Chapter 1 Taken

Olivia

They say, "a new day is another opportunity for you to forget yesterday worries and problems, as it is another chance for you to be happy".

Happiness? I think that's only a fantasy, a fairytale being told to little children so they could feel better. A mask that humans wear on their faces as a form of defense mechanism to escape reality a bit.

"Liv! Liv!" The excited voice of my best friend broke me out of my train of thought.

"Now what's got you so stoked this morning?"

I raised my brows at her.

"Well I've got good news for you girl" She grinned widely.

"Well I'm all ears, but first let's get outta here, this place keeps getting disgusting day by day" I scrunched my nose in disgust at our current environment which is also our place of shelter by the way.

"Right, I forgot about our situation for a minute, but your expression makes it sound so terrible". Jade replied.

"Girl, we live in the most terrible city in LA" I glared at her.

"For the past ten years, the streets of skid row has been our place of shelter!" I groaned out in frustration.

"Okay,okay, you don't have to get so fired up" She sighed.

"I'm sorry for my little outburst, I just keep being reminded of our miserable lives every single day, and this morning isn't an exception". I released a shaky breath trying to calm myself down.

"Liv, it's okay, but one thing I'm glad about is that we both had each other during these miserable years of our lives" She gave a soothing smile.

"Now, enough of this pity party, let me tell the why i got so excited earlier" She rubbed her palms together which got me so curious about the news she was about to break.

"Well, while I was out for my morning run earlier, I bumped into Jax and the rest of the boys, and they informed me about an opportunity coming from a private organization" She paused to see my reaction and then I urged her to continue.

"Apparently, this organization helps the underprivileged kids, the homeless youngeters, orphans, blah-blah-blah".

"Well my point is, this private organization could be our ticket out of this shithole, Jax further explained to me about how they help youngsters to put their skills and talents into great use, they've visited a lot of underdeveloped places in the past and now Skid-row is their next stop" The look of excitement was still stuck on her face as she awaited my response.

"Look jade, I'm not sure about this 'Private organization' that you just gave a full details about" I sighed, feeling unsettled about the whole thing.

"Besides, how does Jax know so much about this organization?" I furrowed my brows, trying to analyze the whole thing.

"Well, according to him, a sophisticated man who was walking down the streets yesterday caught him red-handed while he was about to mug him" She explained.

"Whoa! That's new, I'm surprised the notorious Jax got caught" I smiled in amusement.

"But why is he not in jail now?" I looked at her in confusion.

"Well that's how the opportunity flew in, that same man is part of the same organization that I was talking about and he was at skid-row to observe the surroundings before they start full work". She replied

"C'mon Liv, these kind of opportunity doesn't come too often" She whined

"Alright, we're gonna go check it out" I chuckled at her drama.

"Now?" She gazed at me with anticipation.

"Oh, is it today?" I gave her an oblivious look.

"When were you expecting it to happen then? When we taste misery completely?" She gave me mocking look while I rolled my eyes at her response.

Soon we got to our location and it was being held at skid-row. According to jade, they didn't want us to feel inferior so they chose a familiar environment for the event to take place.

Big white tents were being set up at every corner, I was a little surprised that something like this was actually happening right here at skid-row. Maybe the universe decided to prove me wrong based on my little train of thought this morning.

The event started and the boys were taken to one side while the ladies were led to another, we were served some snacks and drinks while a little introductory speech was ongoing. Jade gave me a little smile as we listened to a speech that was about how our lives were going to change for the better and her hands trembled a bit, I gave it a little squeeze to calm down her nervousness.

We both looked at each other with misty eyes feeling so overwhelmed at that moment.

Will I finally understand and get to experience that emotion called "happiness"? I thought to myself.

But if had known that wishing for a fantasy to become a reality in my life was a crime that I should never commit, I would have just allowed that fantasy remain an imagination in my head rather than trying to achieve the impossible.

While every youngsters were all lost in that dreamy imagination that they thought was about to become a reality, the unforseen disaster happened.

Kids started loosing consciousness one after the other, jade looked at me with fear and confusion and before I could say anything, she was the next. While I tried to awaken my best friend, I felt myself feeling numb, my eyes were getting drowsy, and slowly I began to lose my consciousness. A little tear dropped down my eye as I regretted not trusting the unsettledness that I had felt earlier that morning.

Why didn't i stop jade? Why couldn't we be like the other kids who stayed back and chose not to dream for something beyond their limits. But instead, we decided to bite more than we could chew.

I committed a crime by trying to be happy and this is the cost. Finally, I gave in to oblivion.