Chapter 30

My twin sisters were growing really fast and they were not troublesome babies, so it was easier for mom to take care of them. Not really easy, as she had to combine babysitting with work and other chores, but it was not too hard because her babies didn't cry too much. They smiled and slept most of the time. My mom said, that was how I was too as a baby, except that I didn't produce tears at all. They did, they had tears in their eyes; they only didn't shed it often. They were so much fun to watch.

Mom designed a crib for them with the name:"Pamela and Jamie" and they looked so cute in their cots. I still went to Dr Brown's but staring at my baby sisters were as therapeutic as talking to Dr Brown. Whenever I stared at them, I just wanted them to grow up faster, walk and be as tall as I was, so that we'd play together and discuss girl things while cuddling up in my bed.

Whenever I looked at Jamie, the blond one, I always saw a mixture of beauty and pain because I knew her future. It was so weird knowing how your little sister is going to grow into, and where she'll end up, and it was even more unsettling to know that that place was not a good place to be. What was even the most unsettling was the fact that you didn't know how to change her story. I knew that if it turned out that I'm not able to change my sister's story, then, I'd live in guilt for the rest of my life. She depended on me. She was just a little baby who didn't even know what life was, yet. The other baby, Pamela was also full of life but I did not know her future. I wish I hadn't known Jamie's too. Because if I didn't know and it happened that her abductor came and took her away, then, we'd accept it in good faith, and find a solution for her. I wished I had obeyed Joe's instructions. He had warned me not to use the pouch by showing me its power. But I was stubborn. No,maybe overly curious. If you were in my shoes, wouldn't you be curious to know your future or your sister's future as well?it was fascinating to try but now I regret it so much

Don't blame me, I already blame myself enough. Maybe it was my fate to bear my sister's burden and find her a way out of her distressed future. Maybe I was meant to be her saviour. It could have been destiny, but why did destiny put that in my hands? I was just a little girl. I was super smart, yeah but that kind of task required much more than humanly smartness and intelligence. I needed help; I needed support; I needed superhuman powers. I loved my sisters too much or maybe it was mom I loved more, but the thing was, I really cared. It'd break mom to lose her eight or nine-year-old little girl. It'd break her into pieces. I didn't think she'd ever be able to pick her pieces. She had already lost too many babies before them.

So, I think I chose my fate because of mom. I did it for her. I was determined to save her baby but I didn't want to lose myself in the process. Joe did warn me not to seek help from werewolves because I'd be badly hurt. What did he expect me to do then? Cross my hands and watch that happen?

The only thing I wanted to focus on was this particular task, but what was the whole thing about that young man asking me to do a research? Said I was gaining recognition, I was smart and fit to do the job? What did he mean, fit to do the job? The man looked smart himself, why couldn't he do the research on his own? Or hire a older person, a computer geek? What business did I have with him? I've never met him in my life, and what's the excitement in mom's voice all about? Yes, he was going to pay me a lot of money for the job, but did mom know what job it was? I wondered how mom became kind of shallow those days. Ever since she put to bed and returned to work, she rarely had time for me. Yes, she lulled me to sleep and gave me instructions but there was no long communications. Her babies, her work and her boyfriend, Jack took most of her time.

I didn't blame her, at all. I never did, because she felt bad for it everytime. It was Cameron I blamed. She cried herself to sleep most nights, talking to Jack on phone.

"I'm tired, Jack. I can't do this anymore. I'm worn out" she would always tell him, crying. This was usually hours after making sure her three daughters were sound asleep. I wasn't always asleep because I wanted to be sure she was fine. I always pretended to be.

She tried, she tried her best to be there for me all the time but at the end of the day, she was already worn out and couldn't make a real conversation with me. I think what she needed was assistance. She got no assistance from her husband and for some reason, she didn't want anyone else to do it for her. Anyone outside her marriage. Not even Mike Tony. She didn't like it when Mike cooked for me. Or helped me bathe. She was not totally okay with him driving me to school as well but she still accepted that.

