TOXIC BLOODLINES 1/4

GROWING PAINS

KIMBERLY

Trying to move on from the previous year's events was hard, not in the ways that I had expected. The easy parts were the human aspects; handling estates, bills, and getting through junior year. It was the other stuff that weighed on me - the supernatural side of things. I struggled through it, and the days after 'The Incident' were unforgettable; cosmic would have been the best way to put it. It was a genesis, the birth of something unknown that lived within me, which finally came to the surface.

My abilities had evolved from the day that I faced my father. I finally knew what I was capable of. I saw it in his eyes - pandemonium. And from that moment, I knew it wasn't over - it couldn't have been over. I was still on Earth. Andras will come for me again, and when he does...

I had hoped to get answers from the box of belongings that my mother had left behind for me, but she mentioned nothing about who I was becoming in those diaries. I spent months trying to decode her life. Maybe she left a message. It was just a diary. The book Sara was given also didn't bring forth any answers. It still wouldn't open, despite all of my attempts. And I tried everything. I burnt the lock, attempted to force it open with my telekinesis, and threw it against walls. It wouldn't budge. Arik suggested that 'maybe it's not ready to open up', 'give it time'. For my sanity, I decided to step back and just be a fucking teenager again. High school was ending. I owed it to Aunty Aminah to live and act my age, but the paranoia didn't go away. There were still so many questions left unanswered.

~~~

2018

A year had passed, and Uncle Conner had finally completed the renovations to the guest house, which he converted into a headquarters. He started his Armed response security service, Cerberus. He gathered a team of ex-police officers, some guys from his military days, and some of the recruits from our police department. Not many people there were happy about his forced resignation and joined him. Ian finally quit his job at the diner to join them. I think he's happy there. Now he can use all that brute force for good. Sara works there now! Uncle Conner was so impressed by Sara's sleuthing skills that he created a position for her and then built her an office under the clause of her returning to school and getting her diploma. She fought him on it, of course, then decided to take the test instead. Sara Bernal, Chief Detective. It's perfect t actually.

In my Senior year, Conner stepped in as a surrogate father for all of us. He'd be Arik and I's legal guardian until we turned eighteen. He wanted to ground us, Arik especially. He became the sole heir of his family's fortune. He needed a firm hand to keep him from going off the rails. The parties were wild and loud, some even lasted entire weekends. Arik was trying to cope. It's a good thing Conner came in when he did because even I got a little carried away. To my surprise, Ian became the voice of reason. He and Conner were helping me fix up my house. It was time to let it go. I couldn't keep up with the maintenance anymore, plus - I was living there alone except for when Aaron would drive down and check in on me. We didn't want to sell the house, but we decided it was time. And I didn't want to be alone there anymore. It wasn't the same; eventually, the smell it once had of my uncle's whiskey from his study and my aunt's lavender incense faded away. That was when we knew that home had to mean something else. Conner said he could get the house ready to sell by graduation. Still, it took longer than anticipated, and people were too scared to buy it.

Uncle Ahmed and Aunty Aminah had left enough money behind for us to survive on our own. Aaron used some of the money he had to pay off Aunty Aminah's car and officially gifted it to me as a seventeenth-birthday present. Part of me believed they both knew it would end this way. Aaron knew nothing about what was happening, and I couldn't find the heart to tell him the truth either. He deserves to have a life. Eventually, I started to understand why Uncle Ahmed chose to carry the weight of it alone and in silence... I'd have to come clean eventually, but until then, I decided to keep Aaron in the dark for reasons that I believed were selfish. But I needed someone who wasn't involved. Whether it was to have a simple conversation about how the week went, office drama, or what color of paint we should use to cover up the hideous royal blue walls in the family room. It took a lot of time and patience to try and salvage our relationship. If not for Piya, who'd become his fiancé, I never would have attempted to mend anything. I had other people... a new family the same way he had. The things he said hurt me. I was only sixteen so didn't fully grasp how bad things were. How fucked it was to watch both him and his father battle through their traumas and addictions and then leave. I had no closure, no one took accountability. I was glad Aaron managed to slay his demons, I was glad he found a support system. But I no longer felt guilty about what happened to us. I forgave him for my sake. Our relationship will never be what it was. It's different now.