True Love's Bite

42 // Echo

A silhouette crept out from the darkness of the forest; tall, lean, with a slightly bent-over posture, his steps wide and precise like a soldier on a march.

I would recognise him even with my eyes closed.

Cassilas Yildiz.

I did not want to believe it was him, until he spoke, and his voice tickled all my senses, and not in a pleasant way. Silas did not deserve to be here, he shouldn't be here.

"Esra."

A sharp piercing pain struck my knee as I collided with the rocky ground beneath me as I felt all the air rush out of my lungs, a numb feeling settling in its place.

"Cas, how nice of you to finally join us! My darling little brother, I would have been disappointed if you didn't come. Wouldn't you call this the perfect family reunion?"

His red globes never left his mother's face, no one said anything, they both left their eyes to do the talking. I could see they were dying to embrace each other, but the situation did not allow; nonetheless, that did not stop Sy from taking another step forward, prompting his mother to shake her head ever so subtly.

"I-" She attempted to speak, but she could not stitch together a sentence without straining her voice.

Silas froze, clenching his teeth and fists.

His wandering eyes looked in all directions as if begging for a miracle, and then finally found mine, and his tense stature went limp for a moment as his eyes relaxed to a golden brown. He made no effort to raise his voice, but I could easily read his lips. "Yvonne." His senses heightened at the sight of the situation I was in, and his eyes instantly shot up to a deep red.

Sy's eyes swept across all the faces, resting on me for a millisecond before scouting again, his tall frame freezing at the sight of my father.

He robotically turned his head in my direction, and I casted my eyes to the ground. I couldn't face him after everything I learnt, as much as I couldn't hate my father, I still felt bad and ashamed to be the daughter of a man who ruined so many lives, including the man I love. I felt guilty that at the most crucial moment, I chose to leave with my father instead of staying back with Sy. Now, he was in this mess because of me.

"Esra, let Yvonne and my mother go, they have nothing to do with this," he spoke in a calm voice, no hint of frustration or anger in his tone.

Esra laughed. "Your mother? Let your mother go? I'd rather kill myself. She has everything to do with this! She's the reason my daughter is dead!"

"Oh, come on! Stop it with the blame-shifting already, your daughter drowned because of you! If your alcoholic self had not drank your wits away and minded your daughter, she wouldn't have wandered off on her own and ended up here!" He bursted, his long fingers pointing at the lake below the cliff.

I gaped at the drama unfolding before me, Sy's outburst had taken me by surprise since he was usually gentler with his words and in tone.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Esra screamed hysterically, wild like a maniac. "She was supposed to be my mother, that was her grandchild, she should have stopped her from leaving on her own. She knew I had a drinking problem, it was her duty as a mother to watch my daughter!"

"Your mother? I doubt you would treat your mother this way even though she dumped you when you were just a little girl. My mother took you in and treated you like her own daughter, and how did you repay her? You imprisoned her here and tortured her every single day and night for the past three years all because she refused to wake your daughter from the grave."