《Feel My Pain》 Prologue I remember the day like it was yesterday, the day my father had died. I was only 8 years old when my mother told me, "we have to go to the hospital because your dad is sick, and he might not get better." Because I was so young, it was hard for me to understand all the things happening that day.My mom told me he had a rare disease, but she never told me what disease killed him and why we had to move away right after his death.That day made me question many things in the world and my life.I wanted to know why he had to die, why did God have to take my father away from this world, and my mom and me.Why couldn''t I learn what disease my father died from? Why did we have to move away right after his death?I''ve come to terms now that I might never get the answers to my questions. But I know one is for sure, I was destined to meet that boy that day. He said his name was Diar Pines, the only son of the Pines Corporation. They own close to everything in Aklure, like churches, schools, and hospitals, but what they are most proud of and known for is Pines Academy. Where all the kids in Aklure who can afford it can learn and master the art of magic. The Pines family found a way to turn magic into a science, where anyone and everyone can learn it. Well, if you have the money for it, of course. Pines Academy is the number one school for parents to send their kids to if they want guaranteed success in their kid''s life. The kids that have graduated from Pines Academy are now world leaders and legends. they say that Pines Academy was build during the Salem Witch Trials, but the Pines family always denied it to be true; they don''t call their students witches or wizards; instead, the students that attend and graduate from Pines Academy are called Beldams and Beldames for both sexes. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. This means that they have studied and mastered the art of magic but were never born with it.Witches and wizards haven''t been seen since the Salem Witch Trials, where all the witches and wizards were executed. It is said that the Pines are the only and last descendants of a real witch. Her name was said to be Lorrellie. The last living witch that survived the Salem witch trials. She was the most powerful witch of them all. So when she escaped Salem, she came to Aklure and got married to a Priest. Together they built up Aklure from when it was nothing to what it is now. For generations, the Pines became known for having the only surviving witch''s blood running through their veins. With that power, they have gained unimaginable influence and wealth. The daughters would become witches, and the sons would take over everything else. But some people still hated witches and would rather see them burn and die forever. So on the day my father died, Diar Pines'' little sister, who was soon to be a witch, the last one to be exact, was killed and poisoned by the ones who live to hate witches. That''s where we met. On the day my father and his sister were knocking on the doors of death itself on their hospital beds due to things that were out of our control and couldn''t be explained, we met at the hospital and were brought together by fate. Chapter 1 - Alive? April''s POV (Flashback) 8 years ago On the night that I could not close my eyes for rest, I stumbled down the carpeted stairs with white-colored wooden handles to grab a glass of milk to calm my nerves. That night, I found my dad lying in his farmhouse canopy bed covered in his cotton grayish-blue queen-size duvet. His eyes closed shut but still with motion, and his body quivered slowly and rhythmically, sweat dripping down his forehead, filling his pillow. I only went into his room because the shadows of light coming from the room alarmed me, and I felt the cold breeze of the open door coming from the inside of the room. The breeze felt as cold as the outside, making the hair follicles on my body active and aware, even though the seasons were transitioning to warmth and growth. Before my adventure to the kitchen, I had dreamed of a small black shadow figure attaching itself to my father''s body. I feared that after the shadow figure entered my father''s body in my dream; it stood up from the bed, turned its neck 90 degrees to face me, and was staring at me with blood coming out of its mouth and its eyes rolling. I was so shaken up because the dream felt so real and so vivid; it felt like it was my body the figure was invading, and when it turned to face me, it felt like a confrontation, its eyes felt like my eyes, and my eyes felt like it was going in and out of my socket rolling like bowling balls heading to escape and make an impact with my brain causing my mouth to bleed. It all came to a climax when the shadow inside my father''s body came closer down to my face, tilting its head to its right side, scanning my eyes, then my nose. Then, finally, my lips with the whites of its eyes showing as if it was memorizing my face and my being, then it hit its head against my head, causing me to wake in a frantic state. I was lying in bed trying to catch my breath and trying not to cry out loud cause I knew that if I did, my parents would come into my room to comfort me. After I could finally catch my breath, I got out of my bed, walked to my door, and headed downstairs where I saw something that an 8-year-old should never have to see. When I was about to enter the room through the cream-colored door, I saw it was already open, which I found odd considering that the clock on the kitchen oven said that it had just hit three o''clock on the dot. My parents, who hate having the bathroom stench, get into their room and immediately close their door when they are asleep. And as I was looking around the hallway, I saw the bathroom lights were on, and I heard the water running from what I presumed to be the sink. So I thought maybe my mom went to use the bathroom again, explaining why the bedroom lights would be open because it has become routine for my mom to use the bathroom at this time of day. I caught her one night when I couldn''t fall asleep because of the dream. I saw her awkwardly walking in a squashed position, trying to reach the bathroom as if she was running out of time to save herself. When she was finally in the bathroom, I waited until she finished to tell her, "Mommy, I''m tired," while scratching the left side of my face with my hand, trying to wipe my tears. My mom was on the other side of the hallway and quickly ran to me and immediately gave me the biggest hug, and as she was hugging me, she was patting my back, brushing through my hair, and telling me that everything was going to be ok. She got up, held my hand, and walked me up the stairs and into my room. We lay on my bed and looked up at the ceiling with lit-up stars my dad had put in my room when I could get a big girls'' room. My mom, still trying to comfort me, asked me. "Did you see the little dance I did before going into the bathroom?" "Yeah, you looked like Mr. Krabs; it was funny," I responded while chuckling and facing her. She then turned to face me, putting her hand up to touch my face, and with a fading laugh, she said, "Well, do you wanna know why I was doing the crab dance? Hmm" "I don''t know, maybe because you had to use the bathroom?" I said with a witty and playful smirk on my face. "Yes, it''s because I had to use the bathroom," she said back and then added that she''s been drinking a lot of water lately, and it always makes her want to pee every 10 minutes. But thinking back about it now feels weird, even though I know it might be nothing. I felt like tonight there was something wrong. I finally took my first steps into the room while holding onto the edges of the door and saw my dad laying on his bed. