couldn't help but giggle a little.
She ambled out of bed and wandered out of the bedroom by the time Ariana placed the pancakes on the griddle. The redhead looked up at her and grinned as the brunette sat down at their table.
"You look miserable," said Ariana quite bluntly, leaning back against the cabinet beside the stove.
"I feel miserable, babydoll," said Kayla weakly. "Like I've been hit by a bus…"
“I think you’d feel a lot worse if you were hit by a bus,” said Ariana thoughtfully. “You’d be squished.” That coaxed a smile out of Kayla, which made Ariana beam with happiness.
“Okay,” said Kayla. “I guess I don’t feel quite that bad. Maybe trampled by a pack of wild dogs is more fitting.”
“Dogs are nice,” said Ariana disapprovingly.
“Not all dogs,” said Kayla. “Our neighbor used to have this dog… I swear that little monster was a demon in disguise. It used to chase all the neighborhood kids up and down the street, growling and barking… It chased me up a tree once!”
“Maybe he liked you,” Ariana suggested.
“Oh, he liked me all right,” said Kayla sagely. “He liked the idea of me as his dinner.”
“You might taste really good,” said Ariana, flipping the pancakes. “We could find out,” Kayla desperately tried to ignore the sexual images that statement brought to her mind, realizing that Ariana must certainly mean what she said literally.
“Yeah, well… we’re not gonna,” Kayla replied.
After a breakfast of pancakes and bacon, the girls settled onto the couch. Kayla watched the news with her feet resting in Ariana’s lap. The redhead had her nose buried in The Hunger Games and was idly stroking Fluffers’ fur where he lay on the arm of the sofa.
Later that afternoon, the girls opened the cargo doors to the warehouse and stepped outside. Armed with large snow shovels that they had found in a storage room on the far end of the warehouse, they planned to clear a path to the road so they could get Kayla’s motorcycle out if they needed to. Ariana stepped out first and she sank up to her knees in the snow.
"Damn..." Kayla murmured. Ariana nodded in agreement.
"Winter is coming," she said grimly. Kayla grinned.
"I'd say it's already here, sweetheart,"
They made good progress clearing the driveway until Kayla decided to toss a loosely packed snowball at Ariana’s back. The snow splattered across her jacket and caused her to shriek in surprise. She rounded on Kayla with a look of disbelief on her face.
“Yeah, I did it,” said Kayla stoutly. “What’cha gonna do about it, Red?” Ariana shook her head fiercely.
“Oh, you’re gonna regret that, Austin,” she said sharply. The rest of the afternoon was spent in a run-and-gun snowball fight that ended with Kayla running around Warehouse 14, desperately hoping to avoid Ariana, who had disappeared after Kayla had filled a waste basket with snow and dumped it on her head atop scaffolding behind Warehouse 16.
Kayla glanced behind her as she cautiously approached the open cargo door to Warehouse 15, planning to sneak inside and hide in their apartment. Unfortunately, she couldn’t have picked a worse time. A snowball struck her in the side of the head and knocked her to the ground. Ariana approached her and placed a furry booted foot on her chest as she tried to get up.
Kayla looked up at her grumpily. The redhead’s hair was wild and windswept and her cheeks were pink with cold. Her chest heaved from running and breathing in the icy air and her breath rose in a light mist around her face.
“You… are a bad girl, Kay-Kay,” said Ariana fiercely. “Very bad,” Kayla smirked.
“Oh, darlin’, you have no idea how bad I can be,” Ariana grinned.
“Why don’t you show me,” she said lightly. Kayla shrugged.
“Alright,” With an almighty shove, she pushed Ariana’s foot off of her chest. Now, had our dear Kayla been thinking correctly, she would have realized that causing the person standing on top of you to fall probably isn’t the best idea. She didn’t realize this, however and Ariana fell right on top of her, knocking the breath out of the brunette.
“Oh, are you okay?!” Ariana asked, sitting up, straddling the other girl’s hips and looking down at her worriedly. Kayla waved her away.
“I’m fine, you’re light as a feather,” said Kayla. Ariana was light, but that had hurt like ten different kinds of hell. She played the tough girl card despite the pain in her ribs.
