3 Chapter 3 Revelations

Chapter 3

June refused to leave Neo's side and Jack stayed up all night with a shovel in his hand to protect the two most important ladies in his life.

Gladys shook Jack gently as he slept on the couch. She was dressed in her red and white domestic worker's uniform ready to start the day's work. To the family she was more than a cleaner, she was a woman Neo regarded as her second mother because Gladys had been a part of the family's story for years "Mr Jack" she called out louder. She watched Jack jump up from the leather couch he was sleeping on. The first thing he grabbed was the shovel on the floor "It's me Gladys" Gladys raised her arms in the air.

"I'm sorry, Gladys" Jack said when he saw her bewildered facial expression

"What's the matter? Is Dineo fine?" Gladys asked. Anxiety possessed her entire body when Jack took his sweet time to answer.

"Dineo is fine" Jack said "She's sleeping in the downstairs bedroom" Jack said. Gladys held her chest and breathed. She quickly went to the bedroom and found June and Dineo asleep. She went to the kitchen to make herself and Jack a cup of coffee.

"Dineo is in trouble again, Gladys" Jack leaned over the marble countertops. Gladys just had to look at him once to know what kind of trouble. His facial expression was familiar.

"But we have done everything to protect her" Gladys said quietly "We must immediately take her to the river. Let me call my brother because he is the only other person who knows about this" she took her phone out of her pocket.

"She'll be 28 soon, Gladys. We've got to do what's best"

"But those things will kill her. She is standing in their way" Gladys reminded Jack.

"You're both right" June came walking down the passage "If we don't take her back, she'll die and if we do, she might die anyway" she went to stand next to Gladys "I don't know what to do"

"Vuyo will know just as he did before," Gladys said. Dineo's entire body was sore but she made her way out of bed to the kitchen. Her throat felt like it was on fire. Everyone went quiet when she walked in.

"So what happened last night was real?" Neo said softly. Her voice was hardly loud enough for them to hear but they nodded.

"We've got plenty to tell you" Jack said "We'd have loved for it to have been under different circumstances but we're left with no choice" he added.

"I'll make you some ginger tea to ease the swelling in your throat," June said. Jack lifted Neo's head slightly to examine her neck. A thick black bruise against her brown skin was proof of what happened. He asked her to open her mouth.

"Please try not to talk" Jack said when he saw how inflamed her throat still was. June handed Neo her tea and Gladys placed coffee in front of June and Jack before holding her own cup.

"Nothing about what happened yesterday was a dream, buttercup" Jack said "That creature is real and it wants you dead" he added. He was never one to beat around the bush.

"Why and what was it?" Neo asked before taking a small sip of the tea. Swallowing was painful so she put it aside.

"We don't know what it was but we do know that it's from the sea" June explained "It's after you because you are what stands between it and what it wants, honey" she added. Neo looked perplexed.

"We weren't truthful to you about how we adopted you, Buttercup," Jack confessed. "We didn't find you at an orphanage," he added. His confession made Neo's heart pound. Since the ordeal with saving Thomas, nothing felt right to her.

"Then how did I get here?" Neo asked. She was afraid to know the truth, especially when Jack sighed.

"When June and I were younger, we used to love surfing" Jack began the tale "On our usual fun surfing outing, we heard a newborn baby's cry" June sniffed while Jack spoke as tears rolled down her cheeks "We went to inspect and we came across this little bundle of joy that floated on the water" Jack added. Neo knew that she was the little bundle and to hear how she was found broke her heart.

"I knew and accepted that they don't want me but to leave me in water to drown?" Neo said. She wanted to raise her voice because she was upset but she couldn't "So they wanted me dead?" she asked.

"There's more to the story, honey. Please let dad finish" June said. Neo looked at Jack.

"We were obviously shocked but that soon turned to sympathy. We cautiously went to where you were and June just grabbed you" Jack laughed.

"I couldn't resist. She was this perfect little person who had no one...well we thought you had no one" June shrugged.

"Meaning?" Neo asked.

"Meaning we saw a man in the water. He had silver patterns on his face and his entire upper body. One of them looked exactly like this one" he pointed to the star birthmark on Neo's arm "He was just observing us. I still remember the sadness in his eyes when he looked at us. Another "man" appeared but he didn't look human all. Our ears began to ring when the first man moved his mouth. The second one began to tell us what the first was saying" Jack tried to remember as much detail about that encounter.

"He told us that the first man was your father and that you had to be taken out of sea water and kept out for your own safety," June said. Neo looked at them like they lost their minds.

"So you expect me to believe that I have a father who lives in the ocean?" Neo asked while shaking her head.

"Dineo, listen to us please" June pleaded when she saw Neo stand up to walk away.

"When you are ready to tell me the truth, you know where to find me" Neo went to the lounge. Usually she'd lock herself in her room when they've upset her but she didn't want to be alone.

"Think about what you saw when you saved that boy and about the thing that attacked you" Jack said behind her. The doorbell rang and everyone jumped in fright.