Arielle

Angel

Ariel's Point of View (Before)

I never thought this day would end with me sitting in the parking lot of a park, ready to cry my eyes out. How pathetic is that...

Tears clouded my vision as I reached for my phone. Trying my best to keep them at bay, I called the first number in my Favorites.

Aliyah. Yeah, she'll probably know what's going on. It's her brother after all.

Even after I dialed the number, my thoughts were still racing a mile a minute.

Why would he do this? Why would he spoil such a nice day? Why would he do this now? He said he would never hurt me again, that he would never make me feel like...this again. If that was true, then why-

"Are you crying? Ari, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" I heard Aliyah ask through the phone.
Am i crying again?
I reached my hand up to touch my cheek, realizing that it was indeed wet by fresh tears, the realization causing a sob to escape my throat.

"Arielle, please talk to me, you're scaring me. What's happened? What's wrong?" Aliyah asked again, the worry in her voice becoming more evident as I came out of my thoughts. "Arielle?"

"Did you know? Did you know he was planning on leaving?" I choke out through my sobs, failing to keep my voice clear. There was a moment of silence, hesitation on her end; a silence so loud, so deafening. After a few seconds, I finally heard a sound....Aliyah's sigh. A sigh so emotionally charged. And that sigh gave me all the answers I needed. And with those answers came my anger, slowly bubbling in the pit of my stomach the longer she said nothing.

"Ari, I'm so sor-" she tried, but I immediately cut her off, the anger inside of me needing to be let out, taken out on someone. Anyone. Her.

"Sorry?! Is that what you're going to say?! About what exactly? The fact that you lied to me about the reason he came back or about the fact that you knew he was going to leave the entire time, the entire time, I went on and on about how I was sooo happy he came back to me?! Huh? WHICH ONE WAS IT, ALIYAH?!" I practically screamed through the phone, hot tears streaming down my face. Out of frustration, I pounded on the steering wheel of my car, feeling the sudden need to hit something.

"Arielle, please calm down," Aliyah said, "Are you in public right now?! I heard you're horn. You need to calm down right now. Come to my house, I'll be sitting on the swing. I will explain everything to you Ari. I didn't lie to you. Trust me, I didn't lie to you...it's more than that." Aliyah trailed off, like she was trying to hold in a secret she knew she wouldn't be able to hold on to for much longer if she kept talking.

As I started up my car, about to turn onto the road and start the journey to the Goldenheart's, I heard Aliyah say one more thing before the call was cut short.

"But first Ari,...look in a mirror. You need to calm down before someone sees."

As the line was cut, her words finally resonated and the realization that my hair was framing my face and not stuffed in my hood immediately caused me to look down.

As I took a glance at my shoulder, Aliyah's words of caution finally registered as I saw that my normally auburn hair was now a red-blue ombré. Looking out my windows to make sure no one saw the unnatural change in the color of my hair over the course of my conversation, I pulled my hood over my head, making sure all of my hair was out of sight. I pulled onto the street connected to the park's parking lot. As I looked into the rearview mirror, I was greeted with a sight that, while expecting it, made the heartache I was feeling worsen, slowly overpowering the anger I felt moments ago.