❝Like sands through an hourglass, her life fell apart; counting the days until her time ran out.❞
The day Olivia turned nineteen was the day her life crumbled into grains of sand that poured uncontrollably through an hourglass. Her breath became a c...
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"You're up bright and early," George's voice sounded from behind, followed by hollow footsteps as she climbed down the old stairs. The noise of heavy feet echoed through the wine cellar as more and more made their way in, filling it with the heat that each person was radiating. And although the lighting was only ambient, it was still much brighter than before with the natural daylight peeking in through the cellar's door at the top of the stairs. It had made it easier for Ace and Liv to see clearly in the darkness for the past forty-five minutes that they were working, though they hadn't yet been successful in their search for what the symbol was indicating.
"Yeah, we wanted to get a quick start," Ace elaborated, his voice slow since all his focus was on the several bottles of wine hung up on the wall. One of these had to be the answer. "You know, get to the bottom of this quicker." Olivia's eyes crinkled into a soft smile at his words, how much he cared. He had been the one who had woken up early to get to work, even though everyone else was still asleep, including Olivia herself. He lifted her spirits and made her believe that somehow, they might be able to save her from her dark and scary fate.
Nancy slowly prodded toward Olivia and stood beside her, joining her at the self she was working at. "How's your leg?" she questioned, eyeing Olivia's foot briefly.
At its mention, Olivia instinctively glanced down at the thin layer of a bandage wrapped around her ankle before looking back at Nancy. "Oh, it's completely fine. It wasn't deep or anything." She bobbed her head as she spoke to corroborate her statement.
Nancy watched closely, furrowing her brows as she looked Olivia up and down. "Hang on... is that Ace's hoodie?" Olivia's head snapped up, in sync with Ace's. Nancy's lips curled into a mischievous smirk once she took in the familiar light grey hoodie Olivia was wearing with a pair of pajama shorts.
"That sure is!" Nick chimed in, trying to stifle back a laugh.
Bess gasped and raised a hand to her mouth. "Hold on- did you guys?" Her eyes shifted between Olivia and Ace, analyzing their furrowed brows and narrow eyes. "Oh my God, you did!"
"Shut up!" Olivia hissed
George rolled her eyes, giving Olivia a knowing look. "Oh, you totally did." Olivia's eyes darted to George and her cheeks reddened as she took in her words. She felt as though before she could process what one person was saying, someone else was already saying something else. She was tempted to look at Ace for some kind of consolation– to see him laughing maybe, or nonchalant, to see if he felt as uncomfortable as she did. But she knew that giving him even one glance would give their friends more of a reason to tease them.
"Even your mood seems better," Bess agreed with a nod. "Ace's too." She gave him a toothy smile before squeezing his arm encouragingly.
"And you got that from what, exactly? Was it the dark circles around my eyes?" Olivia scoffed, folding her arms over her chest.
![Hourglass → Ace; Nancy Drew [1]](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/92563036-64-k63837.jpg)