"whenever you're ready"
Four Years Earlier – Somewhere in Oklahoma
It was one of those rare occasions when Andi was left on her own. Her mother, Lorraine, was away again on another assignment, and Delphine, her tutor and her mother's girlfriend, was shopping in town.
These instances of complete freedom always caught the young blonde off guard. What was she even supposed to do with the time? Her life seemed very sad during moments like these. It was not as if she had friends to sneak out with.
Well, technically, that was not true.
Her mother never allowed her to grow attached to anyone. Attachments were distractions that could get you killed, she would tell Andi. The young girl soured at the thought. Apparently, only her mother was allowed to decide what attachments were dangerous or not, seeing as she formed a pretty significant one with Delphine.
Hypocrite.
Although, a few months prior to her turning twelve, when Delphine had taken the Broughton girl into town with her, Andi may have made her first friend. Usually, she hated going to town with the older woman. The kids her age recognized her because she was different. She did not attend school with them. She did not interact with them. She was a hermit by the age of twelve.
Those quick to conform to social norms did not easily accept difference.
Andi walked behind Delphine with her head down, pushing the cart through the market. The blonde could hear the whispers of gossip. They did not necessarily bother her. Why would they? She did not know these people. They were not her friends.
The only acceptance she ever yearned for was her mother's. That was the most twisted part about their whole relationship. The preteen was so full of resentment toward the woman who gave her life, yet at the same time, all she wanted was some praise, some attention, anything. God, she sounded needy.
However, everything changed that one day in town when she met Erik Schilling.
Erik was different too. He did not care about the whispers when he ran into the younger girl while Delphine was in the bathroom. He did not spare a glance at the wandering eyes of the public during their conversation. It never even occurred to Andi that he was also out of place.
She would be lying if she denied the skip in her heartbeat as she spoke with the charming fourteen-year-old. It was the first time she ever had a real conversation with someone her age where they were not referring to her as a freak at some point.
When Delphine had come back from the bathroom, Andi asked if she could get ice cream with Erik. The French woman knew that Lorraine would be livid if she allowed Andi to go, but Delphine knew the importance of being socialized at such a young age and she did not want to deprive Andi of normalcy any longer. Giving in, she allowed the two to go to the ice cream shop down the street as she finished her errands.
Andi had been ecstatic. Erik was her first real friend. Although the time seemed to pass too quickly, Erik gave Andi his phone number in case she ever wanted to hang out again. She had wanted to give him hers back but knew that if her mother found out, she was done for. He did not push it though, and they went their separate ways.
They had managed to see each other a few times since meeting eight months ago. Their friendship had grown quickly and something about the boy managed to spark a rebellious streak in the girl. A month after her twelfth birthday, after an argument with her mother, the charismatic boy talked her into taking her mother's car for a joyride. Lorraine had been furious.
Andi had taken to sneaking out with her friend for late night bike rides and talks, never overly worried for her safety with her training. She might not have been at an assassin level like her mother, but she could certainly handle the average creep.
It was rare though that she would be able to spend time with him during the day, and now she could.
She rang him on the phone and invited him over. Not for a second did it seem odd that it was the middle of the day on a Thursday, and any other normal kid would be in school. She did not fit into that category, so it had not even occurred to her in her excited state that it was out of the ordinary. The blonde was blinded by her loneliness.
About twenty minutes had passed when Erik knocked at her front door. Andi immediately ran to answer it and invite her new friend inside.
He quickly started a conversation, not missing a beat. Erik had never seen the inside of her house before. "Organic Chemistry," he commented, seeing her textbook out on the coffee table in the study.
"Oh, yeah," she added awkwardly.
"A little advanced, isn't it? You must be pretty smart," he smiled.
Andi shrugged, trying to keep the blush from her face. "Well, when you're a homeschooled freak with no friends, you get a lot of reading done," she joked in a self-deprecating way.
Erik frowned. "I don't think you're a freak. Being different isn't necessarily a bad thing. Albert Einstein wasn't your average Joe, and look at all he had to offer the world."
"I'm definitely no Albert Einstein," she said, waving him off and not knowing how to take a compliment.
"No, you're way prettier," he corrected. Andi was unable to keep the blush off her cheeks this time.
