Start Loving Me

Chapter Three: The Deafening Sound Of Her Heart

Ariel settles for a tight fitting black dress, while Ama and Ana keeps rummaging for dresses on the rack.

Ariel walks to the  glass and looks out the window, watching the world go by, feeling a little bit bored and restless. The mall is crowded and she's starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.
Suddenly, she sees something that catches her attention- a little girl,dressed in a short length white flowing dress getting down from a black car which looked like a 2021 Mercedes Benz CLA 250 running across the street. Ariel's heart starts racing as she watches the girl run into the path of an oncoming truck.

As the truck hurtles towards the little girl, Ariel's breath catches in her throat. She sees a woman who she assumes is the girl's mother running after her,trying desperately to catch up,but it's too late. The truck slams into the girl, flinging her body in the air and then onto the ground,right in front of the mall's entrance. The sound of the impact is so sickening,and the scene is frozen in time,as if everything has suddenly stopped.

People begin to scream and rush over to the girl, but Ariel is frozen in place, unable to move. She feels like she's in a nightmare, and she can't seem to wake up. She watches as the girl's mother rushes to her daughter, wailing and sobbing. The girl lies motionless on the ground, her dress stained with blood. Ariel feels her legs give way beneath her, and she sinks to the floor, feeling numb and in shock.

As the scene unfolds, Ariel feels completely overwhelmed by the horror of what she just saw. She can hear the girl's mother's anguished cries, and she can see the shocked and horrified faces of the people around her. She tries to catch her breath, but it's as if the air has been sucked out of the room. She feels like she's going to pass out, but somehow, she manages to stay conscious.
Then, she hears a voice calling her name. She looks up, and she sees Ama, who has noticed her distress and is rushing over to help her.

Ana also rushes over,they asked what the problem was,Ariel points to the glass,they looked down and saw the scene,Shock was written all over their faces and they turned to Ariel,who was already getting on her feet to go down.They follow asking if she was okay going down there,she nods and they all walk into elevator,the silence that surrounded the entire elevator was sickening.
As soon as they get out of the elevator,the entrance of the mall was crowded,Ariel and her friends get through the crowd,they could hear the siren of an ambulance that already arrived,as soon as Ariel gets to the front,what she sees makes her legs wobbly. It was her mother, sitting on the floor crying her eyes out,while her father tried to hold her mother as tears fell down his face.

The sight of her parents crying was too much for Ariel to bear. She felt a wave of nausea wash over her, and she thought she might faint. Her friends put their arms around her, trying to give her some comfort, but she felt numb. She couldn't take her eyes off her parents, and she couldn't seem to make sense of what was happening.
Then, a police officer approached her and said, "Are you Ariel Harris?"
She nodded, and the officer continued, "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. I need you to come with me."

The drive to the hospital was making Ariel dizzy as she rode in the police car.
"Ariel?" The cop called trying to get her attention
"Yes" she responded
"Did you know your parents were coming over today?" He asked while trying to read her expressions
"No" she responded her voice shaky
"What were you-" the cop was cut off,when the driver announced they had arrived at the hospital.

Ariel got down without glancing at the cop,she ran to the reception and asked the receptionist where a young girl in blood stained dress was taken to, the receptionist looked at her warily before directing her.

Ariel dashed for the Elevator without thanking the receptionist, as soon as the elevator dinged and it opened revealing some people who started getting out,she rushed in pushing some people, getting cursed at,she pressed the 4th floor button, pacing anxiously in the elevator, hoping that the child that was hit wasn't - no she stopped herself from thinking of such as she wiped the tears on her face. She believed that it was probably her little cousin or the daughter of her mum's friend,she knew it was wicked of her to think of this but she didn't care about it at the moment. This she hoped because the little girl had been put into the ambulance before she got down and before she could even ask her parents what made them cry so much,the police officer called her.