Jack was too busy and she in fact didn't want us to be involved together yet because I was a child of another man and because we were still under 'my father's' roof. So, it was hard for her. She got no help from her mother's side--i mean she didn't have a mother anymore, she also didn't have a cordial relationship with her sisters. The mystery of that is what I was yet to find out. She didn't know her father, and she married the wrong man. Everything was all wrong. So you see why I wouldn't blame her for keeping a boyfriend even while married. She needed some succour and assurance that her existence was important.

Mom had tried committing suicide twice but she was unsuccessful in both attempts. Anytime she felt like doing it again, she'd pray to God to save her, and then she'd look at me and then change her mind. That was before the twins.

"She isn't going to be left alone in this cold world. I'll wait behind. Whatever it takes, I'll keep going, for her" she had said to herself. You wonder how I knew? I made researches a lot and I could read mom's mind to an extent. I mean, mind reading in its actual entirety. I didn't think it's a thing, that's why I've not been vocal about this because it was only mom's mind I could read. I couldn't read any other person's mind, so I can't call that a superpower, can I?

These were my thoughts that day as I prepared for school. It was the day the two winners eligible for the competition would be announced and tested in my school. Like I said, I was too sure that I'd be one. I had my bath on my own, ate the breakfast mom prepared and looked my best, as I packed my schoolbag. I was deliberately delaying even though I knew Mike was already out in the parking lot waiting for me with his truck. I wanted him to be late for work and leave without me. No one knew I had been boarding commercial taxis to school and taking the school bus back after what happened with Mike. Mom didn't know because I didn't tell her and i didn't let it show. I just couldn't stand sitting in the same truck with him after that time. It was more of anger than fear. I didn't want him to touch me or drive me to school anymore. Even though he apologized, I still didn't accept his apology. I wanted to make him realize he greatly offended me.

Of course mom would have noticed if I showed any repulsive behavior towards him, but i masked it. I didn't want mom probing further because I was not ready to talk about it to anyone. I pretended to be happy whenever he came by to say hello, like he usually did. It was not easy pretending to be okay but i kept doing it. On that day, Mike came to our living room, again after mom had left, to convince me to go with him.

The thing was, before mom left for work, she usually made sure i sat in Mike's truck and was ready to go to school. So I did just that and waved at her as she zoomed off to work, but as soon as her car was out of sight, I jumped down the truck and ran inside the house, locked it from behind and shouted at Mike to leave me alone. He did try pulling me back one time, but i yanked his hands off me.

On this day, few days to the camp, I did the same thing and went back to my room yelling at him through the window.

"Go away!" I yelled

"Ariana, you'll be late for school. Please...

"I don't care! Go away!!" I yelled the more. He stood by my window and even though my curtains were drawn down, he still stood there, pleading with me

"No, I have to take you to school today. It's risky for a little girl to take commercial taxis on her own, or walk alone to school. It's risky, Ariana"

"Just leave me alone. Stop caring about me" I was badly hurt. Even me felt really bad with the weight of my words. I felt bad for yelling at the only man that had ever shown me love since I was born. But I was angry and very hurt. So I kept shouting at him to leave me alone. I did not only avoid touching him, i didn't want to see him even; it was that bad. He was the reason I felt bad for leaving Kangaroo Estate initially, now he was one of the reasons i so badly wanted to leave.

"I can't leave you, Ariana. I'm going to have to tell your mom that you don't let me pick you up anymore" he said, sounding frustrated. There was an upsetting tone in his voice. Why did he do it? Why?

"And if she asks you why, don't forget to tell her what you did to me!" I yelled. Thankfully no other neighbour was around. That was one of the reasons I avoided him more. He could do anything to me if nobody was around, or so i thought.

