baby // m.c

1

There are very few things in this world that I let affect me. I love spiders, all heights are to me is a good opportunity to see new views, and stage freight? Hell, my job is to stand in front of multiple cameras a day. But the one thing that does affect me heavily is death. I've had a hard, hard time with death and it's repercussions. Which is why, I had a total breakdown the one time I needed my sister the most and she didn't answer.

Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring, ri- "Hey! It's Mali Koa, leave a message at the be-" "God, fuck!" I scream, dropping my phone and ringing my hands through my light curly mane, tugging at it. "God, please let Calum answer." I cry, looking up to the sky in my tear filled haze.

I dial my brother's number, praying to whatever God was in the sky. It rings for a few seconds before I hear my brother's voice and let out a sigh of relief. "Tori, is this really that important? I'm over at Luke's house and we're a little, um, busy." He says, and I try my hardest to hold in my sobs, but after a second a gut wrenching one tumbles out of my mouth and I clamp my hand over my mouth, gasping for air.

"Tori? Oh my God, Tori, where are you?" Calum says and I can hear shuffling, most likely Calum putting his clothes on. I shake my head, still sobbing and reminiscing on the phone call that had gotten me to this state of mind.

I had just gotten done with my shoot for Vogue magazine. I'm not being put as a cover story, but as an internal. Meet The Model Taking Over Australia At Age 20! "Good job, Hood." the photographer, Ju-Sung, patted me on the back as I was leaving the set to go to the dressing rooms. "Thanks, Ju-Sung, e-mail me when they're finished, yeah?" I waved to him as I walked into my dressing room. I see I have a missed call on my phone from... America? Oh my God, I think, nobody from America has called me in almost 5 years.

I press redial and wait for the ringing to go through until someone says the line that makes my heart stop dead in its tracks. "Grant Martin High School, Julia Allen speaking. How may I help you?" Holy shit. "Hi, Mrs. Allen, this is Tori Finati. Is, um, I had a missed call?" I manage to choke out, willing my heart to start back up. "Oh my goodness! Tori Finati! How are you my darling! Oh, blasted, you have no time to talk to me, you're a celebrity now! Here, let me connect you to Mrs. Cole!" Mrs. Allen babbles on, supplying a grin onto my face even though my heart is going between 0 and 600 mph right now. 

The line rings for a few seconds more before  voice I've come to know and love speaks to me. "Belle Cole speaking, how may I help you?" I take a deep breath. "Mrs. Cole? It's Tori Finati? I think you called me earlier." I say, my voice becoming more confident. It's just Mrs. Cole, she wouldn't ever hurt me, right? "Tori, oh my gosh! How are you doing sweet bean?" she says, making me grin and let out a chuckle. "I'm doing just fine, Mrs. Cole. Just working and such." She lets out a hearty laugh, making my smile bigger. "'Just working and such.' Like you haven't been named The Woman Who's Taking Over Australia." she says and we both laugh for a minute.

"Ah, well." She says in her counselor voice, making me sober up immediately. "Mrs. Cole, what's going on?" I ask and I hear her heave a big sigh. "Well, Tori, I'm afraid there's been some bad news I had reported to me today." she says and my shoulders automatically stiffen. "Mrs. Cole, what's going on?" I say a bit more firmly. "Well, Tori, there's been a Jane Doe in the morgue over in Uptown, and she's finally been identified." she says, and I give a sigh, slightly confused. "Well, Mrs. Cole, that's great but, why is that bad news to me?" I say and I swear I hear her choke up a little. "Tori, the woman was Kelsey Finati. Your mother is dead, sweet bean."

Your mother is dead.

Its dead silent on the phone for a moment before I take a deep breath. "What happened? How the hell did she get to Man-fucking-hattan?" I spit out, suddenly more pissed off than I've been since I moved to Sydney. "Well," Mrs. Cole says, completely unaffected by my change in tone. "Apparently, one of her, um, clients, lived in Manhattan. He took her to his house, they did what your mother does, and he killed her. Her remains were found in his bathtub drain a few weeks later."

Again, silence.

"I've got to go." I say, not waiting for a reply before dropping my phone, swigging from the complementary bottle of champagne, stumbling out and dropping next to the building, which is where I am now.

"Toria Arabelle Finati-Hood, you are going to fucking breathe, and you are going to tell your brother and I where the hell you are so we can come get you." Luke says, snapping me out of my trance. "I'm a-at the Vogue s-sh-oot." I manage to sob out before breaking down in entirety once more. "Okay, Tori Bug, we'll be there in 10 minutes okay? Just breathe. Calum! Get the fuc-" The phone clicks before I can hear the rest of my brother's boyfriend's rant. Usually, I would call him back and tell him to not fuck with my brother too much, but right now all I can think of is one simple thing:

Why is this happening to me?