Twisted

Hunted 1/4

Pretend.

That's all Layla Rose knows to do.

Pretend to not be crazy, pretend to be okay.

Pretend to not have a strange sickness that no matter how much she tries to search on google but never finds.

Pretend to be the bitch that cares about no one.

Pretend to sleep, pretend pretend pretend.

Layla has lived her whole life pretending to be someone she is not. Someone perfect, but she could no longer keep up that act. So she let her mask slip, only to end up in a much darker place. A place that no one wanted to go to, so she is back to pretending.

But this time she is pretending to be someone non-perfect. Some one rebellious, someone rude, someone mean, someone badass, a basic bitch. So long, things are looking preety good.

"Dude are you even listening to me?"

Layla looked up from her drink to smile slightly at her childhood friend. More like only friend.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

"Yeah ofcourse"

"Yeah so I am all for going abroad but looking at the situation..."

She went on and on about her own stories, not even bothering to pause to listen to Layla's opinion, or her questions.

This is one of the days that Layla made the mistake to come over to to Thesa's place.

Can't believe I ever thought this would be fun. She thought with a sigh.

What Layla does not see is that she did come to Thesa's house but she was not looking for Thesa. She was looking for someone she never wanted to see again, or she pretended to never want to see again.

She pretended to move on in the last five months on lockdown. Pretended to never look at the old class photograph and cry. Pretending to be strong.

I pity Layla the most. Poor girl thinks everything is her fault. The hurt and guilt led her to believe that maybe she was the villan of this story.

****

"We should do this again sometime, catching up is so much fun" Thesa said while holding Layla's hand and smiling.

Oh definitely not hon.

"Yeah totally, I love sitting on your bed and listening to you brag about petty problems in your perfect little life." Layla replied with a not so sweet smile.

Thesa laughed and pulled her in for a hug. "Oh I know you love me still"

No I don't.

Layla flinched in the hug and grimaced. She could not understand why she kept on comming back to her. She doesn't like her. Thesa is a huge hypocrite, never listens to anyone but herself. And no not in a stubborn way, in a way that whenever Layla felt comfortable enough to tell her about her life problems, Thesa would keep on cutting her mid sentence and start her own stories. Layla often felt like her problems did not matter, and maybe she was reading too much into things, maybe she was okay after all, but that only led her into getting even more deeper in her ocean on problems.

As Layla pulled away with a fake smile and walked away.

The sky was getting orange pink and purple. Night is coming. The thought made her shiver a little.

Nights soon turned from a time for rest to different parts of a big puzzle soon enough.

****

That night as Layla laid down to sleep, adrenaline was running through her blood. Her brain was blowing with excitement, excitement as to what part of puzzle will she find in tonight, or if she will find one at all.

Some nights went with her sleeping a dreamless sleep. Other nights she had a dejavu related situation where she could see and live her days like any other day. The dream would be detailed down to every second. There were people she knew in real life in the dreams but there were also people she did not know in the real would in those dreams. Finding those people was like finding a huge price of a puzzle, for the always told her clues. All clues were written in her little diary. This diary was hidden in the most safest place she could think of.

Having these dreams only meant that the magic was fading. The sun was shining again.

Destiny was doing its work. End is coming and there is no way to be prepared enough.