Chapter 13

A DAY LATER..


“Father , you have a visitor” The yellowed-teeth kid said, running to the room where Alessia's body was laid. The fisherman was seated by the edge of her bed, rubbing a balm on her body. “A visitor?” He raised a brow and the kid nodded. “She says she's Ellen, the mother of Alessia” The kid said and his father scoffed. “Who bears those names? I've never heard them before” he muttered, standing up slowly. “I’ll be back” he said to the body like it was listening. The body wasn't cold or decaying, rather she made silent and shallow breaths and it was a bit warm. “She's under the tree” The kid announced, walking out of the room with his father and in fact, they had to bend a bit due to the closeness of the ceiling to their head. The fisherman's eyes caught a lady cladded in green with a pair of dark sunshades standing under the cinnamon tree and he walked slowly, advancing towards her in steady strides.

“Good day ma'am” he said and Ellen turned immediately, hearing his manly voice behind her. “Good day..” She greeted too, flashing a smile. “My name is Ellen Dion and I'm the mother to the lady in your house” she said and the fisherman's brows raised on their own. “O'neal” he said slowly, receiving her handshake hesitantly. Ellen scoffed silently, wondering why he had a hunch back. “Surprising creatures” she thought with a silent chuckle.

"And how do you know that I have someone in my house?” he asked and Ellen stuttered for a while, itching the back of her head and racking her brain for an answer to give. How was she supposed to tell him that her boys actually gave her the information? Or how was she supposed to tell him that she's been monitoring Alessia's every movement till she got thrown into the river.

“Actually, my niece lives in this town and she told me about your search for my daughter's relatives, I came here to confirm if it's my daughter or not” she said, finding her own words dumb to her hearing.

“I'm sorry but can you show me the picture of your daughter?” O'Neal asked with so much reluctance.

“Sure” Ellen smiled, bringing out an album from the tote bag in her hands and O'Neal slowly collected it, hiding the suspicions in his expression. In the album were Alessia's pictures, right from childhood. “This was on her tenth year birthday” Ellen said, pointing at a photograph of her and a kid. O'Neal nodded slowly, realizing that she was really her mother but somehow, he still wanted to be sure. “What did you think happened to your daughter?” He asked after a few minutes of flipping through the pages of the album.

“I'm not so sure, she was missing exactly three days to her wedding ” Ellen replied, hiding the fact that her fiance eliminated her life and some men dumped her into the river. “Is she dead?” Ellen asked with no emotions and O'Neal was forced to scoff, wondering why she asked such a question. “She's presently in coma and still breathes but in an irregular and shallow way” he said, handing the album back to her after closing it. Ellen sighed, sniffing back her runny nose. “Please come in" he said, walking back towards the house and without hesitation, she walked too, following him from behind. They walked into the house and Ellen was greatly irritated by the state of the house, grimacing silently until they got into the room.

“Here she is” O'Neal's words made her eyes widen broadly in shock. She wasn't shocked to see her motionless but was shocked to realize that it was really her daughter. Earlier, her workers had sent her a few pictures of Jenna (impersonating Alessia) and she had thought Alessia wasn't dead after all but not until she saw the body. “My goodness” she gasped and O'Neal sighed, assuming she was sad and sympathetic to see her daughter in that state. Alessia had a unique mark on her right hand and it popped into her head immediately, making her rush to the body. She grabbed her hand and to her surprise, the mark was present. Even the scar she had from childhood was right on her thumb. She looked up with heavy breaths and forced tears out of her eyes.

“I found her in the river” O'Neal explained. “Her fingers once moved, two days after I found her body and pressed water out of it” he said and Ellen turned to him immediately with curiosity. “And?..” “Since then, she hasn't made another move” he concluded and she nodded slowly. Ellen turned back to Alessia, tracing her brows, her skin was quite oily and sweaty probably due to the balm being rubbed on it continually.

“I need to take her to the hospital for good and adequate care” she said and O'Neal nodded. “I’ll have to go with you and stay around her too till she's back to life” he said and her eyes widened. “What?... Why?” she questioned all at once and O'Neal gave her a suspicious look, she noticed it immediately and stuttered a bit. “I'm sorry, I mean, you don't have to, you should just continue your work and take care of your family” she said and he breathed, nodding slowly in understanding. “You're right but I feel so drawn to her and I wish to be around her” he said and she sighed. “You'll have to come with me then” she said and he nodded. “Let's get her out of here first” he said and before she could reply, he wheeled a wooden stretcher that was behind him to her side, motioning her to stand. Ellen stood up, hiding the surprise in her expression. She wasn't expecting a wooden stretcher! With that, they raised her by the limbs and carried her to the stretcher. Ellen's eyes caught the anklet around her leg. It's the same one she gifted her with on her last birthday before her death.
She wasn't totally dead though…

O'Neal wheeled her out of the room and Ellen slowly followed him from behind. “Dad? You'll be leaving?” The kid said, almost bumping into them and O'Neal replied in a language Ellen didn't understand. She scoffed, wondering what language it was and after the brief father-to-son conversation, they walked out of the house, heading towards where her car was parked. The car was a limousine so it easily let in both Alessia and the wooden stretcher while O'Neal entered too and Ellen got behind the wheels.

The town was quite distant from the main city so she had to drive for hours. Her phone rang and on realizing it was One of her agents, she refused to pick because of the presence of O'Neal. She turned to him and their gazes locked, making her look away immediately. “pick your calls” he said and she nodded negatively. “No, it's not important” she said and with a scoff, O'Neal picked up the phone and swiped green immediately..

Her eyes widened..