Ghosts of the Past

"Good then. I guess we are friends now! Nice to meet you again Elizabeth Jennings."

I did a double-take and raised a brow at his little smile. The two of us? Friends? Whenever I look at him and his purple eyes I don't see a friend. I see the man I want to choke the living daylights out but at the same time…

"Arrrghh…" I screamed silently into my hands. The more I get to know Sebastian, the more I get confused. I was angry and hellbent for vengeance, but one smile from him my heart would make a full one-eighty and counter my brain.

Just as Bash turned his head to look at me, I saw a flash of movement in my peripheral vision. I quickly swerved my head and my eyes widened as I saw a deer had jumped in front of the truck.

"Deer! In front of you!" I pointed and squawked like a frantic bird. Bash steered the car away from the animal and we heard a loud succession of thuds and high-pitched shrieks. The girls screamed as the sudden shift of the truck made them loose their balance at the back.

Thankfully, we didn't hit the poor animal and Bash had skillfully maneuvered the truck back on route just in time a trailer van showed up in the opposite lane.

"Is everybody alright at the back?" Bash called out and we heard a chorus of curses and then Levi said 'yes'.

I peeked into the rear view mirror and saw they had dogpiled to the left side with some bags toppled down. Levi protected Ali and Suzy, who looked like a really ripe red tomato, while Zeke had wrapped Becky in his embrace.

Seriously, these two are such lovebirds even in the face of an almost accident. But I can't take that away from them. Rebecca deserved all the love she has now in this lifetime.

Rebecca had burned at the stake with her newborn child. The accusations at that time were that she had been impregnated by the devil and the child she bore was not of this world.

The baby boy she fondly calls Sammy, short for Samuel, had a deformed face. He was blind and his backbones arched like a cane. The child's skin was as wrinkled as a fruit's peel that had started to rot.

He wasn't like any of the babies that I've seen in my entire life.

"The child is his." I heard her whisper as we were held prisoners before finally being sentenced to death. Her whimpers were almost inaudible as she held back tears and hugged her child tightly to her chest, dread etched on her face as we awaited imminent death. "The baby is not a monster. He should have known that I bore his child."

My heart ached for her and I bit the insides of my cheeks so hard until I sensed the metallic taste of blood in my mouth.

Her husband, a known drunkard and sadist, did not even flinch as his wife was condemned to death by fire. He himself was the one who accused Rebecca of dealing with the devil as he did not believe Samuel was his son.

Rebecca and her child burned alongside every other girl that didn't belong to Shalem's normal. I was beside her when we were gathered into the town square for the burning, her hair matted with blood from all the beatings she got from the prison cells just like the rest of us.

The cries of the others did not compare to the baby's wails when we were lit up. It was a sickening cry, one that made your blood curl and question the ways of the omnipotent. How come something like this could happened?

I swore that the cry I heard wasn't the cry of a monster.

It was the cry of a child that wasn't even given the chance to prove himself to the world.

A cruel and unforgiving world, one shrouded in prejudice and fear. Rebecca deserved all the love she has in this current lifetime.

I knew of that for sure.

We drove off for another hour and a half at tops and finally arrived at the family restaurant Levi had talked about. By the time Bash steered the wheel towards the parking lot, everybody was pretty agitated.

Perhaps it was because they were hungry or maybe something else happened at the back to which we didn't notice. I don't know. Everybody immediately jumped off the car when Bash went for the break.

As I unclasped the seat belt and got off the front seat, I was about to follow suit into the resto when Bash called my attention.

"Elizabeth." I stopped dead in my tracks as I heard his voice say my name out loud. I've heard the way Bash speaks but this time, the way he called me ringed familiarity.

I turned on my heels and where Bash had been with his hoodie, there stood William.

William Bernards and his crisp freshly ironed merchant's son clothes. He looked like he forgot to shave as his chin showed signs of beard growth. I must have turned crazy to see him in this light and suddenly my head ached, forceful bangs hammered at the base of my skull.

"Lizzie, please don't forget that I love you." Will said as he clutched his shirt near his chest. "I never stopped loving you Elizabeth Ainsworth." He took a step forward to reach out for me and I shielded myself with my hands.

"Don't come near me, you filthy bastard!" I screamed at him, enraged with his lies. I closed my eyes as I stepped backwards and held back my tears. "You did nothing to defend me from your father!"

"No Lizzie, I did what I could. I-" his voice faded and I was left in the parking lot, dazed and my arms crossed as if to shield myself from his advance.

When I blinked, William vanished and Bash came back into sight. He gave me a questioning look and asked, "Ummm.. What are you doing Lizzie?"

My eyes darted from Bash's head to toe and he gave a nervous laugh at my reaction. I breathed short and heavy gasps and my sweat went cold.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." He said. "Come on now, it might have just been hunger." He gestured for me to go ahead of him as if saying 'ladies first' and I hesitantly walked and entered the restaurant.

"What took you so long?" Becky called out to me. "Come sit and eat breakfast. I ordered your faves, lucky you this was the last they said." I sat down in front of Becky and Zeke, and poked absent-mindedly into the strawberry drizzled pancakes she had ordered for me.

The restaurant was full packed it was a miracle they had secured a seat for all of us. Bash sat down with Levi and called for a waitress to order his meal. I stared at him and thought to myself,

What in the world is going on?