A Second Chance.

Stay Alive....For Rose.

~Luisa's POV~

Am I doing the right thing? My head is spinning. I just got a text from an unknown number which I'll assume is Rose.
"Five minutes. Be ready."
Am I really running away? Rafael said he loved me, that he forgave me. Should I really throw that away?
This morning, when I saw her face for the first time in months, I couldn't be more sure about my answer. But now, my head isn't foggy and maybe I should rethink.
Rafael...he's my brother. I don't know what I want anymore.
I just want to be happy.
But I know I can't have my cake and eat it too.
But what if he doesn't actually trust me? I know Rose does, but can I really give up my family?

My things are already packed and I'm sitting on the steps outside my apartment. But it's all too much pressure. Rose and I have been through ten years of this crap. Ten years. Of breaking up, of Rafael being a bitch to me and using me. Ten years. Five years of us hiding in secret and five of us running from the law. I'm just so tired of it all. Can I really continue running....for the rest of my life? I put my head in my hands.

It shouldn't be this hard. I should know who I need to go with. Why do things need to be so difficult?! I wish I knew all the factors that would play into this, I wish I just knew what they were thinking so I'd know who to go with. But it's so hard. It's tiring. I just want to get away and be happy.
A black van came around the corner. I knew who it had to be. I stood up and got ready. I was prepared to tell Rose my doubts, no matter the consequences. The van stopped in front of me.
"Get...in..." it was Rose's voice. But something was off about it.
"Rose?" I called out to the van, the window wasn't even all the way down and it was so heavily tinted I couldn't see through the glass pane. I don't know what possessed me, but I decided to use the code Rose always told me to use since I was first kidnapped.

Flashback.
"You never know...." I started.
"When Lightning's gonna strike." Rose finished. "I doesn't matter what situation we are in, if you fit your bit into the sentence, I'll finish it off and you'll know it's me."
"Is this really necessary?" I scoffed. 
"I'm sorry, but it is. I can't lose you again." Rose pecked my lips and turned to leave the room.
Flashback ended.

"It's...me..yes." Rose's voice replied. "Get....in.."
I laughed uncomfortably.
"Yeah I'm sorry, it's just you never know..." I started the code.
"Get...in...Lu."
Panic rose in my chest. This isn't Rose.
"Crap!" I laughed. "I forgot my special oils for later tonight." I smiled and winked. "Coming back now."
I ran up the stairs and into the house, locking the door behind me. I sprinted to my room and locked that door behind me as well. There was a compartment under my bed large enough for one person. I squeezed myself into the hole under the bed and covered it just as I heard a window smash. I fumbled with the phone in my hand as I texted the unknown number which had texted me before.
I frantically started typing.

Luisa: You never know,

Unknown: when Lightning's gonna strike. Are you okay?
Luisa: someone's in the house, I thought it was you, it sounded like you.
Unknown: I'm coming, I'm almost there. Hold on Lu.

Luisa: please they're coming I can hear them outside the room. Please I'm scared. I dobt knpw hiw lonh befirw

I couldn't bother to fix my errors, I sent the message just as the banging started. I heard the door shatter. The wood splinters flew across the room as I heard it slide above me. My heart's racing. I can't breathe. My head is pounding.
Rose.
Rose.
Help me. Please. Please.
Tears were streaming down my face. They can't find me, they can't...
"WHERE IS SHE?!" A female voice thundered.
"I'm sorry boss, we searched the house." A timid male responded.
"You clearly didn't boy. We have surveillance around the perimeter. If she was gone we would've seen her leave. She's in here. The bitch is probably hiding. Find her. I don't care if you have to rip the house apart. FIND HER OTHERWISE YOUR FAMILY WON'T FIND YOU."
I heard her storm off, her heels tapping the wooden floorboards. I heard my closet being rummaged through, things falling and shattering. The space was getting cramped and the air was getting thick. I pulled out my phone again.

Luisa: where are you? They're inside the room. Please come. I'm scared please come I can't breathe.

Unknown: I'm coming Lu, but if they see me I don't know what they would do to your house with you in it. I can see your house from where I am, don't worry baby. I'm coming. 

My throat was tightening. I need air, it's too thick. It's like a cloud around me. But then I heard the familiar clicking of heels.
"If the bitch doesn't want to come out, we'll treat her like the animal she is, flush her out. Set a fire in the corner of the room. She either comes with us, or burns. Either way her fate is the same. Stupid dyke."

Tears started brimming in my eyes.

Luisa: they're going to set the house on fire. I don't know what to do. I'm in the floorboards under the bed. Help me.

Unknown: I'm coming.

Luisa: No matter what, I love you okay? I love you.

I had to say it. Just in case.
I heard the match strike.
"Let's get out of here." The male voice chuckled. "She'll be out in a couple minutes."
Heavy boots walked away.
I didn't think my heart could beat faster. But it did. Rose will save me. She will...
I started to feel the heat above my cheeks. Fear and panic rose to my head.
I knocked the cover off of me and moved to the corner of the room, it was hidden from view, the door was directly in front of my bed. I know they'd still be out there. I just had to wait.
But it was getting hot. The curtains were aflame and my bed was engulfed. Smoke began filling the room and exiting through the hole in the middle of my door. I dropped to the floor, trying to get cleaner air. I started to cough, and I heard faint coughs coming from outside the room. They left. The fire was getting bad. Emergency services had to come right? Someone has to come help me. I can't crawl, the smoke keeps getting lower, the lack of oxygen is making the world swirl around me, so I lay still. My eyes are burning, it hurts to keep them open. I can't even crawl out, they shut the remnants of my battered door and the handle was hot enough to burn off skin.
There was a darkness at the edge of my vision. It started to take it over completely. Is this really how death feels? At this point, I had given up. Rose would've saved me by now, something's happened. Strangely though, I'm at peace. I'm okay with dying. I'm too tired to go on. Maybe this is what's best. My vision was halfway gone, all I have to do is wait. It'll be over soon. I can finally be at peace.

But I couldn't could I? I was so close. All I had to do was let go. But what would happen to Rafael? Mateo?...to Rose? I have to hold on, just a little longer, for them. So I'll wait, I'll fight for my life. Because I can't leave them yet. I took in the last bit of clean air...

And then the window to my bedroom shattered.

"LU?! LUISA??!" It was Rose. Hope filled me, but my lungs were still packed with smoke, I couldn't do anything but wheeze and cough softly. 
"LUISA?!" Rose kept calling, she was starting to cough. I knew she couldn't stay in here for long. She kicked me in the stomach by accident.
"LU?!" She realised what she'd done. I was going to be okay. She found me. She dragged me up and pushed me past the curtains and through the window, the shattered glass sliced my skin, leaving gaping wounds on my arms and legs, but I could finally breathe. I couldn't remember what happened however, because then I blacked out.

I am so sorry I haven't been writing much. Everything with quarantine is just crazy! I hope everyone is being safe💕 please if anyone is having a hard time, you are loved. Someone out there loves you, god loves you. Even if you don't believe it, stay alive for me, because trust me, the life you could have in the future can be so bright and successful, don't let those thoughts win. Don't let those people who hurt you win, because if you leave this earth, they'll win, don't give them that. Show them you are stronger than they know. Stay alive, for me, but more importantly, stay alive for you. Don't deprive yourself of an amazing life. You got this, I believe in you. There's a reason you read this story now to end up reading this. There is a reason. Trust that you were meant to be here to read this. Please, don't go.