Unmarked

Chapter 9

Lavina walked up to the door with her bag and then stopped for a moment. Oglm gave her a thumbs up from the driveway and waved at her. Lavina waved back and shooed him away with her hands. She took a breath in and then rang the doorbell. About a minute later the door opened and a woman was at the door.

"Lavina, welcome, come in." Lavina walked in and then the women shut the door behind her. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Well, you know about mom right?"

"I believe so."

"Well, you wrote her story right? That means she must have spoken with you."

"She did." The lady patted the seat next to her and Lavina sat down. "Me and your mother were good friends. I remember when she first moved here. You know, she talked about you so much."

"Could you tell me about her?"

"Well what do you want to know?"

"I don't know, Becka, I'm just trying to do a report on her for school."

"I see. Well then, I'll have to look at my notes then. How about you go ahead and get settled in upstairs in the guestroom. You know where it is, yes?"

"Yes." Becka put her hand on Lavina's shoulder and smiled. "I'll be waiting for you when you're done." Lavina went up the stairs and to the guest room. She set her bag down near the bed and hopped onto it. She unzipped her bag and took out a stuffed animal and two blankets. After that she took out her VHS tape, zipped the bag back up and pushed it under the bed. She came back down the stairs and sat down on the couch. "Well here we are." Becka came over and sat down next to Lavina. "Well here are the two books for you. And I found some stories that I never published too. I even have some pictures that your mother gave me. And as always you can ask me any questions you might have."

"Oh thank you Becka. I do have one question though."

"What is it?"

"Do you have a VCR? Hm, I believe I do." Becka got up and went over to the entertainment center under the TV. she moved things around and then pulled something out. "Here it is, Lavina. How about I put this upstairs so I don't bother you."

"Bother me?"

"Yeah, I'm doing some work this weekend. I need to finish up some designs for the new project they have me working on. And you know how loud I can get when I work."

Lavina laughed, "I know."

"Come mon, I'll show you how it works. Then we can eat dinner. After that the rest of the night is for you."

"Ok." They went up the stairs together and Becka showed Lavina how to set up the VCR. She set the time and explained the chords to Lavina as well.

"Anything else you need?"

"No, not really."

"Well, then, let me have you come down for dinner and then I'll leave you alone until tomorrow morning." Lavina smiled and then followed her back down the stairs. Becka put the food onto plates and gave one to Lavina. Lavina picked up some utensils and then sat down at the table. Becka sat across from her and smiled. "How have you been Lavina? I haven't heard from you in a while."

"Oh good. I've just been busy with school and everything."

"Sounds interesting, are you at least having fun? Your father's not being too hard on you is he know? Or your grandparents for that matter? How are they anyway?"

"Yes I'm having fun. And you know my father, he's not very hard on me." Becka laughed. "My grandparents are good, they're still living at the castle."

"That's nice."

"It's nice to see you again, Becka."

"You as well, Lavina." Lavina looked over to the wall. "You have a question?"

"Ugh," She sighed, "What was she like, Becka?"

"Amilia?"

"Yeah."

"You've been thinking about her a lot, hm?"

"It's crossed my mind a few times."

"Well, she had white hair with a purple streak. She was pretty tall and she was white. Her mark was orange, green, and gold. Her mark literally translated to chosen."

"I already know all that." Lavina interrupted her.

"Well what would you like to hear, Lavina? If you could narrow it down I might be able to answer your question."

"Do you know who killed her and why?"

"I- I, huh." Becka sighed. "I do my dear, but I don't really know if that's appropriate right now. You're still so young, Lavina. You don't need something like this dragging you down."

Lavina sighed. "That's what everyone keeps saying."

"Well, I can tell you the reason. If that's what you want."

"Yeah, I suppose I don't know that."

"Well, your mother didn't just leave you with Oglm and run off. She left because she wanted to protect you. You remember Unora right?"

"Yes."

"Well how Unora caught her next husk was that she groomed them. Before your great aunt Ebaline was possessed by the witch, Unora groomed her. She gave Ebaline magic and then almost everyday taught her how to use it. And you see that was her grooming. She did the same thing to your mother, it just took a little longer. And well, your mother started to feel weird, having strange dreams. She'd sometimes wake up almost doing something to you. So she decided it would be best to move away and see if she could figure out how to solve her problem. You see that's when she moved up here. I met her a few months after she moved. We started talking to each other and when she realized I was a writer, well, I suppose she jumped at the opportunity."

"She what?"

"She wanted her story to be told. Amilia didn't want history to repeat itself. And I can understand that, believe me I can."

"So what happened to her?"

"Well, you know that, she died."

"Ye- we- I- I know that, yes, but-"

"That was the only solution. She figured if she died Unora would never get another opportunity to groom someone into submission. So that's what she did." Lavina tapped her fingers on the table. "Oh she loved you Lavina. That's the main reason she forced herself to leave. She was afraid that Unora would do something to you, and that you'd be in harm's way. Or something even worse, raising you the way she wanted, or doing the same thing she did to Amilia to you. And she didn't want that, not for you, her daughter."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"Tell me, do you like your life as it is now?"

"Yes."

"Then didn't your mother make the right decision?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I know you have a lot of questions that only your mother could possibly answer. And it's hard not having her around. But at least you're happy."

"Yeah." Lavina smiled. Lavina got up and put her plate in the dishwasher. "I'm going to go up and look over the notes and books.

"Ok, don't study too long." Lavina smiled at her and then left the kitchen and went up the stairs.