A Game of Chess || Jim Moriarty short story (Finished)

Part 1

Violet has always been addicted to danger. It was her thing, the feeling of blood pumping through her veins and heart beating fast as her body got filled with adrenaline; it was her favourite feeling on the world. Ever since she was a little girl.

It all started when she was 8 years old. Her mother desperately wanted her to participate in some activity and at the time, her favourite animal were horses. Her mother was always a persistent woman, she always pushed Violet, trying to get the best out of her but at the same time, being a single mother with an only child that - thankfully didn't cause her much trouble - she wanted to give and make everything possible for Violet so, on Violet's request, she enrolled her into horseback riding classes. It was all great, her mother was proud of her and Violet really enjoyed it, being high in the air, riding a majestic animal that could potentially, if she handled it wrong, hurt her. It filled her mind a sense of excitement which she quickly grew fond of. After a while though, she got bored and wanted to move on, do something new, something daring, yet she knew her mother wouldn't approve of her constant change of mind. But nevertheless she desperately wanted to feel the rush of doing something exciting and maybe even dangerous again.

So, one day in one of her classes, she decided to kick it up a notch. She was still very new to this and she was only with the beginners group but she, oh so desperately, wanted to feel the buzz again so she, while riding, unhooked the horse from the middle post that all of them were tied to, to prevent any of them from running freely and to keep them going in a circle so the instructors could keep a better eye on everybody. She nudged the side of the horse harshly with her boot, making it squeal loudly as it jumped, raising its two front legs high in the air making Violet hold on tightly, before it bolted away from the group. The whole thing - the class - was held on a big farm, the only thing separating them from the 'wild' was a fence that the horse Violet was on jumped over with ease, making her laugh loudly. The group that she left behind was screaming in panic, instructors getting on their own horses to chase after the two, probably thinking that Violet was scared and panicking. But that wasn't the case at all because this was it, this was the feeling that she craved, the adrenalin pumping through her as the horse bolted across the field with such speed that, if she fell off it, would most definitely kill her.

Eventually, the horse slowed down and the instructors caught up with them, getting her off the animal without any harm being done, still thinking the horse just 'panicked' for some reason. And she never told them what really happened. After that, as you can imagine, her mother signed her off the program and even though she really did like it, after a few days she didn't really miss it all. At least, not the riding. The craving for the feeling came back shortly though, but she managed to supress it just enough so she could go day through day without wanting to do something reckless. Deep down though, she just wished an opportunity came around, so she could properly feel again.

Until she was 15 years old, she didn't do many reckless stuff. At least not so daring that her mother would freak out about it. She snaked out in the middle of the night a couple of times and just sat in the backyard, behind the shed. The action gave her a quick fix of adrenalin as she walked through the house quietly, trying not to get caught. Sometimes, she stole some change out of her mum's purse when she wasn't looking and that change soon turned to cigarettes so by the time she turned 15, she had quite a stash under her bed. Her mother noticed that her cigarettes kept going missing as she'd put the pack away when only two or three were missing and when she next took it out, half of them were gone already but Violet never got caught. Because who would suspect their 14 year old daughter was stealing them? She never smoked them so her mother couldn't smell it on her. When she turned 17 though, the stash of her mum's cigarettes grew smaller and smaller every day as the next daring thing she got addicted to was actually smoking them, without her mom finding out. That was the only thing that stuck with her throughout her entire childhood as she, still to this day, smokes.