Chosen (HOLD)

Chapter 3

The look on dad’s face makes me go even more nervous. “Where is Ean?” he asks me in a low but firm tone. I look at him with ambiguity, “Dad, do you really think I know where Ean is?” I ask him, “Do you think I’d just hide him for fun? I was at all times with you, dad.”

Dad stares at me showing no expression on his face, giving me no hint of what he was feeling on this moment, but I perfectly knew what he felt. Fear. It’s what we, and by saying we I mean the Chosen Side, feel at all moments, fear. From the moment we are born fear becomes a part of us; Fear of the Definite Ceremony, fear of being chosen, fear of the Choosing Side, fear of being killed. Fear is deeply carved in our souls; I like to think of it as a birth mark.

“Where is Ean?” dad screams at me, his hands clenching into fists. I back up, but he comes closer. I don’t know what to do, I had never seen dad like this, not once; His face is glowing red, his veins are popping out, his eyebrows are twisted with anger and his eyes are burning with rage. Words don’t come out of my mouth fluently now, instead, they come out divided, I’m stuttering as I try to say “D dad, I don’t kn n now where E Ean is, I came ho home with you remember?”

“TELL ME WHERE EAN IS!” dad roars, he hurtles at me and pushes me with a strong force knocking me into the wall. I hit the wall with my left shoulder, collapsing into the floor with great coercion. A sudden pain stabs my shoulder; my back hurts alarmingly. I can’t help it but let out a whimper, and tears start pouring out from my eyes.

“I DON’T KNOW WHERE EAN IS” I cry out sobbing. “What have you done dad?” I look at him not as my dad now but as a total stranger. “Look at what you’ve done to me; I never thought you were capable of doing something like this.”  By this moment I’m crying so hard I bet the whole neighborhood is hearing me, and I don’t plan to stop.

“I’m so sorry” his expression changes; He comes closer to help me stand up but I smack his hand before he gets to touch me.

“Don’t ever touch me again,” I demand with ferocity, “And I mean it.” I wipe off the still flowing tears that are blurring my vision and try to stand up, but the pain in my back is so strong that I fail at the attempt and collapse once more into the floor.

“Larissa, let me help you” he pleads, but he doesn’t come close, he knows I won’t let him help me. “What have I done?” he screams to himself, pulling his hair almost to the point of ripping it off. “I’ve lost my wife, my daughter and now my son!”

Now I realize why he was so mad at me, why he was acting that way, he has lost everything he loved the most, well, he is losing it now. I’m still mad at him, really mad, but at times like this, and it being true, I’m his daughter, so at least I need to show some support.

“You haven’t lost me’” I say through tears, tears that keep flowing from my eyes and down my cheeks still unable to believe what just happened.

“You got chosen Larissa,” he remembers me; But should I take it as good or as bad? It’s like he doesn’t even believe I can ever be coming back.

“So what dad? I can still come back, I still have hopes that that family will toss me out at some point of their lives; I still have hopes.” And my voice fades out.

“You won’t come back, and I’m almost sure of it” he looks at me with pain on his eyes. “You don’t think I was ever part of that ceremony? I feared being chosen as much as you do, and let’s stay real in here, I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES OF THE DEFINITE CEREMONY!”Dad takes a deep breath and continues, “There’s only little amount of people that have come back to their families after being chosen, and it’s not because the Choosing Family tosses them out. Out of those little people that have attempted to come back, most of them die trying to cross the borderline between the Choosing Side and the Chosen Side; in fact, there is only one person known to come back safely to his house, and he is still the most wanted person up to date. You have probably heard stories about him, right? Jason Irlian?”

I nod at his question. Jason Irlian, the hero of us, the ones that got chosen on the Definite Ceremony, the hero who claimed  to cross the borderline between the two nations, and as told by rumors is still alive and being tracked, chased by the most professional detectives from the Choosing Side. I have still something more to ask him, something that doesn’t fit on what he just told me, so I go on and ask him. “But if it’s not because the family tosses them out, then how do they attempt to come back?”

“Because…” he stops and sighs “Because they kill the family, and escape, they have all planned, most of them work in groups, they gather up, all the chosen ones, and one night they leave, after each and every single one of the members of the family that chose them is deprived of their lives and not breathing.”

“Dad, how do you know all of this stuff?” It’s fascinating how all he has told me has brushed away the anger we both felt, and even though Ean is still missing we don’t want to move from our respective places.

Dad stands up and closes the door to his room, and then he tells me, “You probably won’t believe me when I tell you this Larissa, but I, I am Jason Irlian.”

I crack up with laughter hearing what he just said. “Jason Irlian?” I laugh sarcastically now “Yes, and I’m Wonder Woman. Thanks for the joke dad; it really helped me get this stress out of my body. ” But when I look at dad, he isn’t laughing, he is more serious than ever.

“It wasn’t a joke Larissa, and don’t you dare say it out loud anymore, rather, I should have never told you this, it could put ALL of our lives in risk.”

“Dad,” I giggle, “How can you be Jason Irlian when that isn’t even your name, or did you forget about your own name?” I can’t help it but to laugh about my own joke.

“Larissa!” his seriousness is instantly replaced with a mix of anger and fear. “I have trusted you on this secret, and you must keep it!” he screams at me “And you really think I’d leave my name the same? Sure, they’d never find me with all of my papers signed with Jason Irlian on it!” his sarcasm is obvious.

But then I realize it’s true, Dad is actually Jason Irlian, the first one who has come back to his family after getting chosen, and I plan on doing the same; No matter what it takes to accomplish it.