Blood and Sweaters

Chapter 18

Dysphoria
An unwell feeling

Pure agony. That's what Aria had been filled with over the past few days. She felt like the most thirsty person on earth standing in front of a cool stream of water and she couldn't have a single drop. All her life's training had come down to this one moment and now even though Marta was here, in this very town, she was within Aria's reach and still just out of her grasp. And it was driving her insane. She couldn't eat or sleep. Her mind was consumed by the thought of Marta. Fear of failure filled her heart. What if she wouldn't be able to avenge her family? What if she had come this close only to fail? What if she could never find Marta? It was like she could hear the last Cabrera laughing at her. Mocking her. Rage crammed in her body. She needed to let go of this feeling. She needed to an escape. Grabbing her car keys from the nearby table she stormed out of the building.

Veronica started to follow her frustrated cousin but Ransom caught her arm.

"Let me go," he simply said to the red-haired, before following Aria out of the building.

Veronica reluctantly agreed, she knew how Aria could get when she was angry, and this was what she was feeling right now was way beyond anger. She had never seen her cousin this furious before. It was almost as if Aria was at a breaking point. She feared what would happen if they didn't find Marta soon.

"Come on boys. We have a shrew to hunt down."

~~~

Marta Cabrera sat by her hotel room window watching the busy city around her. It was a huge gamble for her to walk into this town unarmed but if she pulled it off correctly she knew it would drive Aria to the brink of insanity. So far her plan was going smoothly, she showed up in Spain, made sure one of the Torreto watchdogs spotted her, and then she vanished. Well in actuality she didn't vanish it took a lot of planning and quite a few cab changes not to mention she had to stay in this crappy hotel under a false name but it will all pay off once she succeeded.

The plan was a simple one. All she had to do was lay low long enough for Aria starts questioning if they had ever even seen her in the first place. Once they tire of looking for her and Aria is at the threshold of madness then she would slip out of the country. Aria would have lost her mind and the rest of the Torretos would be so busy trying to fix her they wouldn't even notice Marta slipping out of their grasp. That is how she would earn back her freedom and take down the Torretos.

Not every story of vengeance required bloodshed.

~~~

Aria drove until the city was far behind her. Trees blurred around her as she stepped on the gas. She didn't know where she was going, no destination in mind. All she knew was that she needed to escape. A cliff came into view, all of a sudden the cool, dark water seemed to call out her name.

Maybe feeling the water was all she needed to calm the loud voices and disturbing thoughts in her mind... Maybe she didn't need to avenge her family...
Maybe she just needed to meet them...
Maybe they were waiting for her...
She could see her dad's bright smile, feel her mother's warm embrace, hear Ada's and Tommy's laughter. Her heart longed for them to be together once again.

That was when she heard the loud screeching sound of metal against metal. She didn't even realize how far off she had strayed from the road until now. Her car had broken through the barricades and was now flying in full force into the crashing waves below. She was paralyzed in shock and fear as she was engulfed in the freezing cold water. Adrenaline shot through her body as she tried to get out of the car. Grabbing her gun from the glove compartment, she banged against the window, managing to break it. Her lungs burned for air, she needed to get to the surface. Pushing through the broken window, a piece of glass sliced deep into her side coloring the beautiful blue waters scarlet. She could feel exhaustion set in, slowly her body started giving in to the fatigue.

Her entire life started playing in front of her eyes. So many memories. So many faces. Mom. Dad. Ada. Tommy. John. Tio. Veronica.

And finally Ransom. Her pain in the ass, smart mouth sweetheart, Ransom. Her one regret in life would be that she would never get to see him again.

~~~