Harsh Reality

ROSALIA'S P.O.V.

I don't know what happened. It all went by so fast. One moment everything seemed normal, then everything turned chaotic again. I hear so much screaming and yelling that for a moment my hearing goes blank. I know that I'm scared based on how hard I feel my heart beating. I can't move. I can't run. I'm really scared. I want someone to save me. Mom? Dad?

"Don't take my daughter! What are you doing?!"

Mom has tears in her eyes as she tries to get to me, but a woman in a black trench coat is holding her back. Seeing those tears in her eyes and running down her face as she screams more shatters me. I thought I felt bad earlier; this was the worst.

"Get your hands off me! I'll kill you!" My eyes shift directions to my dad. He's pushing through several officers to get to me. They're telling him to stop, but he won't listen to them. He's putting up a good fight as none of them can hold him down. It only fuels his anger, but then out of nowhere, my dad lets out an agonizing scream. He falls to the ground as a wire is connected to both his legs. Mom and I are both shocked as the men quickly pin him down. I look up to see the woman holding a taser and holding down a button as my dad's screams continue. Mom screams to the top of her lungs and tries to fight her way to dad, but she's soon tackled to the ground as well.

No!

No!

NO!

I yell for them to stop, but no one listens to me. They only continue their demands for my parents to stop resisting. The woman stares at me with a coldness that shakes my core. As much as I try to hold back, my eyes sting and begin to swell with tears. Dammit! How can people be so cruel to others?! It's me that you want, not them! Leave them alone! Don't hurt them dammit! As two guards are holding me by the arms, the woman walks over to me and stares down at me. She doesn't say a word, and neither do I. I want to speak, but I'm too focused on holding back my tears. My vision becomes blurry to the point where I can't distinguish her physical appearance. I hate her. I hate her! I HATE HER! If I could get my hands on her, I'd-

"AH!" My knees become weak as my legs are shocked by the same taser that was used on dad. Stunned, I fall to the ground. The tears I held back break through as I cry heavily. Never in my life have I been tased, but I never expected to hurt this much. It feels as if any moment, too much pressure will make my legs explode. Make it stop! The guards look at each other with worried expressions and then turn their focus to the woman as they hold me down. Finally, after what felt like endless pain, she turns the power off and speaks, "You're under arrest for the attempted murder of Brittany Scott. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." With one final look at the guards, she turned and made her way to her vehicle. "Take her to the station."

~

It's dark and everything around me feels cold. Although there is nothing, I feel whole. Darkness is keeping me company again, and for that, I am eternally grateful. This is what I needed, just a quiet space that holds all the peace I need.

"Well, I'm afraid I'll have to stop that. Wake up, now." My eyes spring open to see I'm in a dark void. There's nothing to see but darkness. In front of me, is a black wolf. The one that put fear in my heart. She towers over me with her domineering eyes. I fall weak to the gaze and look down. I'm here again, and I'm scared to ask why. "Your fear can easily be seen, and I can hear your heart from where I stand. You will stop that at once."

I grip my shirt as tight as I can. "How can I?! Didn't you see what happened?! Everything went wrong! I couldn't do anything about any of it, and now my life is ruined!" The images rewind in my head as the scenes play in order. From the start, nothing went my way. I wanted more than anything to start over and do better for me, but none of that happened. Ever since the start, more and more bad things were happening. I thought I could try to fix the problems one at a time, but it never worked. Something always went wrong, and it seemed like trying to fix the issue didn't change anything. It only got worse and opened the door to more problems. I didn't want any of this to happen.

"You act as if your life was perfect, to begin with."

"I…" I hate hearing those words. As much as I want to deny the fact, it's true. I've changed nothing since my reincarnation. When I was given a second chance, things were supposed to be different. I was supposed to change, and yet I'm still the same. My wolf is right. I am pathetic. Accepting that harsh truth brings tears to my eyes once more. I don't want to cry in front of her, but I can't help it.

"All you do is cry. You let this world weigh you down and allow it to make you crumble and fall. A host of mine should be better than this. I see this is all I can get from you." Yes. That's right. This is all I am. All that I can be. One pitiful girl who can't live a good life. One who always seems to make a mistake no matter what she does. To think this all started over rejection. How far I've fallen since then. It's not that my life became worse, the world became crueler. It's like in a video game when you beat one level, the next one is harder to see if you can beat it. When I think about it, I couldn't even beat the first level. I pushed forward through all obstacles, only to die in the end. Here I am again, trying, and still, I fail.

"It does not have to always be this way." What? I look up at my towering wolf as her build completely overshadows mine. I could mistake her as a monster if I didn't know she was my wolf. Her eyes gaze into mine as I remain speechless, "I refuse to deal with a weak human. The world has always been cruel, so it's not just about you. If that so-called "goddess" of yours gave you a second attempt, it'll take more than finally deciding to open your mouth after several years of remaining silent. Hear my words, human. I won't repeat myself. You decide who is the slave and who is the king."

