Weaving Destinies

I got home from school and dumped my backpack on the couch. I fed my cat before heading upstairs, avoiding my homework. My parents were both at work. I turned on the television and began flipping channels, not really paying any attention. The phone rang, and I picked it up without checking the caller ID.

“Hello?” I sighed. Even if I wasn’t doing anything important, I hated to be interrupted.

“Faith.” The voice on the other end belonged to Alec, but it was cold and hard. My eyes widened as I thought, “How the heck did he get this number if he doesn't even know my real name?”

I hit the off button on the phone. Then I clicked it on again and left it that way. It started making that annoying beeping sound after a while, but at least Alec couldn’t call me now. I checked my cell phone and found that my inbox was full of his messages to me.

“Holy shaving cream!” I muttered before turning off my cell phone so that he couldn’t call or text. I went downstairs to make sure all of the doors were locked and then went back upstairs into the bathroom.

I took a very long bath, trying to relax. Alec was turning into a stalker, and I didn’t enjoy it. This was turning into more than just a stupid joke. I didn’t want to get a restraining order or anything serious, but I was truly worried. I decided to call Julia that evening to get her advice.

After my bath, I put on the clean T-shirt and sweatpants I had laying out in the bathroom and started to blow my hair dry. I stared into the mirror at my reflection. As usual, my light blue eyes looked sunken in and tired. Most of my light brown hair had been chopped off last year, but it was now about shoulder-length again, although it wasn’t styled at all. I hadn’t wanted to go back to the salon. It reminded me too much of Madison.

Madison Lowell and I had been best friends since we were five years old. When her family moved into the house behind ours, my mom was ecstatic to discover they had a daughter my age. I was incredibly shy, but our moms kept forcing us to play together until I slowly came out of my shell. It wasn’t hard. Madison was energetic and extroverted with a wide imagination. We went to the same school for kindergarten, although we were in different classes, but we still played together during recess. She soon became my closest friend.

We did everything together, and we didn’t have a single secret kept from each other. I knew which boys she liked, she knew when I had cheated on the spelling test, I told her exactly what I thought of her new shirt, and she gave me her candid opinion on my haircut. We experimented with make-up for the first time together, and we bought our first bras together, giggling and blushing in the dressing room. We got our ears pierced together, and she was the first one I told when I got my period. I joined the volleyball team because she did, and she struggled through honors classes because I wanted to take them.

I was with her the first time she dyed her hair, the summer we were both fourteen.

“We’re starting high school! I want a new look!” she exclaimed, looking at her brown hair in the mirror as we waited. “You should dye your hair too!”

“I’m not as brave as you!” I shook my head.

The stylist, Inbar, finally came into the waiting room.

“Hello, girls! How are you?” she smiled. We had been seeing the same stylist since we were seven.

“Great! I’m going to dye my hair today!” Madison announced, her dark gray eyes gleaming.

“What color were you thinking?” Inbar asked kindly.

“Red!” Madison grinned.

“More of a copper red or a burgundy?” Inbar inquired.

“Bright red! Like a fire engine!” Madison grinned even wider.

Inbar only looked surprised for a moment. By now, she was used to Madison’s extreme personality. She showed Madison the different colors, and she picked one called “pure red,” clearly the most brilliant shade. I sat next to her the entire time as she talked excitedly about how heads would turn on our first day of high school.

“Everyone will definitely notice you,” I remarked, watching as Inbar massaged the dye into Madison’s hair.

When she was done, Madison’s hair was as red as a stop sign. It wasn’t the least bit natural-looking, but Madison loved it.

“I’m a bombshell!” Madison exclaimed in glee, posing in the mirror.

“You certainly are,” I agreed. Throughout the years, her bright red hair became her trademark. She never went back to her “boring brown” (although she assured me that my brown hair looked good because I was a classic beauty), and anyone who knew her agreed that this color suited her personality much better. The hallways of Hawkthorne High looked colorless and gray without her.

When I finished drying my hair and reminiscing about the past, I went across the hall to my room and opened the closed door. Alec was sitting on my bed waiting for me. His blue eyes were like stone. I tried to back away, but his hand flew up and gripped my wrist firmly.

“Faith, stop this. I do not know what you are doing, but it is not funny. We have to go. Everyone will be expecting you back on Torm. The wedding date is set for tomorrow,” he said, his slight accent making him sound even sterner.

“What? Wedding date?” I repeated, my eyes wide. This was really getting bizarre. Something was wrong with this boy, and I needed to get away. “How did you get in here?”

“I am not asking you to marry me. I am telling you. You will come with me immediately whether you like it or not,” he replied, looking angry enough to kill me. I struggled to pull free, but he was too strong for me. He grabbed my waist and jumped out the window, landing on his feet on the ground and running along the street.

“Let me go, you freak!” I screamed, hitting him and trying to pull away. In a perfect world, my neighbors would have heard me. In an even more perfect world, Lucas would have come running out of his house and saved me. I had already discovered last year that my life was anything but perfect.

Alec glared at me, and if looks could kill, I would have been more than dead. He said, “I was hoping I would not have to use this, but you have given me no other choice.”

Alec pulled a bottle of something out of his pocket and held his breath as he took the cap off and put it under my nose. I tried to hold my breath as well, but it was too late. I started blacking out. I only hoped that I would die as I collapsed helplessly into his arms.