Erik perused the room some more, taking in the space. Suddenly, it occurred to Andi though that if her Chemistry textbook was out then so were the books for some of her more abnormal subjects. Her eyes darted to the desk that Erik had not reached yet. Her Anarchist Cookbook sat out in plain sight.
Andi moved to the desk as quickly as possible, without drawing too much attention, and slipped the book into one of the desk drawers. The blonde did the same when she saw her book on poisons sitting out on one of the end tables, pushing it out of sight as nonchalantly as possible.
"Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?" Erik asked, his fingers brushing a text on the bookshelf. For a minute, Andi's heart leaped, thinking about what else could be on the shelf, but remember that most of the incriminating books were left in her mother's office. "You have some weird books here Andi," he said with a laugh.
Andi let out a nervous laugh too. "Yeah, my mom has a wide range of interests. She travels a lot for work… she's a writer… so, she picks up a lot of hobbies along the way."
Erik simply nodded at her explanation before the topics moved elsewhere. Almost three hours had passed when Andi realized the time. The sun was starting to set and Delphine still was not home yet. She was usually home well before dark.
Anxiety rippled through Andi as she tried to quell it. Just wanting to cover her own ass for when her guardian inevitably arrived home, which would probably be any moment; she figured it was time to send Erik on his way.
"Wow, it's already almost seven o'clock. Delphine will probably be back any minute and she's not gonna be happy if she sees you here. I mean, she's fine with us hanging out sometimes, but she still draws a line when it comes to asking permission, so…" the blonde trailed off.
Erik stood up and gave her a crooked smile. "No problem. Call whenever you want—," before he could finish his thought, the phone in the kitchen rang.
Erik did not seem bothered by the interruption, but Andi was a little startled.
No one ever called the house. The phone was practically just a decoration on the wall. The only people who called were her mom and Delphine.
Trying to quell her nerves, Andi assumed it was her guardian just calling to say she was running a little late. She did not know where all this anxiety was coming from, but she was starting to get a bad feeling.
"Hello," she answered the phone simply, not giving out any information about herself.
"Andi?" a frantic voice sounded from the other end of the line.
"Mom?" the young girl questioned. It sounded like her mother, but on the other hand, the girl was not sure if she had ever heard anything close to panic in the older woman's voice. "What's wrong?"
"I'm compromised. You have to get out of the house. They know where you are. They sent someone to take you. You know where to go. Leave now!" The line went dead on the other end.
Andi could immediately feel the adrenaline enter her bloodstream as her heart pounded at a million beats per minute. She hung the phone up and left to go back to Erik. If Ouroboros was coming for her, then she needed to get him out of there as quickly as possible.
"Hey, that was Delphine," Andi started, steeling herself to appear as if everything was fine and she had not just gotten a frightening call from her mom. "She's on her way home, just had some car trouble that caused her to run a little late."
She entered the room to see Erik sitting at the desk, flipping through the AnarchistCookbook she had stashed there earlier. He did not appear shocked at the presence of such a book, nor did he seem bothered by the content.
Andi's heart stopped. "That wasn't Delphine on the phone, Andi," Erik said, closing the book with an almost serene smile.
She gulped nervously, her body tensed. There was no use to keep up the charade that everything was fine. "And how do you know that?"
"Because she's dead."
As the words left his mouth, Andi wanted to do nothing but scream. She wanted to deny it, to scream at this stranger in front of her and let the tears fall freely, but she could not. There was no time for emotion in a situation like this.
"You see, Andrea. I killed her, earlier today on my way over here. Don't worry. I was perfectly humane. A single rifle round right between the eyes. Painless." He talked about it as if he did not just end someone's life. He spoke as if speaking about some menial story from the morning news.
Standing from his seat, he began to walk towards her, but her feet shuffled backward with every step he took. "You're with Ouroboros," she stated.
"Very good. I knew you were smart. They always ask 'Why?' in situations like this, but not you. All that time on the outside looking in made you observant, able to piece the puzzle together quickly." Andi's lip curled in disgust.
"What are you going to do now? You're not here to kill me, or you never would have waited this long. Eight months is a pretty long time to fake being friends with someone just to kill them."
"Right again! Ouroboros has much more use for you alive rather than dead," he stated, stepping forward.
Andi took another step back. "Fuck you!" she spat at him.
