The Curse - Book 1 (Completed)

Chapter 14: The Absolution

​It all happens so quickly. As the sound-protective veil is down, Christopher and Victoria hear the door slam. Chris thinks Yasmine came home. He goes for the door and as he opens it, he sees his mom's body on the floor. Her corpse. He instantly knows she is dead. The blood around it is becoming wider and wider at an astonishing speed as all he can do is stand still, his face pale, but giving no emotions away.

​Victoria catches his stillness and frowns. "What're you doing?" she asks, afraid to hear the answer. She paces towards him and looks into the living room. Her heart falls to her feet.

​Just as she is reliving Chris' shock, he comes to his senses and rushes to kneel beside their mom. Their adoptive mom. How many times did he resent her? How many times did Victoria insult her with her rude behavior? Only a couple of hours ago, they were fighting with her, demanding explanations. Ones that she could provide. But refused to do so. Why? With a tickle in his throat, he realizes now they will never find out the reason.

​"Who...did this?"

​He hears her sister's rugged voice, but it seems a mile away. It doesn't matter who did this. It was either Sophia or her father. But it doesn't matter. Point is...Yasmine is dead. Everything is changed. Nothing will ever be the same. She was the thread that kept them together. That made them a family. And now she is gone. The thread is gone. They're alone. It's only him and his sister left. Why did they have to kill her? And, more importantly, why did they let them live?

​He sees his sister join him on the floor and there are tears in her eyes. Victoria cries so often. He hates seeing her cry. It makes him feel powerless. It is disarming. He wraps him arm around her and pulls her near, resting his chin on her head. "Shhh," he whispers, "It's pointless to weep now."

​Victoria ceases to gasp and looks at him in shock. "Pointless?" she exclaims, "She's our mother, Chris! What is the matter with you, you...you cruel...Do you have a heart of steel?" She starts sobbing again.
​Chris shuts his eyes for a brief moment to gather himself. Then he speaks gently, "She's gone, Vic. She's gone. And it means they were here. It means they know where we live."

​Victoria hears him, but doesn't say anything. She can't speak from all the sobs.

​"It means Yasmine was right. We have to run," he continues. But inside, he is brooding on why they left them live? Why didn't they kill them, too? It is obviously their wish. Their intention. Or is it?

​"It was her," Victoria says, wiping the tears off her cheeks.

​Chris looks at her, a crease in his forehead.

​"Sophia," Victoria continues. "She was the one who was here and killed her. Not Leeroy."

​He narrows his eyes. "How can you be so sure?"

​"Well, for one, we're still alive."

​Chris knows what she is trying to say, but can't quite manage to speak.

​"If he was here, we wouldn't have been. Alive, I mean. His intentions were quite clear this morning," she continues.

​Chris nervously bites his lip. "Yes, they were. But...you're saying hers weren't?"

​Victoria shakes her head, staring into the kitchen cabinets. "It wasn't clear...what she wanted to do with us," she gazes at him. "But it was clear she saved us."

​Chris nods slowly. "I thought so, too," he whispers, "All this time, I was thinking of how we managed to escape. And...there is no other explanation, is it? She unlocked that gate. For us to escape."

​Victoria shuts her eyes affirmatively. "Yet she was unwilling to show the same courtesy to our mother..."

​Chris gazes down at Yasmine and runs his fingers over her eyes to shut them. He will never see those warm eyes again. Her curious, overly protective head will never peek into their room again to check how they are doing.