TW: torture
...
I always knew this would happen soon enough. Of course, I know my parents will look for me, and it's even worse since Like and I were not on their radar. Well, we didn't move out of the house.
Ysmael planned to meet them here. At first, both Luke and I were very hesitant to face our parents. I don't know what they're going to do once they get here, especially our mother. As a matter of fact, Jamaica suddenly contacted me about an hour ago, saying that she should not be calling me, but she warned me to be ready once I saw our father. She apparently overheard that my father was furious about the idea of me with Ysmael right now.
To be honest, I couldn't even find time to care for all of this, as my mind is already set to seek out what Shaina told me yesterday.
We are in the living room downstairs now with Luke pacing back and forth, Shaina making some coffee, and Ysmael's grandparents, who actually have nothing to do with this but told us that it's much better to have them around when my parents arrive.
I was now sitting on the couch when Luke approached me.
"What's going to happen if they don't listen to us?" He worriedly asked.
"Let's just hope for the better, okay?" I tried to calm him.
"But you know that when it comes to them, they always want to be followed," he said as a fact.
"Don't be so negative for now," I assured him, tapping his shoulders. "I'll try to talk to them as much as I can."
Luke let out a deep sigh and rested his back on the sofa. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths again before standing up to take a walk outside.
He's anxious. This is all new to him anyway, so I can completely understand it. He's always on our parents' side, but he never forgets to protect me from them all the time. But this one is different. I know he wanted to protect me, but he also knew that we'd lose along the way.
Ysmael is out telling his men to guard every corner of the house once my parents come, just to make sure everything will be alright. I don't have anything to do, and so my gaze landed on his grandparents, who were apparently talking so close next to each other. I smiled at the thought that they still have that spark in their eyes whenever they're together.
Just then, my head started to feel heavy, like something was ripping inside. I groaned softly, and I instantly felt the stares of everyone around me. I held the side of my head and tried to massage it, but the sudden pain started to get worse, so I groaned loudly this time. I felt Shaina's hands caressing my back, but then I couldn't even get up to hold my head up.
Flashes of memories appeared inside my head as I closed my eyes. All of it was blurry, but all I could hear were their voices, my parents' voices.
"More serum."
"She needs to forget all of it."
"She can take it more."
Those are the words I keep hearing. I felt a hand holding mine, and she whispered something, but I couldn't understand everything. It's like my mind is very much alive with so many thoughts, and everyone around me is nothing but muted surroundings.
"Stop it!"
I heard myself screaming in my mind.
"Just stop it already!"
I'm begging.
I'm begging for my life.
I couldn't bear it anymore, and I screamed because of the pain that's getting a lot worse than earlier. I held onto my head, as I wanted to bang it or scratch it to keep it from hurting so much. I also felt tears escaping my eyes, but then I couldn't hear anyone around me, not even my own voice. I just feel them around trying to comfort me, but nothing's working at all.
I was about to stand up to go upstairs for a while when I saw how Ysmael carried me like a bride. He didn't head to our room but to the guest room just opposite the kitchen hall. He laid me down on the bed before he let out something from the nightstand. I couldn't recognize what it was, but I just felt a needle piercing through my arm, and I gasped softly. In some way, it made me calm down. I don't know what it is, but it stopped my head from hurting so much.
I still couldn't hear anything, but my vision wasn't blurry anymore. I could clearly see his worrying look and the relief in his eyes when I smiled at him.
"You seemed so worried, creep," I said, trying to lighten up the mood when I could finally feel that my hearing was already fine.
"Well, you're making me worry all the time, sucker," he chuckled softly.
I laughed a little, but then our little moment of warmth and comfort was shattered when Luke walked in with a horrifying look on his face. Just by looking at him, I know it already.
They're already here.
I tried to stand up, and when Ysmael noticed what I was doing, he stopped me.
"You're not feeling well," he said.
"But I need to see them," I answered, smiling at him. "They're my family anyway."
He took a deep breath and helped me get out of bed. The pain in my head is still present, but it's pretty much bearable now. We went out of the room as Luke and Ysmael guided me, but then my head struck again when I sensed them already walking towards the front door. I hid the searing pain I felt and continued to have a poker face when we reached the living room. They let me sit on the couch back on my seat before, and Luke took the signal to open the door.
Our parents were already there, and Mom eventually looked in my direction. Dad didn't even show any emotion, and he just looked at me with his usual cold expression. I saw Mom trying to hide the worry in her eyes, and the way she hid her right hand tells me that she's also trying to contain the urge to help me.
"I see the two of you found yourselves comfortable living with these creatures," Dad said as he scanned the people around us.
"Dad…"
Luke called out to him, but he just stared at him, and that made Luke silent.
"They don't have anything to do with us going out of the city," I explained as I stood up.
"Of course they don't have anything to do with it since it's your fault about what happened to your brother and what's going to happen next in the upcoming days," Dad instantly replied, and based on his voice, he doesn't look so pleased with what he's referring to.
"Both of you need to go home." Mom suddenly approached us in her soft tone. She walked towards me and cupped my face before she hugged me for a short while.
"I'm not going home, Mom," I whispered in her ear.
Mom let go of the hug, and she looked me in the eye. She smiled slightly and gave me a little nod.
"You're going home, whether you like it or not." Dad's voice resurfaces again, and it's like he's saying it as an order.
His voice echoed in my head, and it immediately responded as I started to feel the pain again. I felt my knees weakening, and seconds later, I was lying on the cold floor, groaning from the pain I felt in my head.
I started to hear things again, and the same words came out. I closed my eyes, only to see blurred memories starting to get clear. I saw my parents and Luke, and what's horrible to look at is myself.
Myself.
I'm tied up in a laboratory chair, sweating like hell, as it is not the usual thing for my kind to do. There's some sort of helmet on my head and a stopper on my mouth to avoid gritting my teeth. I'm crying, and I even shook my head as a man walked toward me. He's holding a large syringe filled with a thick purple serum, and he's about to inject it on me, but Luke stops him. He looked at the man, thinking he was about to kill him, but then Mom held him by his shoulders.
"They're going to kill her," Luke's voice felt heavy upon hearing it.
"It's the only chance..."
"But –"
"No buts," Dad's voice echoes in the whole dark room. "She needs to lose her memories."
"That's the only way she can totally forget about him," Mom said while she was trying to calm Luke.
"Is it really the only way?" He asked.
"She needs to be clueless, or else this will mean war."
I opened my eyes as I gasped for air. I looked at my Mom and even glanced at my Dad before I looked at Luke and finally asked, while a single tear came out of my eye.
"What did you do to me?"