Listen Before You Speak

Chapter 12

And then you get to chapter 12 and there's nobody you feel the need to dedicate the chapter to... 

Llaluna didn't even look at the cards as she started speaking. She was looking directly through me. Splitting my soul into half and seeing everything I have been hiding for the last four years.

"Who is the person you killed?" Llaluna asked, her blue eyes glowing purple.

I could feel the panic setting in. I could feel my dinner pushing up in my throat, ready to spill out on the kitchen floor.

"I didn't..." I whispered, not trusting my mouth to open any bigger.

"The cards don't lie. Whose death were you responsible for?" Llaluna asked again.

"I didn't mean to..." I couldn't hold the tears.

"I don't want you near my son until you have sorted this out. I want you gone by the time I come out of my room tomorrow afternoon," Llaluna said and then started packing up the cards.

"I didn't kill anyone!" I cried. "I promise. I didn't mean for it to happen."

"You might not have pulled the trigger, but it's just as much your fault as that of your accomplice."

"But I didn't know... I have paid my dues," I sobbed. "Just check the cards again. They will tell you the truth you said. Check them. I didn't do anything."

"You don't get to pay your dues when you take an innocent life." Llaluna's face had changed. She was another woman now. Gone was the warmth and the crazy silliness. She was now a woman made of stone, her face a mask that I could not get through.

"I didn't do it. Please..."

"Just stay away from my son. I don't need a killer anywhere near him," she said as she stood up from the table. Indicating that our session and the conversation was over.

"But I... I..."

"You love him?" she finished my sentence. "No Elijah. You feel attached to him because he doesn't shy away from your aura. But let me tell you one thing. My son may have a wonderful heart, but he is blind as a bat when it comes to spotting a hopeless case."

"I'm not a hopeless case..." I could not control my sobbing and the tears streaming down my face. "You can't do this."

"I can't? Don't tell me what I can and cannot do. Let's make a deal. You go away, and I will keep my mouth shut and not tell Blake you're a killer."

The cruelty in her words hit me right in the stomach. I felt it and I wanted to vomit. She used the one card against me that she knew I would not be able to bargain with. I had no choice now. I had to leave. I had to leave Blake behind. And just as I have predicted he will be the one that gets hurt. He will have no explanation. He won't have somebody telling him that it had nothing to do with him, that he is a great guy.

"I'll go right now," I said, trying to wipe the tears away that stained my cheeks.

"Blake will wonder where you went to. Maybe you should break up with him first and leave in the morning." She said it so casually. As if it wasn't really that big of a deal. Like we were discussing what we would be having for breakfast tomorrow morning.

"No. I'll leave now." The chair scraped over the floor behind me. I was sure it left a mark, but I didn't care. I hoped that this bitch would be on her knees for an entire day trying to get rid of the mark.

"As you wish. I won't stop you."

She left me in the kitchen. I stood in one spot until I heard a door close upstairs. I didn't move until I knew without a doubt that I would not bump into her again, and then I made my legs that felt cold as ice move slowly out of the kitchen and up the stairs to Blake's room.