Masked Facade

Chapter 12: The Cocoon

Alice's (Raelyn) POV

Six years ago...

The entire world appreciated the tremendous improvement and advancement of technology while I, on the other hand, loathed it. Sure, it felt worthy at times of need but the torment I felt due to using one of the latest feature just killed me day after day. Making my dead past alive in the frozen bygone time, these damn technologies succeeded in ruining my unborn present and future.

Staring at the status update, I couldn't tell what I felt at that instant. My heart lurched in my hand, almost, when his name popped on my phone display. The fearless, happy days were coming to an end but I refused to think about them. Monsters lurked only during the night and I still believed that, that night was still yet to come before I prepared myself for the oncoming slaughter of my soul, inch by inch.

Breaking off pieces of yourself to fit into places will not help you belong; it will only make you bleed. And I wasn't just bleeding. While a part of me rejoiced the thought of being surrounded by people, the other part -the huge part- broke every time he stepped into my perimeter. My mind would scream at me to move away from him, but then my body would stay immobile from the shock that it received.

"Hey, what do you think of the seating arrangement?" Emily's question snapped me back to reality. With her expectant eyes locked onto mine, she quirked an eyebrow, silently asking me to answer her while I portrayed a blank face when she tried to read me. Nonetheless, she continued her rant, or so I thought. "If you'd ask me, I'd go with the table that sits perfectly by the window. That way, you can have a better view of the nice weather and-"

What was I thinking when I told myself to repeatedly ignore what was about to come? Of course, it was inevitable. He was inevitable. Heaving out a huge breath that I didn't realize I was holding all the while, I quickly interrupted Emily.

"I love it. Let's book it already." My eyes were wandering everywhere but towards Emily. I didn't want her to notice the never ending struggle going on in my head, even though through some miracle I wanted her to pinpoint it.

And she did. But if only she could peel the cover off of my pretension. Everywhere I go, people praise me and they do their best to be me. Be it my school or home, saying that I was perfect.

A perfect student? Yes.

A perfect sibling? No doubt.

A perfect creature of a human being? I second that.

"You sure you don't want to get it done some other day? Maybe tomorrow or something?" Emily eyed me suspiciously but I was far from giving in. Concern was evident but with that came, a hint of doubt.

"This is important and we don't have enough time to waste over your petty worries, Em." Though I kept my tone even and bored, I knew what she knew. It wasn't rocket science for one to figure out me, least of all my sister.

"Where is this coming from?" She threw her hands in the air in exaggeration and jutted her lips out in a cute pout. But she still believed that it might work on me.

"Ignore my blunt reply, babe. Just understand my situation for once being a girl." I replied as politely as I could.

"You're quite snarky and snappy, you know that?" Placing her hands on her hips, she tried to look angry at me. Little did she know, how cute she looked. I feared for her beauty to not become her enemy considering the reputation she held. All boys were equally degraded in my eyes until they reach the height of responsibility.

"Been there and heard that. A lot, actually." I threw a smirk over my shoulder as I showed my back at her and retreated away from her, swiftly making my way towards the table that we were about to book for Thea.