𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴

CHAPTER TWENTY

CELESTE LISTENED TO her boyfriend talk about something on facetime as she put on her eyelashes. the birthday party for amiri was tonight and she was getting ready to go a couple hours earlier to help everybody there.

celeste continued doing her make up, she noticed how quiet it had gotten so she looked back at her phone to make sure darrian was okay. "d, you good?" darrian quickly snapped out of the trance celeste had put him in and nodded.

"you just.. so pretty." he complimented the girl as he bit his lip. celeste laughed flustered as her cheeks flowed a deep red. celeste mumbled a small thanks before continuing her makeup, moving on to her hair afterwards.

celeste had her hair pulled into high ponytail with a blue scrunchie tying it. she went for more of a blue look for the party since the theme was blue. she had on a blue sp5der set with her motorsport fours laced on her feet.

darrian had on the same thing expect his curly hair was out. his mom had insisted on the couple having matching outfits and their was no way to say no the that.

"ight, ma you want me to pick you up?" the boy asked, celeste looked down at her Apple watch to see it was only seven pm so she would just walk by herself. "no it's okay, i'll walk by myself." she turned down the question.

darrian had a gut feeling to not let her walk by herself for some reason and was gonna press on it more but celeste raised her hand up knowing what he was gonna say. "i'll be fine d." darrian sighed in defeat in response.

the boy was gonna say something but was interrupted when he heard his mom calling him. "ight, leste call me back when you're at dd's house okay?" celeste just rolled her eyes at his overprotectiveness but looked back to see the serious look on his face.

"yes baby i will." she sent him a warm smile making him crack a smile. "mk, gimme beso." he puckered his lips and gestured celeste to do the same towards the screen. every time when the two were on facetime and it was time to leave they always shared a kiss through the screen.

sometimes darrian would just send her voice messages of telling her to send kisses which led her to making multiple videos of her kissing the screen, it could be four in the morning but she would do it. just for him.

"bye mi amor, love you." celeste said the sentence thinking their was no meaning to it since the two have said love you before but never had said 'i love you.'

"love you forever baby." darrian sent her a cheesy smile before hanging up. celeste smiled at the now locked screen that her phone displayed. she had it bad. celeste decided to call her cousin for a couple minutes before deciding to leave the house.

isis wouldn't be walking with her since she was getting dropped off since she didn't feel like walking. isis also wanted to drive their with celeste but celeste said it would be a waste of gas with the fact that celeste lived maybe two blocks away from the reyes house.

celeste grabbed the big blue colored gift bag that had multiple presents for amiri in it. the girl was basically rushing out her room now since she couldn't afford to be late since she had promised the little boy that she would be there for his birthday.

and celeste never breaks her promises.

celeste jogged down the stairs, seeing the back of her dad's body that was turned on the stove. "hi pa, i'm going to amiri's birthday. i'll be home later." she stopped in her tracks to give her dad a hug which he returned back warmly.

"okay baby girl — oh! give the lil boy this for me." marc picked up the card that was laying on the counter and gave it to his daughter. celeste could feel from the weight inside of the papered card their was probably a couple hundred bills in it.

celeste nodded before strutting her way to the front door, grabbing her usual jacket. celeste grabbed the handle of the door and heard her dads voice. "bye princesá! be safe, i love you."

"i love you too." she said before leaving the house. celeste felt odd for some reason, she didn't know if it was because she was walking late at night which didn't make sense to her since she walked late at night oftenly.

celeste pulled out her wired headphones for maybe the thirtieth time this week and put them in her ears. the girl was paranoid, though she was never paranoid. she never felt more scared then what she felt like right now.

the street lights were just now turning on meaning she would have to quicken her pace which she proceeded to do. celeste wasn't playing attention and thought it was the best idea to put the volume down to not get distracted.

then, celeste stopped in her tracks when she heard her name being yelled out from behind her. she looked behind her then beside her not expecting to see two people in a black car, one having a gun in their hand.

and before she could blink the gun clicked. safety was off. and bullets were shot.

two bullets were directly fired through celeste's heart twice. her body that was once full of life fell to the cemented ground, her head making direct impact with it.

celeste's heart stopped, her skin gets tight in ashen in color. her muscles relax, the bladder and bowels empty. celeste opened her mouth to screech, scream anything. but her voice wouldn't let her for some reason. as each second went by, her heart beat slowed down each time.

she didn't wanna die. she didn't wanna die alone.

the girl was scared and their was nothing she could do about it. celeste's body was in a empty corner that was a block from the reyes house.

