Belonging (3)

In the end, I decided to hide Sparky inside my inventory until I found a better hiding place in the first district. It was risky to place it inside this small house. I was dealing with fire, a dangerous element that could potentially burn down the building. I knew as long as I fed Sparky often enough, it would be alive for the time being. The book from the dimensional library possessed most of the knowledge I already knew. There was no mention of any danger coming from putting the plant inside another dimensional space.

Feeling like I was caged into a corner, I wanted to go outside. I stepped down the stairs, and found my mom in the living room, watching some TV. Maybe my mom pitied me, she immediately approved when I asked her, "can I visit the playground a few blocks away from the house?"

"I'll let you know when they're near the house," my mom was on my side.

I began to search for my shoes, and scanned the entrance, frowning when only mine were missing. I clenched my hands, knowing Luke was doing this to assure that I wouldn't go outside. I tried to open my closet, discovering it was locked like inside the mansions. My shoulders slumped, realizing he made sure I wouldn't have access to my shoes. This was exactly why none of the things I wore actually belonged to me.

Was I supposed to be glad I had a spare from the ones Micah bought me? Although it was flashy, I wore them to leave the house. Raising my head to directly face the gray sky, it felt comforting. Arriving at the playground, it was nostalgic, recalling aspects of my previous life. It was the first time I ever got to sit down on a swing in this life. The familiar rubbery material and metal chains, the scene of small slides and monkey bars in front of it.

My heart started to settle, getting calmer as I followed a rhythm to swing back and forth. Unexpectedly, someone eventually joined me, taking the swing beside me. I stiffened when Ally began talking, "are you happy now? My parents are going to jail and I'm getting separated from my siblings since my relatives aren't willing to take all three of us in."

"Do you live near here?" I wondered.

"I came here on my own. I wanted to let you know my entire family is getting broken because you went crying to Luke," she tightly grabbed the metal chains.

"I can try to talk to them to take back the lawsuits," I felt a little guilty.

"It's too late. Almost everything is finalized. No one is willing to be our lawyer, and the one the government gave us is greedy for money," her voice wobbled.

"I want to help, but there's only so much I can do. I should have told you my hair doesn't belong to me anymore. I signed away the control I possessed," I sighed.

"You have to understand. I did the best I could do for your family. If I made him more agitated, he could have taken more drastic measures. I can't help you when I'm compressed at the same time," I explained.

"I know it's not entirely your fault. I heard the entire story from April, but there's no one else I can blame. If you at least tried to convince Luke back then, the situation wouldn't have been this bad," Ally sadly admitted.

"He's someone who would have tried listening to you. My aunt and uncle took his side and abandoned grandma since they were moved by how far he was willing to go for you," she revealed.

"You don't know him as much as I do. Luke would have never listened to me, he would say everything was for my sake," I hung my head down.

"Luke would do anything for you. How can you not understand? If it's for you, he might as well sacrifice everything," Ally didn't believe me.

"What are you exactly expecting from me? I'm just a powerless person," I shook my head.

"You're his weakness. Come with me and you can help reverse everything," she reluctantly blurted.

"It won't solve anything. Luke will become more furious and the lawsuits will get worse. I already tried running away several times. His family has a lot of power. There's a high possibility we'll get caught within a day," I sadly knew.

"It's the best option we have. Are you on their side by any chance?" Ally accused me.

"I don't have an obligation to help you in the first place," I didn't want to suffer.

"I'm trying my best in the most helpful way possible. Did you forget who the real victim from that incident was?" I was generous.

"It was my fault for coming here. You're even talking like them. I should have known we were strangers from the start," she shouted.

"What do you mean?" I narrowed my eyes.

"You were never one of us from the start. You belong with them," she nastily spat out.

"I don't understand," I became frostier.

"What do you mean by you don't understand? You wear their clothes, shoes and accessories. You eat their food, sleep in their beds and live in their mansions. You never use what any of us used. Not a single time during your stay at grandma's house," she stood up.

"Who are you if you're not one of them?" Ally pointed out.