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. As I continued walking to the left side of the bed, which was his side of the bed, and got a little closer to him, I could see the whites of his hair. I could see bruises on the side of his neck and the splashes of blood all over his long-sleeved carrot-printed pajamas and some on his face, but the blood-soaked his duvet. As I was looking at the room, I saw random splashes of blood as if someone came in with buckets of blood and threw them on the walls and just let the blood run down the whole walls letting just splashes and lines of blood decorate the walls. The windows were open and I could feel the cool, chilling breeze hitting me directly. As I was looking at my father, now motionless, laying there, I didn''t know if he was still alive or not. After moments of me panicking, I could build enough courage to stretch out my hands and I felt my father''s body and was immediately shocked at how cold and lifeless his body felt. His eyes were now shut closed with no way of reopening and his body was stiff and cold and drained. I reached for his face and tried brushing my hands all over his face, but all I felt was an empty shell. I panicked again and started shaking his body, trying to wake him up because I wasn''t processing what I saw. I lost all my senses and became desperate to wake my dad up. I ignored the signs and convinced myself my dad was just in a deep sleep and he needed to wake up. Tears just fell on my face as I was pushing and tried to force him to wake up, but he didn''t move. I then started to continually slap him across the face, trying as hard as I could to wake him up because I didn''t want to realize what was happening. Soon after, my childlike arms grew tired, and I took an observe his body and saw that his chest wasn''t even moving up and down as if he was still breathing. At that moment, my 8-year-old self, who didn''t even understand the meaning of death, concluded that my father was dead. I realized that if something doesn''t change or happen now that I can never talk to my father ever again. Shortly after that realization, I cried uncontrollably. Tears and snot that were coming out of me started to increasingly fall onto the carpeted floor and with everything fiber I had in my body I cried out loud, "PLEASE COME BACK! PLEASE COME BACK! DADDY, PLEASE DON''T DIE!" I reached out to grab his cold, frozen hands and continued to cry manically at whoever was hearing me. Then, out of sight, I realized that everything around me was darkening. It seemed like a shadow was being cast around the bed and my tears seemed to have taken a pause and I panicked. I cried out for help, thinking that my mom might come and everything would go back to normal, but the shadow just continued to grow. Then, out of nowhere, a bright blue light started shining between my hands and my father''s hands. The light seemed to have distracted me from the darkness and moments later, the light also grew. It grew so much that it was almost blinding to look straight ahead so I lifted my left hand to cover my eyes but felt on my right hand that something was moving it. I then looked down at my right hand to see what was moving it and saw that my father''s fingers were kind of twitching they were just tiny movements but they moved and I was brought back into the reality of my situation and the tears that had almost dried out fell again. Both of my hands hugged his and were squeezing harder than before. My cries of desperation continued, "COME BACK! PLEASE! LET MY DAD LIVE!" Then, just like that, everything around me just went back to reality. There was no more darkness and no more blinding light. All there was left was my dad''s frozen dead body that was becoming warm and with no warning, my dad''s eyes opened and the words "April? What are you doing? You''re supposed to be asleep?" came out of him so clearly and with no hesitation or rest that it''s unbelievable how just moments before there was no breath in him. But just like a snap of a finger, the lights and air in my father disappeared once more. What was just spoken to me just moments ago faded into my memories and became more of a dream, making me question whether or not it truly happened. For a split moment, I saw my dad come back to life; but I would have no time to process my thoughts cause at the same moment my mom entered the room seeming to have heard my cries and immediately ran to the left side of the bed where I was and with an unsurprised expression on her face after passing my now-dead father reached out her hands to the grab the home phone and dialed 911. Standing next to me now facing my father''s body, she put her two fingers to my dad''s neck to check his pulse and was shocked to feel the slow and tiny motion of blood flow. She let out a sigh of relief before pulling me away from the bed and squatting down facing me and telling me that everything was going to be ok. She spent a few moments hugging me and letting my tears run down soaking her nightgown, then made eye contact with me as she was wiping my tears off my face. She looked back at the bed, then looked at me, and, with a demanding but also motherly voice, she told me, "April! It''s ok to cry but right now I need you to go to your room and put on some shoes and a jacket because we need to go to the hospital right this second to save your dad, do you understand?" "I understand Mommy," I said back to her with no seconds of hesitation, sprinting as fast as my tiny body could past the kitchen, up the stairs, and into my room. A few minutes passed by of me and my mom cuddling together on the sofa that''s in the living room waiting for the police to arrive. Like clockwork after 5 minutes of waiting the police came knocking at our door and yelling outside our door "This is the police open up!" my mom then got off the sofa leaving me still seated and went to open the door that was right in front of us and invited the police officers into our home. With the police came the paramedics and after my mom told them that my dad was in the master bedroom severely injured but still breathing the paramedics immediately with no pause ran straight into the room with all of their equipment and analyzed the situation and took pictures and moved my father''s body into the ambulance. The police pulled my mom aside behind the kitchen counter and started asking her questions. Even though the police officers and my mom were in the kitchen and I was still in the living room sitting on the sofa, I could still almost clearly hear the conversation and the questions that were being asked. My mom, with a controlled and calm face, answered all the questions that the police officers had to ask and then said, "he''s still alive? I can''t believe that he is still alive I was sure that I saw him die" then turned her head to look at my direction and continued saying "I''m sure something happened to him in between the time I went to the bathroom and got out of it, something indeed." After the paramedics finished putting my dad into the ambulance and stabilizing him, the police told us to get in the ambulance too. As I was getting in with the help of my mom, holding my hand I saw my dad lying in the middle with tubes and needles connecting him to machines and the nurse monitoring the machines with dark tired eyes and I just thought to myself sitting there while holding onto my mother''s hand "I''m so glad that you''re not dead anymore". Chapter 2 - Police? April''s POV (Flashback) 8 Years ago continued. The ambulance finally arrived and stopped in front of the hospital''s automatic doors. After the ambulance stopped, the paramedics moved my father''s body, taking him out of the ambulance and laying him back onto a moving bed. Immediately after the automatic doors opened, doctors and nurses came rushing to grab hold of the moving bed and pulled him into the hospital. Everyone was running; everyone was in a panic, and in that moment of complete chaos, the world around me went blank. Everything was moving so fast that it was hard to pay attention to anything around me. It felt like the world was closing in on me, and all I could do was stand there motionless. I stopped and stood in front of the hospital doors, watching everyone go in and out. The blankness surrounding me became dark, and I saw it come closer and closer to me, eating the light. It came so close to me I couldn''t focus my vision to look at what was past the dark. I was aware of where I was, but all I could see was complete nothingness. I tried rubbing my eyes together to fix my vision and stop seeing the darkness, but the attempts failed until I felt someone grab my hands and pull me to them. The shock of being hurt by someone else was enough to clear my vision, and I could see my surroundings as they were. My mother, while still holding my hand, pulled me into the waiting room, sat me down on the chair, and as she had her knees on the ground, she told me, "April, I need you to stay right here, ok? Mommy will be back real soon, so be good and stay here" she said with an anxious face and uncontrollable amounts of tears falling down her face. "But Mommy, why