"I am not JANET, I am not ALSACE. I am cursed. I am ruled over by Belladonna. Please free me. Belladonna wants to kill Ann."
"Not again"- I muttered to myself.
"But Father?"- Chris turned to him. Leonid became speechless. I was staring at the paper. No way....at first, one thing cames to me and claims to be Janet's soul, later on, she says she is Alsace, then she says she is Belladonna, now again it says that she is not Alsace or Belladonna. Instead, now she says, she's ruled by Belladonna, and later on, that Belladonna wants to kill Ann. Seriously, what's going on? This isn't fair. Not at all.
I voiced my thoughts to Father. His face remained as calm as before. When I was done speaking he smiled coolly and replied.
"Life is never FAIR, Sara. If you want to enjoy your life, then you'll have to undergo the hardships at the initial stages. And after a long when you look back, nothing would matter to you. At this point of time, your worry is this, but later in the future, you might feel these things to be simple compared to the complex things that you will be living with. So never blame fairness in life. Fools blame, wise people, find a solution to the unfairness that's upon them. So search for the solutions, O'He- umm, Sara."
I looked at him. "Complex things that you will be living with in the future", what did that mean?
"Father, what are the complex things that I will be living with in the future?" I don't want more of these troubles in the future.
"Time will show you, Sara."- Those words rang bells in my ears. What did this mean?
"Why does Belladonna want to attack Ann? What did Ann do to her?"- Chris asked, for he was really worried about her.
"And, if this was not Janet or Alsace, then who was it that day?"- Leo added.
"Questions are many, but none has an answer. Time won't wait for us. We have to move with it. I think it is time, Sara."
"Time for what, Father?"- I asked. A very nasty thought took birth in my head. Trying hard not to focus on it, I waited for his reply.
"Tell everything to Ann."- My thought came out to be true. I expected him to say it. and my expectation became true. Well, it is easy to say...but to act..is the toughest thing. Ann was not yet ready for it, I knew. And so I said that to Father.
"People tend to hide things from others, to make the others safe. But that's the worst plan, Sara. She ought to know. From the moment she comes to know the truth, she will be careful enough to look after herself in danger. The real danger would be when she will have to face Belladonna without knowing anything. Once she knows that she is in danger. She will stay vigilant."- That matter, was kinda true..but.
"We'll tell Ann about everything, Father."- Chris, replied. I looked at her, unbelievingly. Leo spoke nothing.
We didn't stay there for more, cuz it was already getting dark, we had to get back to the hostel. We took the evening bus back to our hostel. We jumped across the gate and walked along the ground to the hostel corridors, I asked.
"Chris, you seemed super confident when you agreed to tell everything to Ann, so, I guess you might be having some idea, isn't it?"
"I don't have any idea."- She replied. Neither her words faltered, nor her expressions. Everything remained the same. I asked again, this time a bit angrily.
"Christina Arellano, do you think Ann will believe us?"
"She won't."- Again that tone of calmness irritated me.
"Please, Chris why don't you understand?"- I asked. She didn't reply. I held her by her hand, that she stopped abruptly.
"Enough of this game, Chris. What is going on in your mind, eh?"
"Sara, don't worry. We'll convince her. If she doesn't believe us, then we'll think that it's her Fate. Fate can not be changed by anyone. Not you, not me, and not Ann, herself. The best thing to do now is to say her. That's it."
"But..-" she cut across my words.
"Believe me, Sara. That is the best thing that you can do for me, right now."- She said, her eyes glowering. My heart agreed to it, so did my brain. I nodded at her and walked with her to our room.
*
I knocked on the door, to encounter an extremely angry Ann. She had her hands folded and scowl on her face. I looked at her and tried to grin, but poor me, I felt as though all my muscles had gone stiff all of a sudden, resulting in my failure to grin.
"Is aunt Mary, okay?"- She said. I felt sarcasm, in every word of hers.
"Umm.....Ann, she's...Ann, we have something more important to tell you."- I replied, again trying to smile(I failed again in smiling at her).
Her eyes were radiant. The look in her eyes sent shivers up my spine.
