The Cravers

52. At the Crossroads

The memorial for Edith Famore couldn't get any more bleak.

"I'm sorry," Kingsley said simply. I squeezed his hand.

My heart was waiting for me to crumble, it was daring me to collapse under the weight of my problems. And this rock disabled me from feeling my happiness, feeling the true gratitude. I lost it all. This emotion was only heightened with my arrival to New York, a feeling that I was afraid would kill me.

It was funny how a few months could change you completely. I was just a French Detector with high hopes of solving a mixed case. But now, standing at the crossroads, I understood something. I'm now changed... I realized once again that no matter what I, Diana Holland, the broken girl that ended up in France, the girl who was insane for the longest time...Is now forced to face her past again. The past I strive to forget, the past that I dismissed as a mistake--a default, is now forcing me to open the accounts I have closed with a lock.

It was going to hurt to open them.

But we were at this crossroads. And I knew half of the mistake was because of me. If I have revealed the ultimate weaponry I had in my possession, the Coven would have protected itself.

Yeah, but that would also put any traitors behind my back for the hunt.

I wiped the tear in my eye. Too late to avoid that.

Within few hours, we boarded our trip to New York. France wasn't the same anymore. So was New York, yet it was a place where I kept all my hopes of.

====

I was standing in front of the Jackson residence.

My home.

I viewed the large white mansion in its glory. It looked so stunning from its stance. The lawn was freshly mowed and the bushes elegantly shaped. The tall french windows gleamed with envy against the smoky air.

Of course, it had changed. Upgrades were made and installments was done. But in my eyes I saw the household of the Jacksons, the cats of Mrs. Jackson. The tall black gates...

It stood there, mocking me, tearing me, all the hopes of me finding redemption escaped like smoke. Everything was over. I was wrong, there is no one like him. No one. It was only him, I wish I can bring him back. Make him an immortal like me.

The second floor serenaded the view with two balconies with canopies of flowers in shades of red and pink. Bushes in shapes clustered in harmony on the front lawn. The building itself has been painted in a different color. It was the color of ivory with marble staircases leading it to it like a carpet. I took few steps, staggering like a drunkard, hiccuping sobs.

"You see," he smiled. "This is your home now."

I cast a happy glance at him. My mouth too wide to contain the excitement that wrapped around me. This was my chance. My chance at happiness, it was finally happening.

Will looked up and I could see his eagerness also. "Why are we waiting, then?" He swooped me off my feet. A twenty year old Diana in his hands, it was effortless. I felt like a feather in his arms, an angel. "Let's go in."

Finally, I made it up. In the living room, I felt a maid was cleaning the tables.

I wiped my tears off and took out my compact to situate myself. My eyes were puffy with redness, but somehow I was presentable enough. With a broken smile, I knocked on the door, my hand shaking with distraught.

After few click-clacks of pair of high heels, the door opened and a slim maid with a sleek ponytail stood in front of me. "Hello, ma'am. How can I help you?"