Aria and Kelsi are best friends who meet through their love for dance and become soul mates. Each independent of their parents through different circumstances, they both find love in a crazy world of gangsters and drugdealers. Suddenly, Aria's parents are murdered by the one person she trusts the most and on the quest for revenge, she discovers that her parents were never whom she always believed them to be. She untangles the webs and soon comes to the realisation that all the people in her life are intertwined in ways she never expected.
Chapter 1 Prologue
Walking along the sidewalks of Milton road is something I enjoy doing every evening on my way back home from dance practice. The cool evening breeze on my skin whisking away all the hotness and sweat i must have gathered during the practice feels just great.
I prefer walking home to using the subway with my friends because walking gives me time to piece my fragmented thoughts back together. From my bickering psycho best friend, Kelsi to hectic dance moves at practice to my arguing parents at the brink of divorce. My life isn't exactly a fairytale, dancing seems to be my only escape from reality and walking seems to help too.
Don and Nuella Gray are the two people who brought me into the world. For the 25 years they've been together, it has been all rosy or so it seemed until recently. It's been from one argument to the other from one day to the next and I never seem to know what they fight about no matter how hard I try. Mom never speaks about their arguments even when I ask, she just assures me that they will sort out their differences. My dad is a stubborn man and I know he always likes to have his way but the arguments they have been having recently seem to be much more than purchasing a new wall painting or buying a new race car which are the things they usually argue about because of how extravagant my dad could be. I could sense that this was something bigger and really important that I didn't know about and that it also has something to do with me.
I was thinking all the while that it could be that they are going bankrupt but four days ago as I got home from practice, I heard them in the kitchen...
"You have to tell her, Don. She deserves to know."
"No one is telling anyone anything. "
"But why?"
"There's nothing to tell, Ella. Just let this issue die so she can have a normal life."
"We're gonna have to tell her sooner or later."
"Tell me what?" I ask cutting into their conversation.
They stare wide-eyed at me like they have just seen a ghost. They hadn't seen me come in through the back door.
"Did you- ?" Mom begins.
"Yes, I heard everything. And I want to know what it is you think dad should say to me." I retort, square-faced.
They just stare quietly. My mom gives my dad a pleading look.
"It's nothing Aria. Just get something to eat."
He waves it off as usual. I contemplate asking again but instead do as I'm told. I am famished from all that dancing anyway. There's just something about my dad that I don't get, and I do not know if it's my adoration for him but I can't just bring myself to argue with anything he says because I won't even win. He's a very authoritative man and he always gets what he wants.
Anyway, I'm walking home today again from practice and I hear nothing. No voices. The lights are on, all the cars are complete in the garage but I hear nothing. Usually, they would cook together, watch TV together and do the dishes together. I come home to meet them doing one of these things every evening.
But tonight there's no laughter, no argument, no aroma wafting from the kitchen either. Mom and dad are usually at home by this time and they definitely are but for some odd reason the house is eerily quiet. I start to think that they are probably asleep but the state of the house tells me they are home. The windows are open and the lights are turned on. This is a different kind of quiet, a scary kind of quiet.
Instantly, I know something is wrong. I walk slowly around the back and find the door ajar, also strange! Our number one rule is to never leave any doors open, we always have our keys on us whenever we are leaving the house and we always lock the doors while inside whether any of us is out or not. My dad made that rule and none of us have ever broken it because of how seriously he takes it.
I tiptoe through the kitchen in search of my parents. And then I find them when I get to the living room. Oh, I see them quite alright! Only they are sprawled on the floor in a pool of their own blood taking their final breaths. I am in shock for a little over five seconds and then I notice that the person responsible for their death is still in the room. I start to fear for my life but then as I take one look at him, I can't seem to tear my eyes away. He is clad in black and has his back to me and he isn't even aware I have come into the house. I'm thinking...I should do something, pick up some sort of weapon and hit him on the back of his head or something but I can't seem to get my body to respond. Instead i stand there staring at the murderer of my parents like a deer caught in the headlights. There is something oddly familiar about the figure standing before me. His frame, height, hair and posture, all too familiar. But could it be him? How can it be him? My mind must be playing games on me because he turns to where I'm standing and clears all of my doubts...