-Alexander's P.O.V-
I woke up with a horrible headache. I looked at my phone to see the time. It was past noon. I had a missed call from an unknown number and an unread text. 'Call me back when you read this. It's been a while hasn't it, brother.' I had to do a double take on what I had just read. I saw the time of the call and the text. He had called me at 7am. Why was he up so early? Or maybe there was a time difference? I clicked on the dial button and waited for the phone to ring. Once. Twice. By the third ring I was losing hope but soon a heard an all too familiar voice. "Hello, brother."
"Dawson?" My voice came out croaked, my throat was dry.
"Oh, you don't sound too good. What time is it over there?" There was a time difference. Where was he? How much apart was the time? I had so many things to ask him, but my voice wasn't coming out.
"Where is she?" I managed to at least ask that much. Right now, what I cared the most about was Evelyn.
"Eager there are we?" Dawson chuckled at the other end. Did he find it funny that I was desperate to know where the girl of my life was? "She's out for a stroll." He simply said. Out for a stroll? What exactly did that mean? He was making her sound like a golden retriever or an old lady.
"Dawson?" Again, my voice was hoarse. Why was my throat so dry? Was it because of last night's alcohol? I cleared my throat, but it did no good.
"Sounds like you can't really talk right now. It was good hearing from you after so many years though. We'll keep in touch. Goodbye brother." Before I could say anything else the line went dead. Just the same as with Maverick. I tried calling back, but the call went directly to voicemail. Why were they all doing this to me? What exactly happened 5 years ago? I flew out of bed and rushed to the kitchen where my mother had already sat drinking her afternoon coffee. What else could she do in an empty house all alone? I grabbed a bottled water and chugged up the whole thing. My throat still felt dry. I chugged another bottle. My mother meanwhile just started out into oblivion.
"Dawson called." I said, regaining more of my normal voice. I saw my mother's eyes change. I saw her expression change. It was for a second before they went back to showing nothing but resentment towards me.
"Did he tell you anything?" I shook my head. She smiled. She wanted to punish me. "Good."
"Why won't anyone tell me what happened 5 years ago? How can I fix my wrong doings if no one will tell me where they are? What can I do? What will it take for you… for anyone to take me out of this darkness?" I kneeled down next to her, grabbing at her dress. She patted my head but same as always, her touch was cold. Suddenly I felt a strong pain in my neck. She had slammed a needle through my throat. Before long I passed out and saw nothing but darkness.
"We've all suffered long enough, my sweet, sweet child." I heard my mother's voice slowly fading. She sounded like her old self. That loving mother I once knew. When I came to, I found myself in a strange room. Bright light sipping through a pair of open doors. The wind blowing the clear curtains in the air. I heard birds chirping. The nice sound of trees rustling. Everything felt so fresh and calm.
"You look like shit." I turned to the voice.
"Dawson?" It was my brother. Sitting next to me was my brother. He looked buff other than that he hadn't changed at all.
"Mom really did a number on you. You were out for a whole day." I looked around me. I recognized this place. We were at the lake house. Mom said she had sold it. This place was a couple hours away from home. Have they been here all this time? I sat up on the bed, my head was killing me. Dawson handed me a glass of water and I chugged it all. I felt like I had not drank anything in a long, long time. "You hungry?" He spoke to me as if none of this had happened. As if 5 years hadn't already passed.
"What happened 5 years ago?" I went straight to the point. All this punishment was because of something I did 5 years ago. Something that no one wanted to talk to me about. Dawson tapped his chin.
"I'm no so sure you're ready to hear it yet."
"I've waited 5 years. I need to know." Dawson clicked his tongue before getting up. He signaled me to follow along as he walked out the open door leading to the balcony.
"Daddy?!" A little tiny girl with black long curls called out from the garden up to Dawson. My eyes widened.
