CHAPTER TWELVE

She woke up in her room. She wasn’t in her mom’s place. She was back at Alex’s. She had her bath and walked down to the living room. Nobody was home. She didn’t understand where everybody went. She pulled out her phone to call her brother or his girlfriend when Alex walked through the door. He greeted her with a warm hug and a forehead kiss

“Where have you been?” She asked him.
“Making plans for mom’s burial. She is going to be consecrated into the ground till we find a way”
“Find a way to do what?” Annabelle asked her brother, trying to understand what he was saying.
“To bring her back from the dead. I heard some witches did it before and of they could do it once, they can do it again” Alex said, explaining it to her.
“Bring her back from the dead? Are you sure of what you’re saying? I know how horrible it must feel for you to lose your parent all over again but bringing someone back from the dead is out of bound! I don’t think you should mess with powers you don’t understand!” She said
“And then what? I don’t understand you! I get it, you’re mad at mom but you shouldn’t want her dead!”
“I don’t want her dead. I want her alive, more than anything but she is dead Alexander! You have to understand that! She is gone! There is no coming back. Even if you bring her back? At what cost? Magic always comes with a price! You told me this”
“It’s a price I am willing to pay!” Alex said as he turned away. “The least you can do is attend her burial”
“I should have agreed to burning her body!” Anna said
“That is your problem!” He yelled at her

That was the last time he saw her for that day. The next day, she resurfaced in a black dress. Damian looked at her from a distance. She wore a black dress that clung to her body, revealing her curves. Damian couldn’t take his eyes of her as he fell for her all over again. She walked up and took a seat beside her brother. She heard him take a deep breath and let it out

“You didn’t come home last night” He said.
“I did go home. Your house isn’t home”
“I am sorry!” he whispered.
“There’s no need to be. This isn’t the time and it is definitely not the place. Let’s do what we have to do and leave” she said as she stood up to make her speech after the priest had done his part
“My mother was, well, not ordinary. She singlehandedly brought me up without the help of nobody. She worked very hard to make sure I was comfortable, to make sure I had the best things life could offer. She was a mom, a confidant and a friend. She was a mom to every child around her and she touched every life she came across, one way or another. It is sad that it had to end this way. She had a full life ahead of her but it was taken away from her. We were….” Her voice broke.

She looked at her brother, then at Damian. He nodded and she continued.

“We were going to have a mother and daughter hangout when I found her in the living room. She was killed. My mother and I had our differences. Countless of times did we argue and stay mad at each other but we always found a way around it. She was all I had. I never had a dad growing up. I don’t know what it’s like to have a father. I never knew him. I have no memory of him. My mom was my everything and now she’s gone. I hope she rests in peace. I have to accept it and hope for the best. I think we should all accept it too. We would get our revenge, when the time is right”

She said as she left the podium. A little while later, the body was buried and she turned to leave the cemetery. She looked up and met him there, Caleb. She is walked up to him and he kissed her. He groaned in pain and she gasped. Damian was behind him, his fist in his chest.

“Let him go!” Anna screamed
“What the hell? Even after I told you how I felt about you and you said you felt the same way, go could you do this to me?”
“Let him go!”

Damian did and he sped off.

“Are you okay?”
“No” he said as he winced in pain
“I need to get you home” she said as she grabbed his arm and sped off with him.

Later in the evening. She walked into Alex’s house and met Damian there. He didn’t say anything to her. She had only been with Caleb for a couple of days and she was going to end it at the funeral service. She was going to tell him she was done but Damian had interfered and had almost killed him and it scared her because she didn’t want Damian doing that to every guy he found around her. She sighed.