can''t I come with you, and where is Daddy? Is he still awake?" I said back to her with a confused and quivering voice while tears fell down my face. "Mommy, what''s wrong with daddy? Why can''t I see him? What did the doctor say?" I was trying so hard to get an answer from my mom. I thought maybe she would know how my dad was doing because when she grabbed me, the doctor was walking in the opposite direction. "Did the doctor say what happened to Daddy?" I asked while wiping the snot that was falling down my face. "Yes, the doctor told me what happened to your dad," she said while avoiding answering my question. She talked as if something was holding her back and as if she wasn''t telling me something important. I wanted to know what she knew, so I asked her again what happened to my dad and how he was doing, but she responded, "Your dad was very sick, it was something severe, and the doctors don''t know if he might get better." This news shocked me because, in all my eight years of life, I had never heard my mom mention my dad was sick. I was trying to understand how he became ill and why I only learned about this now. At that moment, I needed to see my dad with my own eyes. I wanted to see him and talk to him before any of this happened. I felt desperate, and in my desperation, I panicked. My whole body shook, and I couldn''t focus my eyes to see my mother''s face. I anxiously look around the hospital, turning my head left and right. I opened my trembling mouth, trying to say something to my mom, but no words came out. Why was I trembling? I wondered. What was I so scared of? Was I reacting out of shock? Maybe it''s because I finally realized what was happening around me. My father might die, and what I did back home didn''t help him. Maybe it made it worse. But after that thought, I felt my body shake, and I then realized that it was my mother who was shaking me. "April, wake up!" She said while aggressively shaking my whole body with her somehow strong but delicate hands. "Snap out of it! Here, take this cup of water. Drink it, and you''ll feel better" She then grabbed the cup of water she placed on the floor when she came down on her knees to speak to me. She reached out her hand, holding the cup to my lips as if she wanted to feed me the water, but I quickly took the cup with both my hands and drank it by myself. While drinking the water, I look at my mom and see her scoffing. "I keep forgetting that you''re no longer a baby and that I don''t have to keep feeding you everything." I give her a faint smile, for a second feeling a sense of relief, then lower my head to face the ground. "Look at me," she says as she grabs my chin and turns my head to meet her. "I''m so sorry, baby; I know that there are probably a lot of things going on inside your head, and you probably have a lot of questions that I cannot answer, but please know that what''s happening right now is not your fault ok," she says as she takes both her hands to wipe the tears they were falling off my face. "I''m sorry I can''t tell you everything you want to know right now, but I know you will soon learn those things as you grow up." "it''s going to be ok, baby; everything is going to be ok all right, the doctors are going to take good care of Daddy just promise me you''ll stay strong no matter what happens, ok, just promise me that, can you do that for me?!" she said with a determined but anxious voice and with her panicked looking at the two officers that were slowly walking towards her and each grabbing one of her hands turning them to her back and the officer on her right reaching into his pockets and pulling out handcuffs. Calmly, my mother lifted one of her knees off the ground to stand up with her cuffed hands behind her and the two officers lifting her. "Yes, Mommy, I promise I''ll be strong!" I shouted back to her as I watched the officers walk out with my mother, hoping she would have heard; and turned her head to look at me one more time, but I was quickly disappointed because she didn''t look back. She just kept facing forward as she walked away from me and past the hospital doors, and back into the police car. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. I watched all of this happening and, a few seconds later, saw the two officers walk back into the hospital. While one of them was heading in my direction, the other was being pulled aside by the doctor that was treating my father. The one coming toward me was strolling and, with a stern but concerned expression on his face, took a turn and walked in front of me to sit next to me. While sitting, he took a moment to adjust himself to the seat and turned his body to face me. He took out a small notebook and pen from his pocket. He said, "Hi, I''m sorry that I haven''t introduced myself. My name is Officer Kim, and from what I last remember, your name is April, if that''s correct?" expecting me to respond with an answer, but I didn''t respond. I remained silent the entire time Officer Kim tried to get me to answer his questions. Even though I was quiet, my mind couldn''t stop screaming my dad''s name. I kept running through what had just happened and where I was, and why I was there, but the one thought that kept interrupting and wouldn''t leave my head was how my dad was doing and if he was still alive. My mind kept me busy and made me feel like I''d been sitting there and not talking to Officer Kim for hours when it''s only been a few minutes. I wondered what kind of facial expression I was making because seconds after realizing what I was doing; I heard a SNAP! Coming from in front of me because Officer Kim had just snapped his fingers in front of my face. He then said, "Well, welcome back to the living. Why don''t you tell me what I last said to you?" seeing that I had just been staring at the floor for more than a minute. I was startled and didn''t know how to answer his question because I didn''t know if I should lie to him and make up something on the spot just to respond to him or tell him the truth about what I was thinking about and how I thought that I somehow could bring my dad back to life. But after only a few seconds of silence, we both get interrupted by the second officer''s footsteps coming out of the hospital room, and with him came the doctor. They both came out with concerned faces and walked as if they were preparing themselves for the end of the world. At first, they both were trying to not make eye contact with me, but when they did, their faces simultaneously saddens as if it was a practiced change of emotion. Once they finally reached me and Officer Kim that was sitting in front of me, the doctor, without introducing herself, said with a voice sweet as honey, "I am so sorry for your loss. We did everything that we could to save your dad, but I''m afraid to say that your dad has passed away." I paused for a moment and said, "What you mean, doctor? My dad is still alive," with a clear and confused tone. I then noticed that both the police officers and the doctor looked at me with worried and concerned eyes, as if they were looking at a three-legged dog. "What''s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that? My dad spoke to me before we came here. He moved, I MADE HIM MOVE! HE''S ALIVE!" I said with a loud but childlike voice while passionately getting off my chair to walk to the room my dad was still in but Officer Kim stops by wrapping his arm around me. As I was struggling to get out of the gripe officer Kim was holding me in, I shouted out for everyone to hear, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM! WHERE IS MY DAD, I WANT TO SEE HIM NOW!" Officer Kim while still holding on to me said "April please calm down, everything is going to be ok. Please, just sit down while we find a way to move forward. We will find a place where you will be taken care of. I promise, so please calm down." I became quiet and suddenly I felt a piercing wave of pressure in my chest as if the strongest man alive was a prisoner inside my heart and his only way to escape is to break my heart apart. My body became numb and the arms that were, just a moment ago, active and reactive felt non-existent. The strong man was hurting me and I didn''t want him to escape, because if he escapes I will die. I tried too hard to keep the strong man in, but it didn''t seem to work because my face became wet. Officer Kim loosen his gripe and held me with both of his arms, placing me on top of the chair while I remained