"Oh no, if I had known you'll bring your friend, I would've got you a grander gift." Mrs. Wander was a tall middle-aged woman who was not fat but not too skinny. She had wrinkles on her face and a prominent burned scar on her hands. "Oh no, this is too much already, Mrs. Wander, we're just away for days, we appreciate you," Neneuis said, touched by the gesture. We went inside a house that's made of wood trunks and was surprised when I saw the inside, it has the same color as when you cut the wood in two. We saw a man in a jumper holding a brush and a small bucket of paint exiting from the same door that we entered. "By the way, meet my son, Joshua Peterson. He helped Azi with his flamingo figurines." Mrs. Wanders proudly spoke of her son like he's her prize possession, I think that's normal from a mother. I hope my late mom thinks the same, too. "I'm Harriet," I said and offered my hand. Joshua was also tall, a bit muscly, and has a duck-shaped lip but was good-looking. "Hey,"
"Hey, why did you leave me?" What I said may sound like I'm accusing someone, but really, I'm not. "I'm sorry Harriet, the townspeople want us to be there for a while, it's an event that have been talked and scheduled for awhile now, so it can't be help," Neneuis explained, but I forced my self to smile at them and be happy. "It's okay, it's not like it can be helped." I shrugged and continued putting the cases of the throw pillows in the living room. It's not like it can be helped. Those words taste bitter in my tongue. Did I really sleep for an hour and was unable to wake up? That's why they decided to leave? I shrugged that feeling of uneasiness and arranged the newly washed pillow with cases on the sofa. It's been a day since that happened, but the feeling of discomfort takes me back to the day Joshua told me those words, I could've been mistaken but those words really felt like it bags meaning in them.... or am I wrong? What does he mean by sometimes love don't work? A ch
My eyes bulged, and I straightened my posture. my aching hand woke me to reality. "Ouch!" My hand got stabbed by the barbecue stick. "Harriet!" I looked at Lukas, who came immediately to my rescue and all the others too. Nene looked at my hand, and Lea came forward to clean it. It's a relief that the stab only went to the skin, though. Only a little blood gushed out, and I'm happy that Lea wanted to treat my wound. "You should be careful next time," she said, cleaning the wounded part with cotton balls. It stings, but I couldn't help but smile. "I thought you were mad at me. Thank you for talking to me." Lea avoided my gaze and at the same time murmured something in herself, I couldn’t fathom it, and she put the cotton ball hard to my wound that I cried for help. “Lea, that’s too much!” I exclaimed, taking away my hand, Nene and the others couldn’t hear us because they continued grilling the meat, and we were inside the tent, so I looked at her with teary eyes. “What did I do
“This is so sweet, Harriet what’s your answer?” Neneuis squealed, getting really overwhelmed more than me. I watched as the boys cheered on, and Lea pointed her camera towards us. To hell I care where she got it, but my brows furrowed even further as I stood up with my balled fist, I now know what’s their agenda. I turned to Joshua, and I wanted to rip him apart from taking part in this. The cheering stopped as soon as I also reach my boiling point and I want to scream at everyone around me, I couldn’t control myself, my chest heaved, it feels hot all of a sudden and my vision started to become blurry. “Stop this!” Someone roared, and I was pushed back to the ground when the wolf on the necklace suddenly jumped out. “Ah!” The girls screamed, and the Lukas and Azi stood from the side. They recognized the wolf but were concealing it by acting tough. I gaze at them one by one. The camera that has been pointing at us earlier was dropped and kicked off the cliff. The wolf that appea
Wow... So, this is what it feels like to be rejected. It feels like everything was swirling, and a lump in my throat suddenly blocked the air I breathe. It ended with Joshua entering the gate of the mental hospital first while I was left in the middle of the road, too stunned to speak. “Hey, Harriet, are you not coming with me?” Joshua called, and that put me back to reality, I mean, I already assumed the wrong thing and got embarrassed, right? Why would I make the same mistake twice? Once we stepped into the entrance door of the hospital, I saw the people in white gowns and nurses on night duty. Joshua made me sit in the lobby while he went to the nurses’ station, I wonder if he’ll be able to visit though because it’s beyond the visiting hours, and it's late at night, for heaven’s sake. I’m sure he’ll come back looking down as he tries to rub his embarrassment. But alas, I was wrong. The nurses’ station was right on my peripheral vision, so after some time, he went back to me
They say there's a great way to remember when using You and I in a sentence or You and me. I just learned that recently and surely I would forget that and be nervous and have second thoughts when I'm faced with that situation where I have to choose between You and I and You and me. Just like what I've witnessed right now. The nurse said that that lady was in this insane asylum long enough that she had already made three nurses quit their job. They said she likes to say phrases because of the trauma that brought her when she learns her daughter was gone. They said it's either she's lying or she's just having another episode of replased. But surely, these nurses gave us such wrong options because in front of us was a 7-year-old girl, lying on her back with her neck slit open, she was wearing a pink Lolita dress and was clutching a doll, I was about to reach for her but Joshua stopped me just in time. "Let's not touch it, Harriet. Let the authorities handle this." "Oh no, is that
