Barbi was walking down a gravel path, her bare feet were surprisingly pain free as the pebbles crunched beneath her. She was wearing a long, white nightgown. She was struck by how beautiful it looked blowing behind her. The whole scene seemed to glow in the moonlight.
Yet there was something that kept her from enjoying the serenity of the whole scene. There was this feeling, this growing sense of fear inside of her.
She came to a clearing. The gravel seemed to be swallowed up by the overgrown grass. She stepped foward, and the ground suddenly started to give. It was swallowing her whole, yanking her down.
She tried to scream, but her throat couldn't produce any sound. She clawed at the path, trying to pull herself to freedom, but she couldn't. She was sinking to fast.
The she felt it, a hand on her shoulder, then around her neck. She dreaded looking behind her, but she knew she had no choice. She turned her head, and looked her assailant dead in the eyes.
Eve smiled, her flesh rotting, her eyes missing. Barbi screamed, this time producing a sound, and then Eve yanked her down, under the ground, into what was to become Barbi's grave.
Barbi sat up quickly.
She was still in her cell. The smell of stale urine reminding her that, yes, she was in jail, safe from any ghoulish apparitions of slain models.
She was sweating. Her body felt like it was on fire. She tried to stand, but her legs couldn't hold her, and she hit the hard cement floor with a loud thud.
Quickly a guard came running, checking to see what was wrong.
The last thing she remembered was the guard shaking her, trying to keep her concious. Obviously the guard failed, because Barbi slipped into dark, dreamless state.
Mia leaned against the side of the elevator. Even though the doctors said she was well enough to go home, she didn't feel that much better.
"You okay?" Gio's hand went to his sister's shoulder, supporting her in case she passed out.
"I'm fine." She was lying. She was short of breath from standing. That wasn't fine. That was far from fine.
"We're almost to your apartment. Then you can lay down while I make dinner, okay?" He was talking to her like she was three.
"You don't have to do that." She snapped at him.
Instantly she felt bad for getting bitchy, but she couldn't help it. She hated being treated like a baby. It made her feel helpless, and in her current condition, that was not a good thing.
The elevator doors opened, and standing there, hands in his pockets, looking down at his feet, was Derrick.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Gio looked ready to rip Derrick's head off.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing." Derrick looked at Mia, ignoring her angry brother.
"I'm fine." Her voice was soft. She was to tired to muster anger, and she wasn't even sure if she was angry. If she was, it wasn't at Derrick.
She had been the one to leave him. The second she had found out she had cancer she dumped him. There was to much that she didn't want Derrick to deal with, and to many personal issues she didn't want to involve him in. So, she had dumped him. It was probably a mistake not to tell him that she was sick, but she did what she had to do. He would have started asking questions, and that was something she wasn't ready for.
"Gio, calm down. Go take my bag into the apartment. I'll be over in a minute." She handed Gio her keys, and motioned towards the front door of her place.
Her brother grabbed the keys and stomped off like an insolant child.
"I wish you would have called me. I would have helped you two out." Derrick took a step forward. Not to close though. He knew that this wasn't exactly the most comfortable visit.
"Gio's got everything under control." She sighed. "I told you I didn't want this. I didn't want you to come over here anymore."
"Why?" His voice was getting louder. "After everything we had been through I deserve to know why you would just kick me to the curb."
She grabbed his arm, yanking him closer. She didn't need Gio to hear this. She glanced towards her apartment and could see her brother peeking his head out of the doorway, watching them.
"I have my reasons. Please respect them." She took a second. The whole situation was wearing her out quickly. Then, and she didn't even know why she did it, she kissed him on the cheek. "Just let go Derrick. Okay?"
"No." He was whispering now. Tears were threatening to spill down his cheeks. "I don't want to just get a call one day and find out from some stranger that you're dead. Or worse, not know until I read it in the paper. I want to be here with you."
"Please." She was holding back her tears. "Just go."
She let his arm go and headed towards her apartment, not looking back. She could hear Derrick sobbing. It was difficult but she forced herself to block him out. She couldn't drag him through all of this. It was bad enough Gio had to suffer, and she sure as hell wasn't going to do that to Derrick as well.
She couldn't help herself. Before entering her apartment she glanced back to get one last look at Derrick, but he had already left.
"It's for the best," she whispered to herself.
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