I SAW SANTA KILL SOMEONE

CH: 12 That was the first time

CH: 12 That was the first time

(Ji-Cheol POV)

That was the second time I told someone my story; the first time was to the man that raised me. No one knew about my past until he died; now, someone else knows.

I began to wonder why it was that I found myself wanting to know about her; there were many questions that I had in my mind. I was prepared to ask or question how she could walk around or near me without me sensing her presence.

Was I suspecting her to be a spy? An assassin as well? There was a reason or explanation behind all of this. I didn't know it, but I wanted to know.

"Nothing is interesting about me, but I'll tell you anyway. I don't have any family, and I had a mother who wasn't the best in the world. She should have never been a mother in the first place. I don't know who my father is. I never bothered trying to find out who he was or where he was. The reason why is that I didn't care, and it wouldn't have made a difference to find out who he was. My mother was a deadbeat; she didn't like taking care of me and wanted nothing to do with me. She was abusive, verbally and physically, towards me." She said, avoiding my eyes. She looked at her fingers as if she was trying to see a way to distract herself from feeling what she was feeling.

Should I tell her to stop? Was this worth talking about right now?

I started to feel bad; this is being discussed because I brought it up.

She and I are strangers; she shouldn't feel the need to feel pressure to talk about something that bothers her because I asked her to. No, that wasn't right.

"Hey, you don't have to talk about this. I can tell it bothers you, so don't worry. We can stop where we're and move on from this conversation. " I said to her, putting on a reassuring smile.

She shook her head and let out a sigh.

"No, it's okay. Honestly, I am not bothered by this. It's uneasy to talk about, but I learned how to deal with it and not let it have a hold on me like it used to." She said, looking at me.

"My mother hated having me around, to the point that she didn't like seeing me or knowing I was near. So, I started walking a certain way to ensure my footsteps weren't heard or for her to hear me around the house." Celeste said, causing my eyes to widen, taken aback by what she said. That is why I wasn't able to sense her presence, not because she was a spy or a trained killer, but because this was a survival mechanism for her. This is what she did to survive living with her mother.

"She had me signed up for school, but she didn't attend any school meetings for me or cared about how I was doing; she would leave money out for me to get school things or things for myself but didn't hand it to me. She would leave notes on the table next to the money, saying, 'take this if you want,' and I would take it whenever any money or anything was there." Celeste said, rubbing her arms and finally making eye contact with me.

"The thing about my mother is that whenever she had company. I also needed to make sure the company didn't see my presence. So I had to ensure I was never around or sensed by others. I also needed to ensure that none of my things were lying around. So everything I owned was kept in my bedroom, up the stairs at the end of the hall. Far away from her bedroom and everything that was considered her space." She said, shaking her head, a look of disturbance on her face.

Even I was feeling a little angry that she had to go through all of that alone. As fuck up as it sounds, even with my fuck up past. I felt a sense of relief that I wasn't going through it alone. That the other children were as well, the ones who were my half-siblings; we were going through our trauma together.