When Jude and I got in the car, I remembered that I had to go buy a charger. Because my phone is really old, there shouldn't be one at home, and where my old stuff remains is still a mystery to this day.
"I have to go buy something." I said, the car had not started yet, and I opened the door to step out. Jude grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.
"I'll go with you." He said, and having me pulled too close to him, his voice was too close.
"Okay." I distanced myself and closed the car door again. Putting the partition down, I asked the driver to stop at a shopping center.
There was a long pause, and he made no movement to set off.
"I just need a charger. No perfume department, and no airport. Don't worry." It seemed the driver was still scarred from our last trip to the mall.
Jude looked at me in question, but I ignored him. The driver finally started the car.
We arrived at the shopping center soon, the driver had apparently enough trust in Jude accompany me alone.
Walking beside my stepson was really something else. I thought I would get enough attention since wearing Thomas' dresses, but the way people stared at him, especially the girls, it was so uncomfortable that I resolved to never go anywhere with him again.
Entering the electronic store, I got my charger soon.
"Let's go." Having everything ready, we walked out, only for a girl to walk up to Jude.
"Can I have your number?" She asked hopefully, her eyes glittering.
"No." Jude's eyes flitted to me before answering her; he didn't even bat an eyelid at rejecting her. The girl left for her friends, and they looked at me, making me feel awkward.
Resuming to walk in the direction of the mall entrance, Jude followed me, again in a lazy and casual manner. I felt his eyes on me constantly, and when we sat in the car again, that didn't change.
Because I was now sure to stay for a year, I wanted to find out more and, if possible, also free Jude of his obsession. That, and because the silence that had expanded between us since the girl had asked for his number started to suffocate me, I blurted out a name. Naturally, it was only after checking again that the partition was up.
"Liliana Humphrey." I said without context, wanting to see his reaction.
Jude raised an eyebrow, his black eyes looking at me curiously. His expression told me that he had never heard of that name.
"This could be the original. The principal mentioned that I look like her, and I found her in a high school yearbook in the school library. It's true; she looks like me." I nodded again to underline the point.
Jude averted his eyes for a moment before they came back to me.
"Show me. Now."
I thought he would be keen to know more, but the urgency in his eyes still surprised me.
Jude put the partition down and told the driver that he had to go back to school, having forgotten to change his clothes.
When I glanced at him, I only then realized that he really was still sporting his P.E. clothes, and nearly facepalmed. I was really out of it whenever he was near me, not even noticing something like that.
After driven back to school, I told the driver that I would check on a colleague while waiting for Jude. I don't know why I started making excuses, but whenever I was alone with my stepson, I felt like I was doing something wrong.
We went through the nearly empty school to the library, and remembering where the yearbook was, I took it out. Turning to the page with Liliana's picture smiling at the camera, I gave it to Jude.
Jude froze when seeing the picture, looking at me and back down. It seemed he was also stunned by the similarity.
This should be beneficial with his fascination, directing it back to the original person who should receive it, not to a substitute like me.
He looked further through the yearbook, and when he came to the burned-down classroom that was cleaned up by the school committee, he paused again.
There was a smile on his face.
"It has to be her." He sounded sure.
"Because she looks like me?" I asked him.
"No, she doesn't look like you. It's because of the burned-down classroom. Do you know about the campus legend?"
I nodded, and he continued,
"I bet that little kid who had burned down the classroom back then was my father."
************
Thomas POV
The woman had gone crazy again, trying to destroy down the house while in a frenzy – in an attempt to get my attention.
Seeing the beginning flames, I was reminded of you and of the day back then in the classroom. Have all monsters an affinity for fire?
The black-eyed child had motionlessly stared at the flames, while his mother screamed and cried, and a deep fear gripped me.
Had I contributed to the creation of yet another monster?
Was this child a beast like his mother, with the cycle of flames and pain never ending?
I beat his mother before his eyes and disciplined the child for the first time.
The child bled, and I saw myself in it.
The wound and injuries your sister had inflicted on me, the wounds and injuries I passed along to the next generation.
And I understood that this will really never stop—everything repeating, monsters creating monsters, only for them to continue to inflict pain, creating monsters—the endless loop of reverberating agony.
I want to kill her, the child and myself. But again, the memory of the blue eyes in that forest is chaining me back, forcing me to continue this life.
I haven't found you yet; when can I see you again? Where is your niece or daughter, and is she still alive? Had her blood been on my hands all along, and I was just too cowardly to realize it?