"You look like them more than anyone else in our family. You can deny it all you want but everyone else has always been thinking this way. We don't care whether you were forced to take everything they offer. It's a fact you're privileged, and they treat you this way since they believe you belong to them instead of us," she believed.

"I'm not privileged. I would do anything to be in your place. Do you know how I was able to come out of the house? I managed to hide a pair of shoes to wear. They made sure I wouldn't be able to access them so I wouldn't go outside," I tightened my grip on the swing.

"Although I offer you my condolences, it's hard for me to continue helping you when you're blaming everything on me. My family was broken by them a long time ago. I don't have the ability to visit my parents without their permission. This started at the age of four. The same age as Adam," I found her asking too much.

If Adam had never cut my hair, this entire incident could have been prevented. Most of the fault came from April and Adam, who fought over the book. Why was she complaining to me when I was equally a victim from Luke's family? At least she got to spend some time with her parents. I didn't have a choice but to admit Ally was somewhat right. My parents and I were nearly strangers to each other, the same relationship I had with Evan.

After going to the first district, the number of times I visited my parents was fewer than the number of fingers on my hand. Meanwhile, I visited Luke's family very often to the point they either called me their daughter or granddaughter. While all of Luke's cousins acknowledged me as their cousin with their parents calling me their niece. Did I want to admit I was closer to Joanna and William than my own parents? The real people who took care of me and provided everything I could possibly need for more than ten years.

I wasn't stupid enough to easily dismiss everything the Roselia family did for me. There was a price for everything. I gave up everything I possessed for them. However, I didn't want to continue this horrible exchange anymore. I wanted to escape before I officially entered this black company. Although Luke believed marriage was only a formality, it was totally different in my eyes. It was the day I was shackled to his family to work till my death for no pay.

"What else am I supposed to do? Watch my parents go to prison and do nothing?" Ally helplessly stared at me.

"Have you tried sincerely apologizing to him instead of begging him to take back the lawsuits? I can help by trying to convince him afterwards," I recalled how Luke previously forgave my friends.

"You have to remember, I'm his precious doll. Treat me the same way as your most valuable object rather than a human being to get the answer you want," I clarified.

"I can't even get mad at you anymore," she mumbled.

"But I don't have a way to contact him," she glanced at my phone.

"I can give you his phone number. Don't use my phone. I'm going to get in trouble when he discovers I'm outside and with you," I placed my phone further away.

"Your phone is already vibrating with his name on the screen," Ally pointed out.

Unfortunately, Ally was right. Luke always seemed to have the perfect timing on his end to call me for something. I blocked the video mode and shot a look at Ally to remain silent. Thankfully, Ally got the hint as I swiped to answer the voice call. However, I forgot there were other people who made noises outside. A car whooshed past us, and there was a couple walking near a sidewalk, loudly talking to each other.

"You broke our deal. You're outside right now. I'm going to let your father know we're leaving and heading towards their house. Once we return, we're traveling straight to the first district," Luke instantly noticed.

"The noises came from the TV," I quickly created a cover.

"I'm the one person you shouldn't lie towards. You just lost the freedom to go anywhere else other than our mansions for this summer vacation," he added to the pain.

"It won't happen. Take back the lawsuits and the restriction on her freedom or I'm taking her as hostage," Ally realized I was equally powerless.

"Where are you Rika?" Luke's tone changed.

"Our best chance is to run. We can stay at my friend's place," Ally suggested.

I was totally going to die now. I had no choice but to follow Ally to escape from my fate. This was the exact situation I wanted to avoid. My steps became heavier as Ally began to show me a map of our escape route. But oddly, her eyes suddenly widened, her lips uncontrollably quivering in horror. Meanwhile, I felt my body getting lifted by someone's arm. Who was I getting kidnapped by this time?

"This is the serial killer mentioned by the news for the past few days," Ally nervously pointed.

"Why do you want me?" I wondered.

"You're not afraid of me?" The serial killer was surprised.

"Someone else is already coming to kill me. It doesn't make a difference who kills me first," I was familiar with this.