Where The River Flows Red

Five

Blue October- A Quiet Mind (This is my go-to band when I feel low)

    "Why haven't you called me?" I froze and spun around to see my best friend climbing out of a car. I had no idea she could drive. When did she learn how to drive?

    "Ebony," I smiled. 

    "Don't Ebony me. I am really upset. Do you know what time it is and you're just now getting home? Are you seeing someone? Like a super cute Ivy League hottie I expect you to date?" she demanded. 

    "No, I have an internship at Bourne Corp," I laughed. She sighed. 

    "You're so boring. I thought you had a troublemaking excuse. I'm utterly disappointed. Since MIT you haven't been any fun," she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

    "Maybe that's because, oh, I don't know, my brother and I were held hostage for three days by his psychotic ex-girlfriend last year?" I shot back sarcastically. She sighed. 

    "How long are you going to keep milking that excuse?" she laughed. "How is Harvard?" 

    "Nuts," I said ignoring the mocking tone in her question. She stopped and sighed dramatically. I turned to face her. "Not you too," 

    "I was under strict orders not to tell you, sweet face," she shrugged. 

    "Screw you," I bit out and practically ran for the front door. 

    "Aww come on. At least tell me who screwed the pooch? My money is on Collum," she smirked. I groaned. Why did I think that he wouldn't be part of this? 

    "It was Zachariah Collins," I answered. She stopped a little ahead of me and then spun around to face me.

    "I'm sorry. It sounded like you said Zachariah Collins told you about the Clans," 

    "That's what I said and it was an accident," 

    "You have to stay away from those freaks. They aren't what you think they are or what they pretend to be," she said grabbing my arm right where Elijah had. I pulled away from the sting. "He touched you?" 

    "No, his brother did," I placed my hand over the bruise.

    "You ran into both of them?" 

    "She's fine," we both looked over at my mom. "Come on in girls," 

    "Mrs. Bourne..." 

    "We've taken care of it, Ebony. You have nothing to worry about," It unsettled me. The way she said they had taken care of it. "Perhaps I can make a call and have you transferred," 

    "Are you serious?" I asked pulling away from both of them. 

    "You want to make a call to get me a babysitter?" 

    "Tobi, you don't understand the magnitude of the situation," 

    "What situation? You tell me not to make a big deal out of all of this and now you want to make a call to get Ebony to my school so she can watch me. You're right. I don't understand. I don't understand how I didn't see that everyone around me are a bunch of liars. You keep saying they're the bad guys. The only reason you keep saying that is because they told me a truth you've worked so hard to keep from me. As far as I'm concerned the only situation we have is the one we have now. I can care less who those people are. You said I was your family," 

    "You are Tobu," mom tried, reaching for me. I moved away from her and headed towards the stairs. 

    "It doesn't look that way from where I'm standing. I see you right now and all I see is Mrs. Bourne. My mother wouldn't lie to me like this," my voice broke. She lowered her hand and stepped back. 

    "I can see you're upset," she said softly. 

    "A little girl told me today, that what I was feeling was heartbreak and I brushed it off. It turns out she was right," I rushed up the stairs and past my dad. 

    "Tobi," he called after me, trying to stop me. I ran into my room and slammed the door shut behind me. 

    The ache in my belly amplified. It formed a knot in my throat and I began to choke as the tears came. I have never felt like this. I have never had a reason to cry and here it is. My back hit the door and I slid all the way down until my bottom hit the carpet. I pulled my legs up wrapping my arms around my knees. The sobs rocked through me uncontrollably. I've cried because I've hurt myself but never for deeper, emotional reasons.

    "Tobi, open the door," the sound of my brother's voice made me curl into myself tighter. 

    "Go away," I cried out. 

    "No, Tob. Please open the door. Please," the sound of his voice changed. It thickened. I moved out the way letting him push the door open. The panic in his eyes only made this all feel worse. "You're crying. I... I've never seen you cry like this before," 

    "I want you to leave me alone right now," I sobbed. His eyes brimmed with tears. He can't handle this any more than I can. 

    "No. No, I can't leave you alone like this. If you want to hate me go ahead, but you're going to have to hate me while I'm sitting right here," he sat down in front of me and kicked the door shut. 

    "I don't hate you," I cried, trying to get a hold of myself. "You lied to me. All of you did and you've been lying to me from the moment I started asking questions," 

    "Dad didn't want you to see this side of us. He didn't want you to find out because he wanted to keep you safe and away from all this mess," 

    "He's right," dad's voice came from the other side of the door. I stood up and opened it. 

    "I know now. There is no going back. I know and I expect you to stop lying. Is this why you started reading those journals? What's wrong with me?" dad looked at Silas and sighed. 

