Chapter 12: Bad Things Never Strike Only Once
Author's Note: Now just tell me that you weren't furious at Brian for snapping at Lillian the way he did! I'm sure his behavior doesn't quite make sense now, does it? Maybe this chapter helps you understand some of the reasons Brian is the way he is. One of Brian's more traumatic memories is revealed in this chapter, which will unlock the answer to the question of what his problem with magic is. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed reading it!
Lots of love,
Nessie
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The days passed and all I did was repair stuff and spend time with Silvia. A lot of time with Silvia. Since that first night and my almost fight with Lillian things began growing cold between us. When she entered the room, I left and every time she spoke I pretended I didn’t hear her. Our conversation had upset me and dreams similar to the one about that insane ghost trial kept haunting me. There was a specific ghost that always picked the same role – the judge; I knew it was him from the voice. And the dark laughter. He kept floating around me, laughing eerily by every chance he got.
I couldn’t get my mind off Silvia though. All I could think was how different things would be if I could get a time machine and fix all the mistakes my mother and I did in the past. Because the memory of that night would never leave my mind. The night mom died wasn’t half as bad as the one Silvia almost got killed. I wished so badly I could destroy it, erase it from my memory once and for all.
“Bwian, Bwian!” Silvia said and nudged me. I looked down at her and smiled wearily. “Will you get me anothew shiwt?” She pulled at the purple shirt with flowers she was wearing, showing me some brown stains. Probably chocolate. Silvia really loved chocolate; which child doesn’t? I nodded and quietly stood up and dug out a clean change for her. Kellah had gone out and shopped a few stuff for Silvia and me with the money she earned from training that rabid furball.
She clumsily took her shirt off and I froze at the sight. After almost five years of seeing the scars, I should have gotten used to them, but it wasn’t as easy as if sounded. The half faded pink spirals across the length of my sister’s back weren’t easy to miss. Or ignore. They glimmered silver for a second – a sign that this was healed by magic – and then it was pink, just a few shaded paler than the rest of her skin again. I wanted to look away, but I never did. Silvia liked the way they looked; she had no idea there was nothing nice about the way she got them. It shouldn’t be my business to tell her… I wasn’t good at explaining things nicely. And my little sister really needed someone kind and gentle to explain it to her. But since mom was gone… she had only me left. It wasn’t time for her to know though. Not yet.
I heard the door opening but I didn’t turn around to see who it was. Most probably it was Kellah.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I heard Lillian’s voice. I exhaled angrily and bit my lip. Even with my back turned on her, I knew she was staring at Silvia’s back. “What’s that on S-”
“Nothing,” I mumbled before she got to finish her sentence. “It’s nothing. Just a birthmark.”
“Wow, you did actually speak to me. I think I should feel honored,” she said sourly. I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t look like a birthmark. More like a-”
“I. Said. It’s. A. Birthmark,” I growled and quickly gave Silvia the clean shirt to wear. With my voice slightly softer and gently pushing my sister, I said, “There. You’re ready,” and she left the room.
“You’re still an awfully bad liar,” Lillian said.
“Unlike some other people, I believe that being a convincing liar is not really a talent to be proud of.”
“Let me guess. That was supposed to be an implication about me. Ouch. Brian, you’re really breaking my heart,” she mocked.
“Really? Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know professional killers do have a heart. If I knew, I’d have been nicer.” I stood up abruptly, not intending to continue this conversation. To my relief, Lillian was temporarily standing there, tongue-tied. This was the first time I had really looked at her for the last two weeks. She was still the same, black haired, brown eyed and pink cheeked, but somehow she seemed more tired. I reminded myself that this was none of my business and left her. I stepped in the first room that got on my way and closed the door behind me. I slipped across the door until I was sitting on the floor and hit my face into my palms. I wished I could replay any, honestly any, other moment of my life, except the one I was right now.
