Chapter 3

I walked back to Ash's place. I entered the house, it seems like Ash hasn't returned yet. My mother wears a robe in the house every time she's alone (I'm assuming she was naked). I went to the bathroom and saw a robe folded neatly near the sink. It seems untouched. I took the robe and stripped myself naked. I only kept my inner wear on. I placed the robe on the couch.

It felt a little breezy. I was lying down on the couch. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. "Wait for a second!" I said and grabbed my robe. I tied my rope and looked through the window. I pushed the curtain aside a little to see who was at the door. It was from Fernando.

I answered the door. "Ash not here," I said before he could say a word. "I wanted to see you," Fernando said. It made me feel insecure about how I looked. "Uh…. okay? Come in. I'll be back..." I said. I went inside my room, shut the door behind me and locked the door. I wore a t-shirt and shorts. I went back outside.

"So…. why do you want to see me?" I asked. He was sitting on the kitchen stool, there was a table in between the kitchen and dining area. I took a seat beside him. He got near to my face. I felt my face heating up. He came closer and closer and he stopped. I was at the edge of my seat.

I pushed him away from my face. "Huaaaaa! Not too close!" I said. He fell off the stool.

"I was just going to give you a rose..." Fernando said, holding a red rose.

"Sorry, but next time don't get too close to my face. I get nervous..." I said, spinning on my stool. I stood up and took the rose from his hand. "Thank you but this was unnecessary," I said. I went to the kitchen and filled a glass with water. I placed the rose in the glass and went to my room.

"Is that the only reason you wanted to see me?" I asked him.

"Not really," he replied.

"What is it then?" I asked.

"I want to get to know you," he said.

"Get to know me? Why?" I gave him a puzzled look.

"Because we can be friends."

"Uh-huh. Okay then?"

"Tell me everything about yourself,"

"Um...okay... Well I-."

Ash slammed the door open. She saw Fernando and she didn't like it. "What did you two do?" Ash asked. "Just talking about stuff," I replied. She looked at Fernando. "Get out," she said looking at Fernando. That's very rude, I thought. Fernando stood up and just left the house. I looked at Ash.

"Why would you do that?" I asked.

"Because I can and I want to," Ash replied.

"Alright then. I'll be in my room," I said.

I placed my head on the pillow. I looked over to my side and there's Fernando's rose. I rolled to my side. Am I going to see Father and Mother again? I wondered. I looked outside the window and saw something moving fast. I thought it was a cat but it's too big to be one. I opened the window and crawled out.

"Hello? Anyone here?" I said, looking around. I took a few steps forward. I heard something snapped and I freaked out. It was too dark to see anything. I saw eyes in the dark. Pretty blue ones. I took a step forward. It isn't moving so I took another step. No response. I took out my phone and took a picture with the long flash. I saw a woman or perhaps a girl with pink curly hair. I looked at the picture. "Looks like a human cat," I said. "Because I am," someone said with a cute French accent. She moved to the moonlight and it was a small woman (or girl). "I am Maeve. Was sup~" she said with a cute French accent, she's so adorable. "Oh hey, I'm Emily," I said.

"Is see you are new here," said Maeve.

"Yeah. Kinda am," I said.

"Do you have any battle skills?"

"Not really,"

"Ah, I see,"

"What are you holding there?"

"It's my blades,"

"Oh, cool,"

"Isn't it?"

I heard someone shouting Maeve at the back. It seems like it's far away. "Oopsie! I got to leave. Bye-bye," she said. She jumped and disappeared into the darkness. "Whoa," I said. Sha Lin was running towards me. "Have you seen a pink French lady that acts like a cat?" Sha Lin asked. I wanted to tell him I have but I was sure Maeve doesn't want him to know. "Sorry, I haven't seen a pink French lady that acts like a cat," I replied.

"Alright then, if you see her tell me," he said and run off somewhere.

"Thank you," Maeve said from the treetops. Maeve ran the opposite side from Sha Lin ran to.

I climbed back inside through the window and landed on the bed. I yawned and tried to get some sleep.

I opened my eyes still in a hospital. The others were behind a door. "Finally you're awake," a nurse said. "We thought you might have fallen into a coma,"

Oh, it'll be nice if I fell into a coma, I thought. I looked to my side and Father was hitting on the glass door. It scared me a little. And by little, I meant terrified. Everyone was pulling him away from the door.

"Is that your father?" the nurse pointed at Father.

I nodded.

"Oh," she said.

It felt like a nightmare, maybe it was, seeing Father hitting the door so violently. "Please don't let him in," I begged to the nurse.

"Alright then. What about the others? Can they go in?" She said.

"Sure they can, but not him," I said. She opened the door and let the others in. Father shoved everyone to the side and ran towards me. I screamed very loud.

I felt someone slapping my face. I opened my eyes and it was Ash. Thank goodness. "Stop screaming in your sleep," Ash said, giving me another slap in the face. "Or I'll just tape your mouth every time you sleep,". "Uh sorry. I think it's unnecessary to tape my mouth," I said. "Oh it will be if you scream in your sleep again," Ash said. "Okay, I got to leave. Don't let Fernando in the house again,".

I nodded. "Alright then," she stood up and left the room. I got off my bed and went to the bathroom.

After cleaning myself, I ate something from the refrigerator. It looked like a pancake but tasted different. I just ate it anyway. I wanted to go outside and walk around since I have nothing to do. I went to the door and walked outside.