"What's it? Is it that, tomorrow, your uncle John is gonna go sick and that you'll have to visit him too?"- She asked. Flores and Lavinia were standing behind her. They too like Chris seemed to be motionless.
"Chris, why are you letting her attack me? Do something' I thought.
"I didn't get your answer, Ms Sara."- She demanded.
"I, uh...Don't say like that, Ann. My aunt was too ill today. But now she is alright."- I lied.
"Sara, dare you to tell more lies. Enough. What do you think I am, huh? A fool? You are always hanging around with this girl, and trying to avoid me, arent you? What is all this, huh? I don't like being treated like this. And, what right do you have to avoid me in such a way? Do you, understand human emotions? Do you know how it feels to be ignored by a person, whom you like a lot? Do you know anything, Sara? Why do you have to do this."- She screamed, drops rolled down her eyes. My heart melt. Why, why was God doing this to her? Why couldn't Bella just find someone else to attack? I stood still. I didn't know what to say to her, I had never seen her like this.
"Sara, this afternoon, we'd called your aunt. She said that she was perfectly alright and that she hadn't sent any letter to you. What are you both hiding from us?"- Flores spoke up.
"We'll tell everything. I guess now, we are forced to tell everything."- finally Chris spoke. She walked in and sat on a bed. She beckoned Ann, Flores and Lavinia to join her. I followed her pursuit.
"Now what lie are you gonna tell, Christina?"- Ann asked fiercely.
"I don't believe in convincing people with lies."- She said, still acting too calm. Ann looked at her. The fury in her eyes was visible even from a distance. She looked at me. I avoided her gaze.
"Ann, we were telling you dozens of lies. That's true. But don't you think there might be some reason behind it?"- I said, still avoiding her gaze.
"Okay. Tell me a reason for why I should believe you. You lied about your aunt falling sick to go out with Chris, didn't you? I can forgive you for everything else, but not this. I believed that you were my best friend. But here you are, you have proved me wrong. I believed you even when I knew you were lying to me. Mmm...Yeah, I was the fool. You, you...Sara Alves, you don't understand anything. I'm gonna leave this room and look for another, the first thing in the morning. My decision is final, Sara." All those words pierced my heart like a thousand daggers together.
"Okay, Ann. Everything is up to you. But, first, listen to what we have to tell and then do whatever you feel like doing."- Chris stood. Her eyes were not as calm as before. She too had the same look which Ann was having.
"You want to know where we were going, don't you? Why we were avoiding you? Why we were disappearing frequently? Then listen Ann Daddrio. We did everything for you. You see this girl here-" (She pointed at me) "She, is the one. She was trying to protect you. Trying to understand what was happening with you. Do you remember that day when you almost freaked out, seeing something in this bedroom? Do you even remember that? From that day onwards, this girl has never had a peaceful sleep. She tried her best to find it out. To keep you, people safe, she and I were visiting people who could help. We travelled to Moscow, do you know that? Hiring taxis, at times even walking on foot. Last week, we didn't have dinner for two days. Do you know that Ann Daddrio?"- She paused looking at Ann. She looked at us unbelievingly.
"I...I don't even understand."- Ann replied.
"I will tell you everything."- I said. Putting an arm around her shoulder, and made her sit beside me. I told everything to her. Her eyes widened. She looked at me, her eyes filled with a couple of emotions, that I couldn't make out what she was going through. Chris helped me through. Lavinia and Flores too were closely hearing to us. We finished telling everything. After which no one spoke anything.
Would she believe us, or again would she deny the fact? What was she gonna do next? My head felt very heavy, for there were tons of thoughts in it. Silence started to engulf all of us. No one spoke a word. Chris too seemed to be quiet. Ann was sitting still. She looked down at her feet. I too felt that it would be best that I kept quiet. Few minutes went by, Ann slowly looked at Chris and me. Her eyes filled with tears. Drops were rolling down her red cheeks.
"You guys did all these for me. And..I...I am sorry."-She had no more to talk. She sprang to hug both of us.
"Thank you. And. Sorry, Sara. Chris, I am sorry. Forgive me, guys."