* * * * *
It was a typical Wednesday night, like all the previous ones since dad left us. Our nights used to be noisier before that, before all this had happened. Dad would make some pathetic tries to cook things that he had no idea how to even pronounce and we would all laugh at the monsters of nature he created. We watched movies and played board games or he’d help me with homework. It gave me the illusion of normal. Those moments were short lived, but they were there. I didn’t spend much time thinking about those good times back then though. His abandoning us was still a fresh wound and those memories were as someone was rubbing salt on it.
Mom was putting Silvia to bed and I was sitting on the floor by the coffee table in the living room, struggling to understand my English assignment. I never liked that subject. I was better in Physics. Of course mom could have helped me, but it wasn’t the same with dad. Usually she was making me more confused that I was before. It was as if she was good only at explaining the weird stuff of our life to me. Funny how she could explain me all about seeing ghosts and how I should deal with it, but had not a clue how to help me understand what a metaphor was.
She sat on the couch behind me and ruffled my hair. “Need any help?” she offered.
“No, mom, I got it. Thanks.”
“Okey then. If you need anything I’m here.” I nodded and we both remained mute for the next hour as I tried to finish my homework and she was reading a book. Eventually she put the book down and said, “I invited Kellah to have dinner with us tonight.”
“Oh.”
“Oh? Is that a good ‘oh’ or a bad ‘oh’?” she asked suspiciously. Mom had always been the person who knew me best. Although I had grown colder and more distant in the last years, when I was barely finishing eight grade, still pretty close to what someone would call a child, I was an open book. One with brightly highlighted the lines explaining exactly what was up with me at the time, I might add.
“Somewhere in the middle,” I admitted.
“Come on, Brian. You’re almost fourteen. I hoped you’d get along with her by now,” she scolded halfheartedly. She never was the haul-over-the-coals kind of person.
“She keeps teasing me,” I objected. “Just because she’s an adult and can drive and have her own place it doesn’t mean that she’s better than I am.”
Mom slipped on the floor next to me and hugged me, sandwiching me between the couch and herself. I wasn’t much of the hug type, and she knew it, but I let her do it anyway. “I love you both. And no, she’s not better than you. Both of you are special in your own way.”
“The only thing making her special is that she’s the only human in the family,” I said and a faint, scornful smile formed on my face.
“Brian! Come on, and then Kellah is the mean one?” She nudged my ribs and I couldn’t help a giggle escaping from me.
“I was kidding,” I said. Not. Or not completely at least… I composed myself, making sure my face didn’t register any signs of the fact I was lying. I was a bad liar. Being expressionless gave a hard time to most people when they tried to read me.
“She’s been thinking to organize your party. Since your birthday is coming up and all. She already got you a present.”
“I’m cool with presents. She may not be as bad as I thought,” I said and grinned impishly.
“No, she’s not. Maybe you should reconsider the whole I-hate-my-aunt-for-no-reason thing, huh?”
“I’ll see what I can do. If there’s a present involved…” I rubbed my hands in a mischievous way and mom chuckled.
“Gosh, you’re just like your grandfather,” she exclaimed and chuckled. The sound echoed through the room, filling it, but at the same time, reminding me dad wasn’t here anymore. I laughed along, but didn’t really enjoy it. Until seven months ago, it would be the three of us laughing over all kinds of not-so-funny things.
The sound of a vase breaking made us both turn around. I instantly tensed, slipped away from mom’s arm and looked carefully from the edge of the couch. The shards of the broken vase were lying on the floor, some still going back and forth. The bouquet of daisies that was inside was now scattered on the beige tiles. I had crouched down, in alarm, ready to jump on anyone who’d show up. An awful chill ran down my spine, and I felt my stomach turning and knotting, a sensation that hadn’t been familiar back then. I was barely aware of what I had to do with.
“Brian… I want you to keep really quiet,” mom whispered under her breath and touched my wrist.
I just nodded, not removing my eyes from the deceivingly empty hall. I was sure there was something looming in the shadows. And the lack of any ghost was a bad sign. Silvia’s distinctive cry reached my ears just as soon as the violet eyes flashed in the darkness. For a second I felt frozen inside, dumbstruck even though I was already almost sure what had gotten inside our house was Pectlacero’s. Then, before I could process what was happening, I jumped forward, making the exact same mistake I always did. I tried to hit the monster.
