Ryan
My memory is foggy. The last thing I remember is that uncomfortable hospital bed with my five grandkids crying and holding my hands. Maeve was smiling sadly from a chair in the far back, and Wyatt leaned in to whisper: "I love you, dad."
Did I die?
I glance down at my hands, oddly aware that I'm not dreaming. My wrinkles are there, but my back pain is gone. How peculiar. What is this place? I've never been here before, yet I feel at ease.
And the air is so fresh, like apples, a rainy day, and the ocean breeze combined. Breathing it in is like experiencing a rebirth, and I look ahead, wondering what I might find if I keep walking.
Carefully, I walk forward, lifting my head to be blown away by the waterfalls crashing down and landing nowhere.
"This place sure is beautiful... Like a dream..."
The sky is darker than black, but the flowers on the floor, growing on the walls of the mountain in clutches—they are glowing in these
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Amelia I was never supposed to find out that I'm not an original person but a literal clone of my father's daughter, who tragically passed away in a car accident. He gave me the same name as her, Amelia, and raised me like he had his precious daughter. When I pick up picture frames, Amelia, the original one, looks so much like me that it disturbs me to the point I feel sick. Her chocolate brown hair had perhaps been a bit longer, reaching down all the way to her hips, but we share the exact thin and fragile figure because girls of our class are expected to sit still and play the piano, not run around like boisterous kids and play in the garden. I believe the original Amelia preferred that tranquil life. And my father hoped I would turn out the same way, but what he didn't count on was for me to end up different—I love dogs and the outside world, while the original Amelia hated all animals. Of course, that was only the beginning of my personality spira
White debris flies everywhere, and then a hand comes in through the cracks, unlocking the bathroom door from the outside. My father's presence is enough to pour gasoline onto the spark of terror within me, and then it turns into a flame. He is such a rotten man. All I ever did was offer him my hand, a smile, and my heart, but this man can't be satisfied. My father is a perfectionist, constantly searching for new reasons to hate me, punish me for not being like her, the original Amelia. "Did you think you could get away from me?" My father snorts as if someone had said something funny. My blood runs cold. "Looks like someone needs to be taught some manners!" The imposing man approaches, and I hold my breath as the fight or flight response kicks in. Part of me wants to try skipping past my father, while the brighter part of my brain knows I can't win against him; he is too big and too darn strong. Why did he even pick a fight, to begin with? I h
The voice supposedly belonging to Ryan is sexy and deep, giving him an air of solid confidence, and gosh, his vocals are so easy on the ears that speaking suddenly got more challenging. "Ryan?" I croak and feel my cheeks heat up when I hear my own echo in the background. Embarrassingly enough, I had sounded more like a frog than a girl. "Yeah?" Ryan appears amused. "Did you worry someone else might have called you?" "No, I just... How are you?" I inwardly facepalm myself for my awkwardness. "I'm good, excellent, actually. I came home from the gym mere minutes ago, and now I'm making myself some dinner," Ryan seems like a very extroverted person, the opposite of me. "Is everything good with you?" His question isn't a hard one, yet I'm experiencing a brain freeze. The sound of something getting cooked in the background is the first thing I notice when the silence folds, along with the fact Ryan likes to hum to himself. "Y
The last couple of days have been the best ones in my life. Where melancholy once raged, there are sparkles of hope, and it grows every time I open one of Ryan's messages. Ryan has blown my mind. He is sexy, funny, and supposedly hot, according to himself. I can't remember how I went through a day in the mansion without him humoring me during the day. And at night, god the man knows how to make me laugh with his perverted humor and desire to get to know the real me, Amelia the clone. Simply thinking about Ryan sets my heart on a furious fire capable of even burning down my inner fears. I no longer care or cry when my father hurts me because I know Ryan will be there later to cheer me up. Whenever I talk with Ryan, happiness skitters along my skin like the feet of young children, the man is the kindest soul I've ever spoken with. And I'm falling hard and fast—it's almost scary. I've been locked inside my room for what feels like eternities, but things
The fancy limousine smells like musky sweat and cigars. There isn't a single stain on the entire interior, which is somewhat surprising considering Ryan is smoking inside the car while singing along to the lyrics of "feeling good" by Michael Buble.I turn to the men sitting packed like fish in their seats; they are all curiously listening to someone telling them their life story."So, I noticed Isabella was texting someone, right? Her damn phone kept vibrating every fucking night, and she was very secretive about it," A man named Billy is shaking his head, while the other men are waiting for him to continue his story. "And so when I came home early one day, I found her in our bed together with Fernando, her freaking masseur!""Oh shit!" Someone exclaims. "Fucking whore!""And then what did you do?" Another one asks, biting his nails while staring at Billy."Yeah, what did you do, Billy?""You murdered the damn guy, right?" A guy bigger than a bear
Stepping out of the vehicle would feel amazing if I wasn't painstakingly aware of Ryan studying me like a hawk even while standing among his group of men. He doesn't even seem to be paying them any attention, which causes me to sigh.I wish I could run away from Ryan, hide from those blue, penetrating eyes, but trying to escape from here wouldn't serve a purpose when each one of his men carries guns and weapons so heavy they can barely stand straight."What are you going to do with her?" Giovani asks, and I know without asking that they are talking about me.I remain painfully still as the men turn their heads in the background; their eyes feel like a physical weight on my shoulder. Still, I manage to focus on the world around me. Soft tufts of snow are circling down from the sky, landing on my red velvet dress as I stand there, blinking at the many cabins and houses in the courtyard.This place looks like a miniature town hidden away from the world.
I toss and turn in my slumber for what feels like hours before finally awakening from my nightmare. My breath is hitched, and I can't seem to relax, too shaken up by today's events. I'm freezing even though the sheets beneath me are drenched in a cold sweat.How I managed to fall asleep in the first place is a mystery, the temperature inside the room is freezing. A window is letting the moonlight come in and illuminate the wooden planks, and I shift until I'm staring at the chair where I've thrown my velvet dress.I'm so messed up. Fear is scratching within me, speeding up my heart and inviting the reality of today to sink into my brain by replaying the unfolded events.I was kidnapped, betrayed, and fooled by a man who played me for a week, and then I watched this man named Arthur die at the hands of the same man—Ryan is dangerous. That realization makes me cover under my sheets.Tired of acting strong, exhausted from playing tough, I let the tears
I have a theory that hating someone and being attracted to them is so scarily similar that I might have mixed up the two emotions. Attraction and hatred are both instinctive—your stomach mangle like a rag at the idea of that person. Your heart thumps painfully and brilliantly, almost to the point of threatening to burst out through your ribcage. It's impossible to stop thinking about the person, and every interaction with them fastens your pulse. Obviously, I'm not attracted to Ryan at all—I simply hate him. That is why I wasn't visualizing Ryan naked before I fell asleep yesterday or imagined his lush lips kissing my earlobe before biting down on it, whispering: "I want you, Amelia," Fuck. I wish Ryan was ugly. It would be easier to keep him away from my dreams and sweet reveries if he was a short, fat little man with a balding head and warts covering his entire face—stained, yellow teeth from smoking and a foul stench that followed him everywhere. B