Chapter Three

After a long refreshing bath, soft clean clothes and a cup of hot cocoa, I finally calmed down. I never thought I could cry for almost an hour.

How much liquid do I have in me?

Apart from yelling profanities and screaming when she couldn't find what she was looking for in the stacks of envelopes she was rummaging through, Aunt Courtney looked perfectly fine. Not even a single tear rolled down her contoured cheek.

At least Ken was the normal one, because after showing me my room, I saw him wipe his cheek before leaving. But here I was in Aunt Courtney's study room, wondering when her perfect make up will get smudged.

"We need to bury her on Monday." Aunt Courtney announced.

It was less of a suggestion and more of an order, but either way, my brain couldn't have processed the crap she just said any fast.

"What? We can't. We still need to inform everyone about her d-"

"NO!" The scary lady boomed, stopping me from saying the d-word. "We will not let anyone else know about this."

"But... grandma?" My voice was small and inaudible, but she heard me anyways. My tears, that were at the brink of betraying me, singed my eyes.

"Not even your Grandmother, Hermione. No one!" Aunt Courtney's eyes glowed with bitterness when she mentioned grandmother, as if the name itself was anathematized.

I coward before her, feeling myself shrink as her eyes bore holes on my skin.

Ken, who was at one corner of the room scrutinizing the scene before him, came to my rescue by holding me close to him. I held onto his shirt as I tried to control my breathing.

"What is going on, you are scaring me?" I whispered.

Instead of answering, she waved her hand to dismiss me as if to say it was nothing. I'm starting to have some doubts with my so-called aunt.

What is she hiding and why cant we let anyone know mother is no more? Is there more to it than what meets the eye?

"It will all be OK, Maya. Everything will calm down soon." Ken coaxed, taking my cup of hot cocoa from my shivering hands. He wrapped his arms around me and I felt a little better. From the corners of my eyes I could see Aunt Courtney look a little sympathetic at us... or maybe me.

I don't even know how to react any more. I was confused, exhausted, angry and sad, even though it was not entirely my fault I still blamed myself for mom's death. I should have fought her or something, taken her phone and gave a piece of my mind to that damn caller that was harassing my mother. I'm eighteen for crying out loud, why couldn't mother confide in me to make me worry less? Now all of this is transpiring and I'm hopeless.

I slept on my cousin's arms, after sniffing for hours. I must have been damn exhausted because I woke up the next morning from a dreamless sleep. The room was graced with the sun's light springing from the large window on my right. The lilac curtains were drawn open, giving me a radiant morning.

I removed the soft blanket from my body to sit up at the edge of my bed. For a minute I was confused at my surrounding, this did not look like my room. The floor had black tiles, and the whole room had soft colours. Opposite my bed was a door that I assumed was the bathroom so I rushed to it. It took me a while to figure it out, but I finally remembered that I was at Aunt Courtney's house... and then my emotions got the better of me.

I cried until there were no more tears left to shed, but the pain was too much to bear so, I stripped and entered the shower. I was hoping the cold water would wash away the remaining grief and guilt, but it didn't, it did manage to calm me though. I brushed my teeth and changed into something comfortable I found in the walk in closet.

When I made my way down stairs, I walked over to the kitchen to have a glass of water. Surprisingly I found the kitchen on my own in this gigantic house.

The place was oddly quiet, like no one was in the house. I rinsed the glass and was about turning to walk away when I got a fright.

"I'm truly sorry. I did not mean to scare you." Mr O' Brian, said, stopping at his tracks. "How are you holding up, Bumblebee?"

He has been calling me that from the time I was born, sometimes I wonder if he even remembers my real name.

"I'm ok." I managed to say through the frog stuck in my throat.

"Don't think too much about anything." He advised taking a step forward. "...and no matter what happens..." He stopped as if contemplating on whether to tell me something or not.

"We are here for you." He ends up saying and I nod my head.

Something very strange is going on. First its Aunt Courtney now its Micheal... and how is it that they have been living such a lavish lifestyle while my mother and I struggle to keep our house from falling apart? We needed so much help and here they were, just across the city in a damn mansion!

Uncle Michael walked away after some time and I was back to drowning in my thoughts. I had so many questions swimming in my mind, but thought against asking my aunt who will say some random thing to dismiss the topic. Uncle Michael looked like someone who knew a few things so I'll ask him instead.

"What is on your mind?" Ken asked appearing into the kitchen.

"Nothing new." I mumbled, while chewing on my bottom lips.

He fidgeted around the kitchen for a while, opening everything he set his eyes on then hands me a bowl of cereal.

"Here, have this." Ken smiled and I smile back in gratitude.

The last time I had cereal was when I was still in middle school. After that I always ate brown bread with peanut butter, sometimes dry bread. It explains my deteriorated weight.

I was halfway through my cereal when Ken asked, "Do you know something.... About what happened to your mother?"

