The Chapter We Closed

2. The Retribution Begins

Ashtyn

The family had returned sooner. The mansion lit up again as my insides burned in spite. I stood in the shadows as I heard the laughter and joy radiating from the place. There's was a perfect family. Too perfect to be true. It was growing unbearable to stand out here day by day or perhaps the emptiness inside me was. My dark eyes went darker as I saw their smiles from the window, after taking away all of mine.

Destiny was in my favour for once and I wasn't going to let go of the chance so easily. My only chance. Vengeance flowed through my blood like a broken promise I had to restore. My dark hair were damp and stuck to my face as I moved them away from my eyes. An owl hooted in a nearby tree but my eyes were in a trance looking only ahead. A pair of the lightest blue eyes caught mine and held a moment's long eye contact. Immediately realizing my mistake, I pulled away and disappeared like always. From far away I could still see those eyes fixed onto the place I was standing a moment ago.

I walked away guided by the streetlamps off to where I belonged. Yet.

Nash

Those eyes will always haunt me. It had  been a week since mom, Nan and Nora had returned. Life unusually went back to normal. No more creepy stalkers and it had been long since another nightmare had woken me up. Or was I forgetting? Ever since we came here, I've been in search of a therapist. The environment had clearly not suited me as my mental health deteriorated. After weeks of search, I finally found a psychologist nearby.

The only problem now was to escape everyone and making sure they didn't find out. My family disapproved of therapy, partly because I'd find out things they had been hiding. All the childhood trauma woven into me would be a complex web of tragedies and broken lives. They wanted to keep me away from the past but my curiosity and increasing problems got the better of me.

After having breakfast early in the morning, I got dressed in my signature cream coloured jeans and dark brown hoodie and walked towards Dr. Isabella Rossi's clinic. The place was darker than any clinic I had seen and was mostly empty. Her house was just on the top floor and here she consulted her patients. An elderly man with patches of black and grey hair led me into her room.

My eyes met her's and a weird feeling of knowingness enveloped me. I sat down in front of her, my light eyes not leaving her darker ones as we greeted eachother. With pale skin, high cheekbones and short black hair, the woman in her twenties stared at my past history in the file I had brought. Not able to contain myself, I asked at last, "Have we met before?" Isabella looked up from her black glasses and studied me for a moment before she replied in negative.

Our first session went well. Though she did not speak much, I found myself at ease. I told her all my problems and even about my little stalker. She was quiet understanding and I left with a new kind of reassurance, though something in me was still convinced I had seen her somewhere before. By the time I reached back to my royal mansion, everyone was still asleep. As I closed the door behind me, I saw someone lurking behind the trees outside the house.

Gathering all the courage I had, I opened the door, stepped out and ran in the direction of my stalker. I soon found myself alone in a mess of trees. My gut was churning with hunger as my lip shivered with cold. I scanned the area but there was no one there but a pair of fighting squirrels in my sight. I head back home, only to find myself locked outside. I remembered I threw the keys in before I had to run out again. The air was not moving that could have closed the door, it was only the nobody who was becoming everybody.

I groaned in anger as I rang the bell five times till Nora opened the door. She stood in her nightsuit, her eyes filled with sleep as she asked me why I was out. Though she was my mom's younger sister, she probably looked like my younger sister. I told her I was out for a walk and had forgotten the keys. I went straight to my room and slammed the door shut. My stalker was getting on my nerves. There was nothing in this house that they could possibly want and since they were appearing only in front of me, I was their target. Or was I?

I let out an exasperated breath as I went to the kitchen to eat alone, again. Another week passed with no sign of my notorious stalker. The therapy was helping me though my nightmares left me in pain and dread. Everyone else was busy in their own lives and the only time we spent together was at dinner which me and Nora cooked together just like all those years ago. Life was going on, or atleast I hoped so to. However, the day he came back changed everything.