“The demon that he released got trapped in me, and I’ve been living with it for eighteen years, ” she smiled widely, and her eyes turned red.
Deep red.
“Jesus!” Marlie who was sitting almost close to her screamed in fear, sprang up, and the jump at Declan.
“Tiffany?” Senator Han widened his eyes.
“Babe,” Aiden shook his head, stood up, and then walked towards her hurriedly.
He grabbed her wrist, pulled her up, and then turned to walk away with her but halted abruptly as the lady didn’t even move an inch.
“Just follow me, Anny,” he wore a look that tells that he was scared of what could unfold at any moment.
“This is not happening,” Martha covered her mouth with her palms and stood from the chair slowly.
“You see…” Tiffany began, this time, her voice had gone deeper and was echoing.
This was something that had never happened.
This was the voice Aiden had never heard from the lady.
Tiffany yanked her hand off Aiden’s, pushed him aside, and then walked past him slowly.
“I don’t really like the idea of getting exposed in front of y’all, but I think it’s not entirely a bad thing either,” she smiled and then stood in front of Martha who held her breath.
“And do you know the reason I’ll not take anyone’s life here today? ” She rested her hand on Martha’s shoulder and walked towards Theodore who looked like he was the most shocked of them all.
“Because of my friend here, my lifesaver,” she stopped in front of him.
Tiffany knew what she was doing.
It was just that, those words came out freely from her mouth like that was what she wanted to say.
She withdrew from Theodore and walked back slowly.
“It was actually you who kîlled my mother, right?” she gave a devilish smirk to Martha.
“I… Didn’t,” Martha hiccups.
“Then did I? Oh, maybe I was the one who finished her off, but you pushed her to her deãth.”
Aiden furrowed his brow at where he stood, those words were not only the word of Tiffany.
It was as if the two of them, Tiffany and Akilang took turns in talking.
“I… I didn’t mean to send her to the mountain, I’m sorry,” Martha cried.
“Lie!” Tiffany roared, her voice covering the entire room.
“You sent her there, knowing fully that she might not make it. You pushed her off to deãth because of jealousy! Because you thought your husband was the owner of the baby. Tell me, have you never planned to kill her?” Tiffany creased her brows.
“I… I never did,” Martha stammered.
“If you lie to me again, I’ll kîll you right now,” she mumbled with a straight expression.
“I… I once attempted to poison her food,” Martha closed her eyes.
” What?” Theodore and Senator Han creased their brows in shock.
“Really?” Tiffany smiled.
“She left the food untouched because she had another craving,” Martha added.
“You planned to kîll my mother and me and when that didn’t work, you sent her to get peaches at the mountain,” she nods her head and then turned to face Aiden slowly.
“Did you really wanted to eat peaches that day?” She raised a brow.
“I…” Aiden went mute.
“I guess not. How the fûck would a one-year-old baby want to eat peaches?! How the fûck do you know he was craving for peaches?! How?!” She bellowed.
Declan sighed as he watched the scenery in front of him.
Although, he had always thought the lady was weird, but he had never thought she could be something like… this.
“You…” Tiffany exhaled and faced Senator Han.
“Tiffany, ” the man shook his head in tears.
This was breaking his heart deeply.
“You chose to be a coward and abandon my mother and me.”
“I’m sorry,” he shook his head.
“Do you know how growing up was for me?” Tiffany asked and then tears rolled down her eyes.
“You have no idea. You probably think I was treated and taken care of with love in the Orphanage, right?” She asked and watched as the man shook his head.
“My first wound closed up itself when I was five… Do you have any idea how scared I was? As a kid, I hated myself and believed what everyone used to say to me. They said I was a wîtch, that I was cursed, that I was a blood-thirsty demon… They said a lot of horrible words to a little kid and I wished to dîe.”
“I’m sorry,” senator Han broke into fresh tears.
“You know what my dormitory mother said when she saw the wound close up? She called me a monster and locked me in a room,” she chuckled, tears still running down her cheeks.
“You think I left the orphanage home on my accord? No, even though I didn’t like it there, I never wanted to leave. I wanted to stay, seeing the other kids every day no matter the harsh words they hurl at me. But I couldn’t because my dormitory mother planned for my deãth,” she smiled.
Aiden widen his eyes in disbelief, the girl had never said anything about this.
“She had some men take me to the mountain to kîll me, but I survived mysteriously. I don’t know what happened there, but the little I know bothered me for a long time. One of the assassins was lying in front of me, covered in blood while I watched the injured man run away his life. My hands were covered in blood, Human blood! I guess I kîlled them, don’t you think?”
Aiden shook his head slowly as he heard what Tiffany had just uttered, he staggered backward and fell to the floor slowly.