    "There's nothing wrong with you," 

    "Zach tried to do something to me, didn't he? He tried to hypnotize me and it didn't work. That's why you had notes," I looked at my brother.

    "There are two reasons why it wouldn't have worked," Silas said. "One, I already told you. It's because someone else compelled you before. A mind can only be compelled once at least until the compulsion is removed or what they were compelled to do is completed," 

    "What's the second?" 

    "You're like whoever tried to compel you," 

    "How can he have that ability?"

    "We can't tell you what they are. All of us are under a blood oath. It's a spell," my dad answered. I backed away from them. 

    "What?" I asked. None of this makes sense anymore. My head feels like it's about to explode. 

    "We can't say it, we can't write. we can't even point it out to you or give you some kind of sign. We physically can't say anything. That was part of the peace treaty," dad explained. 

    "But you can tell me this?" I asked. He nodded. 

    "We have trained the new generation. We are allowed to say it to a blooded member as long as we're the only ones in the room and within hearing distance,"  

    "That's really specific," I said looking him over. 

    "Yeah, that's how the spell works. They try to find every loophole anything that would compromise their existence," 

    "What if I ask one of them?" 

    "No," he shouted making me jump. "I don't want you near any of them. Do you understand?" 

    He sighed. The strained look on his face forced me to drop the issue for now. He walked out. Food was brought up when I didn't join everyone downstairs. I couldn't bring myself to eat it. Silas stayed and true to his word he didn't pry into anything other than our studies. My crying had an interesting effect. My head is throbbing, my eyes burn as if the cold air had been blowing into them directly for hours.

    "Silas, you're needed downstairs," mom appeared in the doorway. 

    I didn't look up at her. I expect these things from my dad. He's a dad that's what they do. The betrayal stung worse coming from her. I have told her everything. Every single thing about who I am. My goals in life, all of my insecurities. There is nothing I have kept from her. 

    "I'll see you in the morning," Silas broke the silence, giving my shoulder a light squeeze. 

    "It kills me to see you like this Tobiana," she sat down at the end of my bed. I looked up at her but the dryness in my eyes wouldn't let me hold the stare. "I didn't want you to know because this took over my life when I found out. I had already married your father and I love him, but had I known this was my fate as well as the children we might have I wouldn't have done it. I would have walked away," 

    "I don't want to talk about this anymore. I just want to sleep. I'm tired," I waved her off. I want to know, but not right now. 

    A new scent swirled in the air around my room and it burned my nose. I looked up at her to see she was wiping a tear away. I instantly regretted saying anything but I couldn't take it back. If I let her or any of them get away with this so easily, they're going to continue lying to me. I don't exactly want to know every single detail, but I don't exactly want to be the only one everyone lies to. 

    "Very well then. I'll see you in the morning," she got up. "Try to eat something. You don't want to make yourself sick over something so childish," 

    "Says the woman crying over a smart remark," 

    Her eyes snapped to mine. She didn't say anything but the scent around her became stronger. She walked out and shut the door. The tears came again. This time it didn't hit me as hard as they had when all I wanted to do was disappear and be alone. 

~

    I must have drifted off. I sat up surrounded by pink lilies. They're my favorite. The smell of them made me smile. I picked one up and began to stroke the petals. This feels so real. I looked around to find him sitting under a white gazebo reading a book. I got up and walked over to him.

    "Are you really reading or is this your elaborate plan to catch my attention?" I asked. He smirked. 

    "I don't know, did it work?" he asked. I smiled leaning away from him to look at all the flowers that surrounded us. "I can feel something is very wrong. You're hurt," 

    He's standing behind me. I turned to face him. He raised his hand and the end of his finger touched the place where the ache had started when he had told me he was going to stay away from me. With his other hand, he placed it over the same exact spot over his. He looked away almost as if he had realized something.

    "What is that?" I asked. 

    "I can only tell you what you already know," he shrugged.

    "Do I already know what you are?" 

    "Yes, but your refusal to believe it keeps the answer hidden. Did you have a fight with your brother?" 

    "With my family," I answered. He looked up at me. 

    "All of them?" 

    "Everyone knew. Everyone knows except for me. My mother went as far as telling the girl I thought was my best friend that she'd arrange for her to be transferred to our school so she that I can be watched more than I already am. Then she had the nerve to tell me I was being childish for getting upset with them," he smiled. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm telling you all this. I don't even know you," 

    "You trust me enough to let me into your head,"

    "I can keep you out?" I asked. He laughed. 

    "You can try." 

    This time I laughed. "Why are we here?" 

    "This is the greenhouse I've worked on since I was a kid. I thought that if I brought you here you wouldn't accuse me of breaking into your room the next time we saw each other,"      

    "How is this even possible? I don't understand any of this,"

    "I have a gift for you. It'll be under your seat tomorrow morning. Don't let them see it. I understand that telling the truth is a massive part of who you are, but this has nothing to do with them. This is about you," 

    "About me? What is it?" 

