"So, who's gonna tell her?" Bianca asks, her eyes roam from face to face until they stop on mine.
It's not like we don't know about it. It is a family secret everybody knows about but nobody ever speaks about. Every generation has learnt about their misfortunes by themselves after watching the adults and observing the gradual decline in their beauty, confidence and finally their arrogance.
"I don't need anyone to tell me about it. I know how important it is for the family." I just don't want to sacrifice myself for this shit.
It started a couple of generations back. We don't know the whole story. All we could find out was how one of our great-great grandfathers went bankrupt. The next night his wife was found dead in the hallways of the same house we live in now. Their son met in an accident and ended up being paralysed. Their son went missing. This went on, and still, now we see shadows of such misfortune. However, things came under control after each of our aunties took charge.
Come to think of it, it was always there, right in front of our eyes. We just didn't see it. We couldn't, because there was a thin veil hiding everything from our eyes.
"I don't get it. Are you all asking her to do whatever they were supposed to do? Sacrifice herself?" Lucy says exasperatedly.
"I don't agree with the whole sacrifice thing but yes, I believe she should at least find out what was going to happen." Alec shrugs.
"We all know it now," Lucy tries to convince others with her doe eyes. It doesn't seem to work.
Oksana sighs and joins the argument. "Why are you so certain that she has to sacrifice herself? There is no human sacrifice in the story, Luce."
"Yes, but you heard her. You still think they were not going to harm her?"
Benjamin dismisses her with a wave, "All the aunties came back in one piece, didn't they?"
The misfortunes of the aunties were never talked about. The very first thing is how they all fell sick when they came back after their rendezvous. Not to mention how all of them lost their memories from that night. Some of them permanently lost some of their sanity. It was not visible from the outside, but it emerged from time to time. The key entrusted to them was their biggest prison, which never allowed them to go out of this house, fall in love, get married, or just leave the house to find their own ways in life.
"Considering all these, I would say the aunties were sacrificed. They did kill her, but metaphorically." Anne shrugs. Everyone looks at me at once, with such synchronisation that it makes me feel like a victim in a horror movie. I sit folding my legs and focus on my bedsheet.
"I don't know what you all are trying to do," I say quietly.
The decision was made in my subconscious at the exact moment my cousins started discussing the sacrifices. I knew what I had to do, but I was not healthy enough to execute my plan, nor I had the resources to execute it.
A day has passed after that evening. One after another all the elders and adults of the family have come to meet me and find out how much I know or remember. They had different questions in different tones, Aunty Carlotta even interrogated me with all her might until her husband Uncle Ricardo came to rescue me. It has been decided, that none of us, the cousins will ever share anything with the adults. Not that any of us are dying to. It will require a lot of explaining, and it will involve the possibility of getting dismissed and ridiculed because none of it made sense.
I have not told anyone about the woman either. I already have given my cousins a lot to think about. Those who care for me will be worried, and those who don't care will be anxious about the fate of the family. This is one common attribute I see in all my cousins. While some of the adults tried to leave the family and its curse, we always try our best to stick to each other.
I pack three denims, and a couple of shirts. I might need jackets, and I will definitely need my hoodies and a pair of glasses. In my wallet, I have some money. I have asked Bianca and Benjamin to lend me some cash. They are older than me, which allows them to withdraw more cash than I can. I leave my credit cards on the bedside table and keep all the cash in an old bag. Then I transfer that bag inside a hidden compartment of my luggage. My tickets are not booked yet, but I have decided not to get them booked in advance. It will be much better to get them by paying cash.
Aunty Rosemary was one of the women who were chosen to be sacrificed. She was Aunty Charlotte's elder sister. I don't know how but she was the first one who recognized me. "They're going to choose you one day," she had said. She was chosen too, until she left the mansion. She did what nobody else did. She left everything that made her a member of this family. She changed her surname and started working as a waitress.
I don't know why she left her new phone number with me. She hugged me tightly before leaving the house and left a small piece of paper in the pocket of my jacket.
I called her last night to tell her everything. I knew she wouldn't refuse to help me.
"When you come, make sure, that nobody can trace you. It's okay if somebody knows where I am now, because I have broken every link with that family. I have children, but they don't carry my blood," Aunty Rosie said.
"Don't worry about me," I said thinking about that night. "I will be safe."
I wake up around 2:30 in the morning. More accurately, I leave my bed at 2:30. At this hour, family members should not be alert. They do not sleep, but they are not conscious either. My father is probably listening to some Jazz and pacing away his insomnia. Some of my uncles are high on drugs, alcohol, or something else. Most of my aunts have stopped caring enough to notice if something is going out of the main door.
I should still take the back door, the one through the kitchen. In a while, the maids and cooks will start bustling around the place, preparing for the day. At least for the next two days, they won't have to cook for one person. I take off my shoes, tip-toe my way out of the kitchen, and sigh in relief. Now I just have to walk towards the railway station.
The train to the next city leaves in another half an hour. A thought crosses my mind. If I take my bicycle it will be easier. It will also need me to go back to my room, which means I have to cross the kitchen, and hall and take the staircase once again. Nope, I decide. Once was enough, I am not going back to that house without my answers.
Switching on the flashlight on my phone, I start walking. Half an hour is a lot of time. If I walk fast, and take the shortcut, I can easily reach the railway station in the next twenty minutes. The night is not very dark, thanks to the full moon the previous night. After walking a couple hundred meters, my eyes are now well-adjusted. The flashlight can be switched off now.
Music is a good companion when one walks. My personal favorite is the Arctic Monkeys. I love the weird intensity in their songs. Lucy enjoys Blue Foundation, so obviously some of their songs have found their way into my playlist. I play a song about wine and walking far away, which quite ominously reminds me of Lucy's suspicion of human sacrifices made in the family. I huff, roll my eyes, and keep on walking. Aunt Rosemary will have all the answers.
"Running away?"
The voice is very familiar to me. Still it makes me jump. This is supposed to be my own time, I most definitely do not want a companion.
"Sorry, I was not trying to give you a heart attack," Felix says.
"We are just trying to be with you so that you are safe." Art joins us immediately. His appearance is so sudden that I imagine him materializing from the thin air.
"This feels like stalking," I say in my very own mumbling tone. I have become so habituated to this that now speaking loudly makes me feel physically uncomfortable.
"Sorry about that," Felix apologizes for the second time.
"We have to keep you safe until we can come to a unanimous decision," Art says.
A decision about what? I look at their faces. They both look away. Knowing I can't find my answers from them, I divert my attention to their attire. Both of them are wearing the school uniform. I scratch my head and say, "The school does not start for another four hours."
They shrug. Art asks, "You're not really running away, are you?"
I halt and look at them again. "What do you think?"
Felix laughs and puts his arm over my shoulder. 'Do you know, you have never talked to us in that tone before."
"What tone?"
"You have never talked to us except saying 'yes' or 'no'. Nothing significant," Art adds. I still think of the previous question. What tone?
"So where are you going? Can we come?" Felix asks. He pulls me closer. It feels warm and comfortable, more comfortable than any of my cousins or family members.
I shrug off his hand and say, "I am going to find some answers, and no. You cannot come."