TWO DOWN, FOUR TO GO
'I remember vividly how I got a hold of Laylah. The school's security wasn't that tight. Schools and their issues. To be factual they helped me. '
Boy Nathaniel looks at me with empathy still. He feels I am rambling on, like someone who is on the road to death. He still kneels in front of me and smiles at me and says ' Go on. '
I didn't hear him or I did but pretended not to.
' I got to the school's gate as a pickup for Laylah not as a nanny. That's too old school. I said I was instructed to pick her up by her parents. I would have been caught if the school had thoroughly checked to see if I was playing relative but they didn't. The gateman let me have her and I had him. I gave him something to shut him up. He wouldn't dare say a word. I took Laylah in my jeep locking the doors making sure she didn't escape at all. I strapped her to her seat belts as I put a handkerchief over her nose making her unconscious. It felt right. She made all this happen. She shouldn't have taken the flash then. She shouldn't have found the book at all but she did so I had no choice but to... Oh, that reminds me where's Laylah?'
I say with my face shaking a lot. The poison is shaking me so much. I don't know if I can withstand it.
'I freed her.' He says whilst still kneeling in front of me. I let my hand pass by his face accidentally scratching his face. I have something sharp attached to my sleeves. I see the damage I had done and instead of apologising, I... didn't.
'Sorry, your face felt appealing.' I give him a smile.
With his bleeding face, he looks at me with empathy still.
"This is sickening." I think to myself.
He gets up to sit across from me close to the table which is as far as 2 metres away whilst he sits on the floor.
My eyes trail to the laptop and the flash with it. It's a mess. I didn't read what was in the flash but I already knew from Feline's book. I remember what I asked him before and I ask him again.
'Where's Laylah! ' This time I say it with emphasis. I used the strength left in me to shout it out. I rest my back against the couch cos my yell took a lot from me. And then I remember that I have just asked him and that he has answered.
I... I smile. It feels painful all of it.
I say out unconsciously but I am conscious in a way I guess. 'They knew I'd wake up. My blood. They know that I wouldn't die like that. I'm Veronica Siphoned after all.'
'I haven't spoken to her...' My tone changes to a softer one.
I pause a little and I feel a cry coming through. I hold it in and then I continue.
'... Feline. I haven't gone to see her yet.'
He didn't say anything, boy Nathaniel.
I continue.
'... Let's get ready. They're coming. ' I hold myself from crying. The vengeance in me has overtaken my softness.
'Laylah has already been released she's of no use now. I guess I have done enough payback for her collecting the flash and encrypting it.'
' How are you going to meet with them? You're in no shape to.'
He is right. I'm in a mess right now. I can't recognize myself. I can't feel the old me. I can't...feel... Anne. My thoughts wanted to make me cry. But then she came to my rescue, Anne. I smile and clean the tears that roll unwillingly. Nathaniel let his tears roll too. I can feel it. Empathy. Blame. Self-questioning.
'They'd come to meet me whilst I remain here not moving an inch. You can act by your will. I can take care of myself. Just return to your post and stay away from my business.'
I reach for my left pocket. It is still here, my knife, little one. I cover myself with the blanket letting my feet touch the floor. "Looks like I'd be more violent."
Nathaniel leaves again and comes back when they were already here, dad and my aunts, the crazy seven.
To be factual, dad did tell me to prepare for the worst. I just didn't think of it like this. They assemble in front of me with no surprise at all. Nathaniel's in the background back to his usual character. To be factual, they feared him in a way cos the Top kept him close not them. I have been questioning myself as to why the Top did that. Why keep someone by your side when you've only met for five years?
It makes sense when I saw everything play out in front of me. Feline. Him. The Top.
'Hi.' I say to them without waving my hand. They stand in front of me except dad he advances towards me pinching his trousers before he squats. He is looking at my eyes. I am looking at his too but searching for something still, fatherly love. There was none. I smile, more like a scoff.
He moves closer to me and reaches for my hair. 'Can I get a comb?' He asks Nathaniel whilst looking at him and stretching out his hand.
'Here.' Nellie reaches for her purse and gives him hers.
Dad brushes my hair. Slowly and tenderly. I can't stop myself from smiling till I burst into tears. I continue sobbing whilst he speaks words.
'You've heard, haven't you? Feline's your birth mom. We didn't divorce or anything. She's just too weak. Too kind. Too soft. I can't let her rub off you. I just couldn't do it. So for your sake. I moved us away from her. And what did you lose? Nothing! Except that you'd want to be like the rest of those BLOODY humans. You tell me, did you need her? I know you. I raised you so I can read you. You didn't care. You don't care so don't now. Don't make me feel like a bad person. Aight! KID! ! AY! '
I am still crying. I can't hold myself. I bent my head down into his arms but he pulls me by the hair and says "stay put, you'd roughen the hair. ' He drags my head and I stay head to head with the couch whilst he brushes my hair voluntarily. Boy Nathaniel still sits by the dinning table eating the porridge he just made. He doesn't utter a word just delves into the food.
I hear words from Nellie's mouth that turns to sobs. 'Leave her. I mean look at her she's in pain already. You injected her with the poison, didn't you? She wouldn't live for..'
Before aunt Nellie could complete her sentence, dad instructed that she be struck. Nancy did that. She hits her sister with the vase behind her.
' That's worth more than your life. ' Boy Nathaniel says, not looking at her, in a low-pitched voice. He is eating his food.
Father then says 'I'd replace it.' He stops trembling Nancy from saying anything further. "I knew they feared him."
I reach for the knife in my pocket. Not applying any poison on it. Not doing the payback payback thing. Even if I had wanted to, this new me won't allow it. I reach for dad's hand. Cutting his arteries. Consequently, he reached for my chest with a small blade he cherished. One he saved for a great moment. He strikes me at the same spot Nancy reached for.
He groans in pain. I groan in silence. He moves away from me crawling backwards with his feet whilst looking at me. He let his hair dance in the wind. I look at myself in the mirror and muttered 'You did a good job' under my breath.
Noa was about to reach for me. Nancy was about to say something.
'Shh.' Boy Nathaniel says to her. This time he is looking at her. He reaches for his gun. A silencer, Obsidian 45, one of my faves, and he instructs that none should move.
'I knew it. They played lovers.' Natalie says. Natalia nodded.
He lets them speak not. He fires a bullet at their heads one after the other except for Nellie who still lay on the floor, Dad who was taken with speed by Noa, and Norma who followed them out of fear.
I still sit in the sitting room amidst bodies, lifeless and otherwise. Boy Nathaniel says to me, he is standing closer to me than I think he is. 'Should we, as they say, play lovers?'
I smile. He smiles too. I didn't look back but I feel it. My eyes trail to aunt Nellie who was hit on the head by Nancy. She is still unconscious, maybe dead. I can't hear her pulse. Nancy too lays on the cold bare floor. She got hit by boy Nathaniel's bullet. Natalie and Natalia are lifeless too. And I sit on the couch with a trembling body. The poison plus my stabbed chest have got to my whole.
'Three left, isn't it?'
'Four!' I correct him. He smiles I can hear it. Laylah is still on the run. The Hussein's worried. The school is in panic. Their name will be in the mud if the accident repeats itself.
WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER?