Chapter 4 - Chapter 3

Juliana

She never came out of her room, not even to eat.

"Please open the door, honey," said Mrs. Weinstein, softly knocking on the door.

"Leave me alone, mom. Please," came her voice, barely audible.

I knew that jerk was up to no good, she thought angrily, if he was one of them, I would have ripped his head off. She knew that Alexa loved him so much and he brought a smile to her face. Only because of that reason she had allowed them to date. She had seen them together and saw the adoration in his eyes as he looked at her daughter.

What changed his mind? she thought, I am really going to kill him when I see him.

"Please sweet cake, open the door," she tried again.

She heard her sigh and the lock clicked and finally her baby girl opened the door.

"Hey mom," she said, rubbing her blood shot eyes. She eyed the food plate and grumbled, "I said that I'm not hungry."

Juliana walked inside and placed the food on the bedside table and spread his arms. She tried her best to keep Alexa happy after what her husband did to her, and it wasn't just so to see her getting hurt because of a jerk. Her heart teared at the sight of bruises on her daughter's hands.

"Oh mom," she said before running towards her mother and wrapping around her arms. "You were right to hate him mom. He was no good. I am sorry I kept on liking him," she sobbed.

"Shh, it's okay honey, we all make mistakes. See I loved your father and he left us alone but I have you and that's the best thing a mother could hope for, and anyway no guy, especially not him, deserves you. You will know when the right person come. Let the time decide," she said and caressed her daughter while she sobbed onto her shoulder and nodded at last. "You can learn from everything that happens in your life, that makes you stronger. Don't cry it's over, smile because it happened.."

Her daughter seemed to ponder about what she said but at last a faint smile grew on her lips and she nodded.

"C'mon, we'll now clean out your wounds okay?"

That day, she didn't go out at night for her usual responsibility with others for the fear of Alexa hurting herself. She knew it wasn't good to lie to her daughter telling that she worked in a bar while the truth was far from that; little did Alexa knew that she was in grave danger.

Alexa

Sunlight was streaming through her bedroom window when she woke up. Her eyes hurt of crying and they were red and puffy. Her bruises of last night by scratching herself before her mother came were already healing.

She smiled pleased with herself as she remembered the photos of her and Bryan went up in flames as she looked at them blankly. She always thought that she was a very unusual person. And her grin widened as she remembered her mother feeding her.

"Mom," she called after debating whether she was going to get out of bed and move on or moan for her lost.

The house was unusually quiet and suddenly the feeling of dread was so thick around her that she couldn't stay in bed anymore. She felt as if an elephant had run over her.

"Mom?" she shouted, dressing as quickly as she could.

It was then she saw the clock and it read 4.30 p.m. Her eyes widened as realization settled. She had slept through half of the day and no wonder mom has gone out to work.

But she told that she is going to stay with me, thought Alexa, suddenly feeling ignored by her mom too.

She was heading downstairs and her stomach grumbled. She was making some sandwiches when it started to rain. She looked through the window, wishing she was out there, letting the nature wash away her agony. She was munching it away promising herself that she won't think about Bryan and start a new page in her life, when the doorbell rang.

She was so sure that it was her mother that she practically leaped out of her chair and ran to open the door but... It was not her mother.

"What's wrong?" asked Alexa, taking in the concerned look on her neighbour's face.

" Your mother...," he trailed away without meeting her eyes.

Her heart became cold with fear for her mother as he pointed towards south, toward the graveyard. She ran as fast as her legs would take. She didn't feel her clothes becoming wet. She didn't feel the cold wind against her drenched body. She didn't hear the howling of the wind. She didn't realize that she was running faster than any human being. She felt numb. The only thing she was aware of doing was running and praying to god that her mother was alright.

Her heart raced when she saw the crowd gather around her father's tomb.

"No,no,no," she kept repeating when she was met with.....

Her legs gave away when she saw her mother's lifeless body on top of her father's tomb. She felt as if a knife pierced her heart. If she thought that what Bryan did made one part of her body die, then she was already dead.

There wasn't even a scratch on her mother's body. She was so pale that it was even impossible to recognize her. Her beautiful blonde hair was streaked with grey. It was as if she was aged. As if all the blood was sucked out of her arteries. As if....

She held her head in between her hands and screamed. She screamed till her throat tasted of blood. She screamed as the droplets smacked against her face. She screamed as she knew that she was alone in this world. She screamed until she couldn't bear it anymore.

"WHY?!!" she screamed, with her last breath before everything went black and she fainted on top of her mother's body.