Not wasting another second, the blonde darted for the kitchen and grabbed a filet knife from the drawer. Just as she turned around, she felt Erik's arms wrap around her from behind. She jabbed her elbow back several times, hitting him in the ribs until he loosened his grip. He tried to grab for her hair, but she swung her arm out, slicing into his upper arm with the razor sharp blade.
"Damn," he said, touching the blood that leaked from the wound. "This was my favorite shirt."
"Sound like a poor wardrobe choice when you going to abduct someone," she snapped, lunging at him with the knife again.
This time her efforts were futile. Erik's skill far surpassed her own. It seemed that her previous success at injuring him had only been because he underestimated her.
Quickly disarming her, the older boy's arm wrapped around her throat, putting her into a chokehold. Her air supply was being cut off, her vision beginning to fade. "Time for a nap Andi. You've had a long day." She tried to struggle against him, but it was no use.
"Fuck you, you psycho," she said, although it failed to be intimidating as she was losing consciousness. Her muscles went lax, and her eyes drifted shut.
"Actually, I prefer Abaddon," was the last thing she heard as her head lulled to the side.
"Hello, Abaddon."
"Well, you don't sound very happy to hear from me," his teasing tone spoke from the other end of the line.
Andi bit her lip, desperately trying to quell her emotions. No, she most definitely was not happy to hear from the psycho that tormented her years ago. She was not happy to hear from the guy she thought was her friend but really turned out to be just another dickhead. She was not happy to speak so casually with the monster that took away Delphine, one of the only people in the world to give a shit about her.
"Are you that surprised? What did you want me to say? That I miss you too because I assure you that is not the case."
She heard him making a tsking noise, "Andi, Andi, Andi. I just wanted to check in on my best friend. How's school going? I bet it's great. You finally get to be around people your age and mingle. Although, I mean it is King's Dominion, so they probably still aren't the most savory bunch. But, at least you're not a freak anymore."
Hearing the word 'freak' was triggering to her, especially coming from him. Her grip on the phone tightened. It almost made her snap at him, but that was what he wanted. He was trying to elicit a response from her. She wanted to hang up, but it was the first time she heard from him in three years and a part of her needed to know what he had to say.
When she did not say anything, he continued. She could practically envision the smirk on his face. "What about that guy? What's his name? You always hang out with him… British accent… Simon! That's it!" Andi's breath hitched at the mention of the Londoner. It was one thing for him to know where she was at, she doubted that information was very difficult to get for Ouroboros, but the mention of Simon made one fact very clear for the blonde. They were watching her. Abaddon was watching her.
"He seems like a great guy. Sad though, that he's always pining after that Mexican chick, Maria. I mean when is she going to kill that abusive dick of a boyfriend and get with Simon. He is much more swoon-worthy." Andi shook with anxiety. She bit her lip to keep in a sob, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"Is there a point to all of this?" she tried to ask him, but he ignored her and continued to speak over her question.
"Saya is a little brooding for my tastes, but her skills with that sword are admirable. It would almost be worth dying at her hands. She makes killing look like an art form. I'll admit. I might have a crush…" Just when she thought he might be done, dangling all his knowledge about her life in front of her, he pulled out his trump card. "But nothing like your crush. Oh, Marcus. I see why you like him. So tragic and mysterious. Your little date tonight at the diner was downright adorable. Although I must say, I think you're moving a little fast. Sleeping with him already. So quick to trust again after everything we've been through together. Did you learn nothing?"
She squeezed her eyes shut and ground out her next words through clenched teeth. "Your. Point?"
His teasing tone disappeared. He no longer sounded like a long-lost friend just trying to catch up. Instead, he answered back, emotionless, "Ouroboros is coming for you again. You escaped us once, and we let you go. Your time at King's has only made you more valuable to us. When we come for you, it will be best if you come willingly.
"You will never truly escape us. Should you try to, well, I think a clever girl like you can figure out the rest. Say hi to your friends for me." The call ended and Andi immediately slammed the phone back onto the receiver.
Desperately trying to keep tears back until she made it to her room, and silently begging that Brandy had made herself scarce for the night, Andi was not even paying attention to where she was going or who was calling out to her.
A gentle hand rested on her shoulder causing the blonde girl to whip around, her paranoia getting the best of her. Her bloodshot, watery eyes met Maria's, the green irises filled with concern. Never had Maria seen such raw emotion from the blonde.
