Esmeralda
“Leave me alone!”
A scream tore from the distance.
It could be heard throughout the house.
I recognized that voice immediately. Amelia’s voice.
Another scream rang in the air, followed by faint feminine voices.
It sounded like they were trying to curb the noise, but it already got out of hand before they could do anything.
“Who is that?” Selene asked, rolling to her back and stretching her neck to see the origin of the scream.
“Oh, it’s Amelia,” I replied calmly, “She can be like that sometimes. It’s nothing serious,” I dissuaded her.
“What are they doing to her?” Selene asked, furrowing her brows and sitting up, “Is she alright?” She asked in a worried tone.
“She is absolutely fine. And the question you should be asking is, what is she doing to them?” I corrected, stretching my body before allowing my mouth to widen in a yawn.
A frown descended on Selene’s face, making her eyes sunken, “Poor girl, is she fine?”
“She is…” I dragged my words, “It’s just that she needs more time to get to know herself and get her memory back. The doctor already gave his prescriptions and he said she should rest well. So there is nothing to worry about,”
Silence hung in the air, but I could feel Selene’s emotions running within her.
“You won’t check up on her to know if they are treating her well?”
“She is the Alpha’s sister, who would dare maltreat her without tasting the Alpha’s wrath? Besides, I’ve told you, she can get like that sometimes. She communicates about discomfort, anger or irritation through screaming,”
“Interesting,” Selene nodded her head unconsciously in bewilderment.
Amelia’s screaming was heard again, blasting our eardrums and ruining our reunion.
Our reunions come up the next day after we’ve been separated for a long time. It was an avenue where we discussed whatever happened during our absence and the challenges we were currently facing.
It was like a friendship ritual between Selene and me.
Our reunions take place in a quiet place to avoid disrupted communication and interrupting or any form of distractions… So we spent our evening outside the house, away from the noise, up on the hill where there was solitude.
It was just us.
Nothing else mattered.
And it was perfect as we discussed nonstop everything until Amelia’s voice interrupted.
After briefing Selene about Amelia, she couldn’t stop feeling for the poor girl and the suffering she had to go through as an early teen.
She was so sober, her eyes glistened with tears.
“I think something is wrong with her,” She said, the worry was written all over her.
I was about to wave the feeling off when the door flung open to reveal Jade pulling Amelia who kept wrestling with her.
Unable to keep up with her strength, Amelia broke free from her, dashing up to the hill where I and Selene sat, enjoying the view from above.
How did she even know that I was here?
“Luna!” Her high-pitched voice rang, almost making me close my ears with my palm.
“She,” Amelia turned, pointing her index finger at Jade who approached us slowly.
“What did she do?” I inquired, getting on my feet, confused at Amelia’s sudden outburst.
Maybe something was wrong.
“She,” Amelia said, pointing at Jade again, unable to speak further.
“What did she do?” I asked, squatting to reach her eyes and pinning her with my emerald green eyes, urging her to talk.
I blinked hard, trying to stop my eyes from glowing.
I couldn’t tell the reason behind my eyes glowing uncontrollably these days, especially when I was with Amelia.
“She,” Amelia reported again. Her gaze traveled between me and Jade, “… is forcing me…” Amelia stammered, unable to get on with the rest of her words.
“It’s okay, take a deep breath and tell me what she did,” I urged her, cupping her face before kissing her forehead lightly.
Amelia loved being kissed on her forehead.
“I wanted to give her the drugs that the doctor prescribed, but she won’t take it and if she did, she would throw up,” Jade complained, hitting her forehead with her palm in frustration.
“Is that so, Amelia? Have you been a naughty girl?” I scolded Amelia, raising my voice slightly.
Amelia shook her head negatively, lowering her face to the floor.
“You’ve been stressing Jade lately right?” I sighed, giving her a mean look even if she couldn’t see it as her gaze was glued to the floor.
“Apologize,” I ordered.
She slowly raised her head before her eyes met with Jade, “Sorry, Jade,”
“Good girl,” I said, hugging her tightly before turning to Jade, “The drugs,” I demanded, stretching my hands to receive Amelia’s medication before administering them to her.
“Good girl,” I smiled, pulling her close in an embrace.
“Uhm, Luna… I mean, Esmeralda?” Jade called, turning to me.
Did she just call me Esmeralda?
Was it what I was thinking?
“I am sorry about that day,” She pleaded, swallowing hard and glueing her eyes to the floor, “I shouldn’t have said what I said. I was just…”
“It’s okay. Even if u don’t understand the reason for your behaviour, I forgive you,”
“And you don’t have to lower your gaze before you talk to me,” I walked closer to her, tilting her head to meet mine.
A cheeky smile slowly crept on her face before it consumed it and she jumped on me in excitement.
“Does that mean we are back to being friends?”
“We have always been friends and you’ll always be my friend no matter what I become,” I said, pressing my body against hers as I struggled to hold back my tears.
The call of Jade’s name from the house broke our embrace.
“Madam Dora is back. I have to go. See you around, Esmeralda,” She gasped, breaking our contact.
But she halted on her track, turning to me, “The Alpha instructed that you shouldn’t sleep in that room anymore since it belonged to a former maid. He said you can pick any room of your choice,”
She winked before hurrying off.
Silly Jade.
“You can pick mine, Luna,” Amelia’s voice interrupted my thoughts
“Are you sure?” I teased, cupping her cheeks.
It was a miracle that she was now gaining herself.
She was no longer the shadow of herself again.
“You can take the Alpha’s room instead,” Selene teased me, throwing me a wicked grin.
“You are so silly,” I hissed before we laughed it off.
“Play with me, Luna. Let’s play hide and seek in the garden. If I win you will stay in my room,” Amelia’s large eyes found mine.
“And if you lose,” I asked, lowering my head to meet hers.
“You can stay wherever you want then, but I will always come to your room,”
A silent chuckle rolled off my lips as I remembered Alpha Kade’s words.
You can stay wherever you want.
Could I stay in his room?
“Ready, Luna?” Amelia called, startling me as she shook my arms.
“I’m in!” I announced, getting ready for the game.
When I was a kid, I loved hide-and-seek.
I found the game interesting.
“You want to join our little hide-and-seek game?” I asked Selene, who was sunbathing.
“Wait up,” She replied, standing on her feet and dusting grains of sand that pricked her skin
“You are so going to lose,” She bragged excitedly bouncing toward our direction, “Both of you,”
“It’s Selene’s turn, Luna, come, let me show you where to hide,” Amelia grabbed my hands as she made for a hiding spot below the hills, but my heart started to race wildly.
I suddenly halted when I was about to jump off a hill, hiding behind Amelia.
My vision got cloudy and it was like the air around me disappeared rapidly, making me gasp for breath.
I started hyperventilating as my body broke out in sweat as I tried to put one leg before another to jump, but I couldn’t.
“Are you alright, Luna?”
“Esmeralda?” Selene screamed, abandoning her hiding spot.
My mouth flew open with unspoken words as I stared at Selene, unable to communicate.
But then… I heard that voice.
Though it was distant, its effect blanketed my body with goosebumps and aroused the hair at the back of my neck.
“Fuck, she has a phobia for high places. It reminds her of that witch, Phoebe!”
“We have to do something before she develops a panic attack,”
The last thing I heard was Selene’s desperate screams for help before my eyelids shut in darkness as I was teleported back to my childhood with my younger self climbing the hill in happiness with my sister.
Phoebe.