Bruises ( Ariel Celeste Black)

Chapter 14.3

Author's note: I am alive (unfortunately)

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Minos Gaunt.

The name haunted her every thought, every breath, every blink of her eye.

Ariel had spent the last few months practically inhaling his books, all of them. She was a bit too young to understand everything written in them, but it had been a downward spiral of trying to understand. She had grown closed off, and the voice in her head had been quietening- or rather, that is what she told her friends. 

It had become louder. Guiding her somewhere, somewhere she couldn't point out. The Chamber of Secrets had been opened at Hogwarts just a few days ago, by none other than Ginny Weasley, and then Harry Potter had defeated the basilisk. That's all Dumbledore told everyone, anyway. No details, nothing. Okay, cool. At least they had gotten summer break a little earlier. But there was something wrong, a constant murmur in her head that told her that this wasn't the end. 

The wrong boy....the wrong boy....I told him....he didn't listen. You're the right one, my girl, you're the right one, at least for the greater purpose, in the longer game.

The voice in her head would repeat this every single night when she tried to go to sleep, and a sharp cackle would wake her up from it. Everyone was returning to their homes the next day, for summer break, but Ariel didn't know if she could. She got out of her bed and to the washroom, staring at her face. The two ugly scars that she had gotten last summer break stared back at her. She usually used a concealment charm, but on some nights, she didn't have the energy too. She traced them with her finger, before washing her face and heading back to bed. She closed her eyes, trying to sleep, but sleep had never been easy. Now, there was an addition of another thing keeping her up

He's after the wrong boy....but not me. We will find you. Or rather, I will. For the greater good....

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This year, Ariel refused to stay at Leonard's house, even though Vedika was going. They had insisted her to stay, begged her too, but she refused. Told them that she wanted to join a summer job near the orphanage, wanted to save money up. Ridiculous, it was, that she was the daughter of two of the richest people in the community and here she was. 

Her reason wasn't a complete lie. She did need to get a summer job. But really, she wanted to get away. The last time, she had gotten all three of them hurt, all because of her. She had almost gotten them suspended, all because of her. Because of whatever, or whoever was after her. She couldn't put them at risk, not again.

That was how she found herself, on her fifteenth birthday, scrubbing down tables at a cafe near her orphanage. Yeah, the matron was against it-  but now, Ariel was older, stronger than the lady who was slowly getting old. And she had her wand, the matron didn't have to know that she couldn't use magic outside school. All Ariel had to do was to pretend to wave her wand and cast some evil spell on her and she agreed. The verbal stuff never stopped though, but Ariel had gotten used to it. There had been a few additions to the orphanage that year, but Ariel didn't care enough. She just had one friend, Riya, who was four years younger than her. Ariel's heart ached for her, she wished she could have taken her away too. But, she could hardly take care of herself, let alone others. The only happiness they had was that the board had decided to move the orphanage to a better, bigger place, thanks to a donation from some organisation, and they'd get a new matron too. 

Ariel's face scrunched up when she saw the dirt on her hands. Great way to celebrate a birthday. At this point, she didn't care about those.

The bell of the shop dinged, and Ariel straightened up, brushing some dust off her clothes. It was almost time for closing, and the cafe was slow in general, being at the edge of a town. Ariel put the rag she was wiping the table with in one corner and turned around, her grey eyes meeting similar ones. 

"Good evening sir, what may I get you?" She asked in a voice she had perfected over the past week or so. 

The man stared back at her. His gaze didn't make her uncomfortable, but there was something odd about it. She analyzed him the same way. Wavy black hair, sullen, pale face, grey eyes with dark circles around them, a thin frame. His appearance almost caught her off guard. She coughed "Sir?" when he didn't say anything for a solid few seconds. 

The man snapped out of whatever daze he was in, and smiled at her, but it seemed sad "Oh, I..could I get a cup of tea? Extra milk and sugar?" His voice was deep, and she couldn't help but think that she recognized it.

"Of course, sir, coming right up" Ariel said, walking to the back of the shop. She washed her hands and made him the tea, looking at the clock. She was tired, she just wanted to go to bed. She put the tea cup in a tray and walked out, placing it on the table in front of the man. She told him the bill, and he gave it to her. Ariel then cleaned up the rest of the place, and told the cafe's owner that she was leaving. The man had left now, but she spotted something on the table he was sitting on. She walked closer. It was a small box, with a note beside it that simply had her name on it. Confused, she picked the box up. She opened it, only to find a small pendant inside it, the letter F engraved onto it. She looked around, glancing out of the window of the shop to see if the man was nearby. Nothing. No answers. She stared back at the pendant, and then at the note that had her name on it.

A shiver went down her spine. That night, sleep never came. Thoughts of the same man haunted her, those grey eyes.....and the voice in her head, a constant cacophony.

You will follow my footsteps, girl...for the greater good.

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Author's note: Hi? Do I get to say hi after disappearing for almost two years? Probably not. I am so, so sorry for not updating. Life happened. I really am sorry. I am so overwhelmed by the support this book had gotten, a scrap project I started at thirteen. I was shit at writing then, didn't know anything about it. I like to think I have improved a lot. Honestly, this book cringes me out. My writing sucked, man. But, I read it again today, opened wattpad after ages and well....I just felt it was too good of a storyline to completely drop it. I have commitment issues though, I don't know if I'll be able to update regularly. But I'll try. I'll try focusing on posting new chapters. I know the old ones are shit, and I desperately want to edit them, but as I said- life. And just, academics and family stuff. It's really hard for me to do this. But once again, I am so sorry for literally abandoning this story for over a year and a half. Thank you so much to everyone who is still reading this shitass thing. I can't make any promises as that would be unfair, but I swear I'll try.

I love you all so much <33

~V