Forgotten-WMMAP

Chapter 17

Papa stood quiet. Acacia and I didn’t dare to breathe out loud. We stood quiet waiting for our doom…

“Only five questions.” Papa said as he took a drink of his tea. 

Five… only five. What questions will Anthanasia choose? Will she ask disturbing questions in front of papa? To make papa hate us? Is that her goal? Will papa not love us anymore? I-I don’t want that… n-no. Please don’t h-hate us papa… 

I close my eyes tightly, ignore the small whimper that wants to escape. Acacia and I finally have some attention and now she wants to take that away.

Opening my eyes slowly, I could see Acacia had her eyes closed and papa barely even looked at us. Turning my head to the right, Athanasia is there staring at me. When she noticed me staring at her, she had a small smile.

Soon enough a maid brought in a small bottle that held a yellow liquid. Acacia and I watched as the maid put a small amount on our tea and quietly left. 

Looking up at Aster, I could see the same fear in his eyes as we both held on our teacup. Athanasia, I will promise until I die if you dare ask anything disturbing or bad. I will get revenge if you dare make Aster cry or make papa hate us. 

Closing our eyes, we drank the whole tea. Ignoring our dry throat we faced Anthanasia. 

Anthanasia closed her eyes and smiled innocently. “Let’s get this started. First, who are you?” 

As if a force of discomfort was pulled. I couldn’t move. My mouth opened of it’s own will as I stared ahead looking at Acacia eyes. In my monotone voice I said, “Second child of Claude de Alger Obelia and Diana. Younger brother to Athanasia de Alger Obelia. And older brother to Acacia de Alger Obelia, my name is Aster de Alger Obelia.”

“Third child of Claude de Alger Obelia and Diana. Younger sister to Athanasia de Alger and Aster de Alger Obelia, my name is Acacia de Alger Obelia.” Acacia said in her monotone voice. Feeling the painfully discomfort around her. 

“How do you know that psy-um I mean magician?” 

Both at the same time we said. “Aster/Acacia and I were talking about running away and traveling around the world when we grow up. We could have stolen some gold from the main palace to survive out there since there isn’t gold anymore at the Rudy palace because the maids had stolen all of it. And thought of wearing some type of clothes to hide our eyes. At that time Acacia/I was struggling to lift up the rod where Acacia/I had caught a big fish. I/Aster went to help and as we were trying to bring in the fish, a big splash had happened. We got drenched by the water and there we saw Lucas holding our fish.”

It hurts. The small discomfort turned into pain. I wanted to crutch down and hold my stomach but I couldn't. I’m just sitting down. Not moving because of the potion. Not wincing but standing straight as a perfect doll. 

“What do you mean the maids had stolen all of it?” Athanasia asks, confused. 

All three of us didn’t notice the tight grip Claude had on his teacup while looking at the table with a cold expression. 

Symmetrically we said, “The maids had been stealing from us for a very long time. It started when Athanasia had her own room as we were stepped aside for not being talented and shared a room. Everyday a maid will bravely steal something from our room, could be a toy or blanket. Then, when Athanasia left to live in the Emerald palace. Every rudy palace worker decided to steal everything from inside the rudy palace and left us behind with nothing but our current clothing we were wearing.” 

Silence was our answer. We couldn’t see papa, Athanasia, or even lily expression as the truth potion only made us stare straight ahead. 

Looking at Acacia eyes, they aren’t bright anymore. As if death was just beside her whispering against her ear giving her negative responses. 

Looking at Aster's expression, he looks emotionless. As all the good things in life were sucked out of his body and left an empty shell behind. 

Quietly we heard Anthansia said, “I left the rudy palace at 5 years old. H-How did you two survive without food, clothing, and during the seasons?” 

Again, “It was difficult at first before we met Lucas. During the first year after everyone left, we immediately went and searched each room to check if there is anything that can be of some use. We already knew at some point everyone was going to leave us because of how untalented and worthless we were. So we had a secret stash in one of the rudy palace rooms where we hid blankets for the winter and some gold from our toys collection. But we noticed that the door was bust open and everything was gone. Later on, we explore the forest. We wanted to find food and luckily we found a big lake. It was difficult to fish when we used some type of wood as our rob, which resulted in eating only a few small berries. Our food situation was difficult since we can’t hunt for animals or fish because of our small bodies. And we just wore the same clothing since we couldn’t grow that much because of our lack of nutrients we had received for many years. And for seasons, winter was the most difficult because we lacked clothing and food. We couldn’t get food, so most days in winter we couldn’t eat and there was barely food from the emergency food supply that we had. And since we lack clothes and blankets, we spend our time sleeping wishing that the winter can pass by because we sometimes couldn’t feel our bodies because of the cold. And once I/Aster got a fever which was bad.” 

I want to cry. I-I can’t take this anymore. Why does Anthanasia hate us? Why is she punishing us by remembering our painful struggle to survive. I want to cry but I can’t because of this stupid potion! 

We then heard a small crash on papa's side. On the table we can see a trail of tea passing by as it stains the white cloth. Some rustling was heard but papa said, “Leave it!” 

I wanted to move my head, but I couldn’t. All I could see was Aster's lifeless eyes staring at mine. Are mine the same? Could he see my lifeless eyes? 

Almost as a whisper I could hear Athanasia say, “ Why do you love papa?” 

For the last time, symmetrically we said, “ Because he is the first person we didn’t feel fear against when he reaches over to us. The first time he patted our heads, we greedly wanted more. Ever since we remember at a young age we never like adults touching us. Fear is all we feel when one wants to reach over and touch us. But papa isn’t like that. We felt safe and wanted more attention from him. We are grateful for papa to name us. And we want to stay beside papa, even though he won't see us as his children. We can become someone who will be worthy to stay beside the emperor or papa side. To achieve his wants and dreams is what we will gladly do. We just want to stay beside papa's side.” 

Once again, the sickening silence was repeated. We stood there waiting for anyone to give us the cure.

Hearing chairs being moved, I see papa picking up Acacia. He then went to my side and picked me up. Resting against his arms I can see the same maid walking towards us holding a different type of bottle with red liquid. Picking up a spoon, the maid poured a small amount of that red liquid and helped us drink it. 

Immediately, I can twitch my arm a little. 

“It will take time for your bodies to get back in control. For now, let’s head inside. Magician, if you want to come then come out of hiding or you won't get inside the palace.” Papa said as he started to walk away from the table. 

I couldn’t see Athanasia or LIly but decided to ignore it. They are either still at the table or taking a walk away from us. I wonder what her reactions were? Did she remember about us? Will she care?.... Nah.