I woke up with a throbbing headache, my body ached all over, it felt like I ran for miles and my memory of what happened was a jumbled mess. I turned on my side so I could stand up and felt a chill run through my body. I struggled and was finally able to get up only to realize that I wasn't in my room but in my mom's room. I don't remember entering her room at all. "Hmm weird", I said to myself.
I was still cold and tried to keep myself warm by wrapping my arms around myself only to feel the remnants of my shirt shift on my body. Which raised the question, 'how did my shirt get torn?' "Seriously weird".
I decided to go to my room and grab a shirt to keep myself warm before I'd head downstairs for food because my stomach was wailing in hunger. The walk to my room was a nightmare, my head banging, my body shivering, my feet aching and my stomach singing, it was a track made in hell.
I finally got to my room and well, that was also a surprise. The whole place was wrecked, also weird. Today was seriously one weird day. I ignored the mess and walked to my closet, grabbed a hoodie from the mess that was my closet and walked out superfast as the pain and hunger was becoming unbearable.
I was almost at the kitchen when I heard a voice, not just any voice but Aunt Maia's voice and I felt such relieve in that moment it was indescribable. I wouldn't have to make a mess trying to get something to eat now.
As I got closer, I realized she was talking with all seriousness which was weird. I mean she's serious but not that serious, jeez the day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
I got closer and heard her say, "You need to prepare yourself and tell her everything you know, because if her last vision was a pointer to the future, then it means her identity will soon be revealed".
'Hmm what could they be talking about', I think to myself. "Well why think, just ask", a voice in my head says. Since I'm pretty used to hearing the devils in my head whisper their ideas and I'm almost always doing what they advise I go along with them again.
"Whose identity will soon be revealed?", I ask as I reveal myself by the kitchen entrance. It was such a beautiful reaction I got from all of them. Adam looked scared as hell and that to me was the definition of impossible, I have never seen him scared, well except when my life is in danger. Mom on the other hand looked frustrated and Aunt Maia just smiled at me as she whispered to my mom, "it's going to be okay".
"We'll leave you two to talk after I make you something to eat", she said directly at me. I smiled back at her wondering what this talk was gonna entail, but who cares right, I at least get food. Boom!!!
"Since you've been asleep for two days I guess you'll be needing something light, so I'll just whip up a batch of pancakes, scrambled egg and bacon strips for you alright", she said directing me with her hands to an island stool beside my mom on her left. "Maya will you be okay with same", she asked my mom gently. "Yes, anything works for me right now", my mom said quietly. Hmm she's acting weird. What the heck is it with the weirdness today, seriously?
"Asha, how are you feeling right now?", Adam finally speaks up having recovered from the scare I guess I gave him. "Well you asked the right question, there Dad. My head is still beating drums and my body aches like I ran a marathon", I replied, frustratingly running my hand through my hair.
"Ha ha", Aunt Maia laughed a little. "That's bound to happen when you've been asleep for so long. Don't worry you'll be fine", she gently reassured me. "Well I better be, cos this is not my idea of a wakeup call".
***Thirty minutes later***
"I am definitely in love with your hand craft Aunt Maia", I said lovingly to Aunt Maia while we took a tray of cookies to my mom's office to have the talk. I had finally had my fill of her delicious meal, my mom too. My mom had been on edge throughout that meal and now even I was starting to feel the jitters.
We set the tray on the table and I dropped the glasses of milk, as I took a seat on one of the couches in her office. My mom's office was immaculate. From the wooden table, to the shelves lined up with books to the furniture and accessories, it was all a beautiful dream. She picked one of the rooms downstairs for her office but to me it was the best room downstairs. It had a glass wall on the main side and it revealed the view to the gardens behind the mansion. I rarely entered her office but each time the beauty of the décor gets me smiling.
Aunt Maia walked out of the office after depositing the tray on the table leaving me to my imagination. I just sat staring at the view from the glass wall as the curtains were pulled back today. I don't know how long I managed to stay zoned out like that because next thing I know, I see my mom waving her hands before my eyes.
"Oh sorry", I said immediately. "There's no need for that", she said waving my apology away. "I was just trying to get your attention". She then proceeded to take a seat on the couch beside me, taking my hands in hers hesitantly with a weary smile planted on her face and tears forming in her eyes.
"Mom what is going on?", I asked her gently. I was getting scared now. She looked like she was about to cry and it was ripping my heart apart. I love my mom and I don't like her hurting.
"Asha, I need you to forgive me and be patient with me. What I'm about to tell you is something I wish with all my heart you wouldn't have had to know but things are beyond my control. I love you sweetheart and everything I've ever done was to keep you safe".
"I know that mom and I'm right here and all ears", I assured her, rubbing my thumbs on her hands gently. She took a deep breath, as if to calm herself and told me the story that would forever change everything I have ever known.
"Before I had you, I wasn't always so busy, matter of fact my career had been a little slow then. I was struggling with my music and the roles I was getting in movies then were menial, but nineteen years back, my luck suddenly changed and you know everything started working out. I finally released my first album to go on tour a few months later and the reception was beautiful. I had also finally debuted my acting career with a lead role in a movie and it was a blockbuster and a bestseller. I remember we went out for a celebratory party that night, I had a few drinks here and there, and I met quite a number of people in the industry who were more than interested in working with me. There was one man in particular that I felt an indescribable attraction to. He just seemed so surreal and one thing led to the next. I woke up the next day in a hotel room with nothing except the strange man's bracelet to remind me of the experience of that night.
I tried to find out about him but it all failed and I decided to keep the bracelet and just focus on work. Three months later, after my tour I went to the hospital for a checkup because the tour had been hell and my body was struggling to cope with the amount of stress I had gone through. When I got my result, I was pregnant with you and the doctor told me, it was a miracle I hadn't lost the pregnancy while on tour.
I was lost, confused and I didn't know what to do. I didn't have parents and I was fending for myself at the time. It just felt like the worst time to get pregnant. I spoke to my manager about it and she said it was not advisable to keep the pregnancy as it might hinder the progress my career just started making. I thought about it for days but I think deep down in my heart I knew I couldn't do it.
Luckily for me, I got another movie script a month later and the role required the same status as I had then, so I focused on the movie and worked on my music in my free time, it was hell but with the support of my friends then, it all worked out fine and you came into the world. My beautiful child", she said placing her hand on my chin with a small smile. I could tell she was stalling, out of fear I think, but she continued.
"I always called you my lucky charm, because ever since you came into my life, everything has been better and better. My career took wings and everywhere I turned I was making progress, from music, to movies, to fashion. I met Lucas, the man you knew as your father, in one of the fashion shows I went for in Milan and we just clicked. When you were four we got married and you were the most excited one. I was so glad that Lucas came into our lives because it stabilized you. Most especially when I was away either on tour or for other things.
My career had been one of the best gifts of my life but it was also what endangered you. Knox Bane is the name of your biological father and he was one of the worst men to ever walk the earth. He found out about you through one of the fashion shows you followed me to. I didn't know then but later I found out, he had been digging for information about you and my being a celebrity gave him easy access to that info.
Shortly after you turned seven you were kidnapped", she stopped as if reliving that experience. Well that makes two of us, I never recovered from that incident till now. "And we didn't get you back until after a week. You were beaten, bruised, and almost lifeless. I thought I had lost you that day and I knew I would have died if I lost you too. Lucas had been adamant about waiting for the police to do anything. When we found out through the police that it was Knox who had kidnapped you, Lucas thought it was going to be a gun or hand fight. He went in to save you and he lost his life because of our ignorance, because back then no one knew what Knox truly was.
He was not human and when he took you, he experimented on you with his blood, trying to manipulate your gene to make it like his. He knew you were his child but he was frustrated that you didn't show any of his traits. When we took you to the hospital after you were rescued, they ran some tests and the doctor told me, you may never recover from the effects of his experiments on you". Tears were slipping past her eyes in freefall now.
"The police searched for Knox but couldn't find him and we had to move to give you a fresh start and also keep us safe. I thought moving and therapy would help you but you were broken beyond even what my ability as a mother could help and therapy just seemed to make things worse. You were always having nightmares, passing out in school, you couldn't make friends and it was just hell seeing you regress like that. Shortly after we moved, your heightened senses kicked in and I knew I had to seek help. I found Maia through a help organization, interviewed her but left the hiring to you. When you saw her and smiled at her joke, I knew I had to hire her on the spot, because it was like you both connected and that was the first real smile you gave in over six months. Adam came into our lives shortly after as advised by the police.
You got better over time, though we had to move every once in a while because of your abilities. I thought since we got here you had finally moved past that experience. You are always smiling and the past few days you haven't had any nightmares or visions but I don't know what happened to you at that party that restarted everything all over again", she finished tiredly.
"Mom, what do you mean restarted everything, I'm fine aren't I?", I said waving my now free hands up and down to show her. "I mean, maybe I'm a little sore here and there but I'm better than I've ever been", I said confidently but she wasn't convinced.
"You had a branding seal on your back when you were found but it disappeared a week after you left the hospital and I thought it was all over then. But today you woke up after being asleep for two days, screaming and shouting, you turned your room upside down. Your eyes were shifting back and forth with color and that seal reappeared on your back before you passed out", she replied pointing to my back.
"Mom what are you saying, I mean I get the sleeping part, that's almost normal but I didn't turn my room upside down. That wasn't me. Wait what party are you even talking about, the last party I went to….", I paused. I couldn't remember anything beyond my conversation with Xander by the fountain. "Wait, come on Asha, remember", I said to myself, my eyes flitting back and forth between my hands as if I could retrieve the memory from them.
"Frizzy beans, this can't be happening to me right now", I whispered to myself but my mom heard me anyways. "You cannot remember, can you?", my mom asked quietly. "I'll call Maia in to see what she can do for you", she said standing up and making to leave the room when I suddenly remembered something she said earlier.
"Wait Ma is that all, what was I supposed to forgive you for then", she did say I should forgive her and be patient. I have been patient but if that's all, I'm gonna get pissed. "For keeping the truth of your identity from you", she said apologetically, without looking at me. 'What the fuck identity are we still on right now, gosh'.
"What identity are we still talking about? I thought that was…". She cut me off and replied looking me dead in the eye, "Knox Bane, your father, was a Lycan and you are a Lycan, only not just any Lycan but the SHE-WOLF", she finished as she walked out of the office.