"Ariana, I'm sorry" he pleaded. But I couldn't just erase the memory. I cried and kicked my shoes and my clothes around my room and knocked my fist on my desk several times. It hurt so much that i had to stop it already. I sat on my floor and cried my eyes out. No tears flowed but I was crying. I wished I wasn't born. I cursed the day I was born. Mike stayed there until i stopped crying. He refused to leave and i was running late for school. I sat there and ransacked my stuff, my camp stuff that mom already packed for me.. Mom had already begun preparing me for the camp three days before . For some reason, she was skeptical about letting me go. I was going to live without her for seven days. It'd be torturous but I was ready to go, if only to avoid Mike and find a way to save Jamie there. I went out of the house and ran into the streets to catch a taxi but Mike caught up with me, carried me on his shoulders and gently placed me in his truck, then he hurriedly locked it up. As he drove me to school, he kept talking to me but I did not even look at him. My heart was beating so fast as he spoke. It didn't stop until he dropped me off at school.

At school, I and one other girl from Anita's class were announced the winners of the training. It was not surprising to me-the fact that I was a winner and the fact that she was a winner as well; I knew Vera to be a very smart chap as well In fact, her score had been the highest after the training, that was because I deliberately picked some wrong answers and misbehaved. Still I made it to the top two. Her name was Vera, and she was the vamp in Anita's class. Very wild, assertive and creative

We were mounted on the podium in the school hal after lunch break and the final intra school competition began. Many questions were asked from us which included spelling bee, arithmetic and statistics questions, grammar, introductory technology, business affairs, science and puzzles in order to choose the final winner, the representative we needed in the competition. This time around, Robinson had made me promise to perform well. So I did as he wished, especially as I realized that the answers and help i so badly needed was in his hands. I had to co-operate. And for some reason, I started to think that Uncle Robinson wanted me to represent the school because I was not a vampire. But was I superhuman?

After two hours of drilling, I emerged the winner. Vera was mad. She didn't even hide her anger, she claimed that the results of the scores were rigged and that I was chosen because my father was popular, and because her own father was not known. I knew how she so badly wanted to be a representative of her school. She wanted to win prizes and possibly hook up with the boys from the other schools, like Nicole, Nick and Matthew. They were three boys from three different schools who represented their schools. She walked up to me after the results were announced and everybody was dismissed, poked a finger at my face and said in the most irritable voice ever, "You! You will not get away with this. Seems you do not remember how we murdered y'all in the past, Now you're trying to prove to me that you're better. I'll start another war, watch me" she said and stumped off. I couldn't believe my ears and I really wished I could give her the opportunity to win but I was stuck in between two choices. But wait, what the hell did she mean by "we murdered y'all in the past?" What did she mean by "war"? Was there something I didn't know? First, it was Uncle Robinson, an alpha getting attracted to me. Now it's Vera the camp threatening me. Do werewolves date humans? I didn't understand any of it, and what's Vera's business with me? I was not superhuman.

I also didn't understand her anger, she should blame Uncle Robinson and not me, if she indeed saw the real truth. Well, I will be honest, I was a little scared because I knew she was a vampire and I had no power to fight no vamp. Many things happened that day. I went back to my class after the whole thing and I just sat there thinking of what would become of me. I wished mom had withdrawn me from that school like I requested. Even so, it was my fault because I agreed to return there on my own. That was on my eighth birthday. I decided that I'd go back to Uncle Robinson to ask him one more time to help me. I was going to face Nick the vamp at the camp, and I had to get power to help my sister, and tackle the problem of facing Vera, the vampire. It was all too much for me. Joe didn't want me asking for help from the alpha, then what?? Who would help me then? I was human, I shouldn't have had these things revealed to me, or maybe I found them out myself. But still, I already knew about them. And now that I knew, I needed to find a way out. I should not have been that curious. It was my mistake that might have cost me a lifetime. Or it could have been Joe's mistake. It might have been his fault after all--he was always after me, bullying me, showing his abilities to me, transferring his memories, why wouldn't I be curious to know more? I was only human. Maybe my childhood problems would have been limited to the neglect and domestic abuse I suffered and watched mom suffer, alone, but now I knew a lot of things and that didn't help; it's only made things worse for me. Curiosity kills the cat indeed.

