I sit on the couch with my backside head on head with the couch. The blanket is still placed over me. I still remain the same as I was before my relatives came except for one thing, my hair. The hair my father voluntarily combed.
I hear nothing at that moment but I feel him behind me, boy Nathaniel. "Why is he still standing there? Isn't he going to take revenge for his brother? Will he become all so nice to me without a cost?"
I close my eyes and the words from Feline's book came to me. I would have loved to show you but sorry I can't. There's no way for me to. I feel him, boy Nathaniel.
"The Legend shall learn to use their powers. Little by little it will come to them. They must uphold justice and righteousness. They shall get a hang of it if and only if they try their very best. Your powers shall drain you till you make better use of it. Till you learn to control it and not it you. I pray all will be well with you all. "
That's what Feline's book said. Simple. On the third page, I think. Yes, it was the third page.
As I stay in my thoughts getting self-absorbed, boy Nathaniel shows his real intention. It has to be done to be factual. It will be unfair to him and his brother if he pitied me cos I was dying. "Wouldn't it have?"
I hear the click of the gun. He points it at me. I sit unshaken. As he was about to push on the click, I move so abruptly that it shocks me. I didn't expect to move that fast but I did. To the left of me towards the mirror, I dodge the bullet. Everything slows and I picture it in my mind. Boy Nathaniel should control his thoughts, please.
It seems guns aren't his thing too. He throws it against the wall and jumps at me. I sit on the chair like I lost my eyesight. I put my hands on the couch beside both sides of my body similar to a position that says I am looking for something but I am not obviously. I have my eyes shut and I am not opening them anytime soon. I am so self-absorbed in my entity. Hearing everything all at once but distinctly. Back then it would have made me lose my mind but this time I control it as it says in Feline's book.
Nathaniel jumps at me and I unconsciously push him. I pull his clothes and throw him over to the table with my eyes still shut. He lands on the table with his back on the side of the table and his head on the floor. His legs hang on the table. He is tall, I guess why.
I reach out to him making myself stand. Propelling myself to see if I can stand or not. To my surprise I could, Cange sure works fast. I remove the blanket over me and went to where he lay. My old me would have beaten him rough that he wouldn't even identify his left from right. As I did Laylah. But this time I just watch him as he laid there consciously.
He groans in pain and I reach for his hand. He takes it. All this I do with my eyes shut. I pull him off the floor and I jerk backwards a little.
'What are you waiting for? Reach for here.'
Boy Nathaniel looks at where I point at, my heart. And he replies.
'Yeah true, is this a go from you?'
I smile. I knew what he meant. That all will be well and he won't take revenge not that he forgives me immediately but slowly he will let go of his pain.
'We've got to be ready. I shall follow what the book says and nothing else. I'd try to give them a chance to repent but if not I would have to follow the book step by step.'
Boy Nathaniel nods his head and I open my eyes looking at him. He smiles and I have suddenly remembered the incident. When I first met him. When I broke the Top's fingers. I laugh at myself now. I take my gaze away from him and head inside. We have to hurry.
By the time I came out, Boy Nathaniel was already in the car waiting for me. I have a habit of being late. I open the car door saying nothing and he drives off. I don't feel any weakness in my body. I'm just driven by something. "Could it be the fight for justice or the last sight of my dad?"
I question myself till I fall asleep in the car. It is the Heritage estate we head for. I wonder why the Top chooses to stay that far. She's like that anyway, isn't she?
We've arrived here. I feel hungry. I am about to ask boy Nathaniel if we should stop for food before all this drama and before I could say anything, he gives me something in my hand.
'What is..' I look in the package and I see only one thing, food. I smile at him and reach for the car again. I have to sit to eat. He follows me.
'What will you do after this?' I look to face him as I put a bite in my mouth. He looks at me while eating too. Folding his arms as if to block the question but that wasn't what he felt. He feels eerie. I hold off on my question. I already knew the answer. I rest my back against the chair. He didn't answer verbally cos he knows I already know what his answer is. At least what was in his plan.
'Let's go.' I say to break away from this awkwardness. I haven't told boy Nathaniel about how I killed his brother. "Does he know? Should I ask?"
I open my mouth to let out words but they are nowhere to be found. I close it back. And I hear,
'I know. I know how you did it.' Did he read my mind or was he just observant? I turn in his direction. Sometimes reading minds is sickening. Knowing what they already know before they say it. I feel tears reaching my eyes. "Why am I becoming emotional all of a sudden?" I know it's because of this whole Legend's thing but I don't know, it just doesn't feel right to glance at a person and feel all that they feel.
"To some, it might be a good idea. For the sake of the fact that they read the human's mind. For the fact that they know what a person is to do before he does it. For the fact that they have control over thousands of vertebrates. And to some, just a few, it feels like a punishment, a burden, to take in all of what others feel. And they, they only are the rarest of the kind. They shall be rewarded in ways they'd never imagine. They shall feel peaceful like a heavy load has been lifted from them because empathy lays inside of them. The drive for power shall only be used for righteous things. As you know how life can be. A 6 can be read as a 9. So that is it. They shall live longer than they thought they will. Every generation births goodness after only 24 years till the end of their reign. For every generation shall have the opportunity of goodness to be fallen over them. The two types of Legends are lovers of simple things. They are valued but empathetic Legends are the most valued. "
I remember those words from Feline's book flowing through me. I thought I didn't find those words useful. But they rather are. Comfort. I let go of my thoughts and say words to Nathaniel.