What she had just said was what happened in the mountain nine years ago.
The little girl kîlled the man, and he saw that happened.
Was Tiffany the girl?
“You think I wanted to live this way?! Do you think I love being an outcast? A freak? A girl who never tries to fit in?! You think I had it easy because I have some demon inside of me?!” She growled.
“You guys… The three of you are responsible for what is happening today. If you had not let your curiosity get the best of you, I wouldn’t have possessed your mind to release me!” She yelled at Theodore.
“If you hadn’t sent my mother to the mountain that day… I might have as well lived like every other kid in the world!” She yelled at Martha.
“And you… You abandoned my mother and me, even before the incident happened. You chose your career and your BEAUTIFUL family over us?!”
By this time, everyone had tears rolling down their cheek.
God, none of them saw this coming.
“You have no idea how much and what is going on in my head right now,” she smiled and then turned around.
She glanced at the door across the room and then walked slowly towards it.
“Tiff…”
“If you dare follow me, I’ll feed your remain to the dogs,” she threatened.
Aiden didn’t have any of it. He stood from the ground and dashed after her.
“You can’t leave looking like this, babe,” she protested.
“This? It’s fine,” she smiled, and then her eyes returned to normal.
“Don’t follow me. I want to be alone,” she moved away from the guy and resumed walking.
“Tiffany,” Aiden walked after her.
“Don’t follow me,” she turned the knob of the door and walked out of the big living room, while Aiden followed suit.
“You can’t leave. Okay, tell me where you’re going and I’ll drop you off, please ” Aiden pleaded.
“Anny,” he grabbed her wrist.
“I said you should stay away from me!” She turned around and then pushed him away from her not minding as he crashed against the wall.
“I’ll hurt you if you keep following me. I’m not myself right now,” she hissed and then resumed walking.
“Hold on, Tiff… Fûck!” Aiden groaned as he tried to stand up.
“Babe!” he screamed as he watched her walk out of the big gate.
Everyone rushed out and rushed toward Aiden. Declan knelt beside him and tried to pull him up.
“What happened? Where’s she?” Declan asked.
“Just run after her, she wouldn’t have gone too far, please!” Aiden pushed him away.
“You should get up first,” Declan sighed.
“Go get Anny, please. Go get my girl,” he cried.
“Okay, okay, I’ll go!” Declan stood up and ran towards the gate.
Martha rushed beside him and knelt beside him, “Are you okay?”
“Get off me,” he yanked her hand off.
“Son?”
“I regret that I am your son. I can’t believe how horrible you are,” he shook his head as he forcefully stand up.
“You think I am horrible?” Martha frowned.
“Then what are you?” he raised his brows and then glanced at senator Han.
“Do you also believe she’s a demon? Will you let go of her now that know who she truly is?” Aiden asked.
“Wait, did you know this from the beginning?” Martha creased her brows.
“Yes. I saw her eyes turn red for the first time. I saw her wound close up. I knew a demon was in her all along. And I chose to stand by her,” he answered and Martha slapped him across his face.
“You’ve been living with the fact that she’s a demon?” She hissed.
“Who is a demon?” Senator Han interfered.
“That girl. You all saw it! You saw her eyes changed and all. You saw everything!” She screamed.
“Did you not hear her voice? I’ve never heard that in my whole life!”
“The one who is a demon is you, and not my daughter. You have no idea what it takes to live the way she has been living,” he shook his head.
“Then do you know?” Martha smiled sarcastically.
“Yes. I do because I’m going to share all of her pain from now on!” he snapped.
Tears rolling down her face, Marlie rushed to her dad and hugged him.
“I thought you were going to abandon her,” she cried.
“There’s no way I’ll do that. I’ll make sure to stay by her, making her happy,” he wrapped his hand around his little girl.
“Daddy,” Marlie cried.
The gate opened and Declan entered and ran towards them, breathing heavily.
“Where’s she?” Aiden frowned.
“I can’t find her. I swear I searched for her and…”
“Fûck!” Aiden screamed.
“Why are you all getting worked up because of that girl? Should you not be…”
“I didn’t imagine you’d turn despicable,” Theodore finally talked.
“What?” Martha frowned.
“You’ve become so horrible that I’m scared of you,” he shook his head.
“I’m going to find Tiffany,” Aiden cut in and then turned to leave, grabbing his waist.
“I’ll go with you,” senator Han offered.
“You can’t risk getting seen by the people,” he stopped walking and said to him.
“Fûck that. Family comes first… Even if I have to leave the office,” He exhaled.
“I’ll drive,” Declan offered.
“Get in the car, Aiden. Let’s go find my sister,” Marlie waved his hand at him.
“I’ll come with you,” Theodore said.
“No dad, no,” Aiden refused.
