halcyon wilde • D3 [fin]

"Hello again."
I whirled around, my dark brown curls spilling around my shoulders. There he was again, hands behind his back, signature sneer plastered across his ugly face, and his green eyes burning holes in my body. God damn it. I turned away from him, closing my eyes. "I don't want you hanging around here any more," I rasped. "You're a disaster just waiting to happen."
He came closer, snaking his arms around my waist and pulling me close. Smirking, he planted fragile kisses on my neck. "Do you really want me gone, Hallie baby?" he purred. I tore out of his grasp, growling. "You are a street rat, Michael."

A wail forced its way out of my chest and ripped out of my mouth, breaking the silence in my household. With five other siblings whose name that I had to live up to, the quiet never lasted long and lately, I was the only one who decided to speak. Even if my only words were gibberish, forced out between episodes of screaming.
I hadn't understood a lot from when I was a child, but I knew that the moment Michael Lane was led into my home at the age of one, I hated him. He was a rather wicked infant, from what I recall. He threw things at me and would not stop poking me. He always had snot in his nose and drooled like a stray dog. He was disgusting from day one.

Michael chuckled, grabbing my arm. "Oh princess," he whispered, pulling me close again and planting a wet kiss on my lips. I felt a dull spark, then absolute disgust. If it were not for all the pain I endured with Michael over the years, I may have still felt those fireworks.
"How long did you think you could run from me?"
"Is the correct answer forever?"

He wasn't exaggerating when he called me a princess. I was from one of the wealthiest families in three, though not as rich as people like the Nox family. My mother promised me big things in life, large inheritances of money and property. I remember being among some of the well-dressed at school. My mom tried to force me into spiked red heels on the first day of preschool. My brothers thought it was funny to watch me stumble around in the yard. My sister was not happy.

"You sure you didn't miss me, Halcyon? A princess always needs her knight," he mumbled. I tried to push him away, but his grip on my waist tightened. "And princesses do what the knights tell them to do."

I swallowed nervously. "Well, this princess doesn't follow orders. Especially not from heathens like you."

My name is Halcyon Elaine Wilde. I am second in line to inheriting everything the family owns. My brothers Sean, Ryan, Patrick, and Winston aren't eligible for the wealth because females have always run the family. First in line heiress is Zoe. Zoe Talyn Wilde. She's the queen of the bitches really. We were born one year apart, and that means that she, by definition, is always better than me. My family arranges marriages from a young age, and she got the sweeter, hotter fiancée; Bradley Lane. He treats me right, and he treats her like she's out of this world. But I'm stuck with Michael the rude dropout. Great.


"So when's the wedding?" he asked, taking my hands in his. They were sweaty and hairy, and they felt gross. I flinched away, wiping my hands on my tulle skirt. "Try never. I told my family you were a golddigger, Michael. I told them how you beat me and blackmailed me. I told them how you flirted with Marlie and Hyacinth. It's over now."

Marlie Cawilra was my best friend in the whole world. From the day we met in kindergarten, I knew we were destined to cause trouble together. Now, Hyacinth on the other hand? She was a vain, annoying little bitch. Far too bubbly for my taste. But I sucked it up and dealt with it, because Marlie was her friend too.

Michael opened his mouth to speak, but I held up my hand in protest. "I don't see why you can't just leave me alone. Don't you have more girls to fool around with?" I scoffed. "More girls that are perhaps, your age? We may be two years apart, but I'm still a minor. I'm seventeen. You're an adult. You're nineteen."

"Love knows no boundaries."

"But I do."

Michael shook his head, clicking his tongue. "When are you going to stop running from me, Hallie?" he asked, hugging me close to his chest. "I only want the best for our relationship. I could give you everything you ever wanted."

I rolled my eyes, forcing a sarcastic laugh. Shoving his large hands away, I gave him a defiant glare. "There's nothing else between us. And now that Marlie has a boyfriend, she's off limits too. Why not date Hyacinth? I'm sure she'd love having you as her boyfriend of the week."

With that being said, I turned and walked away. I didn't know where my feet would take me, but I had a feeling it was towards that place again. I always went there. I had the scars to prove it.

I was pretty. It was undeniable. I have a pale, oval-shaped face dotted with more freckles than I could count. My chin is snub and rounded, and I have small, round ears. I have long, dark, naturally curly hair. My eyes are stormy gray, flecked with blue. I honestly think that people are blind if they don't see how stunning I am.

Though I have very high self-esteem and a good opinion of myself, I still come here. I sit by the lake and try to distort my reflection as much as possible. I end up cutting myself on the sharp stones I throw into the water. I even stood on this bank once, bare foot and topless, and tried to drown myself. But of course Marlie came by the second I toppled into the water. I don't know what got into me, to make me want to kill myself. It wasn't in my nature; I was optimistic, whole-hearted, and humorous. It was amazing how one man made me transform into this suicidal, angry girl.

Here I was again, at the lake's edge. I kicked off my heels and watched them slowly sink in the thick, murky water. I stood on my tippy toes, peering into the dark waters. Taking a deep breath, I flung my clothes to the side and dove into the water.

Through all my jumbled, dark thoughts, one light broke through the shadows; the hopes that I would drown my sorrows before I drowned myself.