From Foes to Flames

From Foes to Flame-part 16

Chapter 16

Matao

I walk River to the toilets, and he keeps giggling the whole way down the hallway "why are you so giggly?" I ask him suspiciously. We make it to the toilets, and I wait outside for him.

When he finaly comes out he says quietly "guess what."

I crouch down to hear him better "what?"

"I was listening to Adeline and mum talking this morning and..." my stomach drops when he says this. Mum has told Adeline she can't stay hasn't she. River giggles before he keeps talking "Adeline said she thinks she loves you, don't tell her I told you". I am completely in awe, I can't even talk. I just smile and hug him. I stand back up and we begin walking to Adeline.

"Thanks for telling me bud" I say appreciating that he told me.

"That's what I'm for, spying on your girlfriend and telling you her secrets" he laughs.

"Girlfriend?" I question him before walking to the glass doors.

"What are you guys giggling about?" Adeline asks when we get back outside.

"Nothing, we weren't giggling. You were giggling, we are very serious" River replies quickly.

"Very serious" I say and laugh. She nods before we go to the car. "You guys wanna get some lunch?"

"I'm soooo hungry" River says dramatically. I laugh and we drive to the mall.

"Wanna get your favourite?" I ask River, he nods and laughs.

"What's your favourite?" Adeline asks. River doesn't say anything and brings a finger to his mouth making a shooshing motion.

Adeline looks tired so we get takeout at Subway and go home. We eat and talk with River. "Do you have a sister?" River asks, I'm genuinely curios because I don't know if she does. The happy mood flys out the window and she immediately look drained.

"I... yes- had. Umm" she struggles to get anything out of her mouth, so I stop her.

"It's ok we don't need to talk about it" I say and put a hand on her shoulder. She fakes a smile and keeps eating. We finish our food in silence and Adeline goes upstairs. "I'll be back soon bud" I tell River before following Adeline upstairs. I walk into my room and find her curled into a ball under the doona on my bed. "Hey..." I sit on the bed "are you ok?"

"I'm fine" she sniffles.

"You know you can tell me" I say while trying to comfort her.

"She died when I was ten, she was my twin." She sniffles "this probably sounds really weird" she says with a chuckle "but I don't think she died... I think dad came back to take her".

"Why do you think that?" I asked her, I don't think she right, but I need to comfort her right now.

"You know how the people took me" I nod "the day she died dad came and visited for the first time, I think they meant to take her instead of me to bribe dad" she tells me and sits up.

I'm shocked for a minute, but it does make sense. I'm about to say something but River walks into the room and hugs Adeline when he sees that she is upset.

"I'm sorry I made you upset, I didn't mean to" he tells her.

"It's ok to ask things sometimes, don't worry about it" she consoles him, he smiles at her and walks out of the room. She hears the tv going downstairs and asks "wanna watch a movie?" I nod and follow her downstairs. River is in the lounge room watching beauty and the beast when we get downstairs. She sits in the corner of the lounge with River next to her, I sit on the last seat at the opposite end.

We watch the movie for about an hour before I look over and see River asleep on Adelines lap. She definitely fits this role. Then I remember her sister, mum should be home soon, maybe I could go out for a bit. "I'm going to go out for a bit, I will take River to bed" she looks at me confused "maybe go to bed you looked like you were about to fall asleep, mum should be home in about two hours". She doesn't bother trying to fight me and just goes to bed. I go upstairs to dad's office and start going through everything on his desk. Nothing looks very interesting apart from a photo of Adeline and a girl who looks exactly like her, the only difference in them at the time was her sister had two different coloured eyes. I flipped the photo over and there was writing on the back 'dads first visit to Adeline and Violet' then I noticed the man standing next to them, he looked like them. There was an address written on the back with a house drawn next to it. I put the picture in my pocket and walked into my room, I gave Adeline a kiss on the cheek before leaving. I drove for about thirty minutes before I reached the address. I grabbed my dad's knife in case I needed it and put it into my pocket before walking to the door. I hesitated before knocking and a man came to the door, he looked like the man from the picture but older with a stubby beard. He had green eyes and a combed back hairstyle.

"Can I help you?" He asked me, he sounded like he meant business.

"Do you know a Violet?" I asked confidently even though I was shit scared. He stepped aside to invite me inside; I followed him into the kitchen before he spun my around and pulled a knife out.

"Who are you?" He demanded as he pressed the knife to my throat. I stilled and held my hands into the air as a retreat. "Answer me".

"My names Matao and I'm looking for Adelines sister Violet" I stutter a little but tried to hold keep my confidence and seem unthreatened.

"Why are you looking for her?" He asked raising his voice.

"Adeline was told that Violet died, and she doesn't think she actually did, I want them to meet each other again" he let go of me and put the knife away.

"Violet come here please!" He called out. A minute passed before a young girl walked out, she looked just like Adeline. "You wanted to know if she's alive? Here she is".

"Who are you?" Violet asked sharply.

"I'm Adelines... boyfriend" I replied with a bit of thought "I want you to meet her". She looks at her dad and he nods at her before passing her his knife. For some reason he seems to trust me. She follows me to my car and gets into the passenger seat, still holding the knife. We begin driving and I ask her "why did you leave?"

She thinks for a moment before speaking "I didn't have a choice" she obviously doesn't want to say too much, I nod, and we stay silent for the rest of the drive.

When I pull into my driveway she gets out and puts the knife into a holster on her hip. I walk her to the door and invite her inside. "Follow me" I say as I walk up the stairs, when I reach my bedroom, I peek inside and see Adeline lying in bed "wait here" I tell her and Violet nods as I walk into my room. I walk over and sit on the bed she rolls over to look at me and groans, she was still half asleep when she sat up wanna meet someone?"

"Later I'm tired" she tells me quietly.

"It's kinda a now or never thing" I say before telling Violet to come in. The moment the door opens enough for Adeline to see Violet her jaw drops.