Thea
January 13th, Wednesday.
My question was met with a suspicious silence. It had been a while since the whispers were growing in the shadows of the hallways, smirks were hiding behind the apparent indifference of my sisters, sighs were being restrained by forceful waves of laughter and my mother was concealing the stains of her tears with make-up.
What everybody forgot was that my speciality was the soul, and it was just a matter of time before I found out what was wrong. It took me only a little poking and probing into the minds of my family members, and there it was, a name shining like the sun— David Sinclair.
"Who will tell me?" I asked for the third time, keeping my eyes fixed on Rhea's eyes. She squirmed under my gaze. It was a natural reflex or a defence mechanism, however you'd put it. The witches with the power over souls have always been the most dangerous ones. Nobody could meet their eyes unless they had the sight themselves. "Rhea?"
She turned her face and yelled at me. "I can't believe you read me. You can't break the rules, T."
'Oh screw it," I hissed and continued my interrogation. "Did you really think you can hide something from me?" At least Rhea was putting in her efforts, in comparison to Nina, my other sister who was not even trying to hide her thoughts.
"Maybe it doesn't concern you, and that's why nobody told you about it?" Rhea stomped her feet and rolled her eyes, "You're so unbelievable."
"So, why do I see that name whenever somebody looks at me? Rhea, don't force me to use my sight on you. You know it won't be a nice thing for any of us."
I would never use my power on my little sister. Rhea was only thirteen, and even though she was growing up to be a powerful witch, she still was a kid inside. Besides, it was not really necessary. I knew the truth was going to come out soon. I just needed to continue probing.
"If you try to enter my head again, I will tell Nani. we both know how that will end."
"C'mon Rhea, it's not that big of a deal. You just need to tell me why everybody is thinking about him for the last few weeks."
Rhea avoided me and twirled the corners of her skirt, a clear sign of getting anxious. She was considering it, I thought. She could not hide anything from me. She had always put me over anything else, and this time was no different.
"You want to tell me, don't you?"
"If you find out about it, do you promise me not to overreact?"
"Have I ever?" A pang of guilt made me feel uncomfortable. I was notoriously famous for losing my temper and overreacting. The feeling lasted only for a minute or so. Once Rhea raised her face the thrill of knowing a secret became stronger.
"We wanted to tell you, but Nani made us promise to not tell because she was worried that you'd do something rash."
Now I stumbled in my head. Nani made them promise? If it was a gold thread one, Rhea would never tell me about it, None of them would.
A gold thread promise also meant it was for a noble purpose. Witches made this promise to protect, to heal, and to create new bonds. Once the promise was made, no power in the world could break it. Not until the purpose had been achieved.
But what could have happened so important that Nani would force my family members to make a gold thread promise? I stared at Rhea with desperation in my heart.
Suddenly I felt something. It was like a window being opened. I felt a soft breeze around me, and a sense of freedom that defied ethics and morals. It was a freedom that allowed me to peek inside the mind of my sister, and along with that two more minds— one of them was Nina, and the other was Zoey.
There he was, shining like the sun. I could only see his back, a tall man with broad shoulders, and short hair, dressed up in a simple shirt and trousers, a phone in one hand, and a bouquet of roses in the other. This was David Sinclair? I felt a tug in my heart. I wanted to see his face, so badly, so desperately, like I was losing air to breathe. This was David Sinclair, who was laughing hard with somebody else in front of him, whose broad back made me feel empty and full at the same time, whose closeness with that other person made me envious of their closeness, and who was—
"What the actual fuck???"
I didn't realise the words had escaped my mouth until I heard myself and saw Rhea grimace. She started rambling. "None of us has ever met him. Zoey saw him once in her university, but only from a distance. Look, we don't really support this decision, but Nani—"
I would have said something utterly malicious if Nani was not related to me by blood and an elder. How could she ever do this? Rhea was still rambling, and I was not able to hear anything she said, leaving a few bits and pieces of the sentences.
"It's a perfect match…. He's great…. She's very happy… you'd love him…"
The world around me stared shaking, and everything turned red, once I heard what Rhe was saying.
"Arranged marriages are not that bad. I know many couples who are very happy being married, and they never saw their husbands before their wedding nights."
"If you mean Aunt Pepper, Aunt Mohil and Uncle Roo, let me remind you, they were married in the last century."
There was no way in hell I was going to marry a stranger, no matter how handsome he looked from the back, or how my heartbeat went wild every time I thought of his back.
I would never going to marry David Sinclair.
Ever.