Arina

Chapter Thirteen

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a couple of months since the ordeals with Haden, D and Mustafa. Since that night of seeing Haden and Natalie together, Arina had asked D to move 'spots', which he had agreed to, and she was now on a street that required no contact with the boy. She hadn't spoken, nor seen, him since then. She found it particularly offensive that Haden hadn't even tried to speak to her to resolve their problems- since, in all honesty, she did enjoy his company- but she brushed it off as typical male behaviour.

With D, she had of course seen him everyday. It was inevitable. But, that didn't stop Arina from limiting conversation with him. She only said what was necessary, and nothing more. She didn't care for his secretive past, and she didn't care for him personally. After seeing him punching Haden, Arina could only now think of him as a violent man- one that would grow up to turn out like Mustafa, and a person like that was somebody she didn't want to associate with. D had tried to speak to privately on most occasions, trying to get to the root of Arina's sudden cold behaviour and lack of communication, but she never said anything that would require a reply and so conversation was almost impossible.

Natalie and Zoe still had their evil personalities and twisted motives, but when Arina began to act indifferent to their various acts of evil, they soon began to die down. Natalie and Zoe had seen that none of their foolish behaviour had affected Arina and so, they simply just couldn't be bothered with it. Natalie and Arina were still forced to endure a room, but it wasn't as difficult since the both of them completely stopped speaking for there was nothing to actually talk about.

 Arina had decided that if she wanted to get through life in this place, she would have to keep her head down, and do exactly as Mustafa wants. She had given up any hope of leaving the building and figured that she had to stay content with her life to stay sane. After that night, Arina had stopped thinking that anybody cared for her. She had left the horrific sight of seeing Haden and Natalie together, ran home, buried her head in her pillow and only opted to come out the next day. From then on, she took on this new, brave facade and decided to give nobody the pleasure of seeing her upset.

Life had been quite uneventful since then. Her day consisted of the same men and the same activities. It was only that evening, after all those months, that something shocking happened...

It was a quiet evening. The cool breeze swept in through the window, softly, crating a peaceful atmosphere. D and Mustafa were both out, and it was only Kos left in the building, so the place was almost silent. It was spring now, and the trees that were once empty, were now budding with life.

Natalie and Arina were both in their room- obviously still not speaking. None was willing to start the conversation with the other.and for Natalie, she needn't worry for such mediocre things since she had bigger problems on her mind. 

Arina lay down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling that she'd seen so many times before. Natalie lay under the covers of her bed, making hushed weeping sounds. Arina wanted to ask Natalie what was wrong, but she couldn't bring herself to doing it. Instead, she acted as if she couldn't hear the noises, and continued staring up into the ceiling. 

She attempted to ignore it, until the wailing got incredibly louder. 

           "Why are you crying, Natalie?" Arina asked. Even though Arina still didn't like the fact Natalie took away her only friend, she had decided to get over it, because to her, Haden wasn't a real friend if he had done something like that. Therefore, she shouldn't stay hostile over somebody she didn't care for any more. 

           "Mind.. Your... Mind your own business." Natalie managed to say through her tears. It was a wonder to Arina how somebody could stay so cold, even when crying.