Saving Serenity

[0] PROLOGUE

VERONICA AND ARCHIE started running for their lives.

Through the intensifying crowd, they pushed themselves without trying to harm anyone. However, it was hard to do so. Veronica felt Archie being sucked into the crowd so she instantly reached behind to grab his wrist frantically. She released a sigh of relief, and then pulled him into an intersection. Without thinking twice, she turned to the right, and sprinted into the straight alley. 

They had absolutely no idea where they were going, but Veronica started searching for a place that didn't look suspiciously dangerous or unsafe. They needed shelter, an escape route, anything. But there were hardly any buildings that looked stable enough. It just had to be their luck that they happened to run into the abandoned alley. 

Behind her, Archie panted, "Why—why are we running?"

As she looked back, she saw the two ski masked men still chasing after them. They had just taken a sharp turn, running towards them from the start of the alley. "Look behind you!"

She felt Archie throw his head back, because of the movement made from his wrist that she was still grasping. "Who the hell are they?!" he yelled, fear and alarm laced all over his tone. "Ronnie, if you turn out to be a gang leader, or the daughter of some mafia don, or anything like that, I swear—"

"Shut up, Archie!" I shout, my throat running dry. 

Why are we running away from them? She thought to herself in frustration. They don't even know who we are, or vice versa. Why, why, why? She started to drop speed as all these questions were wandering around her mind. It just didn't make any sense. 

Then, a miracle occurred.

She caught a glimpse of an old building in the corner of her eye. This would do. She dragged Archie closer to her as they entered the building. By the looks of it, no one would be staying in here, because the building itself looked like it was about to collapse any second. It had so many cracks on the walls and floorboard, and the paint was coming off everywhere. It even stunk.

Once they reached inside, she let go of his wrist. They both were breathing heavily, and didn't want anything more than to just sit down and take a rest for an hour or so, but that couldn't be done, because all of a sudden, they heard yelling. And it sounded a lot closer. Their hearts pounded more than ever, and sweat after sweat beaded on their foreheads and neck. 

"Top floor," Veronica huffed.

He nodded, and they started running up the stairs. Two sets of footsteps were all she could hear, mixed with Archie's and her own uneven breaths. Run, run, run. There were five floors to be exact, including the roof top. Stomp, stomp, stomp. The stairs creaked under their heavy footsteps, and she feared that it would finally give up and snap. Thud, thud, thud. She wanted to slow down and be safe, but she couldn't risk that. Not when their lives were in danger.

After what felt like forever, they reached the roof top and pushed themselves through the door. Just then, they heard footsteps echoing from the ground floor. They were here.

Eyes widening in horror, Archie ordered, "Shut the door!"

Veronica's hands clutched the side of the door, and shut it with a loud bang, automatically locking itself up. The door couldn't hold them that long, though. It was antique and rusty, just like the building. It was a wonder it didn't crumble into pieces. Yet.

She then looked around the rooftop to see absolutely nothing. Literally.

Nothing was surrounding them. Just buildings, next to buildings, next to buildings. Absolutely no way to escape. It was then she started to let out her fright. "What the hell do we do now?"

Archie pursed his lip in concentration, staring right ahead of them. She followed his gaze, and had to squint her eyes a little due to the scorching sun beaming down at them. Her eyes latched onto another building's rooftop. Instantly, she knew what he was thinking. Her eyes grew as if they would pop out of their sockets. "Nuh-uh. We are not jumping onto another building's rooftop."

The footsteps behind the closed door were beginning to become clearer and stronger. They were coming; fast. "We need to jump, Ronnie," Archie persuaded, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. "It's the only way out."

"I—I can't," she stuttered, fear getting the best of her. From the side, she stared at the ground below and started to feel dizzy. Like, she could just fall unconscious, slip, and die. "I can't jump. It's too high, Archie. I'm scared of heights, remember?" Her lips trembled, and she could feel tears of frustration forming at the back of her eyes. "I can't do this. I'm going to die. I'm—"

He grabbed my shoulders roughly and shook me a little, sternly saying, "You're not going to die. We're going to run together, okay? Together."

She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the banging of the door. Archie quickly grabbed her hand, and gave it a squeeze. He looked down at me comfortingly, and nodded. How? She wondered. Just how can he be so composed at this moment? "Look, just don't think about it, and know that I won't leave you. Then we'll make it."

We're barely going to make it.  

Biting her lip to avoid her teeth from clattering, she nodded in reply. Then, she stared at the distance between the rooftop they were standing on and the rooftop of the other building they were going to jump onto. The distance was too long. That was a big gap. There's no way we can land there. We're going to fall into our own death.

Together, Archie's voice echoed in her head.

"One."

She could hear the sound of the lock on the weak door giving up. It was so close. So close to opening—

"Two."

The door busted open, revealing the two men with masks covering their faces but their eyes. But in their hands were something she'd never seen before, but only in movies. Guns.

"Three!"

Her heart hammered against her chest as they dashed towards the edge of the building. The distance was getting closer and bigger. Archie's grip on her hand became tighter and tighter by the second, until she couldn't feel it anymore yet she could feel everything. 

She estimated how many footsteps it would take for them to reach the edge of the building. Four.

This was it.

Three.

This was where she could get rid of her fear.

Two.

She heard one of the guns go off.

One.

They jumped. 

- - - - - - - - - -

well wasn't that intense? 8)

one thing u may have noticed is that i changed winette's name into veronica. winette was just a name i created bc i thot it was cool and would fit her character?? but nah, i have a feeling that i'd regret it in the future. plus veronica sounds more badass tbh

also the other thing i changed is that this story will now be written in third person instead of first (veronica's pov) bc i realized that writing in veronica's head and going through her emotions can be a hassle for me since she's going through the best friend's death and i can't exactly capture her feelings since i've never been in that position before

i hope u enjoyed this prologue and are excited to read the rest of the story!!