He dissolved, wrapping me momentarily in a thick cloud of black smoke and causing me to stumble upon the small dresser at the hall, where the vase with the daisies used to be on. I felt my heart pumping faster than usually, the adrenaline rushing through my veins, even more intensely than it did during my kick-boxing classes. I was barely aware of the shards of the broken vase that dug into my bare toes. I had the impression I heard mom calling my name, but I never stood there to think twice about it. As soon as I recovered, I rushed down the hall and into Silvia’s room. The door was wide open and I could see two cloaked figures standing over her crib. Their black hoods seemed threadbare and old, waving like flags in a spring breeze. The thing was, that there was no breeze in here. Silvia was crying and they were making snake like sounds; what for their standards was laughing.
“Stop!” I managed to croak, my voice sounding anyone’s but mine.
They laughed a little louder, and their eyes left the crib, to look straight into me. “Look at the little necromancer,” one of them said, voice whistling and eyes that pale shade of purple-gray, the shade of death.
“Amusing,” the other one said in a similar, serpent-like tone, lifting a black, gloved hand; a trail of obscure smoke creating a trail of the movement. I saw the other hand mimicking the first one’s move, removing the glove and letting it drop on the floor. In the darkness, I wasn’t able to make out any skin, just the outlines of long, rotten fingernails. The creatures seemed to be made more of smoke than any kind of real material. My eyes widened in shock, not knowing what he might attempt doing. I barely knew the basics about Pectlacero’s back then.
I heard mom’s light footsteps on the floorboards at some other part of the house, several rooms away and just wondered why she wasn’t here already.
“Since you are here, you might as well observe,” the first monster said. He appeared to be heedless of mom’s movements, as he pulled some kind of athame from his cloak. The blade shone in the faint moonlight that was sneaking through the window and made the blood in my veins freeze. Involuntarily, I shivered.
I opened my mouth to tell them to get their nasty fingers off my sister, but no word came out. Everything I wanted to say seemed to be stuck at the tip of my tongue. I felt immobilized, as if my feet were rooted deep into the ground. I felt like a puppet, while my puppet master was making a break for coffee. Totally useless and unable to make the slightest move without the aid of him. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to shake away the images of the athame rising, Silvia crying, me leaving her unprotected… I never forgot that mistake of mine. I hated myself so much at the moment; I knew I had to do something.
My eyes snapped open, finally filled with something else than fear. My need to keep my sister safe, kicked in, pushing the terror I had been feeling a few seconds ago back to the darkest, most remote corners of my mind. I could see one of the monsters, the one with the athame, leaning over the crib, tracing deep lines in Silvia’s skin. That made something inside me snap.
“Stop!” I said again, this time steadily and loudly. “Do. Not. Touch. Her.” Unaware of what I was doing, I focused all my anger and hatred on them. Everything after that, appeared to have happened in slow motion, yet I could barely remember the details. The actual memories of that part had always been a blur and I mostly put the rest of the story together the way I assumed things had happened. I used my magic and somehow destroyed these two, causing them to let shrieking, serpent-like cries as they exploded in a wave of the black smoke they actually were. I could recall hearing the athame falling on the ground with a loud thud, Silvia crying even louder, her cries literally piercing my ears and then mom hurrying into the room, grabbing my wrist panicked, asking what happened. I just kept shaking my head and every time I tried to say something, my throat felt tight, my mouth dry, my head a hazy mess. She let go of me and ran to Silvia; she was bleeding. The sheets and everything around her was red, too vivid, too gaudy, even in the dark. I felt the tip of the bloodstained athame’s blade touching my toe fingers, and I kicked it away in disgust, unable to look at it.
“Brian. Brian, please, can you hear me?” my mother asked impatiently, causing me to look at her; I had never seen her acting that scared, having lost her nerve. She hadn’t been is disarray like this before. Not even when we found out dad had died. I had difficulty understanding the words, as I was still in shock myself. “We need to heal her. Now.”