quiet. He seemed to have noticed that I kept my head down and my face was expressionless. He then got up from his chair and stood next to the other officer and the doctor. I wonder what they had talked about at that moment. They should have talked louder so that I could have heard them. But in my moment of thought, a question came to my mind, something I should have asked the second we came to the hospital. Why did this happen to my dad? What went wrong? Why him, of all people? Why did it have to happen to my family? What was it that really killed my dad? I kept repeating that last question over and over again. What really killed my dad? What was it? WHO was it? Who did it? WHO KILLED MY DAD? The thought kept ringing in my head nonstop. It hit my head like a drummer hits it drum, with rhythmic and continuous bangs that just keep getting louder and louder. BANG! WHO killed my dad? I couldn''t take it anymore. I felt glued to my seat but could gather enough courage to lift my head and looked around the hospital. As I was looking around, I realized that both officers and the doctor were not near me anymore. I was alone in the waiting room with not one adult around me. I then hear a faint but clearly childlike voice at my right. I couldn''t make out what the voice said, so I turned to face the person the voice belonged to. it wasn''t hard to identify who the person was because other than myself, there was only one person in the waiting room. then the person spoke again and this time I could hear clearly what they said. "Are you ok? Is something bothering you?" the person said with a seemingly genuine concerned voice. "no it''s fine. I''m fine. You don''t have to worry." I responded while sniffling my nose. with a confused face the person says "Well if you are ok then why were you crying before?". "oh I didn''t realize that there was someone else around me when that happen, I''m sorry if that made you uncomfortable" I said while letting out a small awkward scoff and scratching the side of my head. the person then quickly got out of their seat and skipped three chairs and sat on the one that was right next to me and said "No it''s ok seeing you cry was the only thing that brought me comfort tonight". Chapter 3 - Candy? April''s POV (Flashback) 8 Years ago continued. Moments passed and the person kept rambling on and on asking me questions that I didn''t feel like answering. With a friendly and sympathetic voice, they would ask "Did something sad happen to you too today? is that why you''re crying? I saw you with your mom, I''m sorry that happened to you. My mom isn''t even here yet and I miss her so much so I understand how you might be feeling. You look younger than me, how old are you? You''re probably around the same age as my sister, she''s here too. Do you like dolls? My sister loves dolls. She left home without her dolls so I brought her her favorite doll to keep her company." Time seemed to speed up as the person was talking, but slow enough for me to take a second to get a better look at them. My eyes couldn''t help but look at him as if it was a forced habit. his eyes looked tired and drained, and when he talked the dark circles that were creating shadows under his eyes seemed to light up and fatten every time he smiled, his eyes were innocent, but that''s to be expected from a child. his innocence was different from other boys his age, it was mixed with sadness, the kind of sadness that adults try to protect us from. every time his big dark brown doe eyes hit the light his eyes would sparkle as if it was glass; the light revealed the size of his pupils, it was as if there was no space in his eyes for anything other than his pupils. his nose looked like mine but a little bit smaller and his skin looked like mine but a little bit lighter. he had caramel for skin, but the redness of his cheeks wanted all the attention. he had light brown curly hair with a hint of red and thick bushy brows that hid under the messy curled hair. the brows were curved and the right brow was thicker and bushier than the left brow. When he smiled the edges of his mouth would create arrows and when raised the arrows pulled and changed his entire face. the smile was him but unnatural I wondered why he looked so sad even when his smile said otherwise. "what''s your favorite book? Do you even like to read? my sister loves to read, and her favorite book is still at home, I wanted to bring that instead of the doll but I couldn''t find it in time. so which do you like more books or dolls?" he said while patiently waiting expecting a response from me but the silence kept building till I had no choice but to say with a quiet and shaky voice "B-books I love books". those four words unexpectedly held power because within less than a second his patient and stagnant face rose and beamed and the happiness that I saw in him before became true. his excitement was something that could be seen from a mile away and it shined a light on my seemly extreme lack of it. after saying my first words to him it was no surprise that I was now stuck in a conversation with the son of the sun. "so you can talk for a second there I thought I was the only one in the room," he said with a witty and playful smile. we were now facing each other and he enforced eye contact and I had no choice but to follow. what surprised me was his determination to see me through my eyes when all he could see were bloodshot veins and puffy eyes. I figured it was too late now to ignore him so I might as well continue talking to him. "Sorry about that I''m not good at talking to people," I said with a hesitant and flat voice. I knew what I was saying wasn''t entirely true because if it were any other day if I was not in the situation that I currently am in, and if everything that had happened in the past couple of hours had not happened this boy would not have met the April that was sitting next to him. "thats ok you don''t have to be sorry for being shy, I get shy sometimes too, and being shy doesn''t mean that you''re a bad person it just means that you''re a good person who''s afraid of other people being bad to you," he said with the most caring and genuine voice I''ve heard the whole night. I blushed and broke our eye contact at his effort to bring me comfort and understanding when we were complete strangers. out of all the people that have tried to comfort me tonight his was the most believable and honest. other than my mother, all of the people, and strangers I''ve met tonight talked to me in a way that made me feel guilty for not appropriating or acknowledging their efforts for trying to bring me comfort. I thought maybe he saw me as all the adults saw me, as someone who needed to be pitted. I responded with "You don''t have to say that" with a sullen voice and while turning my head down to face the ground. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I took a peak at his face to see his reaction and he looked confused, his thick brows frowned and his doe eyes squinted, and out his mouth came "I wasn''t forced to, I''m curious though I overheard you and your mom talking about your dad is he ok? is he the reason why you''re at the hospital?" At that moment I realized that this whole time I had forgotten about my worries, my dad. I learned how distracted I became because of this boy and then suddenly all that managed to slip out my mind came rushing back like a heavy storm. All of my unanswered questions that rang in my head as an unstoppable force rang again. All of my fears and emotions that were consuming me before came back for seconds. I think the boy noticed from my sudden frozen state that what he just asked shocked me. I stopped moving and my body which was feeling a little bit lighter and free now felt heavy and cold. but something was different this time, when I was in the same frozen state with Officer Kim even though my mind was loud and overwhelming I wanted to hide and be as quiet as a mouse. this time I felt a need to speak, I wanted him to know about what had happened to me before coming to the hospital, what had happened to my dad. it wasn''t that I felt pressure from the boy to answer his question it was quite the opposite, he quickly noticed my silent panic and said "Hey! Are you ok?! you don''t have to answer me if you don''t want to, I''m sorry that I brought up your dad I should have known better, we can talk about something else but just say something so I know you''re ok". I let out a quiet