AMIRI TUGGED AT darrian's sweater for the sixth time since he had arrived at his party. "where's cellie darri? she promised she was gonna be here. she promised." amiri's voice wobbled slightly as he spoke.

darrian sent the small boy a soft gaze before speaking, "she gonna be here. she probably just fell asleep or something. imma get her ight?" darrian found himself reassuring both of them since celeste hadn't been responding to him. not even any of her friends either.

darrian got up from his seat on the couch and walked out the house to the backyard. he walked over to dd and notti. "yo. we gotta go, bro, celeste haven't been answering me for a hour now bro." this made the two shoot up from their original seats.

the boys left the house but not before making it known and pulled their ski masks on when they got outside. the trio walked in silence not even knowing what to talk about since the only things their mind was on was on their friend.

they had made it around the block and were making it to the corner, dd was walking ahead of two since believe it or not he was scared. the night fell off, odd at most. the vibe was just weird and every single one of them sensed it.

suddenly notti got a notification from isis. it was a voice message of her saying celeste hadn't been answering either but they were just on the phone, he had even went as far as texting her dad who informed the girl after he texted his daughter she didn't answer.

marc was now on the other side of the block on the opposite end of were the boys were. he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something had happened to his daughter.

notti closed out of his messages app after he made the boys listen to the voice message. darrian shook his head, he knew he should've have walked with her but she wouldn't let him.
he tried to call himself down maybe she just was sleeping and they were all overreacting.

well the calm didn't satay from long when he bumped into dd who had stopped in his tracks. they were on the corner of the block and dd was now staring down at the lifeless body of his female friend.

"bro.."

"nigga what—" darrian was about to curse him out until he saw what the boys were looking at. he looked down to see bloody headphones? "what the fuck.." he mumbled under his breath when he saw the pale body of his girlfriend.

darrian immediately rushed to her side, his eyes were already blurring and he couldn't see anything from the ski mask. he tried to say something but he couldn't, his voice wouldn't let him either.

"nah. please don't do this to me celeste." notti's voice cracked when he saw the horrendous view. darrian was hesitant but put his ear close to the girls heart. he was hoping for a miracle that it would be beating but his hope was crushed when their was no sound.

darrian's mouth was dry. his throat was stinging and he couldn't even hear anything anymore just a ringing in his ear.

"you was jus' here leste. you was just here." darrian's voice cracked at each single word, with his voice wobbling at each syllable. he couldn't even speak properly anymore, he couldn't see, he couldn't hear, he couldn't, his whole world had stopped.

"bro you dumbass niggas just standing their call the ambulance, are you dumb?" darrian yelled at the two who pulled out their phones frantically right after. darrian then turned back to celeste.

"i'm sorry. please, please. don't leave bro. i love you. do you hear me? i love you, celeste." darrian wiped the dried out tears that were under her eyelids. he didn't even realize how pale her skin looked like, it looked dried out. like it was just now falling down.

darrian placed his lips towards hers. that was the deal breaker. he didn't feel anything anymore. he knew the girl that was once here was gone. and their was nothing he could do about it but cry, cry, cry.

the sight of red and blue lights came flashing the corner. darrian didn't wanna let the girl go. this would probably be their last time alone, forever.

ISIS FLUNG THE door open. she screamed, she screamed when she saw the pale body laying on the hospital bed. she then burst into tears, she couldn't even be in the same room with her presence now. it felt wrong, like how she had the privilege to live and now she didn't.

"ma'am, you can't go in there—" the nurse put a hand on isis's shoulder just for her to shove it off. isis walked out to the waiting room and cried. that's what she could only do now. if only she had been more persistent about celeste being dropped off with her.

isis cried so hard she got a headache, her sobs were so loud they were almost louder than darrian's. her cries were only silenced from crying into notti's chest and not in the open.

darrian was in the bathroom, he had locked himself in their since he couldn't stand seeing the body of his girlfriend, lifeless. because of him. dd was beside him letting darrian cry imto his shirt, dd was crying but it was silently, no screaming.

everybody blamed themselves, they could've been their. but nobody would've known.

F SPEAKS 💫

NOTE — oh.