The Survivor

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 – BREATHE

Sitting on the green grass at the park, hand-in-hand with her kind, loving boyfriend, and reminiscing on all that had happened over the last year, Destiny felt she could finally breathe the fresh air that now surrounded her.

Of course she missed her mother. She missed a lot of things. Things she didn’t even realize she had until… until it was too late. Luckily, she had her family and Marcus to help her get over the loss.

She chose not to think about it too much. Every time she thought of the sweet smile Veronique gave her or the comforting hand that wrapped around hers when she found herself in that dark room, shivering and desperate, she couldn’t help but feel that was what a mother’s love felt like. It was so selfless and pure and real. It was something she’d always thought she had, but never truly did until she found Veronique.

Every time she thought of her kind, quirky mother, she felt like the fresh air around her vanished and was replaced by a poisoning substance that filled her lungs and made her feel as if she were choking.

The guilt consumed her. After all her mother had done to try and keep her safe… after all the effort Veronique had put into making her daughter as independent as she could be, Destiny had failed her. She might’ve been able to save her, but no, she decided to go and save herself instead. It wasn’t that she didn’t try. She just didn’t try hard enough. And to Destiny, that was as bad as having done absolutely nothing.

Destiny found herself lost once again in these thoughts, and closed her eyes as a bitter tear slid down her cheek. She quickly turned her head to the side, hiding her face from Marcus and quickly wiping the tear away. She had been trying so desperately to hide her misery from Marcus, trying not to be a bother to her already over-protective boyfriend.

Unfortunately for her, it was too late. He’d spotted the emotions on her face before the tear even escaped. He quickly faced her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Hey, what’s wrong, Babe?”

She let out a fake laugh. “Nothing, probably just allergies or something, you know how I get during Spring.” He didn’t look convinced.

“You know, pollen and all that…?” she tried again.

Marcus sighed and kissed her cheek tenderly. “Don’t try and hide from me, Des. I know you better than I know myself. It’s not going to work.” he said.

Destiny frowned and looked down.

He sighed once again and stroked her knuckles with his thumb. “Is this about Veronique?” he asked softly. They hadn’t spoken much at all about Destiny’s mother since she broke down in front of him that day. He didn’t want to upset her further.

Destiny felt her lip begin to tremble, and she bit down on it, another tear escaping. She looked down at her lap and nodded slowly, not daring to speak as she knew her voice would crack and she’d burst into tears if she did. She threw her arms around him and he stroked her hair, whispering comforting words into her ear.

“I could’ve helped her. I could’ve done… something,” she muffled through Marcus’ shirt.

“Destiny, if you’d done anything more to try and save her, the guards would’ve found you and killed you. Then, they would’ve killed Veronique anyway. There was nothing you could do. Besides, your mother wouldn’t want to see you like this. She wouldn’t want you to blame yourself.”

“I can’t help it. I miss her so much!” she cried, finally letting her walls down and allowing the tears to flow freely down her face. Sobs wracked through her body as Marcus tried to calm her down, telling her in vain that everything would be okay.

Finally, Destiny collected herself, taking a deep breath and sitting up once again. She rubbed her red, irritated eyes and smiled softly. “I’m fine. I just need to stop thinking about it. I was fine before I began thinking about Veronique.”

“You weren’t fine, Des. You liked to believe you were, but this kind of hurt takes time to fade. It’s not going to be easy and the first step is to stop the denial. You’re not fine. You’re struggling, and you need to acknowledge that before you can begin to seal the wound in your heart.”

At this, Destiny chuckled, sniffling. “Since when did you become a psychologist, Mark?” she asked, shoving him playfully.

He smiled. “Since I started dating this crazy girl.”

“Oh, and who’s this girl you speak of? Do I know her?” she teased.

“Maybe. She’s kind of annoying sometimes and she constantly calls me names and hits me, but she’s also really smart and pretty. Plus, she knows how to keep me grounded.” He smiled brightly at her.

Destiny grinned, scooting closer to him. “Tell me more about her. She sounds familiar for some reason.”

He looked down at their entwined hands and smirked. “Okay, well she’s gorgeous, inside and out… but I don’t think she knows it. And she has this really bad habit of playing with the tips of her hair.” Then he suddenly caught the hand that she was using to play with her hair and kissed it, making her blush.

“Oh, and she always blushes when I kiss her face.” He then kissed her from her jaw to the corner of her lips, before stopping and quickly pecking her nose.

She looked away to hide her red cheeks. Destiny felt her heart pounding in her chest. No one had ever spoken so sweetly and sincerely to her in her life.

“She’s always hiding her beautiful face from me.” He cupped her cheek, making her face him. “She’s the most amazing girl I know and she makes me so happy. Oh, and one more thing…” Marcus surprised her by pushing her down onto the grass and hovering over her as he continued. “She’s my everything. I love her more than anything in this whole world.”

With that, Marcus leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. Just as he was about to pull away, Destiny tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled him closer. He fell on top of her, surprised. He chuckled against her lips.

As the kiss grew more passionate, Marcus’ eyes grew wide in surprise. They’d never shared a kiss quite as intense as this one before. It felt like all their emotions were practically spilling out of them. He felt them course through his veins, making it impossible for him to contain them.

They pulled away and sat up, breathing heavily as Destiny stared at Marcus in awe. She didn’t know it was possible for her to feel so strongly for anyone.

“I’m guessing you know her?” he asked, biting his lip.

She laughed and slapped his shoulder playfully again, looking genuinely happy. At this, Marcus covered his shoulder teasingly and pretended it really hurt.

“Ouch! See? You’re always hitting me!” he tried to hide his smile, but eventually had to grin at the childish seventeen-year-old girl.

“C’mon, we should probably get going. It’s getting dark.” She stood up, brushing off the back of her jeans with her hands.

He did the same, throwing his arm over her shoulder and leading her back to the infamous green van.

“You really do hit me a lot.” he mumbled.

She slapped him again. “Shut up.” She chuckled.