BEHIND THE MASK- BOOK II

SIX: A SHORT BUT SWEET DOSE OF HORROR

SIX: A SHORT BUT SWEET DOSE OF HORROR

Sylvia took things way too far now.

While she was getting ready for bed, hoping for better days, she had no clue what would be dawning on her tonight. As she completed her routine, she went out of the bathroom dressed in her plaid pajama's. In her conscience, something didn't feel right. Slowly, anxiety crept up on her. And the minute she turned the light on, there stood her daughter dropping a body on the floor.

"All I wanted, was for you to understand me. All I wanted, was for you to listen to me when I told you what happened to me, when I told you why I'm like this, why I'm cold, calculated, merciless and heartless. I didn't want our relationship to turn in this direction. I was willing to listen to you, willing to hear your story, but this is what you do. Send Terrance "The Extractor" Blaine to kill the one person who has been helping me try to see men in a different light," Riley stepped over the dead body and approached Sylvia. "Why can't you  accept the fact that your psychotic ex-boyfriend raised me to be this way? You blame Cameron for my character. You blame Cameron because he at least listens to me, cares for me. You hate him because you hate the smile I wear every time I'm with him. Why? Why mom? Is it because he helped me put my predator in jail and you—"

"Don't," Sylvia said in horror. "Stay away from me."

"Answer me, first," Riley's stare was murderous and cold to the point that her own mother couldn't look her in the eye. Afraid that her own daughter might kill her to.

"I don't know..."

"Sorry? I didn't catch that," Riley told her.

"I don't know, okay! I just...don't know."

"You do know. Don't lie."

"I don't," Sylvia replied. "I just—"

"The same thing happened to you, didn't it?"

Sylvia didn't answer her.

"Someone hurt you and you couldn't get the justice you deserved. You didn't have someone to comfort you when you needed it. You didn't have dad. No one believed you and you were paid to stay quiet," Riley revealed.

Then...something clicked. Like the weakest twig, something within her snapped. The next thing Riley knew, she tackled to the floor as Sylvia punched her. After a few, she was tasting her own blood. With ease, Riley switched positions. Then she gave Sylvia a punch of her own. One that was harder, way harder than the ones she received. 

Riley heard the crack and blood followed suit. A smile came across her lips as she locked her mother in a guillotine choke hold. "I pray that you have a good night sleep...mother."

"Let me go!" Sylvia screamed, trying to fight her way out of the hold. 

"The more you fight, the more air you lose," Riley tightened her grip. 

"You have no right to use my trauma against me! You--" 

"I have no right to be happy, right?" Riley asked, tightening her grip even more. "I didn't want to fight you. Yet, I have you clinging to the little air you have left." 

"Shut up, monster." Sylvia spat helplessly. 

"Recycling names for me? I thought you'd be more creative considering you called for bounty hunter to cause commotion at the palace today just because you want to kill a teenager for helping me go through the hell is my life as a deadly assassin. A five-year-old could roast you in their sleep just by how stale you are." 

"Shut. Up!" she said faintly. 

Knowing that her body was getting heavy, Riley purposefully let her go. Not before she landed another punch. Then she grabbed her mother's hair and bashed her head on the nightstand. She watched as her mother's body fell to the ground as she lost consciousness. "Good night, mother dearest. Sleep well, hmm?"

***

She didn't sleep after what happened last night.

In fact, Sylvia couldn't sleep at all. Carson came into her room only to find her standing at the window.

"Am I bad person?" she asked suddenly.

"It's not that you're a bad person, you're just misunderstood," Carson cautiously stepped closer to her.

"But I almost got Riley killed and I almost killed her boyfriend because I assumed that he was using her for his own personal gain, when in truth he's been helping her this entire time. I became what I vowed to never become. I became just like my mother and sister who never cared for me nor cared enough to listen to me. I completely ignored her, made her push me away because of my own stubbornness. I couldn't even bring myself to really listen to her, be the mother she had been yearning for. She lost nine years of her childhood. I wasn't there for her when she needed me most. I failed her as a mother," little did she know, tears were flowing her cheeks. "All she wanted was to come back home and be family again, and I pushed her away. She has no choice but to stay away for the sake of our safety. She has to live with the burden taking lives that meant so much to others by Rodney's command. All I had to do was listen and I couldn't even do that. I painted her as statistic just as my mother did to me. I should be grateful that Cameron is by her side. He saved her and I tried to rip him away from her just because I hated the fact that she was able to smile through all the excruciating pain that she's endured. I hated the fact that she found her resolve although she still fights within herself. I thought it wasn't fair. I thought Cameron was the cause of making her push me away, but I did that to myself. I couldn't let go of my pride and caused this drift between us."

Carson sighed as he pulled her into his comforting embrace. "Only time can heal these wounds both of you hold in your hearts. I'm sure one day, she'll forgive you. One day, both of you will be able to rebuild relationship between each other."

"If I wasn't so blind, it would've happened earlier." She sighed. "Come on, we need to leave."

"Fine. Before we go, look." He showed her an image on his phone.

Her heart sank.

"The Prime Minister of Spain has revealed that a woman named Sylvia West tried to tarnish his name."

Now he decides to speak. She thought.

"Let's go."

"Aren't you going to respond?" he asked.

"I am. Just not right now." She told him. "I can't do much about it now, anyway."