When Sunlight meets Moonlight
Chapter 21: Everything is All Right
Darien stared at Serena, as she laid on her bed, fainted dead away. " So, is anyone going to explain this to me?" Darien muttered, caressing Serena's hand.
Ken and Lita averted their eyes, while sitting far from each other. Lita was sitting on Serena's vanity stool, and Ken sat back against the glass doors to Serena's balcony.
" I guess we'll wait until the rest of them come back," Darien sighed softly, eyes worried as they turned toward the pasty blonde.
Amy steered Mina down the hallway and into Lita's bathroom. Sophie followed, eyes wide and tearful. As they went into the spacious, tidy, and very green colored bathroom, Amy sat Mina down onto the toilet, with its lid closed, and searched through the cabinets. Sophie leaned against the doorframe, closed her eyes, and wrapped her arms around herself. Satisfied, Amy took out some ointment, cloth bandages, some special waterproof tape, and cotton swabs. Mina sat there numbly, not even wincing as the white cream touched the raw, bloody wounds. " Done," Amy announced quietly. She looked up at Mina, and saw blank blue eyes, with a flash of pain hidden behind them. " Mina?" she said quietly.
Mina's eyes snapped back to life from their glazed look. She turned her eyes to Amy's.
" I'm done. We can go back now," Amy said gently, patting Mina lightly on the shoulder.
Silently, Mina got up, stiff as a board. She brushed past her mother, not saying a word. Sophie flinched not from the silence, but from the touch. Amy, staying behind to put the first aid supplies back, did not miss the cringe. " Sophie, I assure you Mina is alright. Her wounds were deep but will heal. I wish I could have taken her to the hospital, but they would ask…far too many questions," Amy explained softly.
Sophie's eyes stared straight at the placid girl, but seemed to see past her.
"Sophie?" Amy reached over to touch the woman, and nearly dropped the ointment in her hand. Her skin was cold, cold as the smooth mirror in front of them. Moments passed, and Amy finished putting everything away. She turned to walk out, and was astonish to see Sophie still leaning against the door. Before Amy could say or move, Sophie began speaking, her eyes still reflecting the past.
" Sis? Sis? Sophie where are you?"
An awkward blonde stepped out of her room. " What is it Angie?"
Her sister, dressed in a white sundress, stood blindly beautiful in the dim hallway. " Well?" Angie asked, giving a little twirl to show off the flared out skirt and waves of golden curls. " Do you think Scott will like it? I'm so excited!"
The dumbfounded Sophie could only stand there in her dirty jeans with bleached marks, and stare at her radiant sister.
" What was I suppose to say? She was my sister, and how could she know? I never told her about my feelings for Scott. They ran too deep. Angie would never have understood. She always got what she wanted. Always," Sophie's eyes held a dazed look.
" Soph-? The sob was cut off by the sound of retching.
Sophie turned the corner, and pushed the half-closed door open. There, Angie held her sweaty blonde hair above her head, and heaved; her whole lunch went down the toilet. " Angie?" she asked tentatively. Before Sophie could say another word, Angie looked up. Sophie took a step back, hand to her mouth. Her beautiful sister was tainted, only not physically but emotionally.
Angie always had a joyous radiance around her. At that moment, her glowing blonde hair was damp, dull, sticking to her red face. The eyes to her soul were filled with pain and just a simmer of elation. Still her face held a sunken look, and her body was slumped, arms around them tightly.
" Sophie, I think I'm pregnant…with Scott's child," Angie whispered.
That simple sentence shattered Sophie's life, world, universe, and beyond.
" I thought that Mom, Dad, Scott, and everyone would think so low of Angie. Finally, I would stand above her for this one thing. But the one thing was the only thing that ever hurt just so much. I knew that if Angie had a horrible future, then it would some how compensate for her taking my dreams away," Sophie whispered. " But, no, even that was denied of me. Mom and Dad were shocked but happy. Happy, I tell you! Happy that…that…she finally got what she wanted! Scott was the same. He married her, and everything was hushed about the baby." Sophie's eyes had worn off the dazed look. They held vengeance. " For Angie's good. For Angie's protection," Sophie mocked. " Oh, how bitter I was. Oh, how my loathe for her had finally surfaced."
" Ma, I don't know how it got out!" Angie sobbed into her mother's lap. " I lost my job, I lost…everything!" Angie wailed.
Sophie sat in the corner, head bowed.
" No you didn't Angie," Scott's deep voice wiped Sophie's satisfied smile off her face. " You still have me…and Serena," Scott continued.
