The instant that Olivia was back in her room she took a deep breath after she closed the door. She leaned her body against the door and exhaled as she slid downwards towards the plush, powder blue carpet. She crossed her legs and brought her hands to her forehead and sat for what seemed a lifetime.
Olivia tried her hardest to mental sort out her thoughts and quickly gave up. She got off her carpet and walked over to her desk. She pulled out a note book she had in her drawer and grabbed her favorite cherry blossom ink pen. With a heavy sigh she started to write out what the singer told her.
'Yedda and Dhara but you will need to work harder for Vaidehi? If I don't do I die? Mom had same dream, maybe. Singer is who? Possible curse? Why?' she started tapping her pen against her head as she tried to process the information. She groaned and tossed up the pink pen and let it fall were it pleased as she leaned back into her chair.
She looked up at the ceiling, "Yedda, Dhara and Vaidehi... Yedda... Yedda... Yedda.... I must be nuts!" she shouted as she brought her gaze back to the notebook. "A dream is a dream but...." she mumbled as she stared at the two toned pink and silver ink.
A knock on her door disrupted her concentration. She quickly closed the notebook before she called out "Come in." Loreley poked her head in "What you up too?" she asked nonchalantly. "Whatever you want." Olivia said with a giggle. Loreley's eyes began to sparkle "Then lets go to the fun center for our last night out as 'kids', dad's treat!" she said excitedly.
Olivia got up from the chair a little too fast and started to stumble forward. "Olivia!" Loreley shouted as she rushed to catch her. Olivia looked up at her face with a soft smile. "I'm ok Loreley." she said as she hugged her sister's protective arm. "You sure." she asked with a ashen faced.
"Just got up to fast that's all." she said as she started to straighten herself up. Loreley gave her a unconvinced look. "You act like this is all new to you." she said with a giggle before she froze. Her eyes shot up Loreley's face. "Is this all new to you?" she said slowly. Loreley averted her gaze and sweat started to roll down her face.
"Don't be silly why would I associate myself with that 'thing'." she said in a shaky voice, she quickly looked Olivia over and scurried out before Olivia could question her any further. Olivia stared at the door for a while unable to shake off the feeling that something was seriously wrong in the house.
Then she realized her own stupidity. She never asked her family how they lived while she was away. She walked over to the bed and hung her head in shame, her body started to shake as she allowed her tears to fall.
She wiped her tears before she walked out the door, she was determined to talk to her family properly about what had happened even if they weren't ready to talk to her. "Dad!" she shouted as she rushed down the stairs.
....
It ended up that here family wanted to talk to Olivia too but were too afraid to bring it up so they avoided the subject hoping that it would all go away.
Olivia sat back into the sofa as she sighed. "So what you have told me is the truth, you are not hiding anything more from me are you?" she asked earnestly. Avery looked at the twins and shook his head, they quickly dropped their gazes and avoided the question all together.
Olivia was starting to get frustrated she wanted to start yelling at the top of her lungs but swallowed back her screams before so focused on them. She did not want them to hide anything from her anymore and what they told her was so vague that it couldn't even hold water.
"You're not hiding anything more are you?" she said in a dark tone, she narrowed her eyes and allowed the temperature around her to drop. She could see an imaginary snake starting to slither around her preys.
"So you want me to believe that the days just passed by uneventful, Agni was nothing but a perfect 'mother' but you avoided her and the baby she's carrying? She let you live your lives to the fullest everyday because she got what she wanted?" she said coolly.
Avery lifted up his head, sensing what Olivia was doing. He narrowed his own gaze at her before speaking "Olivia what do you think you are doing." he said sternly. Olivia raised one eyebrow towards her father "I don't believe what you are telling me." she said flatly as the snake started to wrap itself a little bit more tightly around the trio.
"Do you think this is the best way to get what you want? Do you think that sacrificing the feelings of your sisters to get your way is the best option?" he said every word to her dripping with venom that Olivia flinched. She snapped out her trance and properly looked at the twins.