"It's not like we don't have a reason why we want you out, Harriet. we have, we're not that harsh..." Neneuis scrunched up her face as she finally stopped in front of me and crossed her arms. She shifted her weight from foot to foot and darted at me. "It's because Tyler has to do other things than to babysit you, Harriet."That was a big blow on my chest, it's like she's implying that I'm childish, which I never gonna deny, I tend to be childish but that's just because I'm close to a person, and I'm not that overly childish, or guess not all the time... I admit that I crossed the lines a few times, and maybe that's what Neneuis and her friends saw in me, that I'm overreacting, a dramaqueen, and clingy. "Yeah, and you could add to the reason that he already found his luna long ago, and no one could replace her," Lukas added, moving to his side, gawking at me as if his pitying me that I'm in this situation. He knew Neneuis was a big bully, and it saddened that Lukas could only just
What am I going to think now? His eyes were like fire, full of desire as our lips interlocked once again, his hands moved at the back of my neck and I tilted my head a little bit, his body went closer to mine and the blanket that was once on my shoulder dropped. "I like you..." he repeated. I knew he was waiting for me to answer but I just kept kissing him, my hands travelled to his broad shoulders and pushed him closer to me, until we broke the kiss and I hugged him tenderly, both gasping for air, my eyes travelled on a silhouette just behind the window. My breathing hitched, and I pulled him away out of shock. "What's the problem, Harriet?" he asked, in a worried tone. My eyes checked through the window, and the silhouette was gone. I heaved a sigh, reflecting on what I did and what I saw. I bit my lips and moved away from him, it doesn't feel right. My chest was beating fast, and sweat formed in my forehead. "I'm sorry..." I finally said, looking softly at Joshua. I thought
Ahhh…I should just choose to stay in the town where I was raised, in the house of my father, and watched Priti grow, I want to say to everyone that I’m honored to have her as a sister. I should just forget about the wolves and didn’t force to see the ending, who was my real parents, and why Artha steal me from my birth mother. I shouldn’t stay curious, I should just stay silent and uphold my peace. Then, I wouldn’t have to witness a fire, and blood spilled in the air, if only I didn’t get angry and pursued revenge on my father, I wouldn’t have had to meet the legendary wolf. Maybe that’s his reason all along. He wanted me to stay by his side until he found my birth mother. He had to lie about his love story and keep secrets from me, and on the paper, I saw his name signed aside from the blank that I needed to sign. It just meant that he now let me become his neighbor. That was ironic. The house burned down, and I almost lived in his mansion for how long, it’s a pity that it was b
Just like any other movie or story – it must end. The bad guy finally sprouted like a mushroom, I conversed with him, he plotted murder, and he was so ugly. Because of my coercion, he took me on his journey, with the help of others of course, Lea was pushing my wheelchair while Azi and Neneuis were on my side, and Blake and Tyler lead the way. “It’s not like I’m doing this for you. That idiot brother of Tyler killed someone close to me too.” Neneuis made clear while they were walking to enter the forest, I’m wheelchair-bound for the rest of my life, so Lea just wheeled me. “You’re pertaining to Lukas, right?” I replied, confident that she was talking about him because there’s only him, right?Neneuis smirked. “Not entirely, I’m doing this for myself also,” she said, then walked past us. Her outfit was back to the emo girl that I first met, she was wearing a black square-neck sleeveless blouse tucked in a brown wrap-around skirt and a black belt hugging her legs, because of her sh
They knew… I returned to the room acting so scared and so cold, I fear for my future all of a sudden. They need to have a valuable reason why they didn’t tell me about my mother or else… Or else I’ll be seriously mad. I came back to bed with so many thoughts in my head and a heavy heart. It’s not that I don’t know they’ve been hiding secrets, I know, it’s not like a person can live without hiding secrets from anyone, I believed we have three faces, and that also comes with secrets, we have private secrets, secrets we only knew, like for example in our body, I have three moles in my back, and I can be naughty at home, and be friendly and shy at school. There were secrets we could not tell everyone, that’s just part of life and I respect that. But I didn’t know the secrets they hold were deeper than a well on a hot spring. I didn’t know it held the truth in me. They know who my birth parents were. I’m anticipating to know, yet I also don’t want to know. My other problem, on Phi
I was blind. I knew there was something behind his force smile, and his gestures, and all. But who am I not to pull on security when I don’t know what to believe. Am I going to trust him or his brother? Who’s telling the truth? Of course, the rational sense to believe on someone was with Tyler, I should’ve believed in him and maybe the night won’t end so bland, I enjoyed the longest time with him, and I’m happy and at peace compared to his brother who I just met, he said he lurks in the shadows and have a creepy conversation with me at one moment, it sure gives me a warning sign and I almost believed in him. But who am I to believe Tyler was the one killing my friends? He clearly denied it and I wanted to believe him so bad but I couldn’t agree with him at that night, there’s a voice saying I should not, obviously part of that was the last words of Lukas. “Harriet, whatever his brother said to you, believe him.” What kind of sentence was that? Why does it have a double meaning
I tried to asked him what he meant but he closes his eyes and I froze, that’s it? I leaned down to his chest but I didn’t feel a heartbeat, I wiped the tears from the back of my hand, I’m not disappointed, I just realized that this was more painful than learning your mother had died. In this, I witnessed him catch his last breath, he told me his last word, I was with him just a moment ago, why did it have to happen like this? Then I remember, the headlights that focused on us, my tears-stricken face turned around, the smoke and mist lights up from the headlights, dusts and particles made me realize that it was cold and it was night, no one’s supposed to be roaming around, but me, and the one who killed Lukas. I narrowed my eyes and focused onto the man who was on the car, like me, he was also frozen on his seat, I stood up and step forward, trying to recognize who was he. The road ends up at the beginning of the alleyway, it was a dead end here, if he did not purposedly drive on
My unexpected visit to my stepfather ended. The sky was getting dark when we reached outside. Now for the problem… “We don’t have a place to stay.” I sighed, feeling the warmth the air has blown opposite us. “We can go our separate ways and find a place,” Lukas suggested. I stared at him long enough to think that I’m positive he wouldn’t get killed, because Tyler’s brother was wrong, Lukas lost his memories, and Tyler wouldn’t kill someone with the same breed as his. No one’s getting killed, why am I so convinced and calm at the fact that Tyler was killing my friends? No one’s getting killed, I repeated. Tyler’s brother was wrong. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. “Okay,” I agreed to what Lukas suggested, so he flew away while I watched his back disappear, I was about to walk on to the opposite direction too, but someone called my name again. My father has three footsteps now, but that made him more of a slow-walker—sign of aging. “Harriet, I forgot to give you this,” my stepfa
The man has a wooden crane with a gold head of an eagle that speaks of how he became rich after he banished all his children. Was this really what it’s like to be a grown-up? You’re just suddenly tired from all the drama because it seems that it only repeats; it’s a life cycle, after the happiness, comes sadness, then happiness again then sadness, over and over, until you’re worn out until you question everything if it’s worth it until you couldn’t care less if someone leaves or dies. Life’s becoming dreadful for me, but to the man in front of me, it was the opposite, I can say that he doesn’t miss his children one bit. I’m not jealous of Priti and Genevieve. As much as I don’t like it, he married her and has a baby. Priti deserves the thing that we, his children, didn’t taste. At least give Priti a father that won’t leave when the mother dies, give her all that you can, and never lie to her. “Hey, you looked pale.” Lukas nudged me,
My plan was after Lukas and I left the place of the wolves and came back to the town where I really belong was to hunt down for a place to stay. But I’m with someone who has lost his memory, and the gazes of people as they passed by us irks me. It was still fresh on them, that I lost my mom and rebel and came to the woods and I met the legendary wolf. I was fiddling with the online cash I had with my phone when Lukas tugged the hem of my sleeves. “Let’s eat something.” I stared at Lukas. It was on cue that his stomach grumbled, so I gave in. I fished my wallet and was about to head to a café, but then I remembered, they’re the type of wolves that eat fresh meat. “What? Why? Aren’t we eating?” “Yes,” I faced the direction of the supermarket instead, “let’s go buy some fresh meat,” I declared and started walking, but the guy with me didn’t even take a step. “I’m okay with just waffles, what you eat.” But the guilt in me resided, I turned to face him again and remembered that h
“Harriet, we’re sorry we’ve done something bad to you.” It was late in the afternoon, and we have just returned from the psychiatric hospital, I was about to swerve and go to Joshua’s place when I reached the house of Neneuis and others, his house was just behind them but Azi and Lea showed up in the front porch and approached me. I was with Joshua all day, so I turned to him with utmost confusion. He just shrugged and motioned Blake and Tyler to emerge from the door. “Harriet, are you okay?” Blake sounded so worried, he was in his guy form, I guess his feeling guilty because earlier, at dawn, when I met him with his second form – Tiffany, she was so elegant like she just went to a party with the elites, turned out it was true, I learned that because her tongue slipped when she saw me with Joshua at breakfast, she was with Tyler, and they attend a charity ball along with other businessmen, and she tagged along as his date. I’m not mad or jealous, in fact, I’m relieved that the gir