and soft sigh before looking back up at his eyes. Somehow his already big doe eyes got bigger and wider but unlike its usually relaxed but saddened state, it was now alert and scared. Was he worried about me? The girl he had just met less than an hour ago? His head kept swinging left and right while maintaining eye contact as if he were looking for something past my eyes. "I''m fine, now let go of my shoulders and stop looking at me like that," I said while I held onto his right wrist with my right hand, gently forcing it down. He looked shocked in disbelief at my strength and scoffed. "Well, I see you got your strength back and here I thought you were the type of girl who would break by the sound of the wind" he looked at me with a smile so genuine that it was contagious and i couldn''t help but smile at it. "Oh!" He suddenly shouted with a snap of his fingers. Then reached for his jacket pocket to pull out three pieces of hard candy. It was the type of candy that an old lady would always have in her purse for no other reason than to give it to young people or kids. I guess I couldn''t hide my surprised expression by the randomness of it all because almost immediately after he saw my face he said, "You don''t have to make that look you know these are the best candy ever made so don''t judge them just yet." "I''m not judging", I said while looking down at the piece he was trying to hand to me. "Here take this You will soon regret judging it before you even tried it." I looked at the candy in my hand then looked back at him with frown brows full of skepticism. I twisted the unnecessarily loud wrapper paused for a second then put the candy in my mouth. "Mm, huh, mmmmm" I moaned then closed my eyes and let the flavor of the candy hit my taste buds. It looked like any other hard candy with its caramel color and plastic brown wrapper but the taste is everything but Carmel. "Mmmm, why does this taste like strawberry and chocolate?" I said with the candy half melted in my mouth. "Wait, it''ll get amazing real soon so just let it melt in your mouth," he said with a half grin and a proud face while leaning back with his arms crossed. I looked at him with one brow raised then scoffed, wait for what? Its good but the candy wasn''t something to feel highly confident about. Then it hit me. My eyes suddenly widen and my heart started to beat a little bit faster. Memories I thought had disappeared suddenly started to flow back into my mind. One was the first time i saw snow; i was 5 and we had just moved from a place where it was always sunny with no true winter to here, my moms hometown. Where everybody had accents that felt out of place. Then a new memory flowed through, one i wasn''t sure was my memory. I was walking through the forest alone then saw a bright light shining distance away. The light grew so I decided to follow it and i was lead into the center of the forest where there was a lake. There i saw... it stopped. The candy finally melted in my mouth and my heart stabilized. My eyes relaxed and scanned the hospital. I sighed then said with my hand on my head "what was that? I feel so tired" "Sooo, did you like it? What did you see?" He said with the excitement of a dog. "Yeah but i saw something strange" i said "Come on what was it? Im dying to know cause all i saw was the whites of your eyes" he said while tapping on his chair. I rubbed my hand on my head squinted my eyes then sighed again "i think i saw a lake" i said "A lake?" "Yeah a lake and it was in a forest there was a distractingly bright light coming from it" i said then put my hand down and looked at the boy. It was strange his reaction to me mentioning seeing a lake was not what i had expected. Throughout our whole conversation i was always the one who stayed frozen but this for the first the boy i had just met was left speechless. He first looked at me with confusion and curiosity to what the candy made me remember but then that quickly turned into a realization. "Hey you ok?" I said while quickly shaking him. After seconds of him staring at me i could see his brain working. His eyes moved in search of something and when he found it he let out a relieved sign. I repeated my asking, "hey you still there? Youve been quiet for a while. You ok?" "Yeah yeah sorry for... yeah i... what you said just made me remember something from before." He said back while rubbing his eyes and scratching his head. "Anyways again sorry about that, my names Diar by the way, Diar Pines" "Diar?" "Yep thats me! What''s yours?" I hesitated for a second before responding but then took a deep breath and said "im April... B-Blossom" "Well April, it¡¯s nice to meet you." Diar鈥檚 Monologue Sometimes I wish I had never met her on that day. If I could turn the clock back and go back to that day, I would have done things differently. Most importantly, I would have said things differently. I never planned to talk to anyone that day, especially her. I was just too young to understand what my words meant to her. I WAS A KID! I never intended for things to go the way that they did. If I had just stayed quiet and minded my own business, I could have avoided everything that happened after I met her. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I didn''t think that anyone would be hurt because of me and what I started. I didn''t know who she was or what she was capable of doing at that time. I just thought that she was a sad girl who needed a friend, and I thought that maybe I could be that friend for her. But honestly, I first talked to her because I wanted a friend, and I didn''t want to be alone; I didn''t want to feel the pain and sadness all by myself. And what was I supposed to do? Just sit there and do NOTHING while I saw her crying?!?! I was only 9 years old! You can''t possibly blame a child for being nice and for trying to make a friend. All I know is that she needed me that night, and I needed her. If it weren''t for her, I wouldn''t know how to handle my little sister''s death. She understood what I was feeling because she was feeling it too. She understood the pain and sadness of losing someone you love to things that can''t be explained or things that were meant to happen. She didn''t know who she was at the time, so how was I supposed to know; what I saw sitting in that hospital was a sad girl, not a witch. Chapter 4 - Happy? Diar''s POV (Flashback) 8 years ago I can vividly remember the day that it started. I was in the backseat of the car with my little sister Ellie sitting next to me. Her head laid on the car window and she had her dolls in her hands, clutching them hard with her tiny hands, as if they were about to run away. I on the other hand, held a book, a book that my history of magic teacher gave us as an assignment for class. The day felt normal, like any other day. I, wanting to know more about the world, while my sister used the only things she had control over to escape from reality, her mind and her dolls. The drive felt slow and long, which I was glad about because I was able to finish reading a whole chapter of my homework assignment. I figured I might as well stop now because I had a whole week till the assignment was due. So I closed my book, shoved it in my backpack without caring about how it would fit. Our new driver, who''s name I still haven''t memorized, looked at us through the rear view mirror and asked "miss Ellie are you alright you''ve been staring out the window for quite some time and you look quite pale is something wrong?" She didn''t respond so I turned to look at Ellie to see what the driver was talking about. She did look pale, more than usual at least. She was quietly shaking and was pressing hard onto her stomach so i asked "are your ok Ellie? Why are your shaking? What''s wrong?" "nothing, I''m fine don''t worry". "How can i not worry you look like you''re about to faint". "I said it''s nothing, don''t ask like you care" she said barely getting her words out then coughed. She squeezed onto her stomach even tighter while I let out a sigh of disappointment then said "you don''t have to be mean, all i want is to help just tell me where it hurts." She fiercely turned her eyes slightly to look at me from her side view. She stared with so much confusion and suspicion. At that moment I could tell what she was thinking, I mean it wasn''t hard, Ellie has a face that even a blind man could read. It got me thinking, Maybe I should have paid more attention to her then she would have believed