That day after school, everyone went home but I didn't. In fact, I kept Mike waiting outside on purpose. Camp was in few days time and I was grateful for it. You know why? I wanted to be anywhere but home. I kept remembering the incident at the river where Mike defiled me, I kept remembering how much pain I felt, that I had to cry out. I kept remembering how much of a scumbag Cameron was, and how much my sister needed me to save her future. I was sure the camp would help me. There, I might find answers and if I didn't, at least, I would feel better being there and staying away from here. Or so I thought

So, you see, the camp that I so badly tried to avoid became what I was anticipating day by day.

Uncle Robinson was already packing up his stuff and closing for the day when I knocked on his door. Bold me! Nothing scared me anymore, except vampires of course, and maybe the figure lurking around my room every now and then(probably Jamie's future abductor). But at least not werewolves. All my school life, I've had werewolves surround me and I did not know it. I've had two or three of them attracted to me too. So, I was no longer scared of them, but I was still a bit scared of what alphas could do. Alphas like Uncle Robinson.

"Hi Ariana" he said to me as soon as I entered his office. It was weird being greeted that way by a teacher triple my age.

"Hello sir..I want to talk to you"

"I know. I was waiting" my heart jolted. How did he know? "Ariana, didn't you say you weren't scared of werewolves? Why's your heart doing a somersault because someone read your mind?" I asked myself in my mind. "Okay, yeah you said you were scared of what alphas could do, but he was kind to you the last time, why are you still scared of him?" I asked myself

"Better stop thinking, he probably heard you again" i thought and cleared my throat. No need asking how he found out I wanted to talk to him.

"Sir... I need your help" I started slowly.

"Hurry up, I have a meeting to attend and I got little time left" he said, fastening his watch on his left wrist.

"Errr ....I want you to help save my sister, Jamie, please. It's the only thing I ask of you"

"I do not help humans, I kill them" is what he said and got up, ready to leave with his suitcase

I hurriedly stopped him in his tracks and knelt down. I didn't know why I did, it was not a habit or a culture to kneel, but I just did-i was desperate.

"She's going to die. Please help me" I begged. In the process of pleading and running after him, I lost my key, the key to my house

"That's not my business. You were instructed not to look into her future" he said and made for the door. I followed him out and kept pleading. Why was he suddenly acting strange? I thought he claimed he liked me?

I held his hands and cried. He looked into my face gently and said, "Be my mate" then, he left. Like lightning, he was soon out of the school. I followed him but he was faster. I was running but I still didn't catch up with him. Mike ran after me, wondering why I would be running after a teacher. He was still waiting with his truck. He pulled me back.

"Don't touch me!" I yelled. "Don't do it!" He released my hands. Then I started to cry. He bent down and looked into my face.

"Ariana" he said, slowly like he was scolding me. His voice was shaky. I looked at him for one minute--his eyes had dark circles underneath them. His eyes bore some long endured sadness. I hadn't noticed because I didn't look at his face ever since he defiled me. It seemed to me that he had not been sleeping well.

"I am really sorry" He said and I was moved to tears. "Please forgive me. Find a place in your heart to forgive me" I looked away quickly because I had started seeing that incident. It was imprinted in my mind and I found it hard to forget how he pulled me so close and refused to let me go. How he forced his fingers into my...

"Just go away" I said in my head. I went into the truck and sat in the back seat. He got in the drivers seat without saying a word and drove me away. He drove home straightaway .When we got home, I let him go in before i walked to our own door. I knew I had lost the key to the house but I had to pretend like all was fine. But he noticed and walked up to me.

When he realized that I had lost my key and wasn't going to ask him for help, he asked me to come into his apartment and wait for mom. But I refused. I was struggling with him when mom's car zoomed into our parking lot. She had seen us.

She usually didn't arrive home until about four hours after I arrived, so I was surprised to see her. Even Mike was. . He said hello to mom and went into his apartment. The babies were in the car. I helped mom push them into the house after she unlocked the door. They were awake and playing with their chubby legs. It made my heart flutter. They stared back at me as I pushed them into the house. But it hurt me to look at Jamie, the blonde one for too long. It hurt me to think I might not be able to save her from the impending danger in her future. She was too cute, too innocent to suffer that much.