Addiction (abandoned)

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Sunny Taylor

I put the paintbrush I had been using away after washing it out thoroughly, not wanting to have to ask Angie to get more because it got hard. I smiled at my painting, placing it next to my first painting so it could dry. The painting I had made was like the other one in the sense that it was like I closed my eyes, and it just happened.

This one was of Daniella. I had added a bit of a brown tint to her hair, but it still looked like a cartoon version of her. She had her hair up in her signature pony tail, with the pink ribbon and the curls. She was holding her hand over her mouth and smiling. It brought tears to my eyes.

I had used pencils to really add detail, so I had to put those away too. By the time I was done cleaning up, it was eight thirty-three in the morning. I had gotten up at around six, unable to sleep.

What had awoken me was a nightmare. It started off with Ross, like most nightmares did, but then morphed into Daniella in the fire. Blake was standing there, with a matchbook. I had woken up, with a sickening feeling in my stomach. I knew he didn't light the fire, so why did I dream that?

Because it had been a nightmare.

I heard the heels clicking and I turned around to face Angie, who was smiling. She walked over to my painting and exclaimed, "Sunny, what's this? This is amazing! Who is that?"

I blushed and answered her, "Well, that's my cousin Daniella. She is the one who died in that fire. Bo might've told you about it. She was a close friend of theirs."

Her face lit up with recognition, but she tried to keep it as neutral as possible. I smiled and she looked at me, changing the subject, "Well, it's been two weeks since you've been here, so I was thinking that if you were up to it, I would take you to work with me."

I smiled, two feelings arising in me. The first one was excitement, because after being trapped in a house for two weeks, you want to get out. Following that was nervousness, because I would have to meet new people. And also I may or may not have had people wanting to kill me, I still wasn't sure.

I grinned and said, "Sure! Just let me change really quickly!"

She clapped her hands together excitedly and said, "Great! But you need to be ready by nine because that is when we are leaving so get a move on!"

I threw on a cute cream sweater and a signature floral patterned pants, which made me feel a little bit more... Grounded, normal, safe, happy, many things were felt when I wore floral things, because I had love them my whole life, and it was a safe thing.

I walked into the living room and really looked at Angie's outfit, which was a cute but classy business suit, and couldn't help but feel underdressed, and a tad intimidated by her superior fashion sense.

I followed her to the car, pausing and asking, "Wait, what about breakfast?"

She turned and smiled at me, "The firm is in a mall of sorts, so we'll grab breakfast at the food court."

I got in the passenger seat of the car, putting on my seatbelt and folding my hands in my lap to keep from any anxious tics.

The drive was only about twenty or so minutes, and we filled the time with small talk. I knew that it would be longer on the way back, since we miraculously avoided traffic.

Angie parked in the parking garage and in we went. The place she worked in... It wasn't really big enough to be called a mall, but it was basically a mall with some shops and lots of offices. As we arrived to the food court, I began to salivate at the Greek place and immediately went over there.