the scarlet painting

𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜

to be honest I didn't want to hear the next sentence

Or

Word...

That Reed was about to say ... I had a history with people disappointing me and frankly, he was one human being in this world I would be most devasted to be disappointed by, saddened , crushed by I hated how much power he had on me ,I hated how much of a liking I had developed for him.

I hated how if he did say something that would make me not see him the same way , how it would break me.

Reed looked up at me staring into my eyes and took a deep breath .

" the reason why I have changed or seem different... is because I am close to completing my final mission".

He looked at me waiting for me to interject
"mission I am not comprehending"

he took his hand and scratched the back of his neck almost like he was soothing himself ...
"Leo we train, we train our whole lives for our big mission a mission that was made for us since we are young and my mission was put in place as well".

as he continued he seemed more and more uncomfortable which made me uneasy.

"Leo I- I truly never meant for this to happen"

I removed my hands from his grasp which seemed to make him upset and I could see the fear in his eyes his whole body structure seemed to go limb.

he cleared his throat and tried sitting up .
"the Filands.. the reason I look different and have more tattoos as you can see is that I am getting closer to my last mission the... Filands.

I was apart of It ... I had to take them away back to the camp so they can get their memory erased I never agreed with it but... I had to do it , it was part of my mission."

he seemed so frustrated talking to me I started to panic for some reason.

" Leo" he must've felt my panic he tried reaching out for my shoulder but I quickly dodged it and stood up.

"Reed what's going on?"

reed calmly continued
" my mission that i got set up with was to wipe your mom's memory Leo even though your mom's memory was wiped she still remembers quite a lot and paints her memories.. that gets us more exposed .. and in danger, as she sells them to other people other people get curious and want to learn more about us which is a danger."

Suddenly I didn't want to know , I didn't want to hear the next sentences or even hear his voice .

" the day your mom went and found us, Leo, she had saved some little boy ... that was me, Leo, from that day that was my mission to erase that memory before it got too late,which obviously it did since she painted that painting".

It clicked he was talking about that scarlet painting, the one he was staring at that day .

" but it all changed when I saw you .. I was out training near the lake when I saw a little girl with the most beautiful black coils that draped around her head and big beautiful brown eyes that glittered like a pool of honey in the sun, you wore a white sundress with blue sneakers you had decided to go swimming that day, I was amused by you I had never been so interested by someone so much".

He stopped speaking he realized he was smiling at the thought and quickly stopped after seeing my reaction which was pure confusion .

" anyway I got back to camp and my mission had changed not only did I have to erase your mom's mind but your whole families at first the mission was not mine to take it was Blair's but I knew she would just do it there and there and not spare any of you I felt an urge to protect all of you so I took it".

"for years I have been watching over you looking at you at your greatest moments, worst moments as well throughout the years I seemed to have even developed feelings ... towards you."

With everything he said it all suddenly made sense did he leave his necklace on purpose by the grocery store...

Then another  thought hit me I gasped slowly coming to the realization.

"my dreams ... were those perhaps memories"

Reed scratched the back of his head again and choose not to speak

" REED TELL ME THE TRUTH!" I had demanded " "yes .. those weird dreams you had were memories that been gone since that day.. but seemed to have resurfaced through your dreams.

everything felt like a lie I couldn't think my mind was racing it felt like just tuned into my life and that everything around me was fabricated I started walking away towards the dorm but Reed walked up to me and grabbed my wrist but I pulled it away harshly

" so you mean to tell me that all this was part of my some sick plan of yours to what hurt my family you think I'll just awe at the fact that you have been watching me my whole life like.. we're some fricking Natio geographic show where a lion watches over there pray then attacks .. I am not some puppet and I need you to stay the hell away from me and my family as far as possible"

I had said that whole sentence trying to cover up my shacky tone I could feel the tears at the bream of my eyes threatening to spill out I turned away and headed towards the dorm.

I had gone straight to bed crying myself to sleep .

the next day had arrived I packed my bags and was off to home it was the starting of the break so I was
Able to go home straight away.

it was strange to back at Selmer something about the place felt cold and defiantly unwelcoming

"welcome home lioney" my mom basically threw herself towards me my family and I quickly had our welcoming parade outside before they helped me with my stuff to get inside.

They threw me a little welcoming party and we had dinner it was nice but I still felt uneasy and had to get some answers from my mom .

" alright everyone it's pretty late Aries come help me the dishes".

" ugg why can't Leo help you she's here now."

" your sister just got home and you want her doing dishes."

"its ok mom let me help."

I stood up from the table towards the sink where she was
"fine but Aires clear the table and go to bed no staying up on your phone it's already late"

once dad and Aires went upstairs mom and I were left washing the dishes.

" how was the cake?.. I made it especially  for you" she smiled .

" it was great mom thank you I loved it"

she seemed really happy I had to do it now or never "mom I know you know about the azreed please tell me what you know now"

mom dropped a bowl at my statement I quickly went down to pick up the shards of the bowl before anyone can get cut .

my mom seemed shocked to how I know

" listen mom we might be in trouble"

"We might need to move"

"But right now I need you to tell me what you remember" she looked to the side before sighing

"alright ... I'll tell you what I know.