    "A Lockwood journal. Written by..." he said the name but I didn't hear it. "I guess you'll have to figure that out yourself tomorrow," 

    "Why is it so important that I stay away from you and not from your sister?" 

    "She isn't of age yet," he said sitting down. I sat next to him. "If I am correct neither are you," 

    "Of age? What does that mean?" 

    "We are basically mortal until we turn..." his voice cut off again. "This is difficult isn't it?" 

    "Is it in the book?" he nodded. "So you're a Daywalker?" 

    "I am," 

    "What does that mean?" 

    "My preference is to the day. My affinity is to nature," 

    He took my hand led me away from the gazebo. This place is beautiful and it makes me really happy to know that this place actually exists in real life because the beauty of it is worthy of a magical dream like this one. I looked around to see that this part of the greenhouse is still in the makings. 

    "This is amazing. You said you did this?" I asked. He nodded.

    "I usually don't like to cheat, but I want to show you something I'd never show anyone outside my Clan," he smiled.

    I feel special for some reason. Elijah took a hand full of soil and dropped it in my hand. He opened a packet of seeds and took one pushing it into the soil on my palm. He sprinkled some water on it and then placed his hand over mine. 

    "What are you doing?" I asked. He just smiled. 

    "Think of a red rose. The beauty of it, the vibrant color, anything you can remember from it and imagine that instead of the dirt there is a red rose there," 

    "Are you serious?"  

    "Deadly," he smirked. I laughed. I'll play along. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I did as he had instructed. "Open your eyes, Princess," 

    "Okay," 

    I opened them to see that a small bud had sprouted from the dirt in my hand. He raised his hand and the bud grew a little more and began to open up. It was a small rose but he had grown it out of my hand in seconds. He scooped it out of my hand and placed it in a pot.

    "Should you ever have reason to come visit my home, she will be waiting for you,"  he said. 

    "What? This is a dream," I shook my head.

    "It's a dream for you. It is your subconscious that is here with me. The night in your room, you were awake. I was there with you," 

    I shook my head. There are so many questions that come to mind but he wouldn't be able to give me a straight answer. Not without me knowing about him first. This is crazy,

    "So, you did break into my room," I chuckled. He laughed. 

    "You're taking this very well,"

    "I thought you said I wouldn't be able to know things that I didn't already know," he smiled. "Does this mean that I know about the things you can do? How would I know that?" 

    "You may not remember, Amelia but it's there. Keeping who they are a secret may not be the reason why your family is lying to you. Have you considered that?" No one's ever called me by that name. Not that I remember.

    "They're lying to me because they're trying to hide who I am?" 

    "Or they're trying to hide what you are from someone else. It must be very dangerous if the Ubiet is hiding you. If this is the truth perhaps we should keep you in the dark a bit longer," 

    "Why are you so nice to me here, but not when we're awake?" I asked. 

    "I was ordered to stay away from you, Princess," he reached forward tucking my hair behind my ear. "If I were to show you this in person our families would go to war," 

    "Why?" 

    "Because it is forbidden," 

    "I'm not really part of their clan though. I'm not a relative by blood," It's true. I'm not. He smiled reaching for the necklace my mom gave me. 

    "You don't have to be. As long as you are considered one of them, as long as you wear this we are enemies," 

    "Enemies," I laughed. He smirked. 

    "Yes, mortal enemies," 

I laughed again.

    "This is insane," 

    "I have to go. Remember, under the chair. I'll see you in a couple of hours," he stepped away from me. 

    "Goodbye, Elijah," I gave him a little wave like a total i***t. His eyes hardened just like before. 

    "Don't say it like that. Don't say it like it's forever,"  his tone gives me chills.

    "How do you want me to say it?" 

    "Goodnight, Amelia," he smiled. There it is again. Why does it sound so good coming from him?

    "I'll see you later," I shrugged playfully. He returned a genuine smile. 

    "That's perfect. You should eat something. I can sense your hunger,"

~

    I opened my eyes to see that the clock next to me read three in the morning. I sat up looking around until my eyes landed on the tray with food. I got up taking a chicken tender from the tray. They're cold now but I still ate all three. 

    "Cheeky," I laughed, remembering his last request. 

    My headache is gone, my head doesn't feel so full anymore. A sense of calm came over me as I climbed back into bed. Glad to finally have peace of mind I drifted back to sleep dreaming of that beautiful garden and the little baby rose he said would wait for me. There is no way it'll be there for real but a part of me is excited to see if it's the truth. This is all very exciting but I'm scared of what it all means. How it'll affect me. There are so many unanswered questions I want to ask, but a part of me knows that I'm not going to like the answer to them.