~

I open my eyes and breathe quickly. Was I dreaming just now? I sit up and bump my head to steel. "Ow!" I rub the sore spot to find out that I hit the bottom of the top bunk bed. What the hell? Looking around the room, I see that my surroundings have changed. My heart drops as I look ahead to see grillage bars that encase me in the small room. A jail cell. This is where they brought me. No. I don't want to be here. I can't be here! I jump off the bed and make my attempt to run to the bars only to connect with the ground hard. Chains hold me back as they're attached to my legs. Why am I chained up? I wince feeling pain from my bottom lip as the taste of blood enters my mouth. The fall must have cut my lip.

I stare down at the ground almost numb to the situation that I'm in. I don't like it here. I don't want to be here. My breath becomes shaky and I hold my knees together. In silence, I sit on the cold hard floor of the cell. There's nothing else to do but wait. I look at the cell in its entirety and think about how possibly I'll be staying here for a long time. Maybe I'll be here for years. What if I'm here for the rest of my life? I've been accused of almost killing Brittany; I might not even get the option to live in a cell until I die. My throat closes tight as I try to swallow. I don't know how long I've been here. I must be parched, or maybe I'm terrified even more than before. I never even let the thought cross my mind that maybe I'll be executed.

I could be hanged. They could behead me. What if I'm put in the electric chair? All methods can bring fear into anyone, but I don't think that would be the worst part. Killing me in public is what shakes me up. The idea of being hated before, during, and even after my execution makes me feel uneasy. Being hated even after your dead because people see you as a monster who deserved it could be the worst feeling of all. Is this what my life has come to? Thinking about my death was never something I saw myself doing. Not even once. Yet here I am, torturing myself by thinking about it. But what can I do? These might be some of my last moments. I'm gonna die, and once again I'll be hated by everyone. That's the way it's always been. I wish mom and dad were here. If I could just see their faces, I feel like maybe I'd be okay.

I don't even know if they're okay. I blacked out from seeing those people hurt them, and I couldn't do anything. All I can do is just hope that they're fine, and even that is pathetic. Everything about me is pathetic but for some reason, the Moon Goddess saw a reason to let me live again. Here I am about to meet her again for the second time. Despite knowing that, more punishment might await me in the afterlife. I'll probably not even be allowed to have a good afterlife. I've died once and I'm scared to die again. How ridiculous does that sound? Well, I deserve to be rejected anyway. I deserved it all. To think, all this started because of rejection. Had I not died from it the first time, I wouldn't be in this mess. Why did I have to die because Liam rejected me and then I shifted into my wolf without him? Why did the Moon Goddess set me with Liam of all people to be my mate? If anything, it's all his fault that I'm going through this. In my last life, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with me and turned everyone against me. In this life, I couldn't understand him. His actions changed and he seemed different, especially towards me. He was hostile or ignoring me. He didn't look the other way when someone was making things difficult for me. For once, I saw him smile. Even if it was just a little bit. Even if my eyes were playing tricks on me, I saw something other than dislike in his eyes.

Liam's friends didn't make things harder for me. They didn't block me from Liam or make me feel inferior anymore. If anything, they wanted to be my friends I think. I still found that skeptical, but I still went along with it. When I've been thinking that maybe Liam's had a change of heart, I stop myself from it. I tell myself that Liam isn't nice of a good person because he wasn't last time so why would he be this time? I try convincing myself that he's tricking me and it's only a matter of time before they show their true colors again; the colors that I remember clearly. No one can care for me because no one ever has. That's the way it's been and the way it'll always be. There is no love for me. I don't want love. Especially from Liam of all people. Mate or not. But amazingly, even though I don't trust him, more than anything I truly want to see him right now. My instincts want him close to me. I feel like I need his comfort, and I have the urge to want to hold him. Maybe for reassurance that I'll be okay. Tears stream down my face as I close my eyes. I'm so tired of being alone.

There comes a time where one has to accept their fate, and I need to accept mine no matter how much I hate it or don't want to accept it. This is simply my life. Sniffing softly, I remain quiet in the room. Hours pass on with no activity to happen until a loud noise jolts my eyes open. I wasn't even aware that I had fallen asleep. Turning my gaze upwards, I see the woman with the black trench coat staring at me.

"Let's talk."

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Hello readers! I'm sorry that this week's chapter is a little short, but I wanted to get a chapter out for you all who read my story. I've been busy with school work lately, and I seem to not have a lot of time to write. I hope you'll all be patient with me, and I'll try to do better in the next chapter.