Until We Break (Formerly Wicked, Wild, Wonderful)

Original Edition: Chapter Thirty-One

A C T  T H R E E

"Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise."

Maya Angelou, Still I Rise

WHEN NAOMI WAS THIRTEEN, HER HEART BROKE. The Riverside Dance Academy was dancing the Nutcracker, Naomi's first ever production, for the entire town. It was her first chance at being something great. But, Jessica got the lead instead of her and Naomi always paled in comparison whenever they hit the stage together. It was pointless from there. In that same week, her crush, Daniel, left the Academy and migrated before she ever got the chance to tell him how she felt. Back then, Naomi was convinced her world was falling apart bit by bit and just breathing made her miserable. The same feeling took her under when she found herself in the hospital a few weeks ago, hollowed and meaningless. And now, the feeling was back. Only this time, it wasn't just a feeling. It was something much, much worse.

Saint took the remote and turned off the television.

Naomi wasn't quite sure what to say or do to the expectant faces of The Guise staring back at her. It was as if the past few weeks had collapsed into no time at all and she was back where she began with them. A stranger. A liability. A dangerous unknown variable. Although this time, she supposed, the looks were warranted. Hell, she probably deserved worse. Because the brutal truth that was spinning fouettes in Naomi's mind was that she was the source of their pain, yet she could not soothe it. She was never the solution, only the problem.

Lia went to the couch and leaned on its stained back, using her hands to help prop herself up. Her eyes, like everyone else's eventually moved from Naomi to something innocent and abstract. "It's not just the cops after us anymore. Everyone in Riverside might want to turn us in. That's a lot of money, guys."

Sully grabbed up Naomi's hand and squeezed it. "Just," he smiled brightly, "tell your family that you're not kidnapped. Um, make them take back the reward money."

Lia shook her head. "The police would never accept that. They've wanted us out of their hair for a very long time. This is their Trojan horse."

Saint chimed in, "Even if her parent did drop the charges, you heard him, there's plenty of stuff we're wanted for now."