Belle’s POV
“I can’t believe I won second place. Of all the first years!” Selene cried happily.
“Congrats!” I hugged her. We are now celebrating under a tree at our university. The fashion show ended at night. So we are now just looking at the stars and drinking beers.
“So sad that Ray just left like that.”
“Yeah. The person is busy.” I hope I don’t sound that disappointed. Though I am really disappointed that she disappeared just like that, I still feel glad to even see her again after a long while especially since our last encounter wasn’t that good.
“What is she doing here anyway? I thought you had no contact with her anymore. She messaged you that she will be standing behind the stage?” She pulled her coat around her. Now I feel a bit stupid drinking cold beer under a tree while around us is covered with snow.
I shook my head. “I just happened to stumble upon her there.”
“Okay? What is she doing there then?”
I shrugged.
“Came to visit you one last time?” Selene nudged me a little with her shoulder as she teased.
“I hope not,” I whispered to myself and drank the beer. I hope it’s not the last time I will see her. I don’t understand why I have this kind of attachment to her but her presence feels perfect to me. Does that even make sense? I don’t think so. But for some reason, when she’s around, everything feels right. Reincarnation...does she reincarnate too? Did we meet before this life? Maybe that’s why I find her presence comforting. Can souls who have met before recognize one another in their next lives?
“Well, see you in January, I guess,” Selene muttered.
I frowned. “What?”
“I’m going to my cousin in France, remember? She said that she’ll help me explore since she’s a designer herself.”
“Oh, right.” Now I know I really sound disappointed.
“You’re going to be okay without me, right?” She hugged me.
“You’re going to leave tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow…” I took another sip of my beer. “I’m going to be fine, don't worry.” When I first met Reign, it was in September and now it’s suddenly December? My whole life really turned upside down in just three months.
She leaned back to the tree and drank another bottle of beer. “I’m so excited. How about you? What are you going to do?”
I shrugged, “whatever comes up.”
“Hmm...same old Belle.”
“What does that mean?” That sounds offending but quite true at the same time.
“You need more spice in your life.”
“I have things that I do.”
“That I don’t initiate?”
“Well, ” There’s a demon girl roaming around. “Yeah…” I can’t tell you about it though.
“Alright. I believe you. A secret is a secret. You’ll tell me about it when you’re ready. Well, let’s go home. I need to wake up early for the flight.”
The next morning, my mother woke me up. Which is strange because that almost never happens. She only wakes me up when something bad is happening like last time when our kitchen almost got eaten by fire because our stove exploded for some reason.
“Wake up, Belle.”
“What? Why?” I panicked.
“Wake up!” She doesn’t seem to be panicking so I guess our kitchen is still intact.
I checked my phone to see what time it was. “It’s only five in the morning.”
“It’s your Aunt’s birthday today, remember? Come on.”
“At 5 AM?”
“We are going to their house. It takes 3 hours to drive there. Let’s go.”
“Ugh,” I hid my face on the pillow.
We are in the car already. It’s been two hours since we left home and we’re not even halfway to my aunt’s. I sat on the passenger’s side while my mom drove us there. I stare blankly at the trees we pass by and wish that I could just sit underneath one of those and just relax.
“The sky is getting dark. I think it’s going to rain.”
“Mom, it’s December. Of course, it’s going to rain. Rain of snow.”
“Seesh...you’re so sarcastic. Can you text your aunt for me and tell her we’re going to be late? Tell her we missed a turn.”
“We missed a turn?”
“Yeah.”
“Mom, ” I groaned. “My butt is numb already.”
“Yeah well, maybe get a license next time and drive us instead. My knees aren’t getting any better.”
I took my phone out and messaged my cousin instead. I’m sure that Aunt June wouldn’t be able to check her phone.
Reign’s POV
“What are you planning to do now?” I asked. I’m in the middle of the snowy forest talking to a drunk guy. Well, he wasn’t drunk last night when I talked to him.
“This...this is wrong…” He cried.
“You’ve already done it. I’m just here to take the payment.”
He shook his head. “No, I wasn’t thinking straight. It was the spur of the moment.”
I rolled my eyes. “You wished for justice. I gave it to you. Your abusers are now in prison.”
He shook his head. “But...they took my daughter…”
“Actions do have consequences. They did tell you that if you outed them they would take your daughter.”