“But…” I stuttered. “But you’ve said… We can’t use our powers…” I felt at a loss; I was seeing my mom breaking down, I had no idea what was wrong with my sister…
“Forget what I said! This is an exception! Now come on, help me! Take my hand.” I couldn’t move, I felt my hands hanging numb and useless on my sides. She pulled me closer and clutched my hand in hers. “There. Good. It’s going to be okay.” She sounded as if she was trying to assure herself more than me.
She stretched out her hand, almost touching Silvia, and magic, brighter than anything I’d ever seen before, flowed out of her hand and sneaked into the open scars in Silvia’s back. She stopped crying, as if she somehow relaxed. I was beginning to feel drained, this was taking a lot out of me. The way magic was forced to slip out of my hands and into Silvia’s back, I had the feeling what I was giving was my lifeblood instead. I saw silver flowing through my sister’s back, forming spirals that glowed in the darkness; so bright I could make out the drawings on my sister’s crib, as well as mom’s expression. Mom’s hands were shaking, but she didn’t stop, until the wound seemed to have healed.
When she pulled her palm away, some kind of smoke seemed to gather around us, surrounding us from all sides. But it hadn’t to do with mom and me.
Not at all.
It was Silvia.
The smoke like substance crawled into her body. It was as if she was a sponge, and she absorbed as much as she could take. Maybe even more. No… Definitely more. More than she was ever meant to have.
A light shone brightly, almost blinding me, and the next thing I remembered, mom and I were on the floor, several feet away from Silvia’s crib, wondering if some magical force had thrown us where we were, or if we had been like that for some time now.
“Mom? What just happened?” I asked, sitting up and blinking repeatedly, trying to restore my vision; all I could see at the moment, were white, undetermined outlines of my surroundings.
“I don’t even want to think what I caused today, Brian.” She hid her face in her palms, and I could see her sobbing.
These were the last things she said for that night, although neither of us slept. And Silvia didn’t sleep alone in her room ever since. She wasn’t safe. She never was safe.
Without expecting another reply, I walked to the crib, picking Silvia up, who was looking at me with something more than curiosity, as if none of what had happened, had actually been real. I held her close to me and removing her already torn in sheds PJ’s, I wrapped her in a blanket, and sat on the floor, not too far from mom.
If she hadn’t left Silvia alone in that room that night, things would have been different. Not good, but better. Mom would probably be still alive.
* * * * *
“Brian? Brian! Open the door! Brian!” The banging on the door behind me brought me back to reality and I stood up as fast as I could, snapping the door open. Lillian stumbled forward and I was brought nose to nose with her.
“What do you want?” I growled.
“You… I… I don’t know. You just stormed out and I panicked. You weren’t answering and you had closed yourself in there.”
“What did you think I might be doing? Slashing my wrists open or something?” I met her eyes angrily, giving her my best welcome-to-North-Pole look.
“Well… It crossed my mind. I had thought of something more tangible… Sort of…”
“You thought they showed up, didn’t you?”
She nodded. Her being so close to me felt disorienting. Like… I didn’t want to kiss her. Not right now, not after reliving that horrible memory inside my head. But I knew how horrible she felt just thinking about those creatures. We shared similar feelings about them. Only mine were more hatred relied than fear relied like Lillian’s. Still, I wanted to hug her and comfort her.
No! Brian, Brian, wake up! You don’t do comforting, okay?! What are you? Her babysitter? I yelled angrily to myself. No. I was not her babysitter. I was not supposed to have anything to do with her. If there was someone who may need comforting from him that would be Silvia and Silvia only.
“You don’t give me enough credit. I could deal if they showed up here. The problem would have been if they showed up where Silvia was.”
“Why do you say that, since you’re not intending to explain to me what the deal with your sister is? Just to, I dunno, make me more curious than I already am? Death by curiosity? That’s your plan?” I recognized what she was doing. I had done it quite a lot myself. Covering a moment of weakness with irony. It was different seeing it on her. It was not her style. She was mostly rambling than hiding anything. What she said was mostly nonsense. Still, I played along.
