His Queen (18+)

Chapter IV

THE NECKLACE

❝I may cry ruining my makeup,
wash away all the things you've taken,
and I don't care if I don't look pretty.

Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking.❞

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CHAPTER IV

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I REMAINED SURPRISINGLY calm for someone who had just cleaned up the murder scene of her own mother. The shocked scream I let out when I first discovered her amputated body was as emotional as I got throughout the whole ordeal. Even as I drove home, there was nothing. I just felt empty.

Teo couldn't sleep. I knew by the way he still sucked on his pacifier that he was agitated and he was on the verge of tears. I knew he probably wasn't sure what was going in, but it was obvious who could tell something wasn't right. Babies were smarter than they let on.

We drove through the night silently, different cars whirring past us, but none of us speaking up to start playing the car games we usually played.

I found myself parked in front of Morgan and Derek's apartment instead of our own. I didn't think much about it and instead hopped our of the car with Mateo on my arm. I set him down on his feet because I couldn't remember if he had walked at all that they and let him follow after me, his little legs having to run to keep up with my strides.

We reached the elevator and soon I found myself in front of their door, knocking on it impatiently. Teo wrapped his arms around my legs, but I couldn't do anything to comfort him. Emotionally, I was unavailable and I hated every second of it.

I hadn't even realised whan the door had opened until Morgan's voice had broken me out of my thoughts.

“Ara? What's wrong? Why are you covered in blood?”

I stared at her in confusion, wondering what blood she was talking about before looking down at where she was staring. My top was completely drenched in blood that was nowhere near dry, yet I hadn't seemed to have noticed it.

Panic came over me when I thought about all the people who could've seen my appearance and assumed the worst, but then the realisation that my mother was dead and I was covered in her blood after disposing different pieces of her body in a garbage finally hit and I couldn't stop the bile that had risen up my throat.

I pushed past Morgan, accidentally causing Mateo to fall, but I couldn't look back as I ran towards the bathroom, hunched over the toilet and puked my guts out.

My head was a mess of jumbled up thoughts and I choked on my own vomit as sob after sob ripped through me. I was only then realising that my own mother was dead.

My mind flashed back to the scene, the bathroom that I ensured looked spotless without the slightest drop of blood before I left. I thought of how warm everything felt - how fresh it all was.

Maybe if I had gotten there earlier than I did, then something would have changed. Maybe I would've been able to catch her murderer and stop him. Or maybe I would've died with her.

She had been expecting me. That much was clear. It was almost as if she knew she was going to die, but she still wanted to tell me something.

She had been thinking about my wellbeing even in her death.

I wailed louder, scooting away from the toilet seat and pressed my back against the wall.

She had been thinking of me even in a time that she was supposed to be thinking of herself. And the last things that I had said to her...