Beautiful Minds

Chapter One

Chapter 1
Meet Elizabeth DeLuna,  daughter of  Melanie and Christopher DeLuna. Elizabeth has always been the black sheep in any social circle around her,  the quiet one,  the one who cared too much,  the one who knew too much about those around her. People came to her for everything and anything,  but who was there for her when she needed support? When her father left her,  who was there for her when she was left behind? Her mother. But that all changes the night of her mothers murder. That fateful night she gets to meet the person who will not only saves her from herself,  but the person who will pick up the broken pieces. This is the story,  of how two beautiful minds met,  and learned to trust and love one another.

Falling in love, romance, matters of the heart - when you fall in love, on some biochemical level you know there is a chance it won't work out. It's ingrained in us that if you take such an enormous risk on someone with your heart that it might not pay off. I gamble all my chips and I might actually lose everything.
-Rachael Taylor

Chasing Oblivion
Most nights I stayed up late, pondering why life turned out the way it did. Why I turned out the way I did. If you looked at it logically, my chances should have been a million in one. My father had abandoned us when I was young, and even when he was there, he brought down my intelligence and confidence, and squashed any sort of self esteem a young child should have. On the other hand, my mom wasn't much better either. Even though she worked really hard to provide for us, I  never grew up with a mother figure, and had to grow up quickly so as a means of survival. The neighborhood I lived in was full of guns, violence, even murder, which didnt seem to bother the local authorities at all. Most of the  time I think they're almost grateful for it, that way they have one less person to worry about, so they look the other way most of the time. I suppose that's what made tonights events unfold the way they did.
   I had been huddled on the rickety bed in  my run down one story house,cuddling myself for warmth and comfort because I didn't  have enough money for electricity and heat this month,  due to the fact  I was too  busy paying debts my father had left both my mother and I.  But that doesnt matter, none of this matters. What mattered was the unfolding scene of horrors happening outside my bedroom. The lights,  the loud voices,  it had all been too much. Earlier I had just walked into my house to see my mother lying on the floor in a pool of blood,  scrubs still on her dead body. I remember falling to the ground,  sobbing and breaking down,  before I gathered  my senses long enough to call 911. I couldn't stop shaking,  none of this felt entirely real. I felt a blanket being thrown over my shoulder and a warm hand caressing me,  guiding me up and out of the crime scene. I glanced back at my mother one last time,  her empty eyes boring into mine. My breath caught in my throat,  causing me gasp and sputter for air,  falling to the ground and breaking down for what seemed to be the millionth time that night. Before I could hit the floor,  a pair of arms caught me,  bringing them close to their chest and hiding me from the world around me,  ushering me out of the one place I had spent all my life in. I collapsed into the backseat of the car I had been forced into,  falling against the cool window of the black SUV,  breathing heavily and blocking out the sounds and voices around me. I closed my eyes,  feeling emotionally and physically exhausted. My world was starting to go black as I felt sleepiness fighting to take hold of my body. And in the end… I let it.
I flashed back to times where my mother and I had been happy,  or the times she nursed me back to health,  holding me at night when I remembered my father had left because of me,  because I was the disappointment of the family. But that thought was ushered away every time she soothed me with her kind words,  and let me fall asleep with her in bed. Now,  those times were gone,  and I would never get them back again,  the nights that I cherished with my mother were now gone… and I was now officially alone in this world. What was I going to do now?