“It worked for the cat,” I mumbled, thinking of the saying ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’ “And cats are supposed to have seven souls. You have only one. It has some really good chances to work.” I smirked and took a small step back, trying to put some distance between us.
“Do I really have just one soul? Shouldn’t I be dead by now then?”
“The fact that I brought your soul back doesn’t mean you had a spare. Humans have just one soul. Don’t doubt that.”
She took a step forward, again closing the distance between us, the one I tried so hard to create. What was I to do with this girl?! “How do you know so much about souls? And what’s your deal with healing? Healing isn’t bad. It never hurt anyone. That’s the thing, it is supposed to do the opposite from hurt!”
“Never worked for me that way,” I mumbled. “It always got me in more troubles than it got me out of.”
“With me it was quite the opposite though. So don’t worry about it, okay? Seriously, it’s a pretty stupid reason to avoid me for the last three weeks.”
“It may seem to you like that. You and I see things differently.”
“We don’t have to though! Let me show you my way.” On impulse, she caught my hand. I looked down at our hands clasped together, then slowly lifted my head, giving her a look that would have made everyone else drop their hand on their side, stare back for a second and then run away screaming. She didn’t do any of those though; just frowned.
“No, thank you. I like the way I look at things. It works great for me.”
“If by that you mean being sarcastic and pessimistic to death with everything.” A hesitant smile broke into her face, without getting a similar response from me right now.
“Is that supposed to make me smile back?” I asked seriously.
“That was the plan.”
“Maybe you should get a new one. You know, something that will work.”
“I still believe you’re soft inside.” The moment when I closed my eyes, when I stood there, petrified, leaving Silvia vulnerable flashed in front of my eyes.
“No.” I shook my head violently. “There’s anything close to soft left inside of me.” I pulled my hand away and with long strides I reached the far corner of the room. If she tried to come close, I honestly would punch her.
I had no idea if she somehow was aware of what I was thinking or it was coincidental, but she leaned against the arch of the door, watching me carefully, as if I was some fascinating specimen in a museum. “I don’t get you,” she said.
“I don’t get you either,” I replied, clenching and unclenching my fist. “Why are you sticking around me like a leech?”
“Just trying to figure you out. I could just think you’re as stupid as all boys your age, but after seeing how you brought me back, while I was supposed to have earned the ‘dead girl’ status by now, turned you from an idiot to interesting.”
“More proof that I shouldn’t heal random people,” I snapped.
“If this was a dig at me, I don’t consider you a random person.”
“It wasn’t a dig at you. It was a note to self. I tend to list the mistakes I should not do again.”
The air between us pulsated with what was almost electric. There was a change in the energy. I could sense it. Someone was nearby; and was using magic. I turned around, and dashed out of the room.
“Hey! Where are you going?” I heard Lillian asking. I kept running, not bothering to answer. I had to find out what was going on. I hurried through the halls. I didn’t know where I was going, but somehow there was a map planned out in my head, showing me exactly where to go. “Helloo?” Lillian demanded again. “Are you listening? I’ve been talking to you for hours!”
Of course I did listen to her. All along. I just didn’t see the point in giving her an answer.
Abruptly, my feet stopped moving, and I realized I was standing before the front door. At first I thought of opening it. As I touched the handle though, I decided I knew best. Whoever was waiting outside wanted me to do exactly that. Open the door. Take a peek. Be stupid. With the corner of my eye, I saw mom standing close nearby, looking silently. A small sound, something like whistling of leaves made me look down at my feet. There was a piece of paper on the floor. I caught it before Lillian might see what it was. One side was completely blank, white. The other though…
Honestly, lil B… Is that the best you can do? Hiding in a huge house? I expected something cleverer from you. Silly boy… If I were you, I’d already start running. I’m counting. One… Two… Three…
There was no signature. No clue who it was from. Nothing. I crumbled the paper in my fist, making it a small ball. I made a hundred and eighty degree turn and going up the steps two by two, I ran upstairs, where Silvia was. She was asleep and Kellah was watching TV.