“What do you want?” Damian said, with a bottle of alcohol in his hand. “Are you looking for your brother? He went to Arielle’s and he would be spending the night there” he added.
“I didn’t come for Alex. I came to see you! We have to talk”
“Talk about what exactly? You don’t see me the way I see you. My mom was right. It’s not possible to find true love in your partner”
“Don’t way that!”
“What do you want me to say then? What do you want me to think? I have never for one day kissed you because I felt you didn’t want it. Just because I felt I needed to respect you and your space!”
“Then why are you so mad? It’s not like we are a couple or something. We are not! We are just friends. Why are you so upset?”
“Because, I fucking love you! I have loved you from the moment I met you! I have loved you right from the first encounter we had. Right from the time you bumped into me in that hallway and I called you pathetic. I have watched you for days, weeks, maybe months!” he said as he took a deep breath and fought back his tears. “I love you and I thought you felt the same way”
“Damian…”
“But you didn’t! You chose him over me. How long have you been together? Days, weeks? Was that where you spent the night and every other nights that you didn’t come home? Was that who you went to when you were mad and angry?”
“Yes okay! Yes. But it has been days. Just days. Not weeks. How do you expect us to work? Your dad killed my dad and maybe my mom!”
“That is not an excuse! It is not! We are not talking about your dad here or mine! We are talking about you and I! We are talking about us! What the hell am I saying? There is no us!”
“Your dad would never accept me! He would just try to kill me again!”
“I don’t care if he never accepts you! I accept you! I choose you! I would stand by you and nobody would ever hurt you while I am alive but you didn’t think of that. Instead, you found comfort in someone else”
“Just listen to me!”
“You know what, I have to go”

He said as he grabbed his jacket and headed out. She was going to stop him but he sped off. She locked herself in her room and cried because her heart ached. She did love him but she didn’t want to be the reason that he lost every hope he had in his father. She didn’t know what to do. She slept off after hours of crying. She opened her eyes and found herself in a room. It was all white. She didn’t understand.

“Hello, is anybody there?” she said to nobody in particular
“Hey little wolf. It’s been a while” she heard and she turned around. It was her mom.

She ran towards her and hugged her. She missed her. The hug was cold though but she didn’t care. She needed it.

“I don’t understand. Why am I here? Am I dead too?”
“Of course not silly. This is the place. It’s a world between life and death. Only the dead can access this place freely and summon the spirit of the living. I know things are harder now that I am here and not down there with you”
“Harder? Mom, everything is killing me down there. Nothing has been the same since you left. There’s almost no hope for me. Alex, he’s been different”
“Baby girl, You are stronger than you know. You’re beautiful and you were born to lead. Of you could not handle it, you would not go through it. I am so sorry we never got to go out that day. You’ve clung on to me for so long and I think it’s time that you become your own person. I never gave you a chance to live your own life. I orchestrated how you should live and I shouldn’t have done that. You have your life ahead of you and it is so beautiful”
“It doesn’t look like that. Damian wouldn’t speak to me and I am gradually losing my brother. He has become a totally different person. Most nights, I am confused” Anna said.
“I understand little wolf but I didn’t train you, teach you or bring you up to run to a man when you have issues in your life. Caleb, you know you don’t belong with him. You know where your heart is and he needs you. I mean, you did do a lot of damage but the O’Connor girls have always managed to win the hearts of the Willows heart. Only that in this case, you both have each other’s heart. I have watched him love you in silence and you did break him from the inside but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want you anymore. In fact, he needs you more than ever now and your brother. He has some lessons to learn. You can’t talk him out of trying to bring me back but he would soon realize that he should let things be and I hope it wouldn’t be too late. Just be there for him and stay by his side. You are all he has. Things would get hard and you would cry a lot, my lovely daughter. You would feel like the world is crashing down on you and you would want to crawl up and give up. You would think it’s your breaking point. You wouldn’t see the way forward but it’s not. You would get up and keeping moving again because you have a throne to fight for and you have to win this fight. You would go through a lot of pains but it would be worth it in the end. I have to let you go now. It’s dawn down there. You have to wake up” Helen said.
“I don’t know how to”

Helen waved her hand in the air and a door appeared amidst the fog. Her daughter looked at the door then back at her.

“Now you practice magic” Anna said sarcastically.
“It comes with being dead” her mother said to her

Anna started to walk towards the door. She turned back and looked at her mother. Her mom nodded at her. She stopped

“Do you think I should go to Cordina with Damian?” she asked.

A part of her still felt she needed her mother’s approval. A part of her felt her mother knew exactly what she should do and she needed her mother’s consent to travel that far.