“Oh, you are, are you?” Ariana asked. She leaned down, placing her hands on either side of Kayla, staring straight into the brunette’s brown eyes. “You look a little flushed.”
“It’s cold out here,” said Kayla dismissively. Ariana shook her head. Kayla was suddenly struck with how beautiful Ariana was. Her red mane was flecked with snowflakes; her blue eyes alight with wonder. Her full lips, parted slightly due to her heavy breathing. Kayla sat up, forcing Ariana to slide backward slightly, coming to rest on the brunette's knees.
Kayla would never know, never, no matter how long she lived, what made her do it. She was certain that it was the most difficult thing that she would ever do in her entire life, and yet it was also the simplest. Ariana was looking at her with those wide, innocent blue eyes, so filled with curiosity. Kayla drew closer, half expecting the redhead to back away. She didn't. Kayla's arms snaked gently around the other girl's waist as Ariana tilted her head slightly, a few locks of hair falling across her face.
Kayla moved closer still, so close she could count Ariana's long, full eyelashes. The last thing she saw before her eyes slid closed was the spray of freckles across the redhead's nose. Their lips met. Gently at first, cautious, testing, neither girl wanting to push too far too fast. Kayla, of course, was the more daring of the two and soon she became more passionate, deepening their kiss. It slowly became more adventurous, more exploratory.
Ariana wrapped her arms around Kayla, leaning back until she lay on a bed of fresh snow, the brunette hovering over her. Their lips never parted. Slowly hands began to explore. Gentle, delicate touches. Strokes and occasionally powerful grasps. Surprisingly to Kayla, the only rational thought that penetrated her mind was how Ariana still tasted like strawberries.
The brunette pulled away slowly, her lips leaving a trail of gentle but fiery kisses down the redhead's neck, electing a soft cry of pleasure from her. Kayla's fingers trailed along the waistband of Ariana's jeans, sliding her fingertips along the soft skin of her tummy.
Her hands moved up as their lips found each other once again, tugging the redhead's jacket from her shoulders and latching blindly onto the buttons of her red and white checkered blouse. With one swift motion, she jerked one side of Ariana's blouse, leaving all of the buttons unbuttoned. Ariana grinned.
"Nice," she managed to whisper.
"Yeah, I'm pretty talented with my hands, sweetheart," Kayla replied. Ariana grinned even more.
"Oh, God, I hope so..." she said. Kayla giggled, brushing the other girl's hair away from her flushed face.
"We... probably ought to take this inside," she suggested. Ariana nodded.
"Yeah, we... we probably should," Ariana panted. Kayla stood and held out her hand to help Ariana to her feet and together they returned to the warehouse and started up the fire escape. They stopped several times on the escape's many landings, kissing passionately against the warehouse wall. At long last, they made it into the apartment.
Clothing was shed frantically as the pair fumbled, locked together in a fiery, passionate embrace. They felt their way into Ariana's bedroom. Kayla gently pushed Ariana back onto the soft mattress, allowing herself to carefully fall forward with her. Their lips met once again for a brief moment, before Kayla began to dip lower. As Kayla gently kissed her way down Ariana's body, the redhead stopped her just short of reaching her goal. She looked up at the brunette through pain-filled eyes and reached up with a trembling hand to cup Kayla's cheek.
"Be... gentle with me," she whispered.
"Oh, baby," Kayla whispered, kissing her softly. "Nothing else crossed my mind."
They came together with a renewed vigor, fiery heat consumed them both in that glorious moment. Touches, feelings, the heat that rose up and filled their minds with wanton desire.
They moved together with reckless abandon, working as though they were made for each other. They meshed together, melding to form one mind, one singular being in that sweet, yet oh so brief moment. They floated, rising high on that beautiful swell and then came down slowly, gently, sweetly.
Kayla's mind was a blur, lost in the delirium of her post-orgasm haze. Some time later, she couldn't know how long later, she found herself lying rather unflatteringly on Ariana, listening to Ariana's steady heartbeat. She shifted slightly, causing Ariana to look down at her. Kayla was suddenly devastated to find that she had tears streaming down her beautiful face.
