Writing Prompts and Short Stories

Liar/Sweet Lies

TW: Major Character Death, Mention of Abuse, Mention of Torture

"I won't and I'm not lying to you. Never will"

'Will you leave me too?' The answer to my question was so clear, so confident. It made me want to believe in the steady voice uttering these words.

Roughly six months passed since Luciana pulled me off the streets and took me in. I didn't understand why she would do this, I still don't. Being all gloomy and anxious, my personality didn't really mesh with the bright, optimistic character of the women. Even if we shared her appartment for the last half year, we practically were strangers. I know her name, age and the fact she works with, or at least did so once, abused children. I needn't to more, or more likely I didn't dared to ask. It was intruding into her private life and I was already satisfied that she took in this baggage to soiciety. Not like Luciana (Luce, how she preferably would be called) knew much more about me either. Just a 15 year old girl named Cate she picked up on the streets, that has been abused. Oh, and I guess I told her I was on the run while being unconcious, but pray to god didn't tell her who is chasing me. The questions about that were uncomfortable and I got to hand her, she wouldn't pry further after noticing my discomfort.

To "pay" for the stay I usually did the housework when Luce was off to work. Rule #1: Always make sure to finish before she's back. That way we wouldn't run into each other, or so my belief at the beginning was. It didn't work out and it was my fault. My own stupidity, which led me to get closer to her, to emotionally bond with her, to trust her. How naïve I was. What kind of idiocy did I believe, when I started following her around, started getting clingy again? I knew it wouldn't end good, one of us would end up hurting and I'd be left once again. But whenever I had those nightmares of the cult, the hot iron, and the screaming of the sacrifices, the 29 year old woman woke me up, gave me a cup of warm tea and started to talk to me. I was really sorry for waking her up in the middle in the night but Luce's voice was soothing and kind of comforting, a fact I learned at those times.

Well, but alas, life thought it was too easy and I need another punch in the face to wake up. Around ten months after I got picked up, a four months after Luciana promised me she wouldn't leave nor lie, they found me, they found us.

It was Saturday, we were taking a stroll to the nearby harbor. The weather was hot, it was mid-summer after all. We took unusual long today. Anxiety started shaking my body, my guts were telling me something bad was about to happen. I tried to warn Luce, but she laughed me off.

"Careful, little one, you're gonna jinx it", she said. She was treating me like a child again, I hated it whenever she did this. My eyes glanced around, but there was nothing. When the heck did we arrive in this abandoned place and why? I stopped walking. The situation felt wrong in so many things. First of all, an abandoned harbor. Seriously? How much of a cliché do you want to display? Second, Luciana's voice was trembling when she answered, faint but noticeable. If something was going on, why didn't she tell me? Maybe I could help, but she closed off and instead treated me like a kid that knew nothing about this world.

"What exactly is going on here. What game do you play?"

"What do you mean, everything is fine! There is nothing that could happen here, is there?" There it was again, the trembling in her voice. This time a lot stronger.

"How big of an idiot do you think I am?! This is not the route we usually take, we've never even been here before! Also, if nothing was wrong as you said, why do you look like you're about to cry? Don't screw me!" I started seeing red, anger taking over. The tears in the corner of Luce's eyes started to flow down, making a mess out of her beautiful face. Despite being on the brink of collapsing the young woman smiled, or at least she tried to. It just didn't quite work.