The Romance Of Danger

I aim my gun at the target, I hear gunshots already. I know it wasn’t from me because I didn’t pull the trigger yet. I see the body fall as I look around to see who could have possibly shot my target. Seeing the stranger walking away, I tapped the unknown man with my gun. “What do you think you’re doing here?” I said, still holding the gun towards him, not letting down my guard.

“What do you mean, What am I doing here? This is my mission. I should most likely ask you that question”. Zephyr says with a snarky attitude.

“Your mission? Like Hell, this is my mission. I even got the files sent to me.” As I reach for my phone to show him the file I received, he snatches my gun from me, throws it on the floor, grabs my arm, and puts it behind my back as he is positioned behind me, holding me tight.

“Let go of me right now!” I say, trying to free my arm from him. As I struggle, I feel the warmth of his body and hear his heart beating fast as he snatches my phone from my hand to check the file. “Look, Princess, I’m not letting you go until I know you’re not gonna shoot me,” He says with sarcasm but snarky.

“I won’t. Just let me go.” I groan in pain as a tightness stings my upper arm. He slowly ungripped my arm, and I turned around to face him.

“Give me my Goddamn phone back.” I attempt to snatch it back, but he lifts his arm.

I can’t reach it only because of this damn height difference. I kneed Zephyr in the stomach. That way, I have access to my phone again. When I do, I grab it and run away. He chases after me, and I run faster, stumbling into another target. I reach for my gun and look around in confusion. I cursed under my breath as I realized I never picked it up. My hair is pulled tightly, and I’m wincing in pain.

I elbowed them in their stomach and kicked them in their lower abdomen. As I finally got free, I picked up his gun and held it before me. As I aimed the gun at the target, I pulled the trigger, watching him drop to the floor. Quickened footsteps echoed in the silent room.

I quickly turned my body around and was met with an angry Zephyr. I laughed at his expression and walked away.

He quickly grips my wrist and turns me towards him. I jerked my wrist back from his possession and started rubbing it from the pain of his grip. He laughs.

“I hate you,” I speak, glaring at him, still holding my wrist, “Princess, sure you do,” he smirks before exiting the room and leaving me with all the lifeless bodies.

“Scarlett! Are you almost ready? We won’t begin without you.” My mother waited for an answer,

“Mother I’ll be down in a second,” I responded, finishing my hair and unplugging the curling iron before I got dressed and headed downstairs. As I walk down the stairs I look around due to the quietness of the house.

“Wow, would you take a look at this? All that time being wasted just to show up like you threw the first thing you saw on, disgusting at first sight.” he sarcastically smiled. “Shut up. It’s nice to see you too. I have a present for you,” I flip him off as he does the same,

“Vincent and Scarlett, stop that. God, you are siblings, but I swear you both act like you’re enemies.” My mother stated with a small chuckle. “No, it’s all tough love,” I replied ruffing up his hair, “I’m going to kill you,” Vincent spoke slowly standing as I ran and hid behind our father, “It’s too early for the two of you to be acting like children,” he spoke taking a sip of his dark coffee.

“How can you drink that? No milk? No sugar? Just disgusting.” I spoke moving away from him and sitting next to our little sister. “That’s why he’s the one drinking it.” My little sister Marliene added.

“I will lock you in the basement,” I replied.

“I’ll do anything to be hidden from that hideous face of yours,” she spoke as Vincent high-fived her, I narrowed my eyes before taking a bite of my waffle. “You’re supposed to be on my side, what happened?” I question taking a sip of my cranberry juice, ”

“I only take sides when it benefits me,” Marliene said smugly. “What benefit? He paid you?” I question placing my glass back on the table, “No I didn’t pay her. We just have a great bond with each other.” Vincent continued. ” Yeah, no. I wouldn’t even believe that” she interrupted.

“I’m sorry, but your acting could only go so far, and yes he did pay me,” she spoke adding the finishing touches on her project. “Well, it didn’t take long to figure that out.” I continue to sip my juice.

—

“You’re so annoying,” I spoke rolling my eyes as Vincent pulled up to the front of the school, “Watch your mouth, I can still run you over.” He threatened as Marliene got out and slammed the door shut. “Slam my door again, I dare you.” he rolled down the window. Marilene goes to the car door, opens it, and slams it again with a smile on her face. “If you don’t want your car door to break I advise you to not threaten me with a dare again.” As Marilene walks to the sidewalk Vincent makes a U-turn and yells “Good luck finding a way back home because I won’t be picking you up.” As he drives away Marliene scowls and flips him off.

“You know you don’t have to act like a dick all the time, you do know that right?” I said while scrolling on my phone. Vincent stares at me, “And you know you can drive yourself to school right?” I look up from my phone and roll my eyes at him. “Exactly, so shut up before you walk the rest of the way to school,” He said.

“You are going to pick her up, we aren’t going home without her.” I rebutted, hitting his arm. “Hit me again, I dare you. I will kill us both.” he threatened. “You wouldn’t dare,” I said with a scowl. Vincent steps on the gas pedal going faster. ” Vince..” I said, grabbing the handle near my seat, “Slow down!” I yelled, shutting my eyes tightly as he hit the brakes and began to chuckle.

“Are you fucking crazy? You almost killed us!” I slap the back of his head, “No, I almost killed you. There’s a difference. Why would I try to do that? I’m in the car.” He chuckled a little more.

