chapter 5

His face brightened as he saw Emily pulling over by the park. He jogged towards her and she raised her hand, mouthing him to stop. She rolled the window down, "Wait until you're dry."

"I can't. It's still raining."

Emily shot him a glare and her jaw ticked, "Fine." She pulled out a shirt from the back and placed it down on the front passenger seat. "Get in."

Not speaking another word, he got inside and sighed as he sat down. Emily turned on the engine and they drifted off.

They reached the house in a jiffy. Emily kept a stern expression as she drives fast along the empty, wet road while Lucius couldn't stop wondering why she has been acting the same whenever she drives him home or somewhere he needed to go.

"Mom is out delivering." Emily lazily informed as she got inside.

He traced her from behind and shut the door behind him. With a broad frown, the thought of what had caused her to act like that never left his mind. As they reached the living room, in a concerned look, he watched her plodding up the stairs. The unpleasant sound of keys jingling on her hand as they dangled against each other and her heavy footsteps can only be heard in the living room.

Lucius sighed, "Are you okay, wife?"

"Don't call me wife." She hissed, still shooting glares at him. She continued plodding up the stairs.

A minute of standing and staring blankly at the floor, he heard the door slam extremely loud, causing a bit of a quake. He sighed and made his way up the stairs to her bedroom d

He softly knocked on her door, "Emily, I'm going to come in to take a shower."

"Then come in." She shouted.

He opened the door and noticed the room turned out to be dark, he switched the lights on and went straight for the closet. His clothes that they bought at M'sW were placed on the left column while Emily's were placed on the right and her dresses and cardigans were the only ones she hanged.

He fished for a comfortable pair of clothes and an underwear. He then went straight for the bathroom, not sparing a glance at Emily. He locked the door behind him. He patted the bathroom sink to make sure it was dry and placed his clothes.

He turned the faucet, allowing water to gush freely down to the tub. He undressed himself and threw his damp clothes to the basket. He dipped himself down to the tub.

Lucius expected her to be cheerier after knowing their plain is succeeding – they were succeeding. He is about to leave them shortly any time soon and they'd be on their own from now on.

A small voice at the back of his mind urged him to talk Emily her feelings out, make her move away from the shadows and at least share him some things he didn't know.

Emily would keep her mouth shut. He knew she would.

Do I really need to?

It's time. He needed to be with her – talk her feelings out. She and her mother had done everything that were also the reason to cause succession on his mission.

I need to talk to her.

Emily wrapped herself with her blanket. She sat on her bed and faced the window. She can never stop thinking about her father. She missed him dearly. As she heard Lucius closing the bathroom door, she scrambled up to turn off the lights.

Who permitted him to turn them on?

Frowning, she sat back down on her bed and gazed out the window. It was still 4:37 pm yet the skies appeared darker. Short lightnings busted out the skies from afar.

Dad.

She wanted to let him live again. Her mother's smiles were starting to get bitter as days pass by since Lucius came. She wanted to see her smile – a genuine one – to complete her. She wanted to see them together again. But the possibility of her seeing them together would be slim to none. She'd die when her father would live again. She'll never get to see them.

A tear threatened to come out. She gently tapped her eyes with her blanket and decided to leave her thoughts blank. She gazed out the window. She needed to get rid of her thoughts of her father but unfortunately, she caught sight of the tree. The tree on their backyard.

Curse it all.

Everything that comes into her view reminds her of her father. An urge to burn the tree down surfaced but she knew it would be silly and reckless to do. All these months she tried to forget about her father and get rid from the happiest memories to the saddest ones she spent with him long ago just came rushing back because the Hell's King came.

More like, she let him come to their lives.

She pounded her head against the window sill. Pain shot from her forehead and she groaned. "Fuck."

The bathroom door opened and she straightened herself up as she closed her eyes. She hoped for him to get out of her room so she could stay there quietly and killing her own heart with her thoughts and memories.

She wanted to cry but her tears wouldn't come out anymore. She heard the switch click. He turned on the lights again.

"Is there something wrong?" Lucius' voice became squeaky.

Annoyed to hear his voice, Emily opened her eyes, "Nothing is."

"I'm positive enough that something is."

"And I'm positive enough nothing is wrong."

"Tell me, Emily."

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me something you haven't told me."

"And why is that?"

"Because—"

"It doesn't concern you."

"It does, that's why I'm asking you to tell me."

"It has nothing to do with you."

