CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: BURN OR BURY

BURN OR BURY

'You just wait.' I still am in the house. A mansion I bought in the middle of nowhere. I haven't brought anybody here except for Laylah and you know why and of course, Siphoned.

I sit on the chair at the dinning table in the kitchen. The sitting room is connected to the kitchen. I sit on the wooden chair with my back bent forward a little. I am not so lost in thought. I am still conscious in a way, I think.

"Siphoned has to go and that's what my brother would have wanted. Yes, yes!"

I get a call from the prestigious, mysterious name, The Top. I pick up my phone looking at the phone's screen. "Siphoned sure made me join a lot of things. Siphoned stole a lot from me. My life. My will."

I answer the call. I didn't respond first. I wait for her to say something.

'Has the job been done?'

I nod my head in self-consciousness. I haven't collected the flash from Laylah. So put simply I got distracted and haven't done anything.

I replied. 'No.'

'Well, you'd get it done. I believe you would. Go to Nathaniel's, Siphoned is dead.'

"What?"

I didn't hear that well. I am still in a nonchalant attitude eating my cereal. I tend to choke on my food if I talk or nonetheless if it chose to do me evil. And this time is the time. I choke on my food.

I reach for the sink drinking from the tap directly. 'Ho...w? When? She was with me not long ago.'

'Yes but now she's in her father's. And they've got one off the list. We've been planning this for years and now it's about time she died. We can't let her stay alive. We've waited for her to be born. For twenty-four years and now it's time before we can't control her again. '

'But that wasn't the plan. '

'It was we just didn't tell you. Go get her body. She needs to be given a proper burial at the least. Remember what I told you, patience is key and I know you always wanted to take revenge on her yourself but..but for your sake, don't. So go get her Nathaniel.'

She ends the call. She can't be serious. I can't be...this can't be it. I have to kill her myself. She can't die like that.

No!

I am starting to lose it. I am in no mood for this at all. I thought I hit jackpot. I thought I played her but I didn't, she is... I guess she is Siphoned after all. I can't beat her.

I throw my phone with force against the wall of the sitting room. I lean with both hands on the sink. I breathe in more than usual. I hit the sides of my head with my left hand.

'No, I have to get my acts together. SIPHONED !'

I get back to my senses and do what I was commanded to. I rush outside after wearing my jacket. I am wearing boots, a black top, black jeans. To put it short I am wearing black all through, my signature.

I get out through the front door. I usually pass through the back door but now I am in a rush. I get out and sight Siphoned's car, a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. A rugged car. I pass by the car then into my garage. I pull over the cloth it was wearing.

I take out my Jeep, a smooth clean black jeep of the most expensive brands. Its model has just been released.

I enter the car and pave my way out of the forest to the road. I speed not worrying about the speed limit. I get to Nathaniel's house faster than I thought.

I park and get out of the car hastily. The seat belt caught me by my right arm. I push open the brown wooden door in front of me. I walk past the entrance and saw a pack of thieves. One who just stole a person's life. One who had no conscience written on their faces. One who took Siphoned's life away from me without my permission.

But as I stand there looking at this chaos. My eyes suddenly trail to where she laid, innocently, Veronica Siphoned. This time I pity her. "Aren't they relatives? What the hell is happening. Doesn't that even matter?"

I find myself almost crying. I hold the tears back. I can't seem weak in front of them. I toss my gaze to them again. Nobody seems to care about her even Nathaniel, her father, except Nellie who wears guilt on her face.

I speak out finally after five minutes of surveying the whole scenario. 'The Top says to take her with me. '

I say nothing after that. I get to where she sat. I hold her in my arms and I went out of the door. I eavesdrop not willingly. No, I hear something by accident from one of them, Natalia.

'That has been cleared up, hasn't it? Now we can all sleep in peace not worrying about a stupid legend.'

"Legend." What do they mean by that? I did not stop. I still carry Siphoned in my arms. Nobody knows where I live so I should probably take her there. I open the door behind the driver's seat and threw her in. I guess my soft spot for her has left. I slam the door against her feet. She was ice cold.

I get to the driver's seat and before I open the door. I feel it, tears rolling down my cheeks. "What's this?" Why now. Why do I feel this for her? Pity? "

I clean it immediately. Rubbing it as if it never happened. I close the door and I drive off.

___

Her father let out a breath as he sat on the chair. His laid-back attitude pisses me off. Hypocrite. I overheard his discussion with Feline in her house. The one where Siphoned had gone to eat in. I was in the house too looking for something. Something just didn't feel right about Feline. I was so curious cos the Top to me didn't feel like she was in charge. She felt like she was been controlled. So I suspected. I suspected Feline was the Top.

I met Siphoned in the house surprisingly. She was heating the chicken in the oven.

"Wasn't she living in the next house? What was she doing here?"

I felt the urge to kill her then but I held back. I saw what she saw too. The black figure. I went to check it out and found out what she found out too --Feline and her Father. That's how I knew. They're so manipulative. All of them. They don't care about her. They don't need any offsprings. They intentionally did want a child but cos she's the legend in the books so that's why they terminated her. The book I read before Siphoned came. The only book she read in Feline's library.

I get to the house and take her out of the car. I feel the urge to drag her by the feet but that isn't right. I carry her body in my arms and shut the door with my left hand. I get through the back door after parking in the garage.

I get to the sitting room and put her on the couch. She is ice cold and it reminds me of Mathew how he felt when I touched him too. I leave for a cover spread to put over her --something thick.

I let out a deep breath. 'What was next? I haven't planned anything. My whole life has been circled around Siphoned since five years ago. What was I to do now? Continue as the Top's right hand seeing she seems lonely or get revenge for both Siphoned and Laylah. Why? Why her? Why not only for Laylah? '

I sit on the chair I sat in earlier before I had the Top's call. I rub the sides of my head ruining my hair. I turn to face her.

'What am I to do with you? Burn or bury? Choose cos I'm confused.'

WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER?