One thing no one tells you about breaking free of a delusion is that it hurts. You want to believe the delusion even after the truth has been revealed to you. Your sweet little delusion was so comfortable that everything in this new reality just seems like it's greying at the edges; like an old photo withering with age.
My chest felt like it was going to explode from the heaping breaths I took as I looked at the open book. I couldn't think, I couldn't talk.. quite honestly I felt like I was going to pass out. It was as if someone set a fire dead center of my body and the flames were eating the oxygen that should have been going to my lungs. How could this be, I thought. How has my whole life been a lie?
My whole world turned up a few degrees. I was suddenly teething with anger and the bright red aura in my vision was too offensive to my senses all of a sudden. I was on the verge of eruption, and I didn't necessarily want Alcander to burn in the lava. Yet, at the same time I sort of blamed him for setting my world aflame. I wanted to lash at him for taking my blindfold off, when really I should be lashing at the people who placed it on me in the first place.
Isn't that how it always is though? It is human nature to blame the one who gives you the hard look in the mirror, never the one that comforts you with lies and creates a delusion to stick you into like a fly on a spiders web. I am not a fly, but a wasp.. and this spider is about to get stung.
...my dad had told me about your family, and how you guys are actually a part of our coven." I caught the last of what Alcander was saying.
"I honestly hated psychics, well before I believed you were one. Something about you made me open-minded. I wanted to be nice even though I felt I couldn't trust you. When I confided in my dad, he asked me what your name was and what you looked like. He told me of your bloodline and how you and sister were taken. He suggested I bring the book with me, and secretly use your blood to find out if you were who he thought you were.. i just felt that was too creepy so I decided to confront you with the truth." He continued
"I'm not sure how to process all of this. Why me? Why did your intuition have to be right. I feel as if I've been trapped in a lie and you just pulled my blinders off."
"It wasn't my intuition Kai, it's actually something us witches call 'the drawing,' where we are naturally bonded. As in, we sense who it is safe to be around and who it isn't. Imagine a small force around you, sometimes it comes in vibes. Sometimes it comes in whispers. I'm older times when witches were less aware of the powers they could access, they thought it was their inner thoughts. That's where the idea of the human conscience comes from."
"I have to go." I said through gritted teeth, standing and brushing grass from my jeans. I didn't want to hear any of this.
I was still burning with rage, but I wanted to keep it for this argument. The white-hot anger in my skull was keeping my mind sharp. I thought up all kinds of points to say and accusations to throw from the moment I slid into the seat of my car all the at until I pulled up into the driveway of my so-called parents house.
Who the hell am I kidding?! Why should I believe this weirdo? And if he is a witch he could just have easily fooled me into thinking I opened that book whilst really opening it with his magic..
My anger faltered.. I didn't know how to approach the situation. I wanted to believe it was a lie, but so much has clicked into place since opening that book. Like how me and my sister are both so much darker in complexion than our parents, and how much control they had over us. How we couldn't do the things most kids could "because witches are known to be in those areas, and it just isn't safe to tempt fate in such a way." Their hatred for witches alone shows to stand they just didn't want us to feel 'the drawing' and know we did not belong in the facade they masqueraded us around in. How much could this be true? They seemed to know much about witches, could that be because they were the retaliation? The bad guys? Were the people that I hold so dear really just liars and facades, living a double life for the sake of a cause?
I stopped my thoughts dead in their tracks, overthinking would not give me any peace of mind. Step one was to confront the situation, any other decisions would have to be made in the heat of the moment. All I knew was if Emryld and I really were witches living in the lions den, I needed to get her out of here.
I wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans and I clamored out of my car, trudged up the front porch steps; and turned the handle of the big red wooden front door.
The truth will set us free... even from delusions.
