Rise From The Ashes (EDITING IN PROGRESS)

Chapter 3

  As a loud yelp leaves my mouth I feel an arm wrap around my waist, holding both Lenaya and I before we hit the floor.

My eyes shut on their own accord and my breathing becomes heavy as fear begins to seep in and fog my brain. And as if Zevander can read my thoughts he quickly places me on my two feet and quickly moves away from me.

If this was a romance novel, our eyes would lock and my breathing would become erratic from want and need as we both gaze into each other's eyes. The words on the pages would read that everyone around us would simply fade away into the abyss as his head slowly leans down until our lips lock in a soft but passionate kiss, but this isn't some romance book and my life is far from anything romantic.

"Are you okay?" Zevander questions, after what feels like minutes of awkward silence.

I hear the concern etched in his deep voice and it's enough for me to take back control of my unstable breathing.
Nodding, I step away from him and slowly open my eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, Raxlyn. I didn't mean to almost make you fall."

"It's not your fault Lenaya," I whisper, removing the baby hair from her face. "My shoes have no grip and are very slippery from walking in and out of the kitchen. Please don't cry."

The sight of her trembling lips and watery eyes touches deep within my soul. She reminds me so much of Zaren when he was her age and it hurts me to see her on the verge of tears.

Nodding she pulls me into a hug where she whispers something in my ear before reaching for her father.

"Le-let me know if either of you need anything else." I quickly say before I'm bolting to the kitchen.

Zevander and Lenaya don't stay around to long. In fact they eat their desert and leave shortly after.

I wait another ten to fifteen minutes to make sure they're both gone before I too leave the diner and make my way home.

The walk home is always a short walk for me and only takes about ten minutes. On most nights I don't mind as it gives me a reason to unwind from the day and enjoy the beautiful scenery New York has to offer, but today isn't most nights.

When I left my hometown I always knew New York was the city I would live in. To live in such a place that offered such beautiful sights to see was always a dream of mine.

I found that the beauty in it all was the feeling I get when I stand next to the skyscrapers. My problems never seemed so big when I stood their gazing up at them. I'm fact, it always feels magical how they lit up the beautiful night sky, but today I feel as if the buildings are taunting me and ready to swallow me whole.

Moving here aloud me to dream of a fresh start where I could change who I wanted to be, leave the past in the past, but sadly the past always has a way of catching up and sometimes life hits back harder then before. I don't know why I thought I could live a life free of problems. I was never able to before and it seems the more I try, the more life fights back.

My mother always said trouble followed me wherever I went and I guess in a sense she was right. For a while I may have been able to leave behind my troubled life, but like a hurricane it caught up to me and destroyed everything in it's path. It left me to pick up the damages it left behind.

One thing is for certain, my life has always had multiple ticking time bombs waiting to go off. Some bombs diffuse sooner then others, but make no mistake they eventually go off and when it does it leaves behind destruction. A destruction so grand that it also destroys the lives of the ones left behind. I like to call that 'the cause and effect.'