It was a beautiful morning. I could hear the birds chirping and singing their sweet little song. I saw Maeve on the treetops attempting to grab a bird. I took a step forward and the bird flew away. Maeve pounce at it but then she fell from the treetops. "Uh, you okay?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said. I helped Maeve up.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked.

"Sure," Maeve said.

"Why did Sha Lin searched for you last night?"

"Because I took his bow,"

"Does he have it now?"

"Yes, he got it back yesterday,"

"Oh, he took it from you?"

"No, I gave it back because he looked like a tired princess chasing after me,"

I laughed so did Maeve. "Oh well. Every princess needs its beauty sleep," I added. We both laughed. "I'm going to walk around. See you soon," I said and waved goodbye to Maeve. She ran away like a cat (maybe she is a cat).

I was walking, looking around and seeing the environment. I saw Sha Lin with his bow and arrow. I tapped his shoulder and waved at him. "Ah you're here," Sha Lin said. "Here I'll let you practice on your aiming,".

He gave me his bow and arrow, and let practice. I kept making the mistake of letting go of the bow instead of the arrow. "Aim for the tree," he said.

Since I already practised my aiming skills with Kinessa, this would be a little easier. I draw the arrow and shoot. It hit the side of the tree. "That's a nice shot. Now try shooting it to the centre," he said. I draw the arrow and shoot again. It hit the centre of the tree. "Well done, I think you got it," he said. "Oh cool," I said. "I'll just practice a few more shots,"

After a few hours, I gave the bow and arrow back to Sha Lin. "How did I do?" I asked. He looked at my shots I did earlier. "Overall, nice," he said. "Oh, thanks. I'll be going back now," I said, waving Sha Lin goodbye. I walked back to Ash's place (or should I call it mine?).

I opened the door and no one was there. I'm alone. Good. I laid down on the couch. I place my feet on the head of the couch. I was sitting upside-down. Someone was knocking at the door. I tried to fix my position but instead, I fell and landed on my head. "Ow," I said silently. I stood up and peeked through the window to see who it was. Fernando, of course. Since Ash doesn't let Fernando enter the house, I decided to ignore it.

I sat back on the couch with the same upside-down position (even though it hurts my neck). He kept knocking on the door. I kept ignoring it. I didn't want to move because I might fall again. I fixed my upside-down position into a lying down on the side position. I rolled off the couch and went to my room.

I closed the door behind me. I searched in every single drawer to find paper or anything to draw on. Found a few pieces of paper. I always had a pen in my pocket so I used it to draw on the piece of paper. I drew random stuff on the piece of paper, probably doodling.

After a few hours, the house was quiet, I guess Fernando finally gave up knocking on the door. I went out of my room and checked the kitchen for some snacks or food. I opened the drawers and cupboards. Nothing. I closed all the drawers and cupboards. I went back into my room.

After a few minutes, I decided to take a nap for a moment. I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes until I fall asleep.

I opened my eyes and I'm in the hospital. Great, I'm here again. I just hear people talking but I can't hear a word. It felt like I'm underwater. Hearing everyone's muffled words. After a while, the words became clearer.

"Why did she passed out?"

"Is she alright?"

"do we need to do surgery?"

"can we afford one?"

It sounded like Mother. I moved my finger. Is everyone else okay? Is Father gone? I hope he is. I wanted to say a word but I didn't. It's just I don't know what to say. They noticed I'm awake when Mother looked at me and saw my eyes wide open. "It's okay, sweetie. Father is not here," Mother said. Thank goodness he isn't, I thought. I gave a smiled to Mother. She hugged me as tight as possible. This is just a dream but it feels good to be back here. All peaceful, I thought. "D-do I have to do surgery?" I asked. Mother looked at the doctor. The doctor nodded. "Oh," I said. "Well, you got very serious damage," the doctor said. "Sorry, mother," I said.

"For what, dear?" she asked.

"For running off to the road like that. Making mother and father use an awful lot of money for my surgery," I replied.

"It's okay, sweetie,"

"I'm sure father wouldn't forgive me,"

"Don't say that. Everything is going to be alright. I promise,"

I hope mother would divorce with father and take care of me. I'm sure one day they will. I just wish it would be now. "Mother, would you divorce with father if you have a chance?" I asked. Mother looked at me.

"Honestly?" she asked. I nodded.

"I do love him in the past but…. I can't stand seeing him just hitting my poor babies," she said.

"So it's a yes?" I asked

"If he continues doing this behaviour, yes, I guess so,"

"How did you even met him?"

"Well, we met in a friend reunion between your grandparents and their friends. Their friends bring their family along with them. Then, I met your father. We became friends,"

"Just friends? Not even close friends?"

"Yes, just friends. Mine and his parents agreed on arranging a marriage for both of us. We had to agree also but I think his parents agreed on arranging a marriage because my family was pretty wealthy,"

"So father is a gold digger?"

"Practically, yes. Don't tell that to him,"

"I won't. Why didn't you just divorce now? Since he married you for your family's money,"

"I would but I'm a little scared,"

"Of what? Him coming after you? If that happened the police could cover that,"

"You don't understand, sweetie,"

"You once told me to fulfil your needs no matter what. Why don't you fulfil YOUR needs?"

Mother kept quiet for a second. "You're right. I'll be going to fulfil my needs. Thank you, honey," she said. She went out of the room and went to fulfil her needs. I yawned and everything went pitch black.

Word Count: 2,312

Last Updated: 13/12/2019