I'll never tell (open)

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Lost. She was lost. Yasmine had never been lost before. She had never even left the house on her own before. Not without one of her parents. She had always been too careful. But today, she was upset. Today, everything she had wanted to say to her father had been said. And today, she had to face the reality that he wasn't going to just swoop in and fix it all.

He hadn't visited. Yasmine was in the hospital for only five days, but her father never once showed up.She tried to make excuse for him. Maybe he didn't know. Maybe his cell phone didn't have reception. Maybe the lines were cut at the house.She knew it could happen. And it had happened, in parts of the city. The storm had caused it to happen. Power was lost, cell phone towers were down. It had happened, so maybe that's what had happened with him.

But, her excuses didn't help with what happened next. She was finally out of the hospital, and ready for another visit with her father. He was supposed to pick her up Friday evening. Instead, as usual, he had picked her up Saturday morning. And all of her disappointment went away. That always happened; he barely spoke to her, and he would break promises, and have her heartbroken. But then he would come around, and she was the happiest girl in the world. She loved her daddy, and really, she knew she shouldn't be so short-tempered with him. He couldn't help being busy.

She had been with him for two hours when he received the phone call. He was asked to leave, to get on a plane. Yasmine watched him, waiting for him to explain that he couldn't just leave her. But, he never did. And when he hung up, she had lost it. She was done being the mousy, cute, quiet girl. If she had something to say, then she was going to say it. And right now, she had something to say.

"Don't tell him that your daughter's here or anything!" she snapped, pacing in the living room. He sighed.

"Yasmine..."

"Dad, I was hurt! I was in the hospital! Or did you not get that memo? Cause you never came to see me! But, that's just how you are, right?"

"Yasmine, come on."

"No, daddy! Can you name one time when you didn't pick me late, or drop me off early?" she stared at him. He had gotten quiet. "You can't, can you? Because there isn't one." she shook her head. "I don't care! Go! Stop picking me up! I don't want to see you ever again!" she grabbed her backpack, that had her clothes for the weekend and headed for the front door.

"Where are you going?"

"Home!"

So, why wasn't she home? She had started to walk home. But, who would be waiting for her? Her sisters? Her brother? They didn't even like her. They probably looked forward to the time she was gone every other weekend. And if she showed up, she would probably be a nuisance. So instead, she had been wondering the streets. At least it wasn't dark out. It was Saturday afternoon. But, being lost wasn't any easier just because it was in the daytime. She had no idea where she was. Arms folded, she had tears in her eyes. She just wanted someone to join her, she didn't care who. She didn't really have any friends, though. But, she longed to not be alone anymore.

[Riley Veronica Isaacs]

RILEY'S OUTFIT

Nobody understood. Why couldn't they just understand? Sure, the young girl may not speak, maybe she acts like she wants to be left alone. But that was not true. In all truth, Riley Isaacs thought that maybe somebody in her family would ask her what was wrong. Would notice that she was so scared, scared to say anything, to speak. She felt like a nuisance to everyone in her entire family. What had happened to her? Nobody cared that she was in so much pain. No one cared that she was so scared. And she was afraid that if she started talking, starting acting like her old self, then she would get killed. Riley did not want to die. She didn't. She was just a fourteen year old girl. Just fourteen. There was still so much that she wanted to do with her life. It all started in Austrailia. That was when she had changed. Before leaving, she was the sweetest girl that she could be. She loved everybody. She talked way too much. You could tell that she loved each and every one of her siblings. Yasmine, Mallory, Renesmee, Marcus. Even Winter and Carla. She loved spending time with them. Even if they did not always want the young girl around.

But now, Riley was no longer that same girl. She was distant, quiet. And she felt like her siblings hated her. Nobody knew about what had happened to her in Australia. not a single soul. And what happened after coming back to Toronto? Only Mallory, Jenna and Larisa knew. She could not tell anyone else the truth. What if Jack went after them as well, just because she talked to them? Why didn't anyone care? Why did she feel so unloved by all of her siblings? By her own father? Why? All she wanted to know was that they cared about her. That was it. Was that too much to ask for?

Right now, Riley wanted to be anywhere but back at home. She wanted to be away from her family. Not like they would notice her gone, anyhow. She wanted to just die already. Then she would no longer have to live in fear. She just wanted her pain to end, to disappear. But most of all, she wanted to know that somebody actually loved her.

Sighing to herself, Riley was watching the ground as she continued walking down the street. It felt like she had been walking forever. And she was not about to go home anytime soon. That was for sure. She wasn't even paying attention to her surroundings when she bumped into somebody. And she looked up. It was her sister. Her eyes widened as she took a step back. No, no, no. This could not be happening. Yasmine doesn't like her. And that hurt. Because they had once been close. They had once acted like sisters. Tears smarted in Riley's eyes as she looked away, trying to hide the fact that she looked ready to cry.

