Ch. 3 Naomi

I jolt up to a sitting position gasping for air and gripping the sheets and my chest. When I am finally able to catch my breath, I relax back against the pillows. I look around and realize I am in a large canopy style bed with lavender curtains. Directly to my left are glass double doors that lead to a balcony and a white wooden door on the same wall as the bed. I remove the blankets and swing my legs over the edge. I get light headed and take a minute before standing up. I pause to catch my balance and try to start to walk towards the balcony. As I got ready to take my third step, my legs felt weak and gave from underneath me.

I feel strong hands grab my arms and then lift me bridal style. “You shouldn’t be out of bed, you haven’t had time to recover.” I looked up at the person, despite not being able to see in the woods, the familiar gold eyes stared back at me. I take in his features and he has short dark brown to red hair styled messily and an impassive expression, other than the slight worry I can see. I start to realize that looking at him this close up he kind of looks like a masculine version of myself.

“You are Alex.” My statement sounded more like a question and he nods. He lays me back in bed and covers me with the blanket. “Wh-what happened?” Thinking back to last night realizing that at that moment, I thought I had died.

“We were attacked and somehow you got separated from us. You were attacked by one of the Shtrigas and passed out, right when I found you. It will take some time for you to feel 100% again, so you will have to take it easy and rest.”

I nodded my head and looked down at my folded hands. “What are Shtrigas?”

“In layman terms, a soul eater. They feed on people's souls and if you are ever lucky to get away from one it takes a bit to recover.”

“Are we in Daemonium?” I ask with some hesitancy and he nods. I look out through the balcony doors and see an orangish purplish sky behind some mountains. “How long have I been out for?”

Alex sits on the foot of the bed studying me. “For about two weeks.” My eyes go wide.

“Two weeks?!” I start to panic realizing that by now my parents must have reported me missing. “My parents are going to kill me. Where’s my phone?” I see Alex visibly tense as I speak and his eyes turn purple.

“They will not and it will not work here. You can receive the texts but can not reply. Can you please refrain from calling them your parents? They are not and I have explained this to you.”

I feel slightly bad knowing that me calling them my parents upsets him. “But they are. They're the ones who raised me, they need to at least know I'm ok.” I state quietly.

“Yes, because they stole that from your mother and I. If they hadn’t constantly moved you everytime we got close to where you were living, I would have gotten you back a longtime ago.” He starts to yell and I could feel his anger coming off of him. I shrink back into the pillows and he takes a deep breath.“I’m sorry for yelling at you, it is not your fault. I know this is a lot to take in and to adjust to, but what they did does not change that you are our daughter.” I nod my head not knowing what else to say.

After a few moments of silence, I found the courage to speak. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” I looked down at my folded hands. “When you said “for me to adjust to,” does that mean I'm not going back home?” Tears start to welled up in my eyes, at the thought of not seeing my parents, brother, and friends.

He sighs a bit. “Let me ask you this. Was there ever a time you felt out of place with them? Ever questioned if you were actually their daughter?” I looked up at him and nodded my head because he was right, I had ever since Jared was born. I remember when I was 12 and questioned why he had blonde hair like them and I had my naturally ombre brown to red hair. “I get they raised you, but you can not expect us to turn a blind eye now that we have found you. As much as I get your love for them, it is not reciprocated. To them you were just a way to make money, especially since they had a child of their own. They are not searching for you and as hard as it is for you to hear this, you need to. They know that I found you and if I was to let you return, you would have nothing to return to. They didn't waste any time to pack up and leave. They chose to run and didn't even attempt to come find you.” The tears began to run down my face.

Even though I want to believe they did care for me. He is right the love I had for them was no longer reciprocated. That stopped when Jared was born and I started to sob loudly as the realization sets in. I feel arms wrap around me and hear a soft apology being whispered.