Her Desired Fate

1: An Expected Ending

Seeing the smirk on Olivia's face as she pulled the trigger made me realise how much of a mistake I had made. At first, I was worried that she would become like Orion but no; she became like me, she became a monster tainted by the views of the ones she trusted. It wasn't supposed to end like this. It was supposed to be Trey who killed Orion or Orion who killed me at the least. Olivia wasn't supposed to be the murderer of this scene, I never wanted this lifestyle for her. I didn't even want it to be my own but unlike her, I had no choice. She had a choice, but she chose the path that would end with her in a concrete box with metal bars for windows.

That's when I felt the pain, the sorrow. I didn't even care about the bullet that was piercing into my chest. Yes, it hurt but not as much as the demeanour plastered across Olivia's face. I saw my younger self in her, I wanted to protect her. Yet, once again, I let my personal needs get in the way of what I genuinely wanted. I planned to take Olivia under my wing, teach her that there's so much more to life than being a vigilante and being what everyone around you fears. She had so much more life to see but now that she's killed me, she won't see any of it. She'll be arrested or at least, that's what could happen. Knowing her father, he'll have a trick up his sleeve to keep her away from that situation.

I looked down at my chest, my shirt now stained red from the blood that had waterfalled the entire time. I wanted to cry, I wanted to finally show that I too was human and had emotions, but I couldn't. The tears were in my eyes, but they wouldn't fall. It's pitiful that even during my last moments, I remained stubborn, especially toward myself. I felt my legs give way and I crumbled to the floor. I wanted to wail in agony like a person normally would after being shot but I was still being drowned in an ocean of disbelief. Instead, a limp cough echoed past my lips, and I felt the warmth leave me, the icy chill settling in. I was numb, I was fading.

'This is it,' I thought to myself. 'It's my time.'

As I was ready to let myself go, Trey fell to his knees beside me with tear-stained cheeks. He was yelling but I couldn't hear anything he was saying behind the vigorous ring that blasted through my ears. I tried to reach my arm out to cup his cheek in my hand, but it wouldn't move and instead became colder. I settled in my fate and sent him a tired smile as I continued to get colder and colder, and my vision started to fade to black.

'This is it,' I thought again. 'It's my time to be free.'

That's when everything became dark and the ringing stopped, but it didn't stay like that for long.

The black suddenly flashed white and I sat up, though I wasn't in Olivia's bedroom anymore. I was in a room that had screens of memories surrounding me. The walls behind looked like the skies in space, a deep shade of blue with white specks that travelled on for miles. I looked around at the memories around me and I recognised them all. I rushed over to the memory that showed an image of my mother and the tears that I didn't realise I was holding spilled down like hail.

As I approached the memory, the screen became bigger and bigger until I was reliving it.

"Zara, my love," Her soft voice echoed. "We as women have to become men to live in this world."

"But Mama, how can I become a man? I'm only a girl." I responded, though I never opened my mouth.

I turned around to see a younger version of myself. She seemed so innocent, so pure. I wanted to tell her to run away but it was obvious that she couldn't see me, let alone hear me. More tears rolled across my cheeks, and I fell to my knees.

"Please," I uttered through my sobs. "Don't let her have the future I experienced. She deserved so much better, so much more love. If I had gotten more love than I received at that age, maybe this wouldn't have been my fate."

There was no response, which was what I expected, but what shocked me was the fact I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I jumped back to my feet in terror, though when I turned there wasn't anyone behind me. Anger rose within me, and I sniffled back more tears.

"Reveal yourself!" I called.

No response.

"Please..." I whimpered, my tears continuing to drip down. "I don't want to be alone here."

"You aren't alone," a voice responded, and it grew louder as if it was walking toward me.

I ran in the direction the voice was coming from because I knew exactly who it was, and my sobs grew to the point where they were uncontrollable. The further I got, the more my hope faltered but I wasn't giving up. I had to find him. I had to find my father because if he was here, that meant that my mother was too. I could be happy, even in this house of memories, if they were there with me.

Soon I saw memories that I didn't recognise and that was clear enough for me that there was at least one other person with me.

"Where are you?" I called; my voice tired from the fatigue that started to build within me.

"I'm here," my father responded.

I picked up my speed, my tears were now gone as I still headed in my father's direction, and soon enough, I saw him. He still had his dirty blonde hair and matching stubble on his cheeks. When he saw me, tears clouded his eyes, and he opened his arms. I walked over and lovingly accepted his hug.

"I missed you, Papa." I smiled sadly as I looked up at him.

"I missed you too, mi dulce hija." He chuckled sadly.

'This is it.' I thought. 'I can finally be happy.'