'Don't. Don't forgive me. I want to hold my burden till the end so please do not feel all mushy with me and suddenly tell me you forgive me.'
I reach for the car door's handle and I open the door. 'And before I forget, control your thoughts. I can read everything.'
I close the door behind me propelling myself forward. "Why does the book want to keep me alive? I have sinned and should pay for it. So how dare a mere book tell me what I am and not. What I should do and should not. I walk towards the building in front of me. The one in which Nathaniel made me meet with the Top. I get to the backyard why do I walk here, I have no idea. I see an open window and I reach for it. Did I want to eavesdrop or watch what was displayed in front of me?
Nathaniel still sits in the car and he looks at his chest touching it. "Did she mean this? On whose authority?" He gives a scoff. I didn't expect him to listen anyways. He gets here faster than I thought he will. "Did he run?" I say with a nonchalant attitude as I stare at him from top to bottom with my face squeezed like I am disgusted. Like he was a pest that kept pestering me. He looks at me with something in his eyes. Something to make his eyes sparkle. It's like I can avoid it. I can't avoid anything cos I am not in control. "He's going to forgive me."
I am about to make Nathaniel and myself reach for the door but I pause as I hear something rare.
'My wife. My wife. Please help me. My love do not leave me.' My dad is begging for his life. Begging for him to live. Begging for Feline to help him cos she studied medicine so only she could help him. My aunts sit on the floor panting in fear but it is all a cover. They know I will be coming so they needed to get themselves ready.
Feline contemplates whether to help him or not. She looks at his right hand and it still bleeds. It's a miracle he's still alive. I breathe in and out concentrating on my breaths. I'm starting to have a headache. It's starting to brew again. I lose balance and he catches me, boy Nathaniel. To separate him from my father, I started calling boy Nathaniel. But he thinks that I call him that cos it represents a different side of him. Like it's a significant sign that change has happened to him, him joining the Top and all.
I stay in his arms with my eyes still on my parents. And the book says I shall live. It's mistaken. Feline helps him. She's indicating for him to come to sit. He walks over to her in severe pain. She adjusts the chair making him lie in it. She gets her surgical tools and she starts to do what she does the best help.
"Mother. M...u...m" I haven't called anyone that and I don't know if I should. Feline creeps me, hell yeah, but that was when I didn't know her close enough. She was the only one who looked for me despite all the craziness I showed. I should have known shouldn't I have? I fight the tears trying to force their way. She fixes him, Feline.
Then he grabs her arm. Doing what he does best. Inflicting fear in her. 'Did you think I'd forgive you for wanting to tell her?'
He sits still holding her arm. She could have done something but she doesn't. He reaches for the controller of the chair but he didn't know where it was so he says 'Do the chair.' Opening his eyes wide like he is a monkey. She does the chair making him sit with his head on the rest.
He drags her making her sit and tells something to her ears.
'You're going to pay for it. I'd make sure I butcher her in front of you. Then I'd butcher you too.' He holds her hair down as he tells her. He looks like he needs help widening his eyes and his jaws. Looking around the place as if he looks for something. Bending and twists his head like a robot set to malfunction. He pushes her when he was done sitting on the chair like he owns everything.
'Let's go.' I say to boy Nathaniel as I can not take it any longer. He nods in affirmation. I push open the doors with Nathaniel behind me. My aunts shiver on the floor. Feline stares at me while she still lays on the floor with her hand supporting her. I speak to her soul. "Will she hear me?" Her eyes speak only one language, pain.
I still stare at her, Feline, when dad instructed that my aunts come at me. They stop their trembles reaching for me with iron bars in their hand. Boy Nathaniel rushes to save me from it. Holding me as I get lost in Feline's soul. She throws daggers at me and I feel what she feels. There isn't any barrier blocking it again so I understand what she wanted to always tell me.
My dad trembles cos of boy Nathaniel. My aunts do the same. They look to my dad for instructions and he instructs what he instructed before. 'Strike.'
Foolishly and blindly they try to do so. As they are about to do so, I stop Nathaniel from blocking me. 'Stop, I'd pay for my sins. Let me be.' I don't think the book is right. What's a legend without a hand. The hand. The Top's right hand.
I look forward with the last strength in me. I feel I am going to fall cos of the dizziness I feel and it simply is going to happen not because of that but something else. Boy Nathaniel moves back following my order. He still has faith in me. I don't in me. He should not. I can't do it.
I am entwined in my thoughts when they do it. The strike I put on hold came to me. I get hit on the head by Nancy. A big hit that leaves me unconscious immediately. As I fall to the floor, I see and feel everything in slow-mo. Dad and my aunts' cheer. Boy Nathaniel holds his tears. He still believes in the book anyways. He lets it fall freely, the tears. And Feline is in more pain. I understand why I feel electricity then and now. I was always connected to her and every pain she felt and feels gets implanted in my soul.
As I fall to the ground which only takes five (5) seconds in their eyes, It feels like five (5) minutes for me. Cos it has come to me, everything. Feline is always in pain and was always in pain. And she knows I am the legend and she has faith in me, even now. That I'd come to her. That I'd be a better me. She called for my help during those times and I didn't answer cos I didn't know what it meant. But now I do. My mom is right. I am me. I am the Legend. I am Veronica Siphoned.
WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER?