Chapter 9

Damon.

Meanwhile, (That same night, 7:30pm)

The drive all the way back home was a very quiet one save for the sound of rain, we never made plans for if Harper says no, I was so sure she would be enraged by anger and just agree to our plans, but apparently she’s quite smarter than she puts up.

“Pass me the umbrella,” Daphne said to me as the driver pulled up in the driveway, I slowly turned to look at her, all my ability to speak suddenly vanished as I muttered incoherent words, she slowly turned in her seat to look at me,

“Damon! The umbrella,” she repeated, her voice growing stern, she definitely already caught a whiff of what happened, I sighed deeply,

“Look Daphne, I don’t know how it happened but I think I misplaced it,” I finally said, gathering all the audacity I had in me to say that to her face,

“W-what do you mean you misplaced it?!” She asked with a small scoff,

“Beats me too sis, one time I had it and the next I didn’t, I really can’t say this is where I dropped it,” I said, she just sat there staring at me her mouth hung open, she pushed the door open and stepped out immediately, she placed her bag over her head and ran all the way inside, I stepped out of the car also and went after her but she didn’t answer to me.

“Wait Daphne relax!” I said grabbing her hands, finally catching up with her, as we got into the house and slammed the door shut behind us, she snatched her hands from me and spun to face me, her eyes were already teary,

“You always pestered me to get another umbrella, is this part of your plans too?!” She said tearing up as she wiped off the tears from the corner of her eyes,

“W-what, w-what, w-why?! Why would I do that!” I replied immediately as I tried to move closer to her and take her hands in mine again, she pushed my hands off and looked up at me, her tears flowing now ceaselessly,

“I don’t know, you tell me why!, tell me why you decided to throw away the only belonging of mom and dad we have left!” She yelled angrily,

“What kind of material are you made of, if you moved on, then leave me to still mourn them! I loved them! And I haven’t moved on!” I scoffed as I gently moved closer to her,

“Are you trying to say I didn’t love Mother and Father?!” I asked in a whisper, just then, the door pushed open and Ma Helen, our adoptive mom stepped out,

“Well I don’t think you loved them enough to keep their belongings!” She yelled in reply.

“Hey that’s enough!” Mom snapped immediately stopping us from arguing any further, she gently began to take small strides towards us, she was in her mid fifty’s and she could pass for someone in her late thirties , she stood in front of both of us raising her index fingers to the both of us,

“How do you feel arguing with your sister in a time like this! Is this the right time to argue like this!” She reprimanded, Daphne simply raised her hands to her face and wiped her face dry as she turned around and stormed away up to her room.

Mom and I slowly turned to look at her retreating figure as she stormed upstairs,

“I’m extremely hurt by Mother and fathers death too but that won’t make me into something I’m not! Their death changed her, why is she desperately trying to make me change too!” I ranted turning back to Mom.

“People mourn differently,” she simply replied, her gaze still on the way that Daphne passed through.

“It’s been Eighteen years!” She gently lifted her gaze from the staircase and turned to look at me,

“That’s not in your place to tell her, go and talk to her, you shouldn’t be fighting at a time like this!” She said patting my shoulders lightly.

*FLASHBACK*

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday to you,”

“Come on, Make a wish and blow your candles!”

“Come back here Damon, you must make a wish this year, you’re too care free, don’t be such a buzzkill”

“But I have everything I need, there’s nothing more to wish for!”

“Just wish for something, Damon!” Daphne snapped playfully hitting my head, and our parent bursted out in a small laughter.

The laughter and excitement in the cozy living room instantly turned into terror as the door was forced open with a loud crash. Armed men stormed into the house, their faces covered, their weapons drawn, and their voices filled with menace.

The leader of the armed men sneered at our father,

"You think you’re an hero right, you want to ruin DMW? Try doing that from your graves." He yelled as he pointed his gun to father’s head and cocked it.

Father held Mother’s hand tightly, his face pale as he turned to look at Daphne and I.

"Please, d-don’t do this," he pleaded, his voice trembling.

But the men were ruthless, mother's screams echoed through the room as she tried to protect us. In the blink of an eye, they were both murdered and we were forced to witness the horrific scene.

As the horror unfolded, I instinctively wrapped my arms around Daphne, pulling her close and shielding her face in my chest.

I squeezed her tightly, my tears falling silently, as I tried to block out the sounds of our parents' dying breaths from her ear.

Daphne, buried her face in my chest, her small body trembling uncontrollably. The world and covering around us had just been shattered,

The men quickly fled the scene, leaving us in the middle of the traumatic and heart breaking aftermath. I held onto Daphne, whispering softly to her, trying to reassure her despite my own grief and shock.

The both of us stayed locked in each other’s embrace, our parents' lifeless bodies lying nearby.

*End of flashback*

Our Birthday celebration that night turned into an horrible an horrible nightmare, that incident reshaped Daphne completely, she stopped talking and spoke only a few words, she generally stopped laughing or smiling.

I was just Ten at this time and I really didn’t know how to handle that, I was scared to my bones because of her new behaviour, Daphne used to be a very sweet and free girl, she suddenly became violent and it took a whole lot of effort and therapy to help her, although that didn’t make her go back to what she used to be.

She would get angry and throw tantrums when she saw me laugh or play with the other children in foster care, she would always say to me there was nothing to be happy about, our therapist simply told me to bear with her, that was her own way of handling grief.

As we grew up, she stopped throwing tantrums whenever I laughed around with people, she just let me be. I knew she already concluded in her heart that I didn’t love mother and father the way that she did, she confirmed that tonight and I felt really hurt.

Really hurt that she tried to decide the way that I would mourn my parents, we might be twins but we’re definitely two different humans that didn’t mean I loved our parent any less.

I was just a ten year old boy also trying to be strong for my sister, and I was equally as hurt!

***

I stared at Harper’s family picture on my laptop with my hands folded across my chest, Geraldine and their late father sat at the center with Michelle and Harper at her left and right respectively,

Michelle obviously looked more classy and well tended to than Harper, who would have thought that the plans of bring Harper on board would crash and burn in our face, she’s truly unpredictable, I tried to focus on the next line of action but my mind kept on going to the fight I had earlier with Daphne, I exhaled deeply, pushed my chair backwards and headed to her room.

I knocked gently on Daphne's door, but there wasnt any response, I tried the doorknob, and to my relief, it was not locked, I gently pushed open the door and stepped into the room.

Daphne was sitting on her bed, her back to me. She didn't turn around, but i could see her wiping her face. I moved slowly towards her, taking a seat at the foot of the bed.

"Daphne," I began,

She turned to face me immediately without even letting me say a thing, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

"How could you be so careless?" she asked, her voice shaky. "That umbrella was all we had left of them." My heart ached as I saw her pain, I slowly stood up from where I sat, walked to squat in front of her,

"I know how much it meant to you, and I’m sorry if I act like I don’t care," I said softly.

“It meant just as much to me, too. I’m sure I just misplaced it, I’ll do everything I can to find it for you,” She nodded slowly, her gaze softened slightly as she stared at me.

"It feels like you've moved on," she said.

"Like it doesn’t hurt you anymore.” I reached out and took her hand gently, I caressed it slowly and looked up into her eyes.

“I won’t be doing all of this to get justice for Mom and dad if I didn’t care, I’m trying to be strong for you, if we’re attacking DMW, we should do that from a stand point of absolutely no emotion, emotions can be misleading,” I explained calmly.

“I’m sorry,”

"I just miss them so much, Damon." She whispered bursting out into fresh tears, I gently stood up as I sat on the bed beside her and pulled her into a bear hug,

"I miss them too, Daphne," Damon whispered against her hair as I patted her hair comfortingly.