"Oh, honey, what's wrong?" Kayla asked hastily, rising to a sitting position and looking down at Ariana in horror. "Did... did I hurt you? Was it... did I not... Oh, I didn't, did I? Oh, God... Ari, I..." A smile crossed Ariana's face and she shook her head.
"No, Kay-Kay, you were great," she grinned. "You were incredible. I... I don't know where the tears are coming from, but I'm not sad."
"Thank God," said Kayla. She grinned nervously. "I... I was a little worried. This was my... first time, with another girl anyway. I was afraid that I... but if you're sure, then... well..." She broke off, snuggling back down beneath the thick blankets and burying her face in Ariana's neck.
"What are you thinking about?" Ariana asked quietly. Kayla laughed.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing," she replied. "We are such girls." Kayla drifted off soon after, lost to the most beautiful dreams she had ever had.
When she woke again, Ariana was gone. The smell of something wonderful frying in the kitchen told her that the redhead had decided to cook something. Her version of smoking a cigarette? Kayla didn't even want to think about it. She slipped out of bed and slipped into one of Ariana's oversized t-shirts that she often wore to bed. She padded out into the living room where she found Ariana standing by the stove. She was wrapped in a fluffy, light pink bathrobe and stirring a pot of boiling water and macaroni.
"Hey," Kayla said, walking over and capturing Ariana's lips in a quick-yet-passionate kiss. "Macaroni and cheese?" Ariana nodded.
"It's late so I thought I'd make something simple," she said.
"Works for me," said Kayla. She sat down in one of the chairs at the table and watched her girlfriend cook for a moment. 'HOLD ON' Kayla's mind screamed at her. 'Wait just a bleeding second here! Girlfriend?!!? Is that what we are now? Girlfriends?' Of course things were going to be different now, were going to change, but Kayla hadn't really given any thought to that before. Everything had just happened so fast, she hadn't had time to think about what the ramifications would be.
But would there be ramifications? Ariana seemed happy and Kayla, herself, was deliriously overjoyed. Maybe they would be okay. Maybe... maybe things were turning around. Maybe Kayla's life was finally starting to settle down and make sense again. If they really made each other so happy, and Kayla truly believed this to be true, then perhaps the fact that she already considered Ariana to be her girlfriend was just the natural progression of their far too rapidly developing relationship.
More than anything, Kayla wished she could talk to her mother. She had always been able to talk to her mom about stuff like this, and she was really good with advice. She'd know exactly what to do. Kayla hadn't spoken to her mother since just after she had gone on the run. She had called home from Phoenix and told her mother everything. She had agreed to cover for her and pretend to Dwayne, assuming he ever managed to find her in San Francisco, that she had know idea what her daughter had done. If she called home now... no good could come from it.
Ariana put an end to Kayla's musings by placing a steaming plate of macaroni in front of her. She swooped in and kissed her on the cheek before returning to the stove to collect her own plate. She sat down across from Kayla and looked up at her, grinning happily.
"You're thinking about something difficult," said Ariana firmly. "I'm getting good at reading you, sweetie. What's up?"
"I was just thinking about us... and about home," said Kayla quietly. "I'm so happy, but... I just really miss my mom and my little sister." Ariana nodded slowly.
"I'm sorry you can't go home, Kay-Kay," she said sadly. Her face suddenly brightened. "Oh! But you could call them!" Kayla shook her head.
"No," she said firmly. "If I call home, if I talk to my mom I know she'll ask me to come home... and I probably would. No, kiddo, I'm not calling her."
"I could call her," Ariana said quietly. "I know how to work a phone."
"You're not calling her either, Ari," said Kayla sharply. "Look, I shouldn't have even said anything. I just... miss her, is all. It's too dangerous to call, Ari. If Dwayne ever figured out... No, I'm serious Ari. Drop it."
But Ariana didn't drop it. In fact, she clung to it as tightly as she could throughout the evening and held on to it as Kayla kissed her goodnight and they fell into bed together.
Nearly an hour after crawling into bed, however, Ariana slipped out again and slipped her dainty feet into her slippers.
She looked down at Kayla, who was fast asleep and her heart seized with bittersweet compassion. Kayla Austin was such a devastated, broken wreck of a girl, so very like Ariana herself. She was surrounded by a cloud of deep anguish that no one other than Ariana seemed to be able to see. Ariana so longed to help her, to free her from her blanket of torment that she was cloaked in. She just didn't know how.