my worries. "stop looking at me like that I''m being serious, you don''t gotta say nothing just point" i paused and waited for her response but nothing. "Ellie come on just spill it!" "Ok! Fine! I don''t feel too good you happy". "No, I''m not happy what''s hurting". "My stomach, its acting up, it feels like I''m being stabbed 100 times and it wont stop". "What? Wait?" I said with my hand touching my chin "How do you know how it feels to be stabbed when you never been". Her gaze sharpened then she said "Can you stop" while rolling her eyes and turning her body facing away from me "this is why i dont tell you stuff no more, I''m not joking" she then crossed her arms together and with a pout she turned back to face the car window. "You never take nothing seriously" I looked at her and sighed then said "fine fine I''ll stop, ok? I''m listening." I reached over and touched her forehead to feel if she was getting hot like my momma taught me but nothing, her body was actually colder than normal. "That''s weird? Your body''s cold" i said while moving my hand from her forehead to her neck. "What do you mean my body''s cold" she said. "It''s exactly as I said, you''re supposed to be extra hot because you''re sick but you''re not even warm no more". "Do you not feel cold?" I said. "No i feel like I''m like I''m burning up" she said. We both looked at each other confused, then the driver said "what did you eat today miss Ellie" while looking at us through the rear view mirror. i turned to look at the drivers seat and said "why''d you ask that". "She said her stomach was hurting so maybe she ate something bad today" the driver said. I turned to look back at Ellie and said "that makes sense, what''d you eat today? "Nothing different i ate the breakfast momma made us and the food at the cafeteria, it was the same as yesterday" she said. I turned to look back at the driver to see if he had any new bright ideas on what might be happening but nothing. We just stared at each other both with confused faces. What could be making her stomach hurt if not the food that she ate? I thought to myself for a while longer until I said to the driver "well do you have some medicine for her... ugh... mister?" "My names Ian Kuff, young master. And yes i think your mother gave me miss Ellie''s medication incase something like this happens while on the road, check the my back seat pocket it should be there." "Thank you Driver Kuff, ill make sure to remember your name as of now" i said with a slight chuckle while reaching into the seat pocket and pulling out a plastic white bottle that already had Ellies name on it. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. When I opened it i noticed that the bottle was already half full and while i handed Ellie a pill and a bottle of water i asked the driver "does this happen a lot Driver kuff? The bottle is almost half way gone. Why haven''t i been told that Ellie has stomach problems?" "that i do not know young master. as you know i am still new to the position of being your driver, maybe you should ask the lady of the house for answers" "Hm, maybe I should. Here Ellie have some more water I know how you don''t like big pills" i said while handing ellie another bottle of water and putting the pills back in the seat pocket. "How do you feel now Ellie? It''ll take a few minutes for the medicine to kick in so take a nap while we get home" i said while taking off my second layer and laying it on top of Ellie. Before laying her head down she turns to look back at me just to stare as if I''ll attack her but the second her head touched the cushy car seat she was knocked out. "Look at her so sassy, mama always says that about her" i moved her school bag that was on her feet to the side and lowered her car seat to keep her comfortable. "She''s still a little cold, driver kuff can you turn up the heat before we all freeze to death." "Yes young master" "Thank you, ugh this is so annoying though I don''t know how its sunny but freezing all at the same time, do you know driver kuff" "yes i do young master. Aklure''s weather has always ben contradictory" he says with an accent. "I can''t argue with that but that can be said for its citizens as well can it not?" I said while facing the drivers seat. Its odd, he sits with perfect posture, so poised and elegant. With his dainty little hands on the rough and matte black steering wheel. Even his whole body is not big enough to fit the entire driver''s seat. How can someone like him be our protector on the road? At least his voice sounds like a man. "Your accent where is that from, I''ve never heard anyone in Aklure speak like you do" "Oh well, my former employer was a world traveler I would often join him on his many trips as an aid so I''ve been everywhere and i sort of picked up the accent from being in close proximity to an Englishmen" he says with a smile on his face. "You must have been happy as his aid you smile just speaking about him" I said back with an half sincere smirk. He hurriedly scrambled to keep his demeanor and immediately removed his smile, "I apologize young master, yes talking about him did remind me of some happy memories but by the time my job was done with him your family was in need of a driver and Aklure is still my birth home so i am happy with providing my services to the pines family, after all they''ve help me so much in my youth." He said while making the final turn that leads to the gated wall. "We''ve made it home" he said while pulling up in front of the gated wall. He reaches for a button near the cup holders and presses it. Immediately after the middle of the gated wall opened, showing the other side of the road that let us cross over. I gently shook Ellie to wake her of her nap to relay the message. "Hey Ellie wake up, we''re home" "hmm, no, five minutes" she responded with her tiny arms reaching for the roof of the car then them falling back down. "Come on Ellie, get up and out of the car, stop acting tired" i said while stepping out the car waiting for the driver to hand me my bag. She was silent for a few seconds then sharply turned her head away from me. "I don''t act, why would you say that" she muttered under her breathe, barely letting me hear her. I turned to look at the driver to see his reaction, nothing, then looked back at the dramatically crumbled up Ellie and responded with "fine, whatever, do what you want. Driver kuff can you make sure that one of the maids make Ellie her favorite strawberry cream cr¨ºpes with a cup of peppermint tea, that should calm her down." "Yes young master. And your study snacks are already prepared in your room so there wont have any distractions from the staff." "Alright, sounds good. See you inside Ellie" i walked off without waiting for her response. A set of maids came rushing to greet me at the doors of the house. "Welcome home young master?" said maid number one. Before taking my first step into the house maid number three placed my house slippers in front of my path and removed the shoes off my feet. At the same time maid number two lifted my school bag that was hanging on my shoulders off and held it while walking behind me. "hello everyone" i replied. "I''m staying in my room for the rest of the day, you''re free to do whatever it is y''all do when you''re not needed, i don''t want to be disturbed." "Yes Young master" they all said simultaneously. Hours passed and it grew dark outside. My mind couldn¡¯t stay quiet no matter how hard i tried. The sound of my feet pacing and sound of my heart racing uncountably became the soundtrack of my roaring thoughts. The snacks didn¡¯t help and when I requested tea to calm my nerves all it did was remind me of why i felt anxious. The remedies that have worked before now were becoming fuel to my anxiety. It didn''t make sense. How could she have stomach problems but not know where or when it started. And why did almost everyone know that she even needed prescriptions for it and not one of them told me. I know that Ellies always been sick and I shouldn''t be surprised that she needs medication but this is symptom is something new and for some reason it''s something hidden. Moments passed and as i was sitting on my floating chair pondering away the night, the thought that what happened today with Ellie was not an accident but instead was intentional could not escape me. I repeated over and over in my head the facts of the situation and each repetition left me with more questions than