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What if she just ran away? Would someone come looking for her? Would they tell her that she was wrong, that they did see her, they did notice her, and that they cared about her? That they were glad that the Sniper had not killed her? That would be a dream come true. But, Yasmine was afraid that was all it was—a dream. The reality, as she saw it, was that if she ran away, they would shrug, say good riddance, and go about their lives. Her absence would mean one less mouth to feed. That was all. So maybe she should run away. Or better yet, maybe she should find the Sniper. He had nearly killed her before. Maybe he would be willing to finish the job. At least, she assumed it was a He. Detectives said that the chances were likely that the person was a girl. But, she didn’t think so. She was sure it was a guy. It was too bad that it wasn’t who Hayleigh thought it was. After the incident in the cafeteria, she had gone to Shayne. She had promised him that she wouldn’t be mad, but she wanted to know if it was him because she wanted to ask him something. Honestly, she was going to offer herself to him. He could dissect her, burn her, scalp her, do whatever he wanted. As long as she died. She wasn’t afraid to die. She was afraid of living unnoticed.

Her thoughts were cut off as she suddenly collided with someone. “Watch it!” she hissed, before realizing who it was. With a scoff, she shook her head. “Of course. I want to run away and I end up running into one of you! What, are you here to lecture me? To tell me that what I said to daddy was wrong?” she paused, before letting out a sarcastic laugh. “Oh, wait. No. Because you don’t say anything! You’re too good to talk to me anymore! Who cares if your little sister was almost murdered and she needs to fucking talk to someone about it?!” she stepped forward, getting in her face. “You haven’t cared since you came back so don’t pretend to care now! Go home, tell everyone I said goodbye” she growled it out before she turned away from her sister. Maybe she would go jump in front of a train. It might be easier. Trains were easier to locate than serial murderers.

[Riley Veronica Isaacs]

Tears had begun streaming down her face as Yasmine said all that too her. Too good? That was not Riley. She didn't think that she was too good for anyone. How could her own sister say all that stuff to her? Did she not understand? Did she not notice that others were in pain too, not just her? That the world does not revolve around her. She was suppose to die in Austrailia. She should have. Riley was never wanted. She was a loser. She had deserved to die. Why was she not dead? It made no sense. Why had she been spared when everybody else in her drama class had been murdered? And then she came back a diffferent person. Riley had died that day. The day she was nearly killed. But she needed to get Yasmine to not hate her. Like everyone else did.

Riley looked as Yasmine started to walk away from her. "I-" She closed her eyes and swallowed, hard. Come on. Just say it. You can do it. "I--I should--I should b-be dead." she stuttered out, her voice sounding fragile and weak. "He--he killed--he killed my d--drama class. I--" She looked down, tears streaming down her face like a waterfall. "He meant--meant to k--kill me. I was never--never suppose to come back here a--alive. I had to stay quiet. It--it felt--felt like the best way--only way--only way to stay safe. I don't wanna die. I don't want him to hurt me. Not a third time. I don't--I can't--I--" She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. It was too late to take it all back now.

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As soon as she heard her sister’s voice, she stopped in her tracks. Was she going to actually talk to her? The girl looked down, listening for her to continue. She what? When she finished her statement, though, Yasmine turned around, a horrified look on her face. No. That wasn’t possible. Her sister—no. She shook her head. She just didn’t understand. “Why would anyone do that?” she asked softly. Riley was so nice! She didn’t deserve to die. Looking at her older sister, Yasmine ran to her and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. Even when she was upset and felt like nobody could see her, she still loved her entire family. Riley, especially had been one of her closest siblings until she returned. Tears fell down her cheeks as she struggled to speak.

“Wh-when the knife was against my stomach. A-and he was forcing me to drink th-the wax…all I could think about was how I just wanted you. Not mom, not dad. You, Riley. I just—I thought that nobody noticed me. And I want to be noticed, Riley. So badly. But you—I can’t believe anyone could do that to you! Who was it? I-I have to know.” Part of him was wishing he was here, just so she could go face him. Not only so she could be put out of her misery, but maybe she could die vindicating her sister. Because, Riley really did deserve more than that. Yasmine had always looked up to her. She thought Riley deserved the world.

[Riley Veronica Isaacs]

Now, Riley was not a selfish person. Not in the least. And she was not saying all of this to make it about her. For once in her life, Riley wanted to be out of the spotlight. God, she remembered when she used to love being in the spotlight. She had wanted to sing, dance, act. She just loved people noticing her. She use to always be in her school plays and talent shows. She was in choir, in debate club, too. That day had ruined everything, had almost destroyed her. She had really liked Amery, had wanted to be the older boys friend. She was always so nervous around him, though. Truth be told, he was the girls first crush. Apparently that was a mistake. Riley was never one to be shy, to get nervous. But she was extremely so around Amery.

Riley was close to both Mallory and Yasmine. She loved her sister’s very much. And hearing what Yasmine was saying… it made her sad to know that her younger sister was hurting. She never wanted to see her sister hurting. Breaking the hug, Riley looked up at Yasmine with tear filled eyes. “I’m sorry. I was in so much pain, I guess I didn’t notice yours. I don’t mean to be a bad sister, you know.” She looked down at the ground, tucking a strand of lose hair behind her ear. “I hope you can forgive me.” Know. She had to know. Well, that was not going to happen. She looked back up at Yasmine. “I’m sorry, sissy. I can’t tell you that. I refuse to put anyone in danger. I don’t want anything to be my fault. I just had to tell you. I didn’t want you to hate me, too.”