Chapter Ten

The Past

As the light began to fade, Mona soon found herself standing in the middle of a town she hadn't seen in years!

Looking around the snow covered town all decorated with their Christmas Lights and decorations, she soon realised where she was.

"I…I'm home!" she cried "This is Wisconsin!"

The woman in white nodded with a smile.

"It's just like I remember it!" Mona cried as she looked around "It's always snowy here! And they always decorate it like this!"

She then pointed out all the shops she knew and where she liked to visit, and she even saw the path she used to take when she went to School.

Tears filled Mona's eyes as she looked around, it looked so pretty especially at this time of year! She had missed it so much.

Just then, she heard some laughter behind her, Mona turned and she saw three familiar faces.

There was a girl wearing blue jeans, pink boots, a white coat and pink scarf with long wavy brown hair and holding the hands of two young boys.

One who was slightly taller and wearing glasses was wearing a green coat and the smaller one was wearing a blue coat.

More tears spilled from her eyes as she saw who they were.

"Oh my god…Jake…Callum! And…me…"

She stood in silence as she watched the scene take place.

"Mona!" said the smaller boy in the blue coat "You excited to build a snowman?"

"Oh yes I am Callum!" said Mona as she held her brother's hands "We're going to have loads of fun! And I got some cash to buy us a few treats!"

"Sweet!" said the older boy, Jake "And we'll have a snowball fight!"

"I'll knock you on your butt bro!" said Callum "I've been practising!"

"You have!" said Mona with a smile "You got a good swing when you play baseball at school!"

"Just don't hit my glasses!" said Jake "I don't want these broken before Christmas!"

"We'll be careful!" said Callum "Promise!"

Mona giggled as she watched.

"Jake was always protective of his glasses!" she laughed "Sometimes he wore goggles to protect them when we went out and about."

She and the woman in white followed the trio as they walked through the snow; both boys were chatting and laughing as well as sliding over the slippery pavement.

"Do you remember this day?" asked the woman.

Mona nodded.

"Yes…I do…" she said "Almost like yesterday."

The woman smiled then lead Mona down to where the trio were at the snow covered park.

Jake and Callum were rolling big balls of snow to make a snowman and Mona was making a small head for the Snowman as well as make sure she had some stones and sticks to use as buttons and a smile as well as a carrot nose.

Just watching the scene made Mona smile.

"I remember it all so well…" she said "We used to play together in the snow, school was out for Christmas and we had all the time in the world to play together, I could never get bored of these times…"

As she watched, she suddenly saw a group of older boys walking over to them and her eyes widened as she remembered the incident.

"I remember them..." she said in a low voice "My brothers told me they went to school with them, they were always causing trouble, and Jake and Callum were always their target."

"Hey look! It's those Freeman boys!" one of the older boys jeered.

Jake and Callum looked up from rolling their snow, as did Mona, the boys then sauntered over to Jake and Callum.

They tried to walk over to Mona, but the gang surrounded them.

"Well hello Jake and Callum!" said the leader "We got Four Eyes and Dork together!"

Mona then saw herself look up from the snow and she saw the boys teasing her two brothers and start seething.

"Hey!" she called across to the boys before striding over in a fearless manner "Leave them alone!"

The boys looked over at Mona and began to laugh at her.

"What are you gonna do, girlie?" asked one of the other boys.

"Yeah!" said a third "Mind your own business!"

"When it comes to my little brothers!" Mona hissed "It is my business!"

The older boys looked confused then looked at Jake and Callum who looked pleased.

"I suggest you get away from them!" Mona snarled "Before I whoop your butts back to yesterday!"

"The cat has claws huh?" said the leader, his voice shook slightly with fear but he tried not to show it in front of Mona.

Mona clawed her hands and got into a fighting stance.

"Ready..." she said in a low voice.

At once, the boys began to pick up snow to throw at Mona, but using her tiger claw moves from her kung fu classes she was able to bat the snow balls away.

The boys were shocked but they kept firing snowballs at her but each time they did, Mona swatted them away with her clawed hands, not missing one, or dodged quickly with her crane style moves.

"Go Mona!" Callum called excitedly.

Mona then batted another snowball and it hit the leader in the face.

Spluttering the leader looked at Mona in shock, then fear as Mona stepped towards him.

"Stay away from my brothers!" Mona snarled "And if I see you again! You'll regret it!"

The boys, not wanting to argue with Mona, they turned tail and ran away, some slipping in the snow as they did so, with Jake and Callum laughing at them.

As they watched the scene, Mona and the woman in white couldn't help but laugh along too.