The girls were starting to shiver and Olivia's heart broke. She instantly regretted what she had done, she inadvertently triggered their trauma and she knew a simple apology wouldn't fix what she had done but she had to try anyways. "Laila, Loreley I am so sorry... I am just..." she started to say but they refused tho look at her.
"See the thing about our time while you were gone are our burdens to bare. If we chose to share them with you we will but I will tell you this one thing. What we told you, the part that Agni let the twins have their freedom that is true." he said with a dead serious face as he clasped his hands together.
Olivia started to feeling her eyes stinging, warning her that tears were about to come. She tried her hardest to keep herself from breaking down, she licked her lips and spoke softly "So are you saying the root of our family problems, the very reason that everyone was manipulated, tortured and living in hell was because of me."
Loreley heard her words and it struck something in her heart. She stopped shaking and stood up from her seat. "Selfish! You are just too selfish! Yes the world revolves only you doesn't it! You have to play the tragic heroine in what? Some sort of drama right? Well you want to know something! You want to know what really happened in our lives while you were gone?! We were devastated you were missing! That 'monster' worked hard to make it seem that you left us because you couldn't stand us, so we moved on! We were happy to have some freedom and peace! We were happy to have a mother that actually cared for once and not some 'thing' that always plotted your demise!" she shouted as she waved her hands.
Loreley's face twisted with anger and pain before tears of frustration started to flow down her face. "What were we supposed to do when we found out that you were dead but not really dead?! Olivia you... you... y-o-u were alive and we couldn't face you. We were moving on without you. Making our path's in life and suddenly your back from the dead... what you don't know is we were ashamed of ourselves for giving up."
Laila gently slipped her hand into her sister's hand while she stayed seated, only slightly trembling but she summoned the courage she needed to speak. "We gave up hope too soon, we allowed ourselves to indulge in a fantasy world that 'it' created and tried to live normal lives. So that is what we didn't want to tell you... we were ashamed."
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you... I want to make this up to you... but I..." she started to say but her father got up from his seat and started to straighten out his clothes. His face was hard to read and his eyes were cold "Apologies is all you can spout out isn't?" he said harshly. Olivia bit the bottom of her lip as she slumped back into the sofa.
Avery took a few steps forward and stood beside the beige sofa she was sitting in. "You want us to forgive you then work for it." Avery's words cut into Olivia deeply and she couldn't bring herself to look at them anymore. "How do I even start?" she said under her breath.
"Look at the ones you love is the first thing." he commanded with his head held high. Olivia brought up her gaze and looked at the twins then her father. She saw their happy faces and was completely confused. "Now your treating us to the game center and I think we can call it even." he said with a mischievous grin.
Her jaw dropped and she quickly looked at the twins, Laila nodded her head in agreement while Loreley wiped the remaining tears from her face. "I think that is a fantastic idea!' she said with a wide grin. Olivia facepalmed herself as she realized she walked herself into a trap. "Fine I have funds in my savings so we can go all out before tomorrow but can you please answer one more thing for me?" she asked as she started to get up.
The three of them stayed silent, waiting for her question. "What you told me today was the truth right?" Olivia said with the most innocent, naive and hopeful eyes. They way they sparkled could cause any normal human to breakdown and reveal everything hidden within their hearts.
The twins went up to her, wrapped their arms around her and in unison whispered "Yes" Olivia hugged the girls back and sighed with relief. "Thank you and please don't ever be ashamed for living a happy life. Remember I did too and took too long to come back home."
Avery couldn't take the mellow drama anymore and grabbed the twins around the waist and effortlessly lifted them up sideways like rag dolls beside his waist. "Ya, ya we love each because were flawed now lets go we are losing valuable play time!" he said as he quickly spun himself around and carried the twins out of the room as the twins shouted out in fear and joy.
"Livy my hands are full so you carry the baby ok!" he shouted back as Olivia shook her head and chased after her family.