“I wished because you said you’ll take care of it.”
“You didn’t mention anything about taking care of your daughter. All you said is bring those mean people to prison. I did my job, now I’m taking the payment.”
“I need my daughter first. One of their men took her.”
“Men? You didn’t mention anything like that last night.”
“You...you are playing with me...my head…” He took a step back.
“Human, that’s a highway behind you. Stop moving.” If he dies I wouldn’t be able to take the payment and I’m going to be delayed again. This body is most fragile when cold.
“No, you are a demon.” He took more steps back.
I anxiously followed him towards the highway. “Look, I’m just taking the payment. That’s all. You could wish for another if you would like.”
“I’ve got nothing to give…” he cried.
“Your daughter is probably still alive. Fine, let’s talk this thing out and figure out how to do this.”
He shook his head. “My daughter needs me.” He suddenly made a fast turn and ran through the highway.
“Stupid!” I followed.
Belle’s POV
“Texted my cousin instead. Aunt June might be too busy to check her phone anyway.” I informed my mom.
She nodded. “Now, we might miss that turn again. Can you check…” she squinted her eyes to see the signages.
“You should really start wearing your glasses when driving.”
“No, my glasses are only meant for reading.”
“Then get glasses for driving. What should I be looking for?”
“It should be Golf Avenue…”
I looked at the signs. “Golf...golf…” On my peripheral, I could see something moving so I lowered my gaze to see it clearly. “Uhmm...mom?” I called.
“Yeah, not now, Belle…I–”
“MOM!” I hit my mother’s arm to warn her about an animal passing the road but it was too late when my mother took a hard step on the break.
My head hit the dashboard and my mom hit the steering wheel. I tried to lean back but I think I broke my neck or something. I landed a hand on my forehead because that is definitely hurting.
“Oh my god…” My mom covered her mouth in shock. She immediately opened her door to see what we hit.
“Mom?” I followed her out of the car to see what she was seeing.
“It’s a person. Oh my god...Oh my god…” My mom cried.
“Mom, take a deep breath. I’ll call a responder.” I’m getting back inside of the car to get my phone when I saw a figure in the snowy forest. I squinted my eyes to see the figure clearly. They’re stomping their feet angrily through the snow. When the person is halfway closer, that’s when I only realize who I’m staring at.
“Dammit.” Reign greeted her teeth.
“What...what happened?” I turned my head to see my mom frozen in her place. “You froze my mom?”
Reign kneeled down and placed two fingers towards the person’s neck.
“Is he still alive?” I asked.
“There’s a pulse but we need to take him to the hospital.”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere. There’s no hospital around.”
“Shit.”
“Wait, what happened?”
“I was taking his payment. He freaked out and ran.”
“You’re talking in the middle of the snowy forest?”
“I chased him. It was a long talk.” She walked towards the driver’s seat. “How old is this car?”
“Uhmm...two years I think. It’s not second-hand.”
“Okay. Let’s carry the dude in the backseat.”
“Wait, my mom is cold.”
“This is your mom?” She pointed at the frozen lady beside her.
I nodded.
“I thought she’s like your older sister or something.”
“Stop hitting on my mom.”
“I’m just complimenting her. You should be happy too because that’s also me saying that you look as pretty as your mom.” She removed her outer coat and placed it over my mother’s shoulder to keep her warm. “Not in a creepy way of course. I just meant that maybe if you’re as old as her you’ll look like her.”
I just stared at her. She...she’s calling me pretty? Is a demon allowed to say that?
“Belle,” she called, catching my attention.
“Right....right…” I lowered myself towards the guy’s foot while Reign went for the shoulders.
“In three. One...two...three…”
We both put all our might to carry the guy. He’s on the bigger side so it’s really quite difficult. We’re finally able to bring him to the back seat then my mom is next to him. We made him lay on my mother’s lap.
“Wait, you’re driving?” I asked Reign before she could sit on the driver’s seat.
“Do you know how?”
“No.”
“Then go to your side.”
I did as she said. She sat in the driver’s seat and me in the passenger's seat. Reign is gearing up the car which kind of made me nervous.
“When did you learn how to drive?”
“I’ve lived long enough, snoopy. If I still don’t know how to drive at this age, might as well die.”
