Death lurking

Piper's nose was covered in blood, and the hand she used to cover her mouth was no exception.

"Mother, you are bleeding!" The young woman frantically exclaimed. She rushed to hold her, but Piper pushed her away.

And just in time, Zachariah returned from searching for Belle and found his sister in a pitiful state.

"Belle, go to your room." He ordered.

"But…" She wanted to disagree.

"I will talk to you later, please." He said it softly, and she reluctantly moved her feet.

In Belle's room, she pulled her legs up to her stomach with her knees pointing to the ceiling. Her back rested on the wall, sitting at the end of her bed.

Her tear-filled eyes couldn't help but pour, making the tears roll down her cheeks. Staring down at the tip of her index finger, where a thorn had pricked when she was about to pick the cloverleaf.

Though she had felt the physical pain, it was nothing close to the fear that continues to rip her heart apart at every second that passes—the fear of losing her mother.

Having cried a lot, her eyes felt too heavy, lulling her entire body to sleep.

By the time she awoke in the morning, the sun was already peeking out of the clouds. She quickly scooted out of bed.

Barefooted, she ran to Lady Piper's room, only to be met with an empty bed. A frown appeared on her face, and her brows furrowed subtly.

Her foot padded down the stairs as she headed for the parlor room.

"Mother!" Running to wrap her arms around the woman who sat on one of the plouch chairs. Bringing her eyes to look at her mother, she said, "Are you okay?"

Her lips were pale and her body appeared weak as if she had not been able to get any sleep. Piper's tired eyelid raised to see Belle's worried face, she smiled as she tucked a few strands of the girl's hair behind her ear.

Ignoring her question, she asked in a soft, motherly voice, "How was your sleep?" but Belle didn't answer and only continued to stare at her in confusion. "Why don't you sit with me?" she asked, tapping the space she had created on the chair where she sat.

At the same time, Zack came out of the kitchen with a cup of tea in his hand, which he gave to Piper.

"Oh, you are awake already." His words were directed at Belle. "I was going to come wake you."

Belle was not slow-witted and had already caught on to what they were trying to do.

"Why are you avoiding talking about last night?" Her silver-gray eyes moved from her uncle back to Piper, who had her eyes closed as if it were too much of a hassle to open. "Please don't keep secrets from me."

Piper's eyes lazily opened to see Belle, who seemed to be on the verge of breaking down. With open hands, she instructed, "Come closer." And when she did, her hands moved from the top of Belle's head down to her back soothingly. "Forgive me." Her eyes stung, but she did not cry.

The girl in her arms murmured, "You were bleeding." As if she couldn't get the sight of her mother's hand in blood and blood running down her nose off her mind. Not to forget the way her mother pushed her away.

Lady Piper exhaled. "I know. Everything is going to be fine." She assured. "And always know that you are special." Belle nodded in response, unable to say anything more as Piper kissed her forehead.

Zack excused himself, leaving the mother and daughter to have some alone time.

"Are you sure you don't need to see the physician?" The girl asked in concern.

Despite the strong façade her mother tried to put up, she could see how tired and ill she was.

If only she could take her pain away. Belle thought with a sad eye.

"Don't think too much," Piper said, caressing her cheek while trying to keep her own eyes open. "You remember what I always tell you?"

Belle nodded. "Go with the flow, or your mind will become like the stormy sea." She stated this, and a proud smile threatened to pull on Piper's lips.

Piper hummed, and for a moment there was just silence between them, which they basked in.

"Your father loved us dearly."

Belle raised her eyes to look at her mother, somewhat surprised that she had finally brought up her father in their conversation.

Her young mind back then couldn't hold on to a lot of memories, leaving them vague now in her head.

But among the ones she could recall was the time Edward had promised to join them in Lasburgh, but he never did.

After that, Piper only told her that her papa had been killed by bad people, and that was the reason they had to stay in the illusion room so that bad people wouldn't find them.

And it wasn't exactly far from the truth.

"Father did not give them his blood. Is that why they killed him?" She asked slowly, and Piper nodded.

"Do you hate me for keeping you locked inside?"

Seconds passed while Belle stared at her mother, wondering why she could ever hate her when, up until now, she had shown her nothing but love.

She replied, "No."

A weak smile broke into the lady's lips before her eyes shifted away from Belle.

"I see you peek out of your window to watch the other townfolk that walk by, and it makes me wonder if you hate me."

Belle chuckled upon hearing her mother's words. And just hearing the lively chortle come from her, Piper felt compelled to join, but her weak body would not allow her.

It was true that Belle usually looked outside through her window, but the thought of being amongst the townfolk had not once come to linger.

"I could never hate you or Uncle Zack." She beamed. "Father would be proud that I'm being a good girl, right?" She confirmed this with Piper, who nodded vigorously as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Belle, my dear, listen to me carefully." She paused in her words, and this time the silence was dreadful as the girl paid more attention now. "Your father and I love you so much. We want you to always be safe."

She took a sharp breath and continued, "It is not hard for others to pretend to be humans." Belle took note of Piper's specifically mentioning the others. "But you will have to take extra caution."

Her dark brown eyes met with the silver gray ones of Belle, which held nothing more than curiosity, as if questioning why her mother was telling her all this.

"Why?" She had always been curious as to why her mother was so meticulous about people seeing her when she was young and even now. "W-why can't I pretend to be like them? Just like father did?"