"You have a daughter?!" Dawson leaned against the rails and waved at the little girl. As I leaned closer to the rails, I saw a man sitting close by. "Is that Maverick?" He was looking out for the little, tiny human running around the yard playing with the fallen leaves. "If Maverick's here… where's Evelyn?!" I tried to walk away and go downstairs to meet with the old man, but Dawson stopped me. He took a hold of my wrist. He was strong. He shook his head. I leaned back against the rails. Looking out at the tiny girl giggling.
"She looks just like her mother, doesn't she?" I turned to look at Dawson then at the little girl. I stared at her closely. Sure, enough she was the spitting image of Evelyn. I felt a lump in my throat. Did they…?
"You and Evelyn…" Dawson shook his head. "But she called you Daddy."
"What'd you expect? I'm the closest she's had to a father." Dawson waved at the little girl who was now waving at him. "Are you ready to listen to our story?" I have been ready for the longest time. I nodded. "Walk with me." We walked down and towards the forest. I looked back at Maverick and our eyes met for a brief second before the tiny girl jumped on him calling out 'grandpa'.
"What's her name?" I was curious about a lot of things. Evelyn had a daughter. It wasn't Dawson's daughter. Wait! "Is she, my daughter?!" Dawson chuckled.
"Took you long enough." The little girl was my daughter. I wanted to run back and hold her in my arms, but Dawson once more stopped me. "Not yet." I nodded. "Evelyn found out she was pregnant the first day of Senior Year. As soon as she got to school, she started feeling sick. I was the one that suggested she took a pregnancy test." Dawson chuckled, I guess he remembered something from back then. "I was a child. I took her 5 different pregnancy tests. They all came out positive. She didn't even hesitate to tell the grownups. I know she was scared but she didn't want to keep it to herself. You and she hadn't spoken to each other in over a month. She wanted to tell you about the news in person. That's when we went to go see you but…" I knew that part of the story. Desirae's joke caused all this. No. No matter how much I want to put the blame on her, this was all my doing for distancing myself from Evelyn. "Matthew told me the truth later on, but it was already too late for Evelyn. If the truth had come to us a year before maybe things would have turned differently." We reached a bank with lots of giant rocks. Dawson sat down on one of them. I stood in place. "The grownups decided that it was best for us to leave. The farther we were from things that reminded Evelyn of you, the better. But with little to no money we were only able to stay here. Mom decided to tell you she had sold the lake house that way you wouldn't come here."
"You've all been here for the past 5 years. So close, yet so far." I wanted to punch myself mentally. All this time they were this close to me.
"Evelyn had a healthy pregnancy. She was the most beautiful pregnant girl I had ever seen. Pregnancy did her good, she was always so radiant. The lake house did her good too. Being out in nature was so relaxing for her. She was pregnant with twins." Dawson clicked his tongue, his voice cracked with that last part. He stood from his spot and continued walking. He stayed silent for a while before we reached another stone in the middle of the forest. He placed his hand over it. Tears flowed down his cheek. No. This couldn't be. As I looked down, the ground was shape like a grave. Wait. It was small. This couldn't be Evelyn's grave, but… he said twins. I only saw one little girl. "While giving birth Dania was the first to be born. She was a healthy little girl. When it was time to push for the second baby, Evelyn went into cardiac arrest. I was there. I asked to save Evelyn's life. It was either her or the baby that was still in her womb. The lack of air and the time spent bringing Evelyn back caused Leeon to die." Dawson kneeled in front of the stone. "If I had known…" I patted Dawson's back fighting back tears. I wasn't there. Mother was right. Evelyn suffered more because of me. Now I understood why she was punishing me so much. I deserved it. "Evelyn survived." Dawson stood up. We walked back to the lake house. I wanted to hold the little girl in my arms, but I knew the story wasn't over yet. I still hadn't seen Evelyn. We got into Dawson's car. He drove in silence. When he came to a stop we were in front of the hospital. I walked close behind in silence. We stopped in front of a room. "When Evelyn found out that she had lost baby Leeon the shock was too much they had to sedate her. The thing is…" Dawson opened the door to the room. Evelyn laid in the hospital bed, motionless. Tubes going down her throat. Machines attached to her in every way possible. "She hasn't woken up ever since."
VOLUME I FINALE.