Ariana knew she wasn't normal. Her brain didn't work like other people's did. She wished she was like everyone else, but she never would be. She was simply too damaged to ever be whole again. She wondered what it felt like; to be normal. To be able to focus one's thoughts, to only have one voice inside her head instead of so many competing opinions on every single thing she thought about.
But that would never be. Kayla, though... Kayla could heal. Ariana knew it. She could see it. She just needed help. Ariana thought she knew a way to start, but she was just as scared as Kayla was. Ariana knew nothing of love; she'd never truly experienced it. Not parental love, and she had only just begun to understand friendship and romantic love. The only thing she knew was that Kayla needed a very great deal of love.
Kayla's feelings for Ariana had finally come out, but she was still so afraid of them because of Claire. The dead girl was the source of Kayla's problems. She clung to the brunette like a disease, to which there was no cure. But Ariana was determined to find one.
She wasn't fighting solely for Kayla, though. She was in this for herself as well. Kayla had dropped into her world so suddenly that it had taken her a while to realize exactly what having a friend really meant. Kayla had come, in the space of six days, to be the most important person in Ariana's small, simple life. It was so strange, so wondrous and new. She was enraptured.
But tonight, she had something altogether more important than her and Kayla's future together. She was doing the right thing, she was so sure. She prayed she really was. If she was wrong, if Kayla wouldn't forgive her... she wasn't sure what she would do. She turned away and went back into the living room. She padded to the sofa where Kayla's phone lay on the coffee table along with the TV guide, a stack of magazines, and the bottle of sleeping pills she had given the other girl days before.
Ariana picked up the bottle and shook it lightly. Only a single pill rattled around inside. She sighed heavily. She was glad they were almost gone. She had wanted them gone for months but hadn't had the courage to flush them. They were her way out, her escape when the pain became too great. She'd tried them once, the day her grandfather died. She wanted to escape... for her agony to end. She'd taken nearly the whole bottle. She had wanted to die. It would've been so much easier for her... but death had refused to claim her. She had survived and had chosen to try to find a way to live with her grandfather's passing... with the death of the only person who had ever truly cared for her before Kayla.
She had kept the pills, not because she had enough left to end her life if she took them, but because when she looked at that bottle it reminded her that she never wanted to go back to that dark place again. She hovered near it so often, that terrible black horror so ever present in her life, that she wasn't sure how she stayed away from it. But somehow she did. The following day, the last pill would be gone and she was scared that without the pills, she would slip back again. She prayed that Kayla would protect her... Kayla always protected her.
Ariana picked up Kayla's phone and quickly scrolled through to the Contacts. She found the one she was looking for, but she paused as she reached for the Call button while her mind fought a fierce battle with itself.
'Go on, do it! Do it, it's the right thing,' said one part of her mind.
'Yeah, go ahead! You know Kayla will forgive you. She loves you. Do it! Help her!' said another part.
'But what if you're wrong? What if she hates you for it and never forgives you? What if she leaves and you end up alone again. Don't do it. It's stupid. Mind your own business.' said a third part of her mind.
'No, no, it's a good idea. You should do it! Do it now! Really, you'll make Kayla feel better!'
'No, you'll make her feel worse! She'll feel like a coward for not being able to call herself. Don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong! Stay out of it!'
This is what happened in Ariana's mind every minute of every hour of every day. Never a moment of peace, of clarity. Sometimes she just said things, things that often made no sense to others or even to herself, just to let some of the rambling thoughts out. If she didn't, she was sure her brain would explode. After minutes of roundabout thought, she sank onto the sofa, tucking her long legs beneath herself as the phone began to ring.
"Hello?" said a quiet voice after a few rings.
"Hello," Ariana said nervously. "Mrs. Penny Austin?"
"I used to be," said the voice. "Who is this?"
"Mrs. Austin, my name is Ariana." Ariana replied. "I'm calling because... well, because I know your daughter." A sharp intake of breath came through the phone.
"You... you know Kayla?" Penny exclaimed. "Is she with you? Is she okay? Is she..."