“But…”
“Listen to your son,” Senator Han hissed.
“Let’s go?” Declan tilted his head.
“Yeah,” Marlie nodded her head.
==
The first place Aiden directed Declan to drive to was the sandwich bar which was closed like he had expected and then made way to her house.
“I don’t think the car can go any further,” Declan pulled the car and glanced at Aiden who sat beside him at the owner’s side.
“Then, let’s walk down to her place,” Aiden said and then got down from the car.
“You should stay in the car, dad,” Declan said to his dad who also prepared to alight from the car.
“I’m not having any of that. I don’t go around with packs of nose mask for fun,” he got down, opened the door of the front seat, and took a nose mast from its pack.
“Are you sure she lives in this neighborhood?” Declan looked around as they start to walk slowly.
“Yes,” Aiden said as he kept on trying her number which kept directing him to voice mail.
“Aiden, what was your reaction when you first saw her eyes?” Marlie asked and hurriedly rushed to his side.
“I was shocked at first. It was in school, on the rooftop when it happened. We just shared a kiss for the first time and her eyes turned red. She looked confused as well since it had never happened to her so I took her out of the school and then went to my house together with her. It took a few days before her eyes returned to normal,” Aiden answered as he dialed Tiffany’s number again.
“Wait, was it that day she buried her face in your chest?” Declan widened his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Fûck! That was close! Did Zoey know about her?”
“Sure. She visited when she left school that day,” Aiden answered.
“Woah, I am the only one who knew nothing,” Declan pouted.
“You guys weren’t close. There’s no way I was going to tell you that,” Aiden hissed.
“Who is Zoey?” Senator Han asked.
“Huh… My girlfriend,” Declan looked away.
“She knows about Tiffany and didn’t leave her?”
“Yes. She’s a great girl. She saw her wound close up and stuff yet she embraced Tiffany,” Aiden answered.
“Declan, bring her to see me sometime in the future. I think I like her already,” he chuckled.
“Really?!” Declan widened his eyes.
“Of course, she didn’t run away from my daughter, she stood by her. She’s indeed a great person,” Senator Han nodded his head.
“Oooooh!” Marlie exclaimed.
“We’re almost there,” Aiden announced.
*
“Here?” Senator Han frowned as they stopped in front of a small door.
“Yes,” Aiden pressed his lips together.
“But…” He stopped halfway as he looked around again.
“Why are there no windows?” He asked again and Aiden shrugged his shoulder.
“Dad, we’re here to find her, not make comments on where she lives,” Marlie sighed.
“Oh, okay,” Senator Han nodded his head slowly.
“Declan, call Zoey. Tiffany might have called her. There’s no other place she could have gone to,” Aiden said.
“Okay,” Declan removed his phone from his pocket and then browsed through it.
~
“Huh, like he knew I was going to call,” Zoey smiled as Declan’s call came it.
“What’s up, babe?” Declan greeted.
“I was just going to call. What’s the occasion? Did you miss me?” Zoey grinned.
“Erm, Zoey… Did Tiffany call you?” Declan asked instead.
“Tiffany? No, what’s wrong?”
“She’s missing. Something came up and she left and we’re unable to find her,” he answered.
“What?! Where’s Aiden?”
“He’s here,” Declan answered and then glanced at Aiden.
“Give the phone to him, please,” Zoey pleaded and Declan handed the phone to Aiden.
“Aiden?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened? Why did she go missing?” Zoey asked.
“I… She got discovered already,” he exhaled.
“Goodness!”
“Let us know if she reaches out to you, okay?”
“Where are you guys? I’ll come over,” Zoey said.
“No. Just stay there. We’ll take care of it. I’ll call you when we find her, okay?” Aiden said and then ended the call before the girl could protest.
“Where else do we go from here?” Marlie asked.
“I don’t know. If she’s not at the sandwich bar and not here, I don’t know where else she could be,” he shook his head.
“You’ve taken her to your house a couple of times before, right? Shall we go there? She could have gone there to wait for you,” Declan suggested.
“You think?”
“Yeah, let’s give it a go,” Declan patted him.
=
When they got to Aiden’s house, they all sighed in frustration as she wasn’t there. It was going to get dark soon as it was almost six in the evening which worried everyone.
“Where could she be?” Marlie groaned as she collapsed on the couch.
“I don’t… Wait, there’s one place we haven’t checked,” Aiden clapped his hands together.
“Where?” Senator Han asked.
“Somewhere…” Aiden drawled in an accent as his lips tugged in a faint smile.
*
They arrived at the place Aiden had directed Declan to drive to twenty minutes past six.
“Where is this?” Declan sighed as he also alighted from the car.
“Somewhere with one of the best views at night,” Aiden nods his head as he marched forward.