“We got to go,” I said, taking the remote and turning the TV off. She frowned, but didn’t complain.
“What? Why? Brian, what’s going on?” My aunt didn’t move from her place, just watched me with alarmed eyes.
“Just get any stuff you want and we’re out of here.”
“What happened? Are you done with the repairs? Brian?” she insisted.
“I’m almost done. But it doesn’t matter.”
“Why don’t you just tell me the reason?” she said. From her tone I could understand she was beginning to get pissed.
“See for yourself.” I threw at her the ball of paper and she caught it midair. She uncrumbled the note and her eyes literally flew from line to line as she read. Lillian hurried to get to her, reading over Kellah’s shoulder. When they were done, they both were staring at me, eyes big and mouths gaping. “Don’t look at me like that. Come on. Get ready.”
“What if they’re bluffing?” Lillian asked stubbornly.
I turned up my nose at her and held my breath for a second. “You’re in a house. They call and tell you there’s a bomb. Will you stay inside and possibly get blown up because they may be bluffing?” I asked. “I am in no mood to get blown up yet.”
“Do you have any idea who may have written it?” Kellah asked.
“No.”
“Well…” Lillian started. “Obviously, it was someone who isn’t afraid of you. Lil B? I cannot think of one person who would dare to write this way to Brian,” she said.
“I would,” Kellah objected.
“Family excepted.”
“Oh. Yeah. I see your point. That guy’s trying to play it rough,” my aunt agreed, half grinning.
“It’s no guy!” I said matter of factly.
Kellah’s half smirk faded away and she whispered, “You do know who it is. Don’t you?”
“No! Seriously, open your eyes! Come on, the only thing that is missing is xoxo and a girl’s name underneath! This is typical female, revenge-seeking attitude. A guy would storm inside with a knife and try to scare me to death.”
“Would it work?” Lillian asked, only half teasing.
I couldn’t see anything funny in it though. “No.”
“Oh. Yet a note written by a woman according to you, is sending your running like a little girl.”
I walked closer to her, my mouth almost touching her ear. “If it were just about me, I wouldn’t even try running. I’d stay here and put up a fight. But it’s not me they’re after. You can stay and wait if you want. We’re going.”
“Brian! Don’t be harsh on her. You’re taking it personally. You shouldn’t,” Kellah scolded.
“It is personal.”
“You’re so much like your father sometimes. You got his temper.”
“Don’t. I am not like him. I’m nothing like him! I’m not running! I’m not the one who left his family. I’m trying to keep together what’s left of it!” I snapped at her.
“You know it wasn’t like that, Brian.”
I could make out dad’s ghost in the silver blur by the wall. Mom was standing next to him, having her fingers wrapped around his arm. She was frowning and had a half-sad, disapproving look. Dad looked… just hurt. It didn’t matter. He made his mistakes and I was trying not to repeat them. The rest was of no importance. I looked away before Lillian and Kellah realized I was looking at something beyond what they could see. “Who cares. Anyway, it’s nothing worth talking about. Come on. We need to be out of here in fifteen minutes.”
“Since when are you the one to set the time limit?” Lillian demanded.
“Since I am the only one here who can actually protect you if anyone attacks,” I said slowly, mimicking her annoyed tone. “Are we clear? Fifteen minutes.”
“Remember the day you had gone with your parents at the lake?” Kellah asked, as I moved away from Lillian. Because of my anger I hadn’t realized just how close I was. I wanted to put some distance between us.
“Yeah?” I asked, frowning. “And I don’t see how this has to do with anything.”
“Your dad used to be bossy as you with time back then. I remember it distinctly,” she said, a smile of satisfaction after managing to silence me plastered on her face.
I narrowed my eyes at her and opened the door, applying much more force than I should on the handle. “Fifteen minutes,” I reminded them and vanished in the house, searching for the things of ours that were forgotten in the other rooms. We were officially running away again. If only I knew who was really after us this time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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