"It has, you've been treating me badly lately."

"What do you mean badly? I've been helping you. Why do you say it's bad?"

"You've been giving me cold treatments."

"Cold treatments? Excuse me?" She scoffed.

Emily wanted to punch out the stubbornness he has in him. She wanted to punch him out of her room, out of her house, out of her lives and let him rot in hell.

"Emily, please."

"Get out, Lucius."

"Tell me."

Fuming with anger, she stood up on her bed and faced him. "Don't you get it? I don't want to tell you anything!"

She noticed his hands clenching and unclenching. He heaved heavily and held the both of her hands, "I want you to trust me on this. Please tell me what's going on. I'll tell no one. I promise."

She withdrew her hand from his hold and raised an open palm. Anger can no longer be contained in a jar she made. She drew a slap across his cheek. The quick slap caused them to quiet down and only her heavy breathing replaced.

Her palm felt numb. Her breathing felt heavier and heavier. "Leave me alone."

Lucius didn't bother on touching his cheek, he only stared at her own eyes. "Emily, please."

She sat back down on her bed and covered her body with her blanket. "You wouldn't understand."

"I'll try to."

She looked at him and studied his face. He became way too different from who he was and what he does when they first met. He appeared too human; too soft. He wasn't like this.

He's changed.

She gathered up her courage and nodded, "Fine."

Lucius sat down in front of Emily on her bed. She had calmed down now and she covered herself with a blanket. She pulled her knees closer to her and bit her lip. She forced him to turn off the lights and let him sit on the bed to hear her story.

He has been waiting for a few minutes. He has been waiting for her to start. She's been hesitating for too long. She couldn't decide whether to tell him or not.

He wasn't this patient. He wasn't this caring and concern about people's emotions. All this was caused on how little by little his powers are losing and how fast his body and mind is changing.

"So..." Emily started which made him to adjust his sitting arrangement to a comfortable one. Eyes and ears open and ready to listen and see her face in a perfect view.

"I killed my father." The words moved normally. Her tone was shaky. She was terrified.

No matter how bad her words sounded, he only felt nothing. Usually, he'd smile and ask how but this time, he couldn't feel anything. He only nodded.

"My family was perfect. I had what I needed as a child - Love, support and parents. Me and my father would play games, play dress up and he would tell me horror bedtime stories." She smiled.

Lucius wanted to come up with possibilities. Why did she kill him? Their family was perfect.

"When I was 9, he treated me and my mother badly. He’d yell at her; scream for reasons a 9-year old can't understand. While he--" She laughed briefly when she cut her sentence off. "Well, the bruises. He doesn’t want to spend his time with me anymore, He doesn’t like things I did for him. He just changed overnight."

“Is that why you killed him?”

She shook her head and smiled bitterly. “It was December, last year.” She closed her eyes and continued, “It was 5 in the afternoon and it was snowing. I was on my way back home which was really far from my school. My father called and said he’ll be picking up. Honestly, I was surprised. I don’t what made him have a change of mind but he really insisted on picking me up but I still said ‘no’. He was a stubborn man. His voice sounded somehow throaty and I realized he was drunk so I made that as an excuse and ended the call. I kept walking and despite of how thick my winter coat was, the cold still managed to seep through. Dad came and I had no choice but to get in.”

“It was a smooth drive; he didn’t have any complications in driving. We were halfway home when pulled the car in the center of the crossroad. He started speaking to me and looked at me through the rear-view mirror. He said he was sorry for being a bad parent and for beating me up. He had a lot of things to say that I couldn’t remember. Honks came from outside my window and I looked at it – it was a truck. A truck speeding fast towards us. I kept yelling and telling dad to start the engine because there’s a truck. I moved to the left side of the car. I was panicking and still shouted but he didn’t listen.” This time, Emily sniffed.

“It hit us. The front of the truck collided with us. I closed my eyes shut when it did. I heard glasses breaking. It felt like the car zoomed and spun around. My throat was burning from the screaming I did and when I opened my eyes – He was there, neck broken and facing me with wide eyes and a frown. I saw one more tear rolling down his eye. And right then, I knew he’s dead.” She cried. Tears rushing down to her cheeks like a waterfall.

Lucius leaned closer to her and brought her to an embrace. She blamed herself for the death of her father when she really isn’t responsible.

“You remind me of him. The car, the beach… Everything… Since you came, everything reminds me of him and my mother’s smiles looked different than before. I want him back.”