CHAPTER 63

Days of driving had made the continual roll of the tires, the pulse of the car against the ground a soothing background to the turmoil in Elijah’s mind. He clutched the steering wheel with both hands, his fingers stiffened from the screws of anxiety while driving on the country roads which have lots of curves.

The villas looked through the large windows opened on the upstate of the town painted green to the horizon, but Elijah was not impressed by the view. All he could think about was the job that was to be done; a job that he had been fearing since the day they realized Amelia was gone.

It had been a while since Amelia left the cabin and no one in the family or Pack had not seen her. Months of intense activity, of pursuing every single lead that could be found. But as the days turned into weeks and then into months with no sign of her, Elijah and Bruce were forced to face a harsh reality

Not only did Amelia not want to be found, but he also decided to stay behind her whenever she was out of the house. This had dawned on them. They had disappointed her expecting them for what they were, twice.

First, it was not shielding her from Ema’s schemes, and now it seems not to notice her desire to flee. Elijah drove downwards and guilt weighed him heavily as he went; this was a funeral procession. However, anger was not the only internal conflict going through his mind.

There was fear, too. The specific prior knowledge is the fear of the conversation he is going to have. Shame to see Rosa, Amelia’s mother, and to tell her that her daughter was gone and he was unable to save her.

Rosa and Elijah were acquaintances, could we call it? And not simple ones since no one could refer to them as friends. They have once been friends, or at least, acquaintances with something that connected them: Amelia.

However, their reality, time and circumstances separated them. Rosa walked away from this sort of life a few years back; it was too painful for her to have to hide her true identity and live the life of a Human, because of being a rare breed of Hybrids and everyone wanted a piece of that cake, she had an issue with her marriage, going away to catch some air, she met Elijah.

Elijah was about to break that fragile calm that man had worked so hard for, and witnessed after what seemed like an eternity. But when the car entered the ‘single house estates’ in which Rosa now resided, the heart of the young man palpitated with fear. He stopped the car at the curb and made sure that he was ready, then he alighted. This was a small two-storied house similar to all the other houses on the court; the neatly trimmed grass, the well-manicured shrubs and bushes, and a child’s bicycle propped up against the garage.


. This was the way most human beings lived, and they did not even notice the hardship.

Elijah got closer to the front door and with every step he felt as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He lifted his hand to rap on the door, then changed his mind. What right did he have to return randomness in Rosa’s life? For what is, I suppose, the space of about two seconds, he almost fled without telling her lest she become like Hamelin.

But no. Someone had to tell Rosa the truth and it should be him, no matter how much it was going to hurt the girl. Elijah took a deep breath and then rapped sharply on the door.

Time was ticking counting each second as if it was an hour. Then, swishing and swashing from inside, the sound of people’s steps. The door opened and Elijah stood in front of Rosa for the first time after she left years ago.

But in that instance, all the recited speeches that would have left Elijah overwhelmed evaporated in the Hebrew prophet’s mind.

Rosa has always been beautiful but curves have given her face a new look she never used to have. The girl he remembered was pleasant-looking but now she has grown to be an attractive woman. Her previously unkempt hair which was long and black was now cut in a modern style bob that would be very suitable to her face. Wrinkles appeared at the corner of their eyes suggesting she had laughed a lot and vigor in her stature. This was a woman who was not going to be defeated, rather she was going to come out of it even stronger.

And still, he stared at her, utterly lost for words that could even begin to describe the feelings that upon seeing her, he suddenly got. This is how it felt as if the time had frozen as if there was only now and her.

“Elijah?” It was Rosa and her tone was one of disbelief wedded to a measure of circumspection. “Aw Blondie, I stopped by to say hello is all?”

Elijah raised his head to reply; however, fearing he would not be able to say anything, he was interrupted by yet another person joining Rosa at the table. A man of forty-something gentle eyes and a look that is questioning as if he is waiting for the answers to his questions. And Elijah who was Rosa’s husband woke up with a start.

“You alright, sweetheart?” the man inquired as he put his arm around Rosa protectively.

Rosa looked at her husband before quickly turning to the man in front of her, pasting a fake smile on her face. “Kevin, this is… an old friend”, he said smiling; “Elijah, this is my husband Kevin”, she said smiling too.

Elijah forced a nod, he understood this conversation was far from relaxed and easygoing, Rosa was tense. Shaking off the contact violently like a man coming back to earth from a very long and very strange trip,

Kevin said, “It’s nice to meet you, I guess,” in a voice he hardly recognized as his own.

An embarrassing silence followed by the three of them. Elijah could feel that Rosa was anxiously looking at him and the doubts that were appearing on her face. He ached to say something, to start making the necessary excuses as to why he was here in this city. He tried to utter the words he had designed in his mind to disappoint her and tell her the truth about why he was there.

They never came out of his mouth. By what means could he destroy this happy environment that Rosa has created for herself? In what ways could he make retribution for the loss and destruction of her home’s supernatural nature?

There was silence and then Kevin spoke, “Why don’t you come in?” The second sentence is therefore arrived at as: “Any friend of Rosa’s is welcome here. ”

Rosa glanced at her husband through the rearview mirror then opened the door to let Elijah in. After he entered the house, the man realized that he had left the whole real world behind him. New family photos from wall decorations depicted Rosa’s new life: vacations, holidays, and moments of couple and family happiness. It was all that she had wanted, all that she deserved.

And he was about to destroy it all.