Sophie's head snapped up, just in time to see a baby wrapped in pink blankets being placed into Angie's shaking arms.
" You're right, Scott. How could I forget Serena," Angie wiped her tears away, and gave Serena a kiss on the forehead.
Sophie narrowed her eyes on those golden curls that framed the ivory skin of Serena's. The golden curls so like Angie's.
" So, you see even Angie's unhappiness was denied of me. Sure her sobbing for days when she lost her respect did reimburse, but oh only for a bit. That could have satisfied me for only so long. No, I had found another way," Sophie said harshly.
" Why Sophie!" Angie cried joyfully. " You look…exactly like me!" Angie giggled. " And after all these years when I thought we'd never look alike since we lost our diapers!"
Scott chuckled behind his wife, and brought little Serena out from behind his knees. " You look wonderful, Sophie." He said.
Sophie's eyes gleamed. " Thank you," she tossed her golden curls behind her, eyes fixed at the little toddler.
" I figured, at this moment Scott was not the worthiest treasure to Angie. It was Serena, Angie's pride, Angie's joy, and Angie's own flesh and blood," Sophie spat out. " I spent years, maneuvering Angie out and taking her place. Scott didn't like the way I treated Serena and grew unpleasant towards me…well me when I was Angie," Sophie laughed lightly. " Everything was in plan, I was going to finish off…that brat that night when she was immobile in bed. Then Angie came in early. She shook me, yelled at me, cried at me to tell me why there was blood over her snow-covered yard. I just lost it right there. I don't know what came over me," Sophie's cheeks were drenched in salty tears. She rubbed her fist over her eyes, and looked back up. " I…stood there for a full minute until it dawned on me. I had killed my sister. The only one left in the world that I could call family. Mom and Dad had died years before. I did the only thing I could. I bolted. I left. But I left a note in her hand…trying to make peace." Sophie was sobbing at this point, body shaking beyond the point of ever stopping. But she did. " I moved far, as far as my money could let me go. I settled down, erased from my soul, my memory as much as I could. Surprisingly, I was given another chance. I married a wonderful man, and finally had a child to call my own. But it seemed that someone did not want me to forget my past. Oh, no, whoever it was, couldn't let me be happy. Mina turned out to be an exact replica of Serena, Angie, the new me. She was bursting with joy, radiance, blonde curls…she had it all. The Ireland charm," Sophie laughed dryly. " I couldn't keep her. What daughter wanted a mother who couldn't brush her golden curls without recoiling? So, I sent her away. Sent her to Scott's academy. It was the best after all. And Mina, oh my dear daughter, she deserved the best. Something I couldn't give her."
" Mom?" Mina inquired as she saw her mother sitting numb in the academy's office.
Sophie lifted her tearful eyes up. " Your father passed away last night," she replied dully.
" Oh mom!" Mina's blue eyes filled up quickly and the tears spilled over. She ran over and hugged Sophie. Sophie pushed her lightly away. " Mom?" Mina asked, startled.
" I have some unfinished business that I couldn't deal with until now. Do you know of a girl named Serena Tenor?" Sophie posed.
Mina's eyes narrowed. " Yes, why?" she answered.
" I want her dead," Sophie said impassively. " Will you help me?"
Mina's mind spun full mode, running over the questions and finally halted at the picture of Darien smiling over a note Serena gave him. " Yes," she replied shortly.
" But Mina and I couldn't do it alone. We found Ken, poor, alone, and so willing to join us. That poor Lita fell for our plan, signing up as soon as we mentioned Ken. But you Amy…why did you agree?" Sophie's eyebrows bunched up, as if the fact just transpired to her.
Amy looked away.
Sophie whispered, ignoring Amy's lack of response. " When I saw Serena faint, it was as if Angie died again. I thought it was going to feel so good…finally getting back at Angie. But you know what? I didn't hurt anymore. I didn't feel any bitterness towards Serena, only shame. It was as if…someone was finally telling me…everything is all right."
To be continued…
A/N: *smiles* Well that wasn't much of a cliffhanger was it? I figured you might have gotten frustrated at me all this time for them. Well, remember that 'contest'? Well, I got a few. A FEW…-_- And then when I was reading one inspiration struck. Hehe So…I decided against the contest. But thanks to:MAKANNA, Cassedy, Shortie145, and everyone else who thought of it! : ) Well, I am finished with the history junk! Romance is rolling over this way!!!!!! Please REVIEW! And read my story OF MOCKINGBIRDS and MIMICS I! Please! : )
