Blade institute: the unseen prophecy

15

Evangeline hesitated at the threshold of the living room, her heart pounding in her chest. The sight of her mother sitting there, in the same chair, in the same room where so much had happened, stirred a mix of emotions she wasn't prepared for. The last time she had seen her mother, it had been under much different circumstances—ones she had tried hard to forget.

Her mother looked up as she entered, her dark green eyes narrowing slightly as they met Evangeline's. The silence stretched between them, thick and heavy, until her mother finally spoke.

"So, you decided to come back," her mother said, her voice flat, devoid of warmth. There was a flicker of something in her eyes—maybe surprise, maybe bitterness, but it was quickly masked by her usual stern demeanor.

Evangeline forced herself to stand tall, refusing to let the old woman intimidate her. "Liv said you wanted to talk," she replied, her voice steady despite the turmoil inside her.

Her mother scoffed, shaking her head. "Talk? You've been gone for years, Evangeline. Left us behind without a second thought. And now you decide to waltz back in here like nothing happened?"

Evangeline's jaw tightened, the resentment she had tried to suppress bubbling to the surface. "I left because I had to," she said, her voice firm. "I left because I couldn't stay here anymore."

"Had to?" her mother repeated, her voice rising with anger. "You didn't have to do anything. You chose to leave. You chose to abandon your family—your sister, your mother. We needed you, and you ran off to that Institute, thinking you were better than us."

The accusation in her mother's voice cut deep, but Evangeline refused to let it show. "I didn't abandon anyone," she said through gritted teeth. "I needed to get away, to survive. You know what it was like here, how you made it impossible to stay."

Her mother's eyes flashed with anger. "Ungrateful, that's what you are. After everything I did for you—raising you, giving you a home—you throw it all back in my face."

"Everything you did for me?" Evangeline shot back, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and hurt. "You think I should be grateful for the way you treated me? For the years of abuse, the constant belittling, the beatings? That's what you call being a mother?"

Her mother's face twisted with rage. "You don't know what you're talking about," she spat, her voice venomous. "You've always been so dramatic, exaggerating everything. I did what I had to do to keep you in line."

"In line?" Evangeline repeated, her voice shaking with disbelief. "You nearly broke me, and you did the same to Liv. I spent every day of my childhood afraid of you, afraid of what you'd do next."

She could feel the memories rising up, the ones she had tried so hard to bury. The nights spent crying in her room, the sharp sting of her mother's hand, the constant feeling of never being good enough. It all came flooding back, the pain as fresh as it had ever been.

Liv, who had followed Evangeline into the room, crossed her arms and glared at her. "Don't you dare make this about me," Liv snapped. "I stayed because I care about this family, because I didn't run away like you did. You left us to deal with everything, and you think you can just come back and start pointing fingers?"

Evangeline turned to her sister, the anger she had been holding back spilling over. "You stayed because you were too scared to leave," she said, her voice harsh. "You think that makes you better than me? You think that makes you loyal? You chose to stay and take the abuse, and now you want to blame me for finding a way out?"

Liv's face flushed with anger, her yellow eyes blazing. "You're nothing but a coward, Evangeline. You ran away because you were too weak to handle the truth—that this family needed you, and you abandoned us."