CHAPTER 43“Are you sure you’re going to face Skip for the duel?” Stacy asked while she was simulating punching the bark of the tree. Chaz told us to have a warm-up for half an hour. I guess the duel’s pretty extreme every year. Maybe I’m going to die later.I don’t about myself as well why I agreed to this. I can simply ignore or reject him. Backing out from a stronger opponent does not mean I’m afraid. It only means that I knew my capabilities. But I hate how he said those things. I hate how he challenged me. I thought we could be friends, but he’s making me feel that we’re rivals.“I don’t know. Maybe this is my demise.”Stacy chuckled. “To assure you, no one had died in duels before. Some got hurt pretty badly. I knew you can do well, but I’m still worried.” Though Stacy didn’t directly say that we were friends, I felt her worry for me. Girls could do that to other girls. Compassion for each other. “Break my best friend into pieces.”Stacy was a fierce woman when I first saw her.
Chapter 44The first time that I hurt my brothers physically was when I was seven years old. Felix surprised me that time by wearing a scary mask so I punched him straight in his face. I never intended to hurt anyone physically, especially my brothers.My parents saw me as someone who can never kill an ant. I am the image of a precious daughter who wouldn’t distress them in school. Who would not be brought to the guidance officer because she assaulted someone or cheated on an exam? A perfect daughter. Then that perfect daughter punched her brother in his face because she got scared.I did not count how many sorry’s I said that time. I knew it was more than a hundred. The punch was hard enough to left a dark blue bruise below Felix’s eyes.But the most wonderful thing about that time was that they didn’t get any at me. They told me that it was okay and it was my brother’s fault. That he should’ve not surprised me at all. I don’t know how I managed to punch my brother like that. That ha
CHAPTER 45It felt like I was falling into nothing. While I was going down, the leaves were sucked upwards. This is a dream. A dream of falling into nothing. And it’s tiring because I can’t close my eyes inside this dream.I fought Skip into a duel. He hurt me a lot during the process since he’s winning. But I did not let myself lose this time. I was mad by all of the words he said. He drove me furiously for me to transform into someone I never thought I would’ve.I could’ve stopped myself and let myself lose that day. I didn’t.While he was bragging about how strong he is, and how he can be the next Alexander the Great or Samson, I used all of my force to pull him down. His body dropped to the ground then I raged into the fire. I did not know what happened next. What I can remember was that I was using my force to fight him. Then I lost consciousness.While dreaming, I glanced at where I was falling. I saw bricks and stones scattered on the ground. My fall would be painful in real li
PART THREE: THE SUN’S RISINGCHAPTER 46There are times the wanting the truth is similar to telling me that I crave ice cream for the day. And there are times when I don’t want to hear the truth though there’s an urge inside me to find it out. Similar to wanting ice cream while feeling ill.Truth hurts. Truth pains. Truth is unbelievable.The tears from my eyes marked my face with a wet line. It felt like lava burning my skin every second it stays on it. It’s too painful to listen to the truth. I can’t be that wicked alpha’s daughter. I chose to be human. I will always choose to be a normal one.“I don’t want to listen to that, Nana. Please tell me you’re lying,” I said as I held both of Nana’s raspy century-old hands, begging for a twist. I wanted a plot twist now just like how I crave it when reading the story. And most characters, just like me, rejects the twist at first.Nana shook her head. I wished she lied this time. I wished she did everything to twist the truth and make me fe
CHAPTER 47I wasn’t the only one whose jaw dropped the moment Nana crushed our hearts with the truth. My mother is here! Aside from Nana, who was probably menopausal the moment I was born, Mila is the only one with a uterus inside her home right now.She is my mom?Mila greeted me. I wasn’t able to say anything. I just had to face her and have this unexplainable feeling inside me. Though I became deaf the moment Nana said those words, Mila and Gelo were both confused."What are you saying, Nana?" The way Mila interrogated Nana, it sounded like she was asking her own mother. "The mother? Of who? What?""Mila…" Nana leaped over to Mila. She held both of Mila’s hands, ready to confess something. "Your daughter…" She glanced at me. Mila also gazes at me. The clue struck her system. "Is Catherine…"Slowly, like in movie scenes, Mila raised both of her palms to cover her mouth. Her eyes were switching between me and Nana. She looked at me. A mother longing for her daughter. I stared at her,
CHAPTER 48Mila—I mean, Mom—woke me up as soon as the sun rose. I had no idea she'd wake me up at that hour, let alone crash our house. But she seemed so excited. When I opened my eyes, there was unrivaled happiness painted across her face, which was a rare occurrence for her.The Mila I knew was the type of person who always half-smiled whenever our eyes hit each other as if she knew every secret I have in my bones. But the woman who woke up isn’t just Mila. She is my mother. A woman I should love and care for."I’m sorry if I woke you up this early." He chuckled and hugged me tightly in her presence. "I apologize again if I need to hug to like this. For the past eighteen years, I've been irresponsible to you. I’ve been absent. I can’t believe we’re together and we’re going to be happy.""What’s with waking up this early?" I loved waking up early, even before. It’s just that I don’t know why she had to wake me up."I prepared breakfast for you and your brothers. I can’t wait for you
CHAPTER 49This is the first time I am going to face Skip after what happened in the duel. Even in our training, he doesn't show himself. Stacey told us he was still recovering. Though I hated him for a bit, I kind of feel that it happened to him because of me.Skip’s house wasn’t that far from the convenience store where I saw Gwen before. I didn’t know he lived this near me because we rarely see each other other than during training with Chaz.Gelo, as the best friend he could be, was the one who told me that Skip wanted to see me. If he doesn’t say so, I wouldn’t be. There’s no way I am going to see him again after all the things he told me. It hurt me. I’m still a human who can’t be as nice as always.I'm not sure what Skip will say to me. Is he going to apologize? Is there a deep reason why he did that to me? Does he want to fight again with me? Hell, I am not going to give that to me. I don’t want to be violent again. I don’t want it to happen to me—being an uncontrollable force
Chapter 50Death is eradicated. Death is someone’s fault. Death is a process.Those were the last lines of the book that I just finished before I got out of bed. I didn’t expect the ending. It was beautifully crafted; the words were picked carefully by the author. Letters are weaved like a blanch of dress.It was indeed a happy ending, but it made me cry. The character didn’t die at the end, yet he lost everything, but he found himself in something that would give him happiness. a thing that will make his life move in circles."What made you upset?" Mom asked, and she starred at me as I consumed my breakfast. I forgot she was around while I was reading. Since my brothers are already used to my reactions to the book that I am reading, I wasn’t paying attention because I had my mom, who wasn’t.Do I look drugged or what so ever?""I just read a book. It’s devastating. It has this feeling that I couldn’t move on."Mom placed his coffee-filled mug on the table and sat beside me. Felix sai