“She better be here, I am fûcking tired,” Marlie groaned.
“Can we walk noiselessly? If she’s here and knows that we’re here, she could try to hide. Don’t say a word also, Tiffany hears whispers from afar,” Aiden warned.
“What an exaggeration,” Declan yawned.
“It’s not an exaggeration,” Aiden hissed and began to walk.
*
Tiffany knew someone was approaching, the footsteps rang loudly in her ear which disrupted her thoughts.
She wasn’t in the mood to even turn her neck to check who was coming.
There was no way Aiden would come here after what she did to him earlier.
Everyone probably hàted her already. Even her father would have given up on her.
Huh, that is given.
Who the fûck would want to have a demon as a family?
The view here wasn’t as great as it is at night, but it quite soothed her to see the sun set.
There was no way she was going back to the street looking so hideous and ridiculous.
Her eyes had turned red after the cab driver who rode her here left since she refused to pay him as she didn’t have any on her.
She was only glad the man let her off, it was when she stumbled on a rock and yelled out in anger that her eyes turned red.
Huh, she’s doomed.
*
Aiden smiled as he saw the back view of Tiffany and stopped walking. He gave the others who were still behind a thumb up with a smile and they understood what he meant.
He moved backward and gestured to the senator to go to her first which the man nodded his head with a smile and then removed the nose mask on his face.
Senator Han walked slowly and cautiously till he got to where the lady was and sighed.
“It wasn’t easy finding you at all,” he groaned and then settled beside her.
Tiffany turned to look at him slowly and frowned.
Why did he come here?
“I thought your eyes returned to normal before you left,” he smiled as he bore his eyes into hers.
“You see…” Senator Han started as he stared at the tall buildings across the cliff, feeling Tiffany’s eyes on him.
“Nova loved supernatural stuff so much that she wished that when we had kids, one of them whould have a superpower. Huh, I should have scolded her back then when she made such a statement,” he smiled and then turned to look at her.
“When I dîe and go to the afterlife, I’ll scold her when I meet her for saying such words,” he smiled.
“Why are you here?” Tiffany whispered.
“I am here for you. I lost you once, I don’t ever want to let you go again,” he answered.
“I am not your daughter. I am a demon,” Tiffany looked away.
“Why would you say such a heartbreaking thing to your father? You ain’t a demon, Nova didn’t birth one. Are you trying to make your mother angry up there?” He half frowned.
“Leave.”
“I know I am horrible beyond words. I know that I was never a father. I know, but can you forgive me just once and let me try to be a dad to you again?”
“I understand how hard it is for you. I know I realized my mistake too late, but please, can you let me be there for you as your father?”
“I am dangerous. By the time the demon in me gets unleashed, no one will be able to tame me. No one,” she shook her head and tears fall off her eyes.
“When that time comes, we’ll think about it. I’m sure there’s a way to get rid of it, right?”
“I don’t know,” she looked away and sniffed.
“Even if there’s not. I’ll train you to learn how to use your powers for good use. You’ll never harm anyone,” he vowed.
“What are you? God’s sidekick?” Tiffany frowned and Senator Han chuckled.
“Yes.”
“It’s not funny,” Tiffany frowned.
“What I’m trying to say is that I’m accepting you for whom you are. See, your siblings showed up also,” he looked back which Tiffany did also.
Tears rolled down her eyes as she saw Marlie who waved her hands at her, grinning from ear to ear, then Declan who also waved his hands at her, and then Aiden who formed a heart with his hand.
“Why are you guys not running away?” She burst into fresh tears and then covered her face with her palm.
“We are never going to run away from you, not now, and not later when things might later go haywire. We’ll share your pain and discomfort with you.”
“Tiffany, I am sorry that I failed you, but please, don’t push us away any longer. Accept me… Please,” he reached out to her hair and caress it slowly.
“I could hurt you guys, I don’t want to see the people I love getting hurt because of me,” she removed her hand from her face and cried out, shooking her head.
“How could you possibly hurt us? You have wonderful people by your side, your boyfriend, your friend, which is Declan’s girlfriend, Marlie, Declan, and me. Even that demon will bow. He wouldn’t think of hurting the strongest thing in the world. Love, friendship, and Family. Trust me,” he shrugged his shoulder.
“You think?” Tiffany cried.
“Yes, those three, are the greatest of everything in the world,” he nods his head.
“Goodness!” Tiffany burst into another round of tears and her father pulled her into a hug.
“I’m sorry you’re going through this, Tiffany,” he patted her back.
“I’m so sorry this had to happen,” he whispered and Tiffany wrapped her hands around him slowly.
“I am sorry, my daughter,” he said and allowed the drop of tears to fall off his eyes.
*
TBC…