Ken and my mother were like buddies, when we were little, Ken used to hang around my mom more than play with me because my mom used to bribe him with candy if he convinced me to play inside the house and not go outside. He did a great job because he was my only friend anyway... But now that I think of it, mom used to never be comfortable with letting us play outside, not only because of the mad neighbours yelling crap at us, but because of something else, and I adopted the habit of staying indoors as I grew older.

"No, I have no clue." I said, softly while putting a spoonful in my mouth. I was so hungry my stomach would've fallen off any second if Ken wasn't around to save it.

"Nothing at all?" My cousin pressed. my throat constricted and I swallowed hard on the cereal.

If we continued talking about Mom I'll lose my cool and breakdown like the cry baby that I am. He did not press any further when I did not give him an answer and sat on the high bench close to the sink.

"Remember those biscuits with the crazy shapes and animals you loved?" He started reminiscing on the past.

"Yeah, and I remember how you used to snatch them from me just to see my reaction." I scoffed.

"The faces you made were hilarious." He chuckled, and I joined him.

Ken used to always tease me about my angry face. He said I looked like a mad ostrich. He was supposed to be the mature one between the both of us since he is a year older than I am, but he acted more childish than me. I've missed him so much.

"I also remember you had a crush on Sarah." I stuck the spoon in my mouth and peaked at him noticing how he was giving me a fake glare that made me burst out laughing.

Who could forgot, Ken's crush, Sarah our neighbour from our third house back at the south? He would follow her everywhere and do literally anything she demanded. I couldn't tell him to his face that she did not feel the same way but I guess with time he noticed. Just one glance to the present Ken would make any girl fall to their knees now. He looked way too attractive.

"Sarah is old school, come on." He complained, "I've moved on to better people."

I shrugged and rolled my eyes. I don't remember having a crush when I was young. I preferred to admire guys from a distance but not really having crushes. Unfortunately, the guys I thought were cute, were also my bullies.

"What about you?" He asked me and I turned to him, looking confused.

"What about me?"

"Any guy in your life?" Ken asked me and I scoffed. Who would want to date a depressing girl like me?

"No." I bluntly said, then filled my mouth with the last spoon of cereal.

"What do you mean, no?"

"Exactly that. No."

"No as in you lesbian or no as in you not ready?"

What is it with the men around here asking weird questions?

"No as in I'm not lesbian, I'm not dating, never dated and I'm not interested." I explained, dumping the bowl in the sink.

He rolled his eyes, not believing me, and I walked away. I wanted to explore this palace, to clear my mind a bit while I'm still here.

"I see. Very interesting." Ken retorted, following me to wherever my legs lead me. "So, you don't like boys?"

I blinked then sighed; this is when the immature Ken makes an uninvited appearance.

"Can you cut it out." I snapped, when I saw two see-through double doors that reveal the back yard.

"I'm just trying to understand you." My cousin acknowledged when I opened the doors.

My eyes, fell of my face, and I fell in love with what I saw.

The garden looked amazing. There were blossom trees at the far end, making a long horizontal line while a bench sat underneath one of the trees. At one end of the yard were flowers of different colours and shapes with a round table surrounded by three benches. On the other end was a free space, and the grass looked fresh. I took a step outside. The weather was still gloomy but at least it was not raining anymore. Though I couldn't really enjoy this beauty yet, a smile graced my lips at what I had discovered.

"You have her smile." Ken told me. He was staring at me the whole time. At first, I did not know who he was referring to, but then it clicked and my smile faulted a bit.

"She would've loved this." I told him and he nodded. I fed my eyes and sighed.

We headed back in the house and he showed me the library opposite Aunt Courtney's study. There were more than ten shelves stacked with different coloured books with different sizes. If I would sell all the books in there I would've made enough money to buy my mom a new comfortable house with good furniture.

I entered the library and a smile broke on my lips. At least I won't feel as bored as I thought I would feel.

"I come here some times to seek some answers when my parents are holding something back, some of the books I bought while the others, they bought. I even discovered a few books that were supposedly hidden. They look ancient, and written in a different language, but I managed to get it translated." He explains, while pulling out a huge book that looked like it weighed a ton.

"What is it?"

"I'm not so sure yet, but I'm still investigating." He says.

I open the first few pages of the book and I can't understand a word written.

"It is in Latin." He mumbles. "At least that is what g****e said."

I ran my fingers on the words and felt a little tingling sensation on my spine. Ken was studying me closely and every move I made as if expecting something.

I grabbed a chunk of chapters from the side and opened to a random page. There were pictures of creatures that looked like beasts in two forms. A tamed form and a wild form. It all looked very interesting.

I turned a few more pages. "How far are you with translating?" I asked him, while still running my fingers on the words that continued to give me a funny feeling.

I turned to the next page and my breath hitched.

"I'm on the 74th page." He answered and I looked down at the page number I was on.

Page 501. He still had a long way to go.

My face flushed and I couldn't get my eyes off the beast I was staring at. The book had no images with colour, but I could already imagine the creature with bright glowing green eyes.

Oh no.