Chapter 7 Parents

Mrs. Klaus with her usual long back leather coat, she stepped out of the car, opened the door for Susan and waited.

Susan had already been shocked by Jerry in the head, now the behaviour of Mrs. Klaus shocked her in the heart. She was amazed from head to toe. Susan was just confused.

¡°Susan, come on. I have somewhere to take you, and I guess by the time this is finished, my mission¡­I will explain later. Now just get in the car.¡± Mrs. Klaus used the warmest tone Susan had ever heard. Her mind was stuffed with amazement, the brain didn¡¯t function properly, she didn¡¯t hesitate and stepped in the car.

¡°Bang¡± went the car door as Mrs. Klaus closed the door. Few seconds later Mrs. Klaus opened the door opposite to Susan and sat in.

¡°Drive please.¡± Mrs. Klaus ordered the driver.

¡°Yes, master.¡± Replied the driver with a super low voice.

The engine sprang into life, and off they went.

As minutes passed, Susan¡¯s logical mind came back in place, she started to regret she got on the car, it was a foolish move. ¡°What could happen to me? What if Klaus decides to kill me? This driver called her master, how is he, and where are they taking me? I didn¡¯t ask any thing and accepted my enemies ¡®invitation¡¯. That was the most stupid decision I have ever made. But ¡®Choices is what makes your life¡¯ what can I do. I think I will just have to sit here and wish every thing doesn¡¯t go too bad, although nothing good happens with Mrs. Klaus.¡± Susan made her mind up, as amazement was fading into the atmosphere and gone nowhere.

Susan gathered her strength moved her sight from the back the seat and saw Mrs. Klaus sitting up straight but had her eyes closed.

Susan asked the question she longed to ask, ¡°Where are we going?¡±

Mrs. Klaus didn¡¯t move.

Susan decided it wasn¡¯t a good idea to speak so instead she stared outside the window.

¡°Look outside and you will start to figure out, you are clever enough.¡± Came Mrs. Klaus voice from behind.

Susan flung her eyebrows up, ¡°Look outside.¡± Susan repeated the words.

Susan stared outside, she saw stores, people, cars, Elizabeth school with her friends in it, the library, more stores. Everything she would see in her daily life. Nothing very special, she knew she was around her own district but ¡°where were are we heading?¡±

After ages of staring out the window and no sign of clues, Susan wanted to give up and just let fate take her.

Susan tried to take her sore eyes away, but she spotted something that made her face glue to the window. It was the orphanage she went to.

The car started to slow down. It turned and went into the orphanage¡¯s car park.

Susan suddenly turned and gazed at Mrs. Klaus in confusion.

Mrs. Klaus had her open eyes and she said something even Susan¡¯s imagination could not think off. ¡°It is time to let you to meet your parents and let you know the truth.¡±

¡°My parents¡­my parents¡­¡± Susan repeated them again and again.

The car pulled to a sudden stop, the engine killed off, and they heard the driver say, ¡°Master, we are here.¡±

¡°Thank you. You may go back to hell now, I have others things to do. I will call for you later. Get out Susan. You don¡¯t want to go to hell do you?¡± Mrs. Klaus quickly step out and stood aside, it all happened like a wind just blew through.

Susan followed as quickly as she could, she felt she moved like the wind, but not as fast as Mrs. Klaus.

¡°Hahahaha! Susan you are getting use to your position already?¡± Mrs. Klaus said sarcastically.

Mrs. Klaus walked away leaving only her long coat floating in the air as she walked towards the entrance.

¡°Boom.¡± The car disappeared right under Susan¡¯s eyes. A thin layer of smoke slowly raised into the sky.

¡°What just happened¡­¡± Susan stood their blank faced watching the last bits of the smoke disappear.

Mrs. Klaus abruptly turned around and shouted, ¡°If you rather watch thin-air then your parents. You can stay there.¡±

Susan returned to real life and followed Mrs. Klaus but her eyes didn¡¯t leave the patch of smoke drifting into the clouds.

The back door squeaked open and in went Susan for the first time after being separated from her parents.

Susan felt like she was finally at home, Cross Star Orphanage, where she spent her childhood, where she had her true friends, but the most important of all, where her parents were.

Mrs. Klaus led Susan around the place Susan once was familiar of. She was walking through a corridor, just then she realized this was the same routine she took 5 years ago when she had her 9th birthday, it was the routine she took that led her to her mother and father.

After 5 years, she walked the same path, and yet it took her to her parents again.

There, still on the small bench sat a man cuddled with a women. The man was handsome, the women was beautiful. They were sobbing, just like the first time Susan saw them.

¡°Susan, here you are.¡± Mrs. Klaus stepped aside.

Inch by inch the man and the women raised their heads. Before them stood Susan, their daughter.

¡°Susan? Is that you? Our daughter?¡± It was the man. Susan remembered clearly he was Jack.

¡°Yes, Jack. She¡¯s our daughter. She is back, she came back to see us.¡± It was the woman. Susan had her name freshly in her mind, Artemis.

¡°Susan.¡± Mrs. Klaus broke in, ¡°Go and speak with your parents, I promised them I will bring you back. You must speak now, you will have no time after, you and I have got more explaining work to do.¡±

Susan just stood there.

She was afraid. The fear did not come from Mrs. Klaus, nor did it come from her parents. It came from the past, the memory of losing her parents.

Susan was afraid of losing her parents the instant she touched them, she rather always keep the gap between her and her parents, just to keep an eye on them.

Jack and Artemis filled their eyes with tears. ¡°Jack, she doesn¡¯t want us anymore, she doesn¡¯t want us¡­¡± Artemis cried on Jack¡¯s shoulder.

¡°Mother, father. I¡­¡±the only words Susan could manage out stopped.

¡°Yes, darling? Oh, Susan. You have no idea how many times we prayed to see you, to touch you, to have you in our hands, to kiss you a goodnight sleep, or maybe just to look at you.¡± Jack¡¯s voice trembled as he spoke, his eyes pleaded Susan to come to him.

Susan hesitated. ¡°I have to take the risk, Susan, oh Susan, didn¡¯t you pray night and day just for this moment? Why now when you are given this chance you just push it aside? Susan oh Susan, the risk is worth it, isn¡¯t it?¡±

Susan ran towards her parents.

She hugged then tight.

Artemis burst into the laughs and tears. Artemis and Jack tightly hugged Susan back. Susan was surrounded by her parents smell. It was the most pleasant smell she ever had, it wasn¡¯t the smell of perfume, of nature, of smoke, of air, it was the smell of home.

A smell that belonged to a family, it was the smell of happiness and felicity.

¡°Mum, dad. I am home¡­¡±Susan whispered with a full-heart.

Susan heard her parents gently reply, ¡°Susan dear, you are always at home, because we are always with you, deep down in your heart.¡±

It was the first moment she ever felt she was complete, she wasn¡¯t an orphan, she didn¡¯t have to lie, she didn¡¯t have to think about troubles, this moment was perfect.

¡°The disadvantage about perfect is, it is perfect. I am terribly sorry to mention, that time is up. It is time that Susan has to know the truth.¡± Mrs. Klaus¡¯s words were like lightning, it struck and the perfect ness was torn into 2, ¡°Susan, it is time for me to explain why you were separated from your parents and what Jerry said to you today. Come Susan. There is a lot to be known, and I promise you that you will meet them again. And it will be sooner than you think.¡±

Susan¡¯s mind flashed with the scenes of her fate, her separation, school, friends, stories, mummies, alien talks.

¡°Yes. It is about time I get this whole story of myself straight.¡± Susan stood up and kissed her parents, ¡°Father, mother, I am afraid I must go. But I swear to the sky above, to the earth below, to the sea far away, to Lord in our hearts, that I will come and see you, no matter what it takes.¡±

Susan stepped away, took her last glance at them and turned away.

¡°No, Susan come back!¡± Artemis screamed, trying to chase her, but Mrs. Klaus stopped her.

¡°Artemis, your daughter has some serious talking. And may I remind you, you have some thinking to do, too. Have you every wondered why your name was Artemis and what you should do for daughter instead of keeping her in your arms?¡±

Mrs. Klaus finished and walked away with Susan.