"Jake and Callum learnt a few moves from me." Mona said as she chuckled "After that, the bullies never bothered them again."

"You were always protective of them!" said the woman "You were the sister they dreamed of."

Mona looked down sadly.

"They mean the world to me..." she said "And even now...I try and remember the good times with them...and how I could see them again...even if it is just for a minute..."

"After you disappeared…it was like their world had collapsed…." The woman said softly "Without you...it became so hard..."

Mona then saw a blizzard appear and the scene of her and her brothers vanished and it soon showed an empty park, yet it was grey and dark in the skies.

"What happened to my family?" she asked softly dreading the answer.

"Since you were taken from them…" the woman said sadly "Your brothers couldn't bear going to the same park for a long time because of so many memories."

She turned and pointed behind her, as she did, the scene changed and she soon saw a house behind her which she instantly recognised.

"My home!" she cried as she walked over and touched the door to which she went through it and looked around.

The area was so quiet, so quiet it practically scared her.

She looked back at the woman who nodded at her to go ahead.

Mona quietly stepped forward and listened carefully, she then walked over to the kitchen, she could smell Christmas Dinner cooking, she peeked in and she saw a sight that broke her heart.

There was her father, Caledon hunched over the oven, she could see he was watching some boiling vegetables.

"Daddy…" she thought, she then saw the dining room through another door, it was all made up beautifully with the best knives, forks and china and sparkling glasses, as well as crackers.

She then saw her two brothers come into the kitchen.

Mona felt her heart beat harder when she saw them.

She wanted to cry out to them, but she knew they couldn't hear her, let alone see her.

"Dad?" Callum asked "Dad…are you okay?"

Caledon turned to him, his face was pale and sad and his eyes were red and baggy.

"Oh yeah son…I'm fine," he said in a broken voice "These onions they really get me sometimes…" he then let out a choke before turning back to the stove, Callum sighed, as did Jake.

"How's your mother?" asked Caledon after he regained some control over his voice.

"She's still upstairs…" said Jake "Still playing that record…"

Caledon sighed.

"Have you told her that the guests will be here soon?" he asked.

Jake nodded.

"She just sits there…" said Callum "She barely speaks…yet sits there by the open window, as if expecting Mona to fly through it…"

"Like Peter Pan..." said Callum.

Caledon sighed and shook his head.

Mona swallowed hard as she thought of her poor mother sitting there in her room alone. As she saw her father and brothers talk she ran upstairs to her room to look for her mother.

She soon made it to her room and saw her mother sitting in a chair by the snowy window that was open, the room was freezing cold, and in the air, she could hear the songs of Eva Cassidy playing in the air.

"Mother..." she whispered, she walked over to her mother and knelt beside her, she could see her face, it was pale and there were dark circles under her eyes, there were tears in her eyes and she could see many dried on her cheeks.

"She misses you so much Mona..." said the woman in white behind her "It's every mother nightmare...losing her baby..."

"And I miss her!" said Mona, tears flowing from her eyes as she placed her hands on her mothers, even though her mother couldn't feel her.

"Oh mummy..." she whispered "I've never stopped thinking about you...I wish I could tell you I'm alright!"

"Mona..." Gina began to speak "My darling Monalisa...please...come back...please...come back...where are you? If only we can find you...where are you...?"

Mona couldn't help but sob as she heard her mother plead.

"I'm safe mother...I'm still in New York City...but I cannot come home...if only I could tell you why mummy!" she sobbed harder "I want to come home! But I can't...it's not because I don't love you! It's because I'm not what I used to be...you wouldn't know me if you saw me..." she began to sob hard, as she did, Gina began to cry softly.

Just then, the door opened and Jake and Callum came in.

Mona stood up and stepped to the side, the two boys then walked over to Gina.

"Mum?" they said "Mama?"

Gina opened her eyes and looked at her two sons.

"Jake? Callum?" she said softly.

"Hey mum..." said Jake softly "The rest of the family will be here soon...we should join them..."

Gina sighed sadly.

"If only your sister was here..." she said "She would love to see them again."

Jake and Callum sighed softly.

"We miss her too mum..." said Callum.

Gina sighed and stood up before going with her two sons to the door to go downstairs, as she went through the door she looked back inside.

"Merry Christmas...Monalisa...my precious baby..."

So the Angel has shown Mona her past, as well as a glimpse of her suffering family at Christmas...not the most happy chapter to write on Christmas day, but there you go!

Hope you all had a great Christmas Day! And we still got the New Year to go through! :D

Merry Christmas from Bloodrayne666! xxxx