"What is it?" I shook her but she didn't reply to me. Instead she handed me the paper.
"Is there something written on it that wasn't supposed to be?" I asked her and she took a deep breath.
"Yes, this page. It has the old inscriptions written on it, which causes one to fall in a deep slumber. In the Atlas endowment is not this easy. Only some children in the family are endowed, the others are normal." She stopped, taking a deep breath.
"What does it mean then?" I impatiently asked her.
"My parents were the only people in The Atlas that were endowed from both the sides. Mostly in our descent only one parent is endowed and the other is a mere off spring who is not endowed. So, only my parents can read these inscriptions. I wasn't an only child. I had a twin sister, who wasn't endowed. Only we both knew about these inscriptions." She was taking out different types of diaries from a box.
"The reason I never added Marie to my name was because it was my sister's name. I don't know where she is now because I never heard from her since our parent's died." She opened a diary that she took out from the box. She flipped through some pages before stopping on one.
"Oh god, I really need to find this thing out" She murmured to herself.
"What is wrong?" I asked her.
"I really don't know what is going on in this damn world right now" Selena shouted pulling her hair.
"Whoa, Whoa, calm down" I pulled her hands down.
"We can leave and you can take time to register what is going on" I told her, pulling Hayden up along with me, who was still on the floor. We bid her goodbye, making our way out of her house. I opened the passenger seat door and helped him inside. He was still in a shock.
It was almost ten when we reached the house. We sat in the car for a while, drinking the silence that surrounded us. Hayden hadn't said anything until now.
"You know, I thought you were scary when you screamed at Amy but now I feel like a silent version of you is the worst one" I spoke up, breaking the silence. Silence enveloped us once again. I opened my mouth to speak again when I heard a sniffle. I turned around to see Hayden tears leaking out of his eyes as he tried to stop them. I stilled. I had seen him in distress but this was painful. I reached forward and wiped his tears. He gave up as he let those tears flow. I was stunned for a moment but then overcoming my shook, I turned around and hugged him. He sobbed in my embrace.
"All these years I thought that despicable woman was my mother. All these years I thought my mother was responsible. I hated my mother. What hurts is not her death. What hurts is that I hated my mother for something she had never done." He spoke in between his sobs.
"You didn't know that she wasn't your mother. Don't blame yourself for something you never knew" I tried comforting him. I got out from my side and opened the door of his side and helped him outside. His eyes were blood red and he looked like a person who had given up on his life. He sat on the stairs of the house as he looked up at the ceiling. I sat down beside him. Today was really a strange day. The clock struck twelve and the pendulum moved to and fro. Time had flown by and I didn't keep track of it. I stood up and pulled Hayden along with me and pushed him up the stairs. After some pulls and push I managed to reach his room. He laid on the bed and I took of his shoes. I straightened up to see he was asleep. I took a deep breath and left the room, shutting the door behind me softly. I entered my room and jumped on my bed, after changing. Sleep engulfed me almost as my head touched the pillow.
After a second or that I think so, I woke up when I felt that someone was shaking me. I rubbed my eyes, squinting my eyes that adjusted to the lights after a while. I looked up to see Ivy and Katie perched on the edge of my bed.
"What?" I asked them, removing my bangs from my eyes.
"Get up, We need your help" Ivy ordered me.
"Why?" I whined out loud covering myself with blanket which was snatched by Ivy. I sat up, annoyed. I got up from the bed and entered the bathroom, banging the door shut. I took a shower and changed my clothes. I came outside, banging the door shut again. No one was inside. I picked up my necessities and made my way downstairs. I was about to enter the dining room but I stopped seeing that Hayden was sitting outside in the patio. I stopped a maid and asked her to bring my breakfast outside as I made my way outside.
"You okay?" I asked him as I sat down on the chair beside him.
"Sleep helped" He replied shrugging as he kept staring in a distance. The maid was placing the breakfast on the table.
"You didn't had breakfast?" I asked him, judging the two cups of tea and two plates placed in front of us. He shook his head. I made a cup of tea for him.
"Is dad okay?" I asked the maid as I buttered a crumpet. She nodded in response, as I waved her away. Hayden took a sip of his tea as I handed him the crumpet. He gave me a look before taking it from me. I finished my breakfast, standing up I asked him.
"Are you coming to see dad?" He nodded and got up along with me as we walked back inside.
"Hey Dad, How are you?" I asked him, jumping on his bed.
"I am okay kiddo. Was thinking of joining you guys for dinner" He patted my head.
"Are you okay Hayden?" He asked him, as his face gave it all.
"Guilt trip" He shook his head.
"Come here" Dad motioned him to come forward. He came forward and sat on the bed.
"Sometimes we do things that we never forgive ourselves for. And go on a guilt trip. I know the pain can be devastating but doing this to yourself, putting your self in pain so you can come over the guilt, is just plainly unjust." Dad patted his hand and motioned him to come over near him. He hugged him as he came forward, pulling me along with him.
"Now, run along. Today is the James Ball. You have to go there" He patted us on the back.
"Oh come on, you are coming right to what ever this is?" I whined as I slipped down from the bed and he nodded. We came out of the room. I was ambushed by Ivy and Katie, who wanted to go and buy dresses for the ball. I unwillingly joined them on the trip. After literally roaming all shops in London, I stopped them at Pronovias as my head was starting to ache. I immediately settled on a nude tulle gown. It took Ivy and Katie hours to settle down on their dresses and finally we walked out of the shop. I stopped at The Tie Store to buy Hayden a nude tie. He had messaged me to do it since he didn't had one.
"Oh my goodness, matching ties" Ivy teased as she saw why I had stopped. I gave her a look as we stepped out of the car. We changed into our dresses after showering and dolled up. As we were about to descend the stairs, I heard dad's voice telling us to stop.
"What is it now?" I screamed.
"First Katie will come, then Ivy and then you one by one" He shouted back as he motioned the guys to form a line. I sighed as I motioned Katie to go down the stairs. Me and Ivy were peeking down and giggled as Jeremy had lost his voice as he saw Katie. I pushed Ivy and she threw mw a glance as she stumbled a little. I rolled my eyes mouthing Sorry to her. Lastly, I descended the stairs. Dad took my hand, his eyes shining with tears.
"My dad, you look handsome" I teased Dad as he slapped me lightly handing me over to Hayden. He looked charming in a nude pant coat, but his tie was missing.
"Where is the tie?" I asked him.
"I decided to match from tip to toe instead of just a tie" He merely shrugged his shoulder, pecking me as his hand snaked around my waist.
"All right gentleman, lets go" Dad's voice boomed as we made our way outside.