"Andi, what's wrong?" Maria asked, her accented voice soft and soothing.
The blonde could not bring herself to answer, afraid that she would burst into tears. The only thing she managed to say was, "I can't go shopping tonight," before hurrying past the girl to her dorm room.
Luckily, Brandy was somewhere else, although Andi did briefly note a spattering of blue paint around her desk. She did not give it much thought though as she broke down, finally letting the tears fall.
Andi hated crying. It made her feel stupid. Crying did not solve any of her problems. It was not going to bring Delphine back. It was not going to protect her friends. It was not going to rescue her from her position under Ouroboros' thumb. And it most certainly was not going to kill Abaddon.
Nevertheless, sometimes, she just needed to let it out. It might not solve her problems, but it was sure as hell cathartic.
She did not know how to process what Abaddon told her. She could not process it. The memories and emotion she had successfully buried behind mental walls years ago were bursting out, the dam thoroughly destroyed.
It was not just her at stake anymore, but her friends had been dragged into this now because of her. She had turned into her mother. Delphine's association with the two of them had gotten her killed, and Andi would be damned if she let anyone else suffer the same fate.
The blonde did not know how long she had been crying when she heard a soft rap at the door. Aggressively wiping the tears from her eyes, trying to get rid of any evidence that her porcelain exterior had cracked wide open, she stood and started toward the door. Briefly, she caught a glimpse in the mirror at herself and cringed.
Mascara ran down her cheeks, her eyes red and puffy. Even her lips had chapped. She looked a wreck. Snatching a tissue from her nightstand, she rubbed at her cheeks to make the black streaks disappear. Once they were gone, she was left with red cheeks, a result of her attempt. Sighing, she called out, "Who is it?"
"Maria," the Latina answered from the other side. "I-I, uh, wanted to check on you."
Andi hesitated for a second before reluctantly opening the door and letting the other girl inside. The blonde plopped back down on her bed and Maria took a seat next to her.
Without another word, the Latina beauty wrapped her arms around Andi in a tight embrace. The comforting gesture made Andi want to burst into tears again, but her tear ducts were currently running on empty. The blonde returned the hug, squeezing Maria back with equal vigor.
Pulling back from the hug, Maria looked her straight in her puffy, sad eyes. "You don't have to tell me what's wrong. I mean, I want you to be able to tell me what's wrong, but I won't pressure you too. Just know that when you're ready to talk about it, I'm ready to listen. You're mi hermana. You've always been there for me, so I'll always be there for you."
A single tear fell from Andi's eye and rolled down her cheek before Maria swiped it away with her finger. "Thank you," she said pulling the girl in for another hug, enjoying the comfort. "I might not be ready to talk about it now, but later… I'll tell you everything. I promise." They pulled back again and the Latina girl nodded to her friend understandingly.
"Whenever you're ready," Maria assured her.
PLEASE READ – INFO ON FUTURE UPDATES
WOW! I'M SO SORRY! I went on a bit of an update break because of midterms but then afterward, for like the first time in months, I had a social life and friends to hang out with… it was bizarre lol. On a brighter note though, I am getting my first tattoo on Saturday, which I am very excited about!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Again, I know I promised Maria and Andi bonding which we didn't get a whole lot of, but there was a little toward the end because I wanted to stress how comfortable the two are around each other. Marcus may have been the person Andi started to open up to, but when it comes to the heavy stuff, I always imagined her telling Simon or Maria first. Next chapter, expect some Simon and Scorpio Slasher for sure with the possibility of some Andi/Marcus cuteness and more Maria bonding. If those last two don't happen, they'll be in the following chapter.
You guys get part one of two of Andi's tragic backstory in this chapter. I'm not sure when I am going to introduce the second part though. It will pick up right after her abduction when I do write it.
Lastly, I think I am going to try to set up an updating schedule for this story and my other stories. Since this is my most popular story right now, I want to update twice a week. One day will be on Sunday, so whatever other day I update this week, probably Thursday, will be the other day to expect regular updates on.
I will probably post the schedule on my profile for any of you who follow my other stories.
DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT AND VOTE! THEY HELP MOTIVATE ME TO GET OFF MY LAZY, PROCRASTINATING ASS AND WRITE! LOL