answers. ¡°Go forward, go down, and stay¡± I said to the chair. now sitting near my desk i opened my school bag, pulled out a sheet of paper with a black pen and laid it on top of my desk to organize my thoughts. Here are the facts: Ellie had two big meals, breakfast in the morning at home and lunch at noon at the cafeteria of the academy. Those two are pretty standard, her meals are very calculated and timed due to her diet restrictions and the known medicines she has to take. But then hours later she starts getting sick with stomach issues, a hot fever but was cold to the touch, and excruciating pain that had to be treated with new medication. The new medication is known to Ellie¡¯s new driver, possibly my mom, the old driver and now of course i now know of its existence. Who else knows and why is it that the list of people who do know is so short. Does father know about Ellie¡¯s new medication? Does the whole staff know? Was i the only one who didn''t know? If that''s the case why? Why would everyone purposely not tell me that Ellie was getting sicker and make me believe that she was getting better? Why lie? It didn¡¯t make sense, who would lie about something like that? And that''s not all, something had to happen to make Ellie sicker. Even the doctor told us that she was getting better and her illness was leaving her body so something had to happened between that time with our doctors to now. Every possibly of what could of happened and what was true was at war in my mind. I needed to get more facts before i overthank myself into insanity. I needed facts, i needed to start asking questions. I loosened my heavy grip to the now dried up black pen i held in my hand. The sheet of paper that was once white as snow now was filled with black ink shaped like question marks. The pen left dents that cut through the paper. I took the now used sheet of paper, crumbled it up into a small ball, and thew it across my room for it to land on top a pile of the same shaped paper. That''s it! No matter how much i think about it i wont be able to find out the truth when i dona€?t know all the facts. I need to investigate and see how Ellie actually spends her day to see when and how someone could hurt her. I stood up from my chair to walk towards the bed and threw myself on top of the soft and inviting mattress. Bounced then laid while pulling my comforter towards my face. I turned to my head to the right to look at the windows that touched the ceiling and in peeked darkness. The murky air filled my room with the birds and insects chirping away the night. Its too late to do anything right now i can investigate tomorrow. Chapter 5- Caught? Diar Pines POV (Flashback) 8 years ago continued. The Next Day came around. DING! DING! The morning bell rang. ¡°Wake up young master, it¡¯s time to wake up¡± said maid number one loosely dangling the bell with as few fingers as possible but with enough grip for it to not fall. I twisted and rolled myself around my bed ¡°hmm five more minutes¡± i said in between a big yawn and protracting my body forward then back down. Maid number two walked around my bed with a mission, her first stop was to rip my window curtains in half. ¡°Noooo!, my eyes!!! please turn it off¡± I said letting out a loud sound of frustration. ¡°Ugh, Its too bright in here now¡± I sprung up from my bed, sitting up right with my back touching the back board. I calmly watched as the maids worked, they must have been extremely young when they first started but now they know exactly what to do. Here she comes the youngest, maid number three, with my school uniform laid in her arms. She reaches the bed and expertly places it in the corner of the bed. ¡°Are you ready young master? The bath is already drawn¡± she said standing straight up with her arms behind her stone blue uniform dress. My eyes scanned the room, left then right , ¡°I want to bathe and dress myself today¡± i said to the room then the room froze. Maid number one and maid number two both quickly turned their bodies away from whatever they were previously doing to just look at me with disbelief. Their bodies froze in place only allowing their eyes to move to give each other worrying looks and stares. Maid number three was the most still and stiff. Like a statue, barely moving her body, she slowly attempted to look at maid number one signaling for help with her widen eyes. Leading by example, maid number one takes the first step forward to break the unrelenting silence. ¡°Uhm young master may I question why you want to bathe alone? You¡¯ve never requested something of that nature.¡± She said sternly taking three steps closer to the bed with the other two maids turning to me for an answer. I should have expected this reaction from them after all, their job is to make sure i do absolutely nothing on my own. So how do i make them feel more at ease about leaving me alone for a long enough time so that i can prepare for what I''m about to do today. What lie is both believable and non threatening to their jobs as my maids? ¡°I''m not a baby anymore, I''m a grown man, I''m turning eleven soon i don''t need three girls giving me baths everyday anymore, i can do it myself.¡± I said with pretense frustration and confidence, silently holding my breath waiting for their response, was my lie convincing enough? All three of them simultaneously turned to look at each other with their brows raised, eyes squinted, and lips perked. Within seconds all three started walking towards the door, with maid number one leading to the exit and the last to leave was maid number three. Before she gently shut the door behind her, she took a last peek in the room and said ¡°if you need help with anything use the bell to signal us to come in, and when you¡¯re finished the lady of the house prepared breakfast downstairs.¡± She shut the door and then after came the loud whispers and chuckles behind the door until it slowly faded away the further away they got. Whew, they¡¯re finally gone. Now i can plan and prepare. I quickly rolled off my bed, took off my pajamas, walked in my bathroom and went in the luke-warm bath. The bath created the perfect environment for my brain to peaceful think and scheme. How am I going to be able to follow Ellie around all day? We both are always being watched either by the maids at home, our drivers, and even all the teachers at the academy. If i do anything suspicious or extraordinary today the first thing everyone will do is call my parents. And its not like i can just disappear or wear a disguise, if I''m not seen for even thirty minutes this whole city will know about it and chaos will rise. Wait! What am i even doing this much work for? I have absolutely no proven reason to think that someone is trying to hurt Ellie. I''m overacting and going this far for some simple cold symptoms and some pills? Really? That''s all it took to trigger this in me. I shook my head, No, i can¡¯t just let this feeling that something is wrong go, its my job as Ellie''s older brother to make sure that everything is ok with her, i need to confirm it myself. If thirty minutes is all i have i might as well use those minutes to the best of my ability. I can pretend to be as normal as possible and not make anyone suspicious of me, then at the last minute take action. To watch Ellie i need to be as close to her as possible. I can sneak into her car again like I did yesterday, this time to watch her instead of annoy her. We¡¯re already set to eat together for breakfast, wait i need to get down to get breakfast before her. Panicked, I quickly rushed out of the oversized porcelain bath tub, splashing the water every which way. Slipping than getting back up and then out. As i stood on the bathroom floor soaking the room with water I realized that I''ve never done this before. What do I do next, where is everything. I know that they usually cover me with clothes, some fluffy fabric but what is it called. I walk out my bathroom, enter my room and saw the clothes that maid number three left on the edge of my bed. My uniform, this will have to do. