Maribeth served two cups of tea on the table, in front of Elora and Caspian, who were now sitting on the dull yellow sofa. Almost nothing has changed from this place, apart from the wallpaper that looks like it’s just been replaced, ivory yellow with tiny colorful flowers. Maribeth, the owner of this orphanage, has a taste for everything that contains flowers. Elora still remembered her room upstairs, where the bed was always covered with begonia-patterned sheets.
Maribeth smiled and looked at Elora and Caspian. “I haven’t seen you in a long time. You said you’d send word after you got out of here.”
Elora looked down, staring at her wrinkled blouse. She was gathering courage and reason, but none of them came to the surface. There is only guilt. Guilty that for years, Elora judged this place not to accept her. Her views when she was a child and as an adult turned out to be different.
As soon as she saw Maribeth, with the wrinkles on
“What are you thinking about?” Caspian’s voice pulled Elora out of her reverie.Elora pulled the cigarette out of her mouth and looked up when Caspian appeared on the balcony. He was only wearing a dark blue bathrobe, just like the current night sky. Elora sat on the balcony smoking a cigarette and enjoying the nighttime parade of lights in Auckland as Caspian showered. Without Elora knowing, she was lost in the memories of her past.There were so many things she wasted all this time. It was possible that if she had not been so skeptical of the people at the orphanage, Elora could have lived a different life. It wasn’t that Elora regretted her job and her current state. However, Elora’s soul would have been better if she realized the love that people gave her.“That book,” said Elora. Elora was reluctant to share her guilt towards Maribeth with Caspian, but Elora wasn’t completely lying when she said she was thinki
Elora couldn’t sleep all night. She thought about Caspian’s whereabouts, who had left without his cell phone. Elora hated herself for asking Caspian such a stupid thing. Elora trembled with fear at the thought of Caspian no longer wanting to be with her and leaving Elora ... leaving her alone as before. Loneliness became a scary thing for Elora now.After sinking into despair, Elora roamed the manor suite, which was twenty times as big as her apartment while drinking half a bottle of whiskey she had taken from the minibar. Elora was unconscious after that, and it allowed her to sleep without dreaming bad things. Elora had only fallen asleep when someone shook her body gently.“El, get ready. We’ll be leaving soon.” Caspian’s voice whispered softly in Elora’s ear. Elora groaned and rolled over, realizing too late that she had fallen asleep on the sofa. Elora almost fell to the carpeted floor, but Caspian deftly caught her.
“Your house?” repeated Caspian. He sounded incredulous. “Are you sure?”Elora was very sure. The memory hit her like a storm that suddenly came after the silence. Rumbling and shattering Elora’s mind. It was almost terrible because Elora was remembering part of her past just by coming here and seeing this house. Elora stepped hesitantly, climbing the stairs one by one until she came to a large terrace.“This is my house… I live with my father and my mother, and my brothers.” Elora said it was almost beyond her consciousness. “None of the pack members’ lives with us, because—” Elora put her hand on the closed door. “We are too dangerous.”Almost without a push, the door opened. There was only darkness in it that could be seen through the gap in the door. “People came and went, reporting the condition of the pack members to my father. But they never stayed….” El
Elora sat straight up on Caspian’s lap.“What did you say?” she hissed.Caspian let out a short laugh and then smiled. A sweet smile that melted Elora’s heart in an instant. Caspian didn’t answer, his hands busy reaching into the pockets of his jeans. Elora shifted slightly, so Caspian could do it more easily.Caspian held out his clasped hand, then lifted it and opened his palm right in front of Elora. In his hand was a diamond ring.“I bought it last night.”Elora flinched. “You didn’t buy it after getting drunk at the bar, did you?”“I’m not you.” Caspian joked.“Why me?” Elora folded her arms in front of her chest with a snort.“Drink half a bottle of whiskey and put on your lover’s clothes.”“I told you it wasn’t—”Elora’s words stopped when Caspian covered Elora’s li
A large room greeted them at the bottom of the stairs. Caspian aimed his flashlight in all directions, then at the ceiling. The light couldn’t tell how high the room was. This place was more like an assembly hall than a secret place to lock someone up. They walked to the nearest wall and found intricate scribbles on its surface.Apart from the writings that Elora didn’t understand the meaning of, there were also deep claw marks, as well as large fragments of walls on the floor. Something devastating has happened here.“Do you understand what all these means?” asked Caspian. They looked up and found the scribbles written half the height of the wall.“No.” Elora shook her head. “But everything looks familiar.”They walked to the center of the room and stopped when they found a podium. The podium was just an adult chest-high table, square and as wide as an open book. On instinct, Elora placed her hands on the p
“They will do it today.” Jason, who was crouching next to Elora in the basement's corner, whispered in Elora’s ear as if he was afraid that someone would hear his words. Although there was no one here but the two of them.“Do what?” Elora blinked innocently. She didn’t understand the meaning of her brother’s words.Jason’s black hair swayed lightly as he exhaled loudly. “Repel the creature! The creature that makes your body explode and makes a member of the pack should stay away from our family!” Jason shrieked, still in a whisper. “After the creature is gone, you can sleep again in your room! Mom has decorated your room with pink and stuffed bunnies!”Elora’s eyes widened at Jason’s words. The curve of a smile etched on her tiny lips. Elora glanced at the battered metal bed a few meters away from where she was. Her mother had tried to decorate this place as beautiful as possible
Elora trembled as she stood at the bottom of the stairs. This area had been a forbidden area for her for a long time. Arthur and Sophia always reminded Elora not to go up there. Yet Elora wanted to know what was there. She had seen a flash of light brighter than the crystal chandeliers when Jacinda came in and Elora was near the stairs with Jason.“Come on, El. Come on up,” Sophia ordered softly. “We right behind you.”Elora turned to Arthur and Sophia, then she nodded. One. Two. Three. Elora counted every step she touched with her feet. There were fifty steps in total, quite a number, and exhausting for her little feet. Arriving up there, on the last step, the wall in front of Elora opened by itself. Then she found herself in a small room, again without windows. Elora sighed in disappointment. Did her parents intend to move her here? It’s even worse than the room down there. Down below, Elora could run around—The door across
“Why wasn’t the other book taken too?”“There are many black books in the library, but there are only two journals, and one is at my friend’s place, which is very far from here. If you bring them both, it will take a very long time to get you from down there.”“But I don’t want to go in there again, Daddy.” Elora almost winced as she said that. Her eyes glanced sadly at the stairs that led to the dark place below.Arthur crouched down in front of Elora again. “Hey, El.” Arthur gently caressed Elora’s cheek, which was already wet with tears. “I hope nothing happens, and we can get out of here soon. But, I beg you to obey me if something really happens. I don’t want to lose you.”“I don’t want to lose you either, or Mommy, or Jacinda, or Jason.”Elora embraced Arthur with her small hands and could only hug Arthur’s neck. Arthur returned t