The Truths Behind the Life of Maeve Sun Lively

98

I HAD A NIGHTMARE THAT first week after Isabella was born.

In details, I don't remember. As dreams always go, leaving you with an odd sensation, feeling like you knew what it was but find that you actually don't.

But it was something about Isabella and myself.

I love her the moment she was born, as with everyone else who got to see her—even Juno, who was now kindly by our side and a friend of Klarise's, lovers past aside (his eyes told me otherwise though).

Isabella's brown hair looked almost identically black depending on the lighting, resembling herself back and forth as me and Klarise. She had these huge brown eyes, so beautiful. And her little hands and feet were possibly the cutest thing on the whole planet.

There's no excuse for what I have done, but I want you to know that I loved Isabella and care for her as if she's my own blood. But...

Dream being the factor or not, what I have done is by my own hands and I can't take it back. And everyday, I want to take it back. I scream at myself, a small voice in the back of my mind everyday, nagging and pulling at me about this.

So dreams. Nightmare.

It went a little something with Cameron, Klarise, Juno, and vaguely, even Mason had come back; the five of us gathered together and cared for Isabella. There was so much love in that dream.

But then all of a sudden, they stopped acknowledging me.

Their backs turned against me, they wooed at Isabella. I called at them one by one, but no one seemed to hear me. I walked for them, and when I reached, touched their shoulders, backs; trying to get their attention, my hand went through.

They laughed and giggled, a warming aura surrounding them as I felt myself panicking and trying again and again to touch one of them, my hand going through their body without making any contact one by one. The feeling ghosted me inside out.

And then Klarise, the one who was holding Isabella, turned around. Isabella was no longer an infant. She was a thirteen year-old girl who, all of a sudden, looked exactly like a younger me when I had ran away from my mother.

And younger me smiled, getting all of the attention from my family.

"They love me." She said, her hands reaching back to her shoulders as Klarise, who looked down at her with lovingness in her eyes, stroked back her hair. "Not you. They'll never love you as long as I'm here. Or even if I'm not, you don't deserve this love."

Air started running out of my lungs. Choking. I couldn't breathe.

She smiled, slowly turning her back against me. She took hold of Klarise's hand and Mason's. "Lets go now, I'm bored."

Klarise nodded, smiling.

No. I cried. No, don't go. Where are you guys going? None of the words left my mouth. As a matter of fact, I was slowly dying, vision going blurry.

"Somewhere where you'll never see them again," she said, the only one hearing my desperation of plea.

Even as I was unable to get a clear sight of what she looked like again, I saw that signature smile. The bit of the lips to the eyes, the crinkling and acting.

Chen Xing Xing to, the person she was about to put herself into, Maeve Sun Lively.

KLARISE WAS SOUND ASLEEP next to me when I started packing as quietly as possible.

I checked the clock. 2:08 a.m..

As best I could, I threw over my small amount of luggage that'll last me perfectly four to three days. If better and I can make it back in time in two days, I would barely even need any of the luggage, having been used to wearing the same stuff for more than one day.