"She's... good," said Ariana gently. "She's sad... she wishes she could come home, but... well, I don't know how much you know..."
"I know everything," said Penny. "I know what she did and I know why she can't come home. But she's with you, then? Where are you?"
"She's staying with me, yes," said Ariana. "We sort of... bumped into each other and she moved in for a while. As for where we are... well, I think it's best for all of us if we don't go spreading that around. Just... I wanted you to know that she's safe and that she loves you."
"You're taking care of her?" Ariana giggled.
"We're... taking care of each other," she replied. "We're kind of a good fit for each other. I'm really glad she showed up here."
"Will you... will you try to get her to call me?" Penny pleaded. "I really need to hear her voice."
"Of course, Mrs. Austin," said Ariana kindly.
"Oh, please call me Penny," said Penny warmly. "You're taking care of my daughter in her darkest hour. That practically makes us family."
"It's nice to have family," said Ariana. "I don't have any." Well, way to go, Ari. Why did you have to go and say that? You're making people feel bad again. Stop!
"Well, you... you certainly do now, dear," said Penny. "Please, take care of my little girl. Keep her safe. Keep her alive."
"I promise," said Ariana. "She'll be safe with me. There's nothing I wouldn't do for her, Penny. Nothing. I’d die for her if I had to." Ariana could almost hear the relief from Kayla's mother.
"I'm so glad she has you, Ariana." said Penny. "Thank you so much for calling, dear."
"You're welcome," said Ariana quietly. "Good night, Mrs. Austin."
"Good night, sweetheart," Penny replied. "And tell my daughter that I love her."
"I will," said Ariana. She lowered the phone when she heard the line disconnect and she sighed heavily. She was satisfied that she had made the right choice... up until the point she stood up from the couch and found Kayla staring at her from the bedroom door.
Ariana was sure that her heart stopped there for a minute. She had never been scared of Kayla, even after she had told her about her murderous rampage. She knew that Kayla would never actually hurt her, but the furious glare on her face terrified her. The brunette lunged forward, marching deliberately across the room straight at Ariana. For an insane second, Ariana thought Kayla was going to punch her but instead she engulfed her in a tight hug and broke down sobbing into her shoulder.
"Thanks, Ari," she whispered. "Really, thanks. I didn't... I didn't realize how much that would... that having her know that I'm okay... Just... thank you."
"So... you're not mad at me?" Ariana asked, her racing heart slowly returning to normal.
"Mad? Ari, I'm elated!" Kayla exclaimed, stepping back from her, but keeping a firm grasp on her shoulders with both hands. "I'm so glad that she knows now, and I really..."
"You should call her," Ariana said quickly. She had to try. She had promised after all to do her best to get Kayla to call her mother, and to keep her safe... and Ariana always kept her promises. "Seriously, Kay-Kay... call her. She really wants to talk to you."
"I told you, I can't," said Kayla firmly. "I... I just can't. I..."
"Call her," Ariana insisted, pressing the phone into the brunette's hands. "If me talking to her helped you this much, you talking to her will be even better. Call her." Kayla looked down at the phone, her hands shaking. She glanced up at Ariana, who nodded encouragingly. She sighed and started dialing. She started pacing the length of the room while it rang.
"Hello?" came her mother's voice.
"Um... Hi, Mom. It's me," said Kayla nervously. "Yeah, I know... Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't call... No, no, I'm fine Mom, really... No, I'm safe for now... With Ariana, yeah... Right, yeah, she's really... she's really sweet." Kayla paused, glancing over at Ariana who smiled warmly back at her. "Yeah, Mom, she's taking good care of me. She's a sweetheart... loves to cook. She's beautiful and so kind... Yeah, I'm glad I found her too... No, I can't say where I am. It's probably not a good idea to go spreading that around..."
Ariana slowly retreated to the bedroom, leaving Kayla alone to talk with her mother. She paused at the door and watched her for a moment before slipping away and leaving the other girl in peace. She leaned against the wall by the door, a victorious smile on her face. She'd gotten her best friend to call her mother. She only had one last task to accomplish. She had to protect Kayla. She had to keep her best friend safe. She had promised… and she always kept her promises.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7O2IAJaJ3
