-Elizabeth POV-
It's almost laughable, the kind of twisted world we live in.
Who would have imagined it? I never did. I never imagined my greatest enemy would share my blood.
Betrayal feels like too small a word.
I suppose secrets were never meant to stay buried, especially not when someone like Riele exists. She has a way of peeling skin off truths and holding them up to the sun.
It's not that I'm unhappy knowing the truth, but it's just… truths don't whisper, they stab.
And hearing it from Riele? That hurt in places I didn't know had nerves.
Riele looks perfect. She acts perfect. But if you look closely enough, you can tell she isn't. Nothing she does is random. Everything has a purpose, usually to protect herself.
I never would have taken her hand in friendship.
But I did.
Because I know what Riele can do when she decides you're her enemy. High school wouldn't have been hell, it would've been a slow-burning war zone for me.
And yet, do I hate her?
That's the complicated part.
Two years is enough time to learn the rhythm of someone's heartbeat. I have seen the layers beneath the sharp tongue and cold stare.
She is just a girl with a terrible attitude, but she knows exactly who her real friends are.
Her instincts are frighteningly accurate. She knows why she dislikes someone. She knows why she keeps someone close.
At least, I think she does.
Sometimes I question it because not everyone she has bullied deserved it.
Take Vida, for example, the one she calls Crazy. Maybe she seems that way. Maybe it is because she never knows when to stop pushing.
Wait.
Now that I think about it, I do not like Vida either.
But why?
That is something only Riele could answer.
I just hope I never wake up in a world where Riele's enemy becomes my problem.
I would hate that.
At least I still have Karen and Ashley. They are good people. Maybe that is why Riele brought us together in the first place.
But why would she do that?
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I rolled my eyes as my bedroom door creaked open.
"You should come out for dinner," my older sister Meredith said from the doorway.
I shook my head. "I'll eat later."
She sighed. "Seriously?"
I nodded. "Yeah. It feels ridiculous to sit at one table pretending we're whole when the cracks are screaming."
"Stop acting like a child, Liz. Grow up. Life isn't a bed of roses," she snapped.
I let out a dry laugh. "Of course it is not. Not when I have a sister who likes taking things out of other people's carts. Specifically her younger sister's."
"It was a mistake," she said quickly. "It was not serious. Just a one-night thing."
I scoffed. "Oh, really?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I said I'm sorry."
I let out a humorless chuckle. "Sorry does not fix anything. It does not heal. And it definitely does not calm someone who does not want to be calm. So keep it."
She let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "Well, at least I can say I tried. I can't stand here and take your stinking sass. I'll tell Mom and Dad you're skipping dinner. Have a good night's sleep."
Then she walked out, closing the door behind her.
I scoffed.
She'll do it again. She's never truly remorseful.
That's who my sister is. She steals other people's boyfriends and dumps them when she gets bored.
I just never thought she would do it to me.
I never thought I would become just another girl she wanted to ruin.
Why was I cursed with a sister like her?
Sometimes I wished I could rewind life, wished I was an only child. Life would've been simpler… better.
Now I don't even feel like eating anymore.
Let them eat. Let them sit together like nothing is broken and drown to death in their pretenses.
Lazily, I pushed myself off the bed and walked to the window. The sun was sinking behind the rooftops in the west, fading into a dull orange. The first shadows of dusk stretched across the sky.
There is always a beginning and an end. Morning and evening. Dawn and dusk.
Riele loves things like this, the wonders of the world, and though we follow unwillingly, I admit… sometimes it's intoxicating.
Sometimes, life and things can be likened to how the world moves. To how people behave.
Take the sky for example.
Sometimes life feels just like the sky. Things rise. Things fall. Light disappears, and darkness takes its place.
I let my gaze wander to the dark clouds swallowing the sun, thinking about how I could swallow this pain, this betrayal, just as the sky swallows light.
It's not meant to be easy, 'cause after all the sun always finds its way out eventually, bursting from the belly of darkness to boom at dawn.
I sighed, as I realize I am now peering into darkness. The quarter moon has dominated the sun, and is now winking mockingly at me through a thin veil of clouds, as if it knew what I'm going through right now.
The street light came on all at once, one could tell how late it already was.
I sighed again and dragged myself back to my bed. I lay on it, and cover myself with my blanket waiting for sleep to just swallow me up the way the dark clouds swallowed the sun.