The Outsider

Now My Turn to Tell, Huh?

We finally made the fire and sat in front of it. We started from talking about fires and I somehow ended up telling her my entire life story.

At times I thought I was being too much, but she was curiously listening and asking questions, so I kept going. I probably spoke for about two hours on end.

"What about your family?" I asked her after we ate our dinner.

"What about it?"

"Joe told us that you guys do a lot of traveling."

"Uh, yeah, we do."

"What's been your favorite destination?"

"There's a lot to choose from, but I'd say Australia."

"Ahhh, solid choice. The girls keep telling us how beautiful it is out there."

"Yeah, it is."

"Any special memories?"

"Now my turn to tell, huh?"

"You got it," I said with a smile.

"Umm, okay, so last year when we, umm, got to Sydney, we immediately went to the beach because my parents love it there. There my mom was so-."

She stopped talking.

I said, "So what? Go on," but she didn't seem to be listening.

"Viv, are you okay?"

"My parents are dead. They died when I was six."

That was the last thing I expected to hear.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.

"I don't remember them much, so it's ok, I guess."

"Who raised you, then?"

"Their colleague. He took care of me my entire life and taught me everything I know. But I haven't traveled the world and, more importantly, I haven't done it with my parents. In fact, I haven't been anywhere else on Earth besides the UK."

"I'm sorry for bringing up this topic."

"You told me everything about yourself, so it's only fair that you want to know about me too."

"You don't have to tell me anything, if you don't wa-."

"Do you wanna know how my parents died? They were killed."

"What?"

"Yeah, their best friend killed them in cold blood. See, that's why I don't trust people because you never know what their true intentions are. He ruined our lives and others do the same thing every day. Humans are born to hurt each other."

"Why would he do that to his friends, though?"

"They were working on a huge project together and he was not willing to share the fame and recognition, even though my parents did most of the work."

"That's horrible. I'm so sorry you had to go through this."

Silence.

"How am I supposed to trust people? How am I supposed to know who's good and who's bad?" she said and started crying.

I didn't know what to do. I don't think anything would make her feel better.

She looked at me and found me staring at her. She wiped her tears away, but broke down crying even harder. I couldn't help it and went up to her. I wrapped my arms around her and she held onto me tightly.

"I know these sound like empty words, but I hope you believe me when I say that we only want the best for you and would never do anything to hurt you."

"Thank you."

hi :)
thank you so much for all the love on this story <3 means so much to me)))

i am literally always so impatient to post new chapters YOU HAVE NO IDEA