“Now, I recommend you watch your mouth from now on,” he pulled into our school’s parking lot.

“Get out,” he ordered, cutting the engine off, I bit my tongue and rolled my eyes before slamming the door shut and entering the school. “You’re walking back home!” he screamed standing at the car door as I flipped him off in response.

I sit inside the chemistry lab tapping my pen repeatedly on the table, biting the cheek of my mouth. “Do you understand, Scarlett?” I snap out of boredom and sit up straight before answering, “Huh? What was the question?” I shake my head snapping out of it.

“May I talk to you, outside Ms.Hayes?” Mrs. Everhart spoke, clasping their hands together, while I stood up and walked out of the classroom after her. “What’s going on? You used to be top of the class? Is everything okay?” she questioned as I stood there looking around the halls.

“Yeah, everything is fine. I’m okay, I just need to focus again.” I answered, taking a deep breath afterward. “Well, what are you focused on now?” She questioned once more as I was about to enter the lab. “I’m not focused on anything, I just zoned out for a bit.” I reason as the bell begins to ring.

“You just happened to zone out the entire class?” she continued. “Yeah, it’s a new habit,” I reasoned, “Well make sure it doesn’t continue for long. I need my top student back, or Zephyr will have to take your place.” She smiles before opening the door.

Zephyr? He’s not even half as smart as me. He will never be able to take my place, never. Not today and not tomorrow, I thought to myself as I walked the halls to my next class.

I reach my destination and enter the class, as I walk toward my seat I trip over somebody’s bag. I turn around and look for the owner, I tap the person’s shoulder. They slowly turn around and look at me, soon I am met with the devil himself. Zephyr.

“You can place your bag under your chair or under your desk, I almost fell.” I roll my eyes, taking my seat behind him. “You can also watch where you’re going, you have eyes for a reason.” he stares as I roll my eyes again, before taking out my notebook and pens.

“Welcome back everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend...so who can tell me, can we ever truly know history?” Ms. Ellsworth posed a question.

I immediately raised my hand and to my surprise,hedid too.

“Mr.Vincenzo.” I lower my hand and sit up straight, listening to what he’s about to say. “We can truly know history because there are documents and textbooks to prove it. Let alone people who lived through it to tell the stories. History only repeats itself, it never changes.” he spoke as Ms. Ellsworth nodded her head in agreement.

“History doesn’t repeat itself. It only moves forward, the past is the past and the future is yet to come. Yes, there are important historical figures who are alive, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the truth. Anybody could lie and say they were there during that time. Like Aristotle, he’s known as a Greek philosopher who studied philosophy and many more subjects. How do we know that he did that? We weren’t there and nobody today is alive from the BC era.” I rebutted.

“It’s like that with everybody, any historical figure you read or hear about has done something to impact the way we live today. A prime example of history repeating itself, there will always be somebody who created something to shape the way things are done now. It’s the same cycle over and over again. Everybody does the same thing.” he added, turning around and facing me.

“Okay, so what if people are creating something that can help the future, that doesn’t mean history repeats itself if it’s a different historical figure creating various solutions for various problems,” I said, staring at him with a little smirk.

“That’s exactly my point, there is an issue they fix it. They need solutions, and they find them. It’s all the same thing, even today. We are doing the same things they did years before, that’s my point.” he spoke again.

“That’s different than-” the bell interrupts me as I let out a heavy sigh. As I grab my things he stands up and whispers, “Dumbass.” he exited the room.

—

“So how was your day at school, Mari?” Vincent questions as he drives away from her school. “One, don’t you ever call me ‘Mari’ again. Ever. Two, it was boring. I didn’t want to be there, but what about you guys? Scar, did you argue today, and with whom did you argue?” she questioned fixing her hair in the rear-view mirror.

“It wasn’t arguing I would say, just a simple debate in history,” I said while trying to send a text message to the group chat. “Why are you always trying to argue with people?” Vincent said while looking at me in the mirror. As I send the final text I put my phone down and stare at Vince “Why do you have to be a jerk most of the time?” I said glaring at him. “Jeez, Scar it was just a simple question you don’t always have to argue with me.” He said pulling up in the driveway. “Shut the fuck up,” I spoke getting out and shutting the door close.

As we walk into the house we see our parents waiting for us on the couch. “Mom?Dad? What’s going on?” I questioned looking at both of my parents. My mom shifts on the couch a little and invites me to sit beside her. “How was your day?” My father questioned with an unsettled smile.

“Good, what’s wrong?” I question, “Did somebody die?” Mariliene added.

“No, everyone is well. We have something to tell you, and this might change everything.” my mother tried to speak. “We-” my father interrupts “Yeah we-” she clears her throat. “We’re moving. We understand that this is a sudden change, and you need time to process and think about it, but we have decided it’s what’s best for our family. So pack your bags and prepare your things, we are leaving tomorrow morning.” he stated. “What’s wrong with being here? I don’t want to leave. I grew up here, you can’t just change your mind like that and think I’m going to be okay with it.” I turn to face both of them.

“I know you don’t like the idea of change, but we only did what’s best for you. I’m sorry.” My mother took hold of my hands, “I don’t know if you’ll like it there, but we had no choice.” she continued.

“No, you did have a choice. You just chose the wrong one.” I argued standing up and walking up the stairs to my room. “Stop being so dramatic, we are moving. Accept it-” my brother spoke.

“Shut the fuck up, Vincent.”