Here's Part Two, enjoy. And please, constructive criticism are highly appreciated!
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Prologue
Part Two
I was in tears crying hysterically as my mother, Sheryle, tried to drag me away from my bed, the bed that I was clinging to that I will be leaving for a long time. My hands gripped the wooden bed post tightly and refused to let go. In the haze of my tears, my cousin Annabel and Camille gave me comforting smiles and my mother finally gave up sauntering away after muttering, 'Maleah, I'm giving you twenty minutes and no less.'
I was too distraught at the thought of leaving and jumped at Annabel who always understood me despite being three years older than I and her sister Camille who is the same age as I, 'Don't let them take me!'
'Hush, Leah, you know there's nothing we can do.' Annabel murmured softly in my ears and gave me a kiss on the forehead. Camille wiped the tears on my face with the hem of her skirt making me giggle at her shorts and she giggled too remembering that ever since we grew up, that we were tomboys.
We were the ones who loved to climb trees and steal fruits from the neighboring farms back in the little village our families always visited to go to our great grandfather's mansion and our grandfather's two farms. We stayed all day outside playing with the local boys we befriended, shocked and made the town folks laugh and tormented poor Kathleen Agapito, my cousin on my mother's side even resorting to breaking her window with a rock after what she did to me a year ago.
Camille hugged me tightly and Annabel joined in before complaining, 'Come on, stop this mushy stuff. You're contagious and making me cry now even when I promised not to!'
Camille and I let out a laugh at her dramatic attitude and let each other go on a sigh. Annabel said sniffling, 'Just don't forget to write!'
'I will, you know that we never broke the chain!' I grinned and tried not to show my heart breaking but was unsuccessful. Reality broke on us as my mother's voice bellowed, 'Three minutes and no more, Maleah!'
'Would you do me a promise?' I asked the two of them ruefully. They gave each other a dubious look and nodded, 'Would you mind going back to the docks everyday when you're visiting to look for the pocket watch?'
'And if you ever find out who that guy was, you know what to do.' I concluded.
Camille shot me a demented look then Annabel elbowed her in the stomach forcefully making her wince. Camille glared at her sister and made me smile as they're always bickering with each other.
'Come on guys, don't fight now. The last time, you two was grappling each other like monkeys on your mom's bed and I had to smack a big fat dictionary at Camille's butt!' I grinned evilly at her embarrassment as she fumed darting glares at us. I hugged Camille even if she tried to shake me off.
She finally gave up before Annabel joined us. We stayed like that for a long time then we jumped up when my mother screeched from downstairs, 'Maleah, time to go!'
I whispered for them not to change and stepped away to walk down the stairs to my impatient mother. She grabbed my hand and pulled me outside into the lukewarm darkness with a gazillion stars blinkering in the moonlit sky. I stopped at the gate for a moment.
To look to the window of the living room hoping to see Annabel and Camille, disappointment welled up in my stomach. But it was then I heard the shouts from the terrace and saw them waving frantically making me smile.
The house is quiet as a dead person can be. I looked at the stony white mansion trying to memorize every detail of the house, the plants and the flowers. Finally my gaze landed at the big old manga tree that all cousins of my generation in my mother's family side climbed up to despite the fiery little ants crawling on its trunks.
My mother pulled me away into the waiting van and the last memory I had of the house as I looked back were my cousins and other family members waving away.
