Chapter 9: Uncle
Winter's POV
"Hello, Winnie." My heart ached upon hearing my uncle call me by their – his and my parents' – pet name for me. He seems calmer than when I last saw him, less angry and more… despondent.
"Hi, Uncle Tommy," I replied, looking directly at his red gaze telling myself not to be scared, or hurt. His eyes widened a fraction when I spoke but he quickly covered it up.
"So, you remember who I am." He sighed and closed his eyes for a second.
"I remembered after fainting when I saw you." I explained.
"Do you remember anything else?" I realised that he's not chained anymore he's just… sitting there. Jasper and Emmett are standing next to him whilst Edward is on my side. None of them said anything, they just watched as my uncle and I converse.
"The day you left when I was 12. I remember how you argued with my mother about something, how you told her you were leaving," I can see pain clouding his eyes with every single word I uttered, then I continued, "I remember how you promised you'd never hate me." Edward placed his hand on the small of my back and I realised I was trembling, I don't know if it was because of anger or sadness. "What happened to you?" I asked when I've calmed down.
"What happened to Grace and Troy?" His eyes looked challenging, as if my answer would decide what he would tell me.
"They were murdered."
"By whom?"
"I don't know, I couldn't see them clearly."
His eyes flew open, "You saw it happen?"
"Yes," he seemed surprised and a look of pity crossed his face, well I don't need his pity, "Now, what happened to you? You used to be human, like my parents."
To my surprise, he laughed.
"What's so funny?" I'm starting to get annoyed.
"She let you remember the 'last time' I was there but not the truth," his voice is full of bitter sarcasm then he glared at me and leaned forwards, "I treasured her. I loved her."
"Of course, she's your sister." I replied matter-of-factly.
"My sister?" His eyebrows furrowed in confusion then it straightened into an expression of comprehension, "Ah, I see, she made me your actual blood-related uncle." He laughed humourlessly, "I shouldn't be surprised, that's all I was to her. A brother."
"She made you my uncle? What are you saying?" I looked at Edward who was staring in concentration at my uncle. I can tell he's trying to read my uncle's thoughts but isn't having any luck. My uncle must be extremely good.
"You know what?" His eyes are no longer sad; they are filled with the blazing hatred I had grown accustomed to. Jasper and Emmett were immediately holding him whilst Edward hid me behind him. However, it was as if he didn't even notice the tension in the room, he just looked at me and continued, "I don't care. I don't care anymore. If she was too much of a coward to tell you the truth then I won't do it for her."
"What truth?" I asked but received no response. "What truth?" I repeated, louder. But it was as if he didn't hear me, he wouldn't even look me in the eye.
"Please, tell me. Anything." I pleaded, about to give up when he turned to look at me and said, "All I will tell you is this: Your 'memories'. They cannot be trusted." Then he turned his eyes towards Edward.
I waited for him to clarify, to explain what he meant but Edward started turning towards the door, bringing me along with him, whispering, "Let's go. He's not going to help."
Minutes later, I'm lying face down on my bed, muffling my frustrated screams with a pillow so the Cullens wouldn't hear. What is he talking about? That crazy vampire uncle of mine… I played our conversation in my head over and over again, trying to solve his riddles but nothing. I have no clue what he means, especially about not trusting my memories. Should I even trust anything he said?
Tap. Tap.
I sat up, careful not to put weight on my leg, upon hearing the knock on my door. "Come in."
Edward's head popped in door, "Sorry to bother you." He came in and sat next to me. "I felt bad for the pillow so I thought I ought to intervene."
"Oh." I could feel my cheeks flush. How stupid of me to forget their super hearing abilities. He chuckled earning a smile from me.
"You still thinking about your uncle?" he asked after a while.
"Yeah," I sighed, then I remembered something, "What did he say to you?"
"What do you mean?" His eyebrows furrowed with confusion.
"You know, before we left, he was looking intently at you. He was telling you something, wasn't he?" I could see his hesitation. "What? Not you too."
"What am I not?" I don't know if he genuinely doesn't know what I meant or if he's just buying time to avoid telling me.
"You're not going to keep secrets from me too. At least not those that affect me." He sighed and closed his eyes. I win!
"Okay. He told me that if you stay with us, we better be ready for what's to come."
"And what's coming?"
"He didn't clarify." I grunted in exasperation, what is wrong with Uncle? "Although…" He paused and I met his thoughtful gaze.
"What?"
"It seems as though he truly cares for you."
"Hah!" I almost burst out laughing. Truly cares for me?
"What? You don't believe me?" He raised one eyebrow in challenge.
"Edward. He tried to kill me." I stated matter-of-factly.
"I know." His expression grew dark.
"But he didn't succeed," I placed my hand on his cheek; trying to erase the darkness. He closed his eyes and breathed, calming himself. He smiled as I put my hand down. "Why do you think that he cares for me anyways?"
"Well, even though he's really good at controlling his thoughts, I still managed to see that in his mind, he believes that the only way to save you from 'what's to come' is by killing you."
I stared at the window, processing what he said. Does that mean he still cares for me? Or is he just making up an excuse to kill me so he wouldn't feel guilty? So if he does care for me and has just a really twisted way of showing it, should we let him go?
"What are you thinking?" Edward whispered. Oops, I almost forgot I had company.
"Do you think he's going to say anything more?"
He shook his head; "He seemed truly hurt by what you told him so he decided to just let you figure things out without his help."
I wanted to pull my hair out of annoyance. I hurt him? Really? I'm pretty sure a couple more days of this circus life will drive me insane.
"Does he still want to kill me?" I was scared of the answer but I had to know.
"Nope. He knows we won't let that happen." It seemed like he wanted to say more but stopped himself.
"And?"
"Well," he began hesitantly, "he seemed mad at your mother so he decided not to 'save' you anymore."
And by 'save' he meant 'kill'. Wow. Everything is so backwards in this new world of mine.
"Should we let him go?" I asked. He looked at me as if to say 'it's up to you'.
"Yeah, let him go." I thought about the good times we spent together. I owe him his freedom, at least.
Edward stood up and I did too.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"I want to say goodbye." I thought he was going to stop me but he just reached for my crutches and handed them to me.
I stood by the door with Edward and the others whilst Jasper and Emmett walked with my uncle outside.
"Oh please, no need to hold onto me. I'm not going to kill her." He sounded like my old uncle when he used to tease my mom. The familiarity almost broke my heart.
Jasper and Emmett let him go and he walked a couple of steps away then turned to his gaze towards me and he looked so much like my old uncle.
I waved, "Bye." I'm afraid to say anything and end up crying.
"Good luck, Winnie. You'll be facing a lot of obstacles," he looked at the Cullens, "at least you won't be alone. Hopefully, it's enough to survive." He smiled, the first sincere smile I've seen since he tried to kill me. The smile of my uncle, the one who brought me to amusement parks and made me laugh. The one who cared… I missed it so much, I wanted to hug him.
Then he was gone…
Author's Note:
First chapter for 2016… Hope you had a great start!
I know. I know it's been ages. I sincerely apologise for the major delay. It's all Arrow's fault. I binge watched 3 and a half seasons and couldn't focus on writing. Anyways…
ENJOY!
P.S
Thank you for the awesome reviews.
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