“Then how fast can you go?”
Reign stepped on the gas without answering me. I held on to my seatbelt as tight as I could. I tried to get a glimpse of my mother and the guy to see if they were okay.
“Are they frozen?” I asked.
“That’s the only way to keep the guy alive.”
“How about my mom?”
“We’re going to pretend as if it never happened.”
“What? You...you’re going to erase this memory off of her mind?”
“This event is quite traumatic on both sides so, yes. Including yours.”
My heart skipped a bit. “No.”
“What?”
“I’m fine. You don’t have to touch my memory.” I don’t want to lose my memory of her. She’s definitely going to erase that too.
She sighed. She changed the gearing of the car and stepped on the gas harder. We were going too fast that my mind couldn’t even make up the objects that we are passing by.
“You can slow down a bit,” I nervously said. I held onto the handle above my head as support because whenever Reign makes a turn, I also sway. I feel like one of those accessories in a car's dashboard with only the head moving. We finally reached the nearest hospital that we could find. She parked in front of the emergency area.
“Sit here.'' She undid her seatbelt and opened the car door.
“Huh?”
“Right now, people aren’t seeing me. I’m going to unfreeze the two. You tell them that you drive here.”
“But...I don’t know how to drive.”
“Adrenaline rush or something. Just go. I can’t get into a lot of casualties. It’ll be easier to explain it to your mom later on.”
“Ugh…okay…” I switched to the driver’s seat. “I’m going to see you again, right?” I asked Reign.
Without even thinking about it. She answered, “I don’t really want to.” Then she disappeared.
“Oh my god!” My mom screamed at the back. “Belle?”
What does she mean by that? Did I do something wrong? Why wouldn’t she want to see me again? Suddenly, I could feel the leather of the wheel on my hands. Then the warmth of the seat. Then the snow falling from the sky is becoming more noticeable. All of that but all I could hear was my heartbeat.
She didn’t want to see me again? I felt a tear coming down my face. Why do I even feel this hurt? We already talked about this before but why do I still feel disappointed each time she leaves?
“Belle!”
I jolted. I snapped back to reality. “Yeah?”
“Wh...how...what?”
“I...I drove us here.” I lied. I could feel my hands shaking. No, I can’t cry. It hurts but I can’t cry. Dammit, Belle!
“But you don’t know how to drive!”
“No time for explaining! We need to bring that guy to the emergency room ASAP.”
--
My cousin ended up picking me up in the hospital to stay the night at their place while my mom stayed at the hospital to wait for the results of the guy. Luckily, according to the doctors, I don’t have any problem. My neck is totally fine and so is my head but I should call them immediately if I ever felt anything.
“This must be traumatic, Belle.” My cousin said.
“Yeah…” My eyes are staring at the road through the window beside me.
“What happened? Your mom is also not sure what happened? She said that the next thing she knows is the guy is on her lap and you’re driving? Since when?”
I shrugged. “She can’t remember what happened?”
“Hmmm?”
“She hit the guy?”
“Your mom hit the guy?”
Reign must have altered my mother’s memory.
“Your mom said that you two saw the guy laying on the ground then you picked him up and she kinda blacked out because of the blood. You know with our grandfather’s coughing blood and all. She got traumatized by that so she blacked out. The next thing she knows is you’re already at the hospital.”
“Yeah...Yeah...that’s what happened.”
My cousin nodded. “Well, mom is making hot soup for you to eat. Take a shower, eat the soup and take a good rest. Things will be better tomorrow.”
I nodded.
My cousin brushed my head.
I felt like crying. I’m hurt. What did I do for Reign to hate me? Yeah, our first meeting wasn't as good as expected. But what did a demon expect when a person met one like them? Hug them? Celebrate? Of course, you’ll hit them with a hoe or try to kill them by using holy water or burn them.
But I thought everything is better? I don’t know why but I thought we’ve passed that already. Maybe my mom is right. I do enjoy the excitement that she brings into my life and it’s the first day of holiday vacation and I’m bored. Maybe I wanted to see her because I could at least get out of this ‘normal’ life even just this holiday. But she had to ruin it all by saying that she doesn’t want to see me again.
I sighed heavily.
“Are you okay?” My cousin worriedly asked.
“Yeah...don’t mind me.”
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