Timeless - Mark Tuan

Chapter 1

"Can't you take me with you this time? Please?????" This twenty-year-old kid is in my room, annoying me as usual, as I sit in front of my vanity, putting on some make up for my night out. We're new to this country. We've only moved a week ago. 

"Cecilia!" I holler. "Get this kid out of my room right now." I pass by her and out the door to go to the other room where some of my other things are. There are still some boxes we haven't unpacked. 

But the girl won't let me go just like that, she follows me still. "C'mon, Annie. I'm at the right age. Please. I want to go with you."

I'm stopping myself not to mumble some curses at her. "Cecilia!" I shout again. Better the older lady deal with her. I don't want to regret it if my anger would get the better of me. 

The woman comes running up the stairs. I can hear her hard, ragged breathing from where I'm in. She's turning sixty this year, and her age is catching up on her. There are times I pity her. She's spent her whole life serving me, not even getting married and having children of her own. 

I found her in Germany more than fifty years ago. She was just a bit over seven years old back then. She was crying beside the road in the middle of the night when I happened upon her. I found out she was an orphan and ran away from the orphanage because the lady who was supposed to take care of her back then was maltreating her. With the intention of keeping her, I took her home. And Lucille, my apprentice at that time, had trained her to be the next her. Because of some reasons even I can't help her with, Lucille died earlier than expected and Cecilia had to take care of all my needs at the age of sixteen. 

Cecilia has been with me the longest. And, so, she's the most special to me. We've been living peacefully together. I know that the time would come when she'd be too old to do her regular tasks, and soon, as a mortal, she'd leave me, too. Just like any person I've been attached to. 

And because of that, this annoying girl is here. Mae, this girl, has joined us just five years ago. I told Cecilia that we should choose someone younger, but she insisted on Mae. 

Cecilia has saved her from an almost death when the girl was about to jump in front of a speeding train back in the US. She was under the influence of some kind of a drug, a runaway, and she just got out of juvenile prison. What's more, she stole from me many times during her first year with us, tried to run away, almost got raped because of her stupidity, and now, she's been pestering me to join me when I go out at night. 

When she was eighteen, I tried to put a spell on her. Guess what? She was too drunk and stubborn at that time - of course I didn't know at first - the curse didn't work on her. And that is why, my friends, I don't want her anywhere near me. 

"I'm at the right age, Annie." She insists. 

"Mae." Finally, Cecilia is by the door, pulling the pest out of the way. "It's better for you to help me with my research. We'll go out early tomorrow. Better sleep early, my dear." 

One more thing, Mae listens to her, but never to me. I wonder why. She knows what I can do to her, yet she stubbornly refuses to succumb to my wishes. Why is that?

"If it weren't for you, Cecilia, I would have used her for sacrifice already." I say out of ire. 

"You don't really mean that, Arnisa." Cecilia sighs. "Give the girl a chance. After all, she was the one who saved you from almost being caught last time, remember?"

I close my eyes, trying to forget the close encounter I had when we were in California, the last place we've stayed in in the US, before going to the South. 

Cecilia is already holding my arms, squeezing them gently. "I just have a feeling with this girl."

"But, I don't." I sigh then. "Just prepare everything I need. Make sure she's quiet and asleep when I get back."