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I quickly and confidently follow the instructions of clothes, my limbs go in the provided holes, that''s simple enough. And out the door i went. My plan was now in full effect, step one was to act normal and not be suspicious. Step two was to stay close to Ellie and watch who interacts with her. And finally step three was to figure out who or if anyone wanted to hurt Ellie and why. That should be easy enough. Moms food is never great and today was no exception. She makes us all eat what Ellie eats to make her not feel left out and sad about her illness. When Ellie started getting sick the family doctor recommended a strict diet to help her get better. But her health came at the cost of my taste buds. Everyone in the family knows that i hate moms cooking so this is the perfect time to start step one of my plan. ¡°Ugh, mom why is this yogurt so bland and tasteless, yogurt is meant to be sweet, not this.¡± I then pushed the bowl of yogurt towards the center of the dinner table and used the nearest napkin to wipe the yogurt residue on my face off. No reaction. This is expected. Everyone including dad just sat there quietly and continued to scoop and eat their yogurt. After i reached out both of my hands to grab the bowl of the disgustingly looking green and cold soup. I took a sip of the broth and immediately spitted it out on the floor when it accidentally splashed and ricocheted everywhere across and around the table. The person who was sitting on my right, Ellie, got the worse of it. ¡°Eww! diarrr!, you got it all in my hair¡± she yelled while she frantically used her napkin to tap off the green soap broth off her perfectly styled hair that was now ruined. mom immediately jumped up off her seat and ran to Elie. ¡°DIAR PINES!!¡± She yelled, ¡°why did you do that to your sister? i just finished doing her hair, now i have to redo everything.¡± Moms face was angry but Ellie¡¯s was furious. She looked at me with pure anger and annoyance, to her this was the worse thing i could have done to her. I tried to reach my hand out to help fix the issue but mom, who was hovering over Ellie and i, flicked my hand away from Ellie. I looked down at my rejected hand for a second then looked back at Ellie and said ¡°I''m sorry Ellie, it was an accident¡± ¡°Don''t lie, you wanted it to hit me on purpose¡± she angrily states then quietly under breath she says ¡°why do you hate me so much.¡± Silence then broke. If we weren''t so physically close to each other i could have easily missed the last part that she said. There i saw the tears building up in her eyes, her nose started sniffling and I knowing what came next said ¡°I''m so sorry Ellie, I really didn¡¯t mean to do this to you, please don¡¯t cry, let me help¡± I partially begged. ¡°That¡¯s enough¡± said my father who was still sitting down across from me at the dinner table. ¡°Diar go to your car and tell your driver to take you to the academy, you''ve already done enough here¡± his tone was nonchalant even though his face showed disappointment. ¡°Yes father¡± I responded with my head held down as i stood up off the chair. As I walked out of the dining room heading towards the waiting room, echoes filled my head with words of shame. I took it too far, I wasn''t trying to make her cry. It was an accident, I''m so sorry Ellie, please don¡¯t cry. I can fix this, i need to fix this. She thinks i hate her. Ill fix this and be a better brother I promise. The waiting room door opened out and i stopped in my tracks cause i couldn¡¯t walk in the waiting room then a voice from the inside spook, ¡°Good morning young master¡± my driver said with his left hand on the door knob. With his right hand he pulled out my school bag and slowly handed it to me then he said ¡°Here is your bag sir, is there anything else you need help with?¡± I bleakly turned my head to look back at the mess i had created. ¡°No, you don¡¯t have to do anything they¡¯ve already ignored me, as usual, so nothing you do now will help me.¡± ¡°yes young master, understood. Lets out to the car now¡± he said. ¡°Ok, lets go then.¡± I said. A few moments passed and i was sitting in the car waiting. I told my driver to wait so that I could see Ellie come out of the house but how long has it been? Does she usually take this long to leave the house or is it just today? School has already started, we both were already late. Nothing went according to my plan this morning, should i just stop playing games and leave first, like I usually do. Then i heard a voice speak, ¡°Young master, we should leave now, you¡¯re already late for your first class.¡± He said while looking at me through the rearview mirror. ¡°I know that already, Cole, just give me one more minute, im sure she¡¯ll come out soon.¡± I replied with my head and hands clinging on to the car glass window. ¡°Young master, do you mind if i speak freely?¡± He said. ¡°Go ahead than.¡± I replied. ¡°Why are you waiting for the young lady Ellie, you''ve never done that.¡± He said calmly and politely with not an ounce of a judgmental tone. ¡°Can you not say that, you¡¯re making it sound like I''m been a bad brother¡±, i said. ¡°I apologize young master, those were not my intentions.¡± He quickly replied. I looked back at the drivers seat and gave him a nod to acknowledge his apology but it didn¡¯t change that he was right. This silly mission is taking too long i cant just wait here forever, whatever is happening with Ellie I''ll just deal with it at school. ¡°Lets go Cole, you were right this is taking way too long¡± i said while buckling my seatbelt. ¡°Yes, youn¡­¡± Suddenly a loud and piercing scream rose. ¡°NOOO!!!¡±the scream said. After the scream came the sounds of fallen objects hitting the ground at maximum force. The objects sounded like glass shattering, the ricochet of the shattering glass¡¯s were so loud that Driver Cole immediately pressed hard in the brakes right as we were leaving. ¡°What was that?!¡± I said loudly panicked and confused, looking to Driver Cole for answers. ¡°I don¡¯t know Young Master, i think something broke in the kitchen, it¡¯s probably nothing, no need to panic.¡± He said trying to calm me down. Driver Cole has always been good at making sense of any situation and lessening any issues but this just doesn¡¯t feel easy to ignore. ¡°Didn''t you hear the scream before the crash¡± i asked. ¡°Yes i did, but it was probably nothing maybe a stuff member dropped some plates, you don''t need to worry young master everything is alright. We should head out for school now.¡± He said while turning the gears if the car to drive. ¡°No stop the car I''m going back in, I need to figure out what that scream was about. Ellie is still inside.¡± I said while opening the door of the car, taking with me my school bag. ¡°Don''t wait up for me, just drive to school without me, ill go with Ellie¡¯s car, and you don''t have to tell my parents, ill tell them myself.¡± I said already out of the car. ¡°But Young Master you know that i can¡¯t just leave without you in the car.¡± He said while flustered. ¡°Don''t worry, no one will blame you for this ill tell my parents the truth and you can report to the school that my family let me come in late.¡± I said. ¡°But Young Ma..¡± I suddenly shut the car door, ¡°don''t worry Driver Cole ill be fine I''m at home, go now.¡± I shouted with my hands up in the air waiving goodbye and running back up the stairs of the house pathway. In front of the house doors i paused looked back to see my car gone and fixed myself before slowly and quietly opening the doors. I''m back in and no one knows, well except my driver but no one inside the house knows about it. Maybe this time i can follow through with step two of my plan to watch Ellie and hopefully not mess it up. I luckily didn''t see any staff downstairs so I was able to move more freely but still quietly. I took a few seconds to scan the open spaces that had no doors, left to right, like the eating area, the decorative kitchen, the the living room, the guest waiting space, and the open library. No one was there which I didn¡¯t expect because I had just heard a loud scream coming from inside the house, surely someone else also heard the scream but no one is home. I finally reached the rounded stair case that hovered over the open library and stepped up looking for Ellie. I just need to check if she is alright then ill ask her if i can ride in her car then we can head to school together. Every step i took felt heavier than the last, my heart was racing out of excitement, faster and faster. I''ve never done this before, i didn''t know that the house is so quiet and empty when I''d leave for school. I took one more step getting closer and closer to Ellie''s room and that''s when another loud scream coming from the inside. "No! Mom please stop!!!! you''re hurting me" Ellie screamed out in pain.