The Mask Man In The Woods

39.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

I clicked my tongue in annoyance and searched through the drawer again.

"Are you sure you left it in here?" Drakon asked, popping out of the bed, pausing to cough at the dust and wave a hand in front of his face. Tom came out of the bed, sneezing and then stretching out its leg to lick it as he couldn't stand being dirty.

"Yes, I remember I left... I found it!" I exclaimed as I finally got the envelope with Tristian's name written on the front. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and Tristian appeared at the doorway.

"You found it?" He asked. I nodded and held it out for it. Tristian slowly took it and held the envelope, his eyes roaming over the envelope.

"I'll leave you to it." I said, gesturing Drakon to follow me. Drakon picked up Tom and I paused by Tristian, rubbing his shoulder. Tristian glanced at me and I offered a smile. Tristian patted my hand and then went to sit on the bed, eyes still glued to the envelope. I closed the door behind me and ran my hand through Drakon's hair.

"Want a snack?" I asked him. Drakon shrugged and we went downstairs to the kitchen. I looked through the top cabinets and pulled out a bag of Hershey kisses. I pulled over a stool and sat down next to the counter, spilling out the chocolates over the counter. Drakon put Tom down on the table where he started to sniff at everything, pausing to sneeze every so often probably due to the dust.

It had been a while since I properly cleaned the house.

Drakon plopped himself next to me and took a chocolate kiss. "Who's Belle?"

"She was the wife of my step-papa's friend, Mr. Stevens. I visited Belle a few times in a hospital."

"Why was she in the hospital?"

I unwrapped the chocolate and thought out my words carefully. "She... went through a lot of traumatic things in her life and, well, she was admitted to the hospital where she would get the help she needed twenty-four-seven, you know?"

Drakon's lips formed in an 'O' shape and he popped a chocolate in his mouth. I watched as he neatly folded the wrapper and put it the side. He grabbed another one and slowly unwrapped, his eyes too focused on his fingers.

I looked at the entrance of the kitchen, wondering how badly Belle's death affected Tristian. I didn't know much about the kind of friendship they had. All I really knew was that Tristian was there when Belle got violently assaulted and I wasn't sure how it sparked a friendship or how deep their friendship was. Judging how Belle seemed to know about me and about the curse, it seemed that they were close.

My chewing slowed as I felt a pang of hurt. I didn't know about the curse that loomed over my head since birth until Javon tried to kill me. Until this shadow monster tried to kill me and my son. Tristian neglected to tell me anything until it was almost too late. I admit a heads up would have saved me from a lot of wondering and "why is this happening to me" questions.

But when I really think about it, my destiny wouldn't have changed much. I was still going to die regardless if I knew about it earlier or not. This curse wasn't going to vanish. I don't think anything can make it go away.

I swallowed hard at that and looked at Drakon. He was curling all the wrappers together to a ball with Tom looming over him, occasionally sticking his paw in between Drakon's hands to get the ball. Drakon lightly moved Tom's paw away and turned away. Tom hopped on top of Drakon's shoulders, still trying to get the ball until he successfully got it and started playing with it.

Drakon and I chuckled as a second later, the ball rolled under the stove where Tom couldn't reach. He sat down and meowed at us as if asking if one of us can get it for him. Drakon slid off the stool and looked under the stove.