C10 S10:Blooms Before Withers

*Warning: Contains Gore & Bloody Scene*

"Do you finally miss seeing your mother, my Safiyya?"

I glared at her.

Yes. My so-called mother is still alive. Neither Ariel nor Nash knew about this because I never told them the truth. To me, she is no longer a person I can call 'mama' after everything she has done to me and my family.

My hands balled into fists at that thought, nails digging deep into the soft flesh of my palms.

"Don't be delusional. I only came here to tell you 'great news'."

As I spoke, I pulled down the hoodie.

Mrs. Hannah frowned when seeing her oldest daughter's condition. There's a bandage covering her left eye and some burn scars on her face. But when she stared into her daughter's eye, she could sense the difference although it had been so long since she last saw them. There's no longer insanity and yet there's no light in her eyes. They're dim and lifeless, not like a normal human being would have.

Mrs. Hannah feels like she has never met that girl before. As if the person sitting in front of her was someone else entirely.

"What happened to you?"

My eyebrows raised slightly. I couldn't believe what I just heard.

"What happened to me? Are you really asking about me? Since when did you care? After neglecting me when I never done anything wrong?"

I looked at her with a slight smirk on my lips.

Never once have I ever forgotten how despised she was at the sight of me. Never once does she show any signs of love or even care for me.

The truth is... I hated how she treated me differently than my siblings. She didn't want to accept me. She told me I wasn't good enough. That I'm a burden. That even if she loved me, I could never change. Because I'm a mistake.

That's why I tried to take her children away from her. At first, I tried to get revenge on them so that they would feel what I've felt. But if I did that, I'd be the same as her. And so I tried a different approach.

Instead of hurting them, I try to protect and care for them like a good older sister. I gave everything to them and made them dependent on me. In return when they grow up, they will never dare to leave me. Because they couldn't live without me.

I was so used to my habits that I didn't realize I did the same thing towards other people like Emily and Asher. But both of them see me in different perspectives.

Emily views me as a weakling that can be used whenever she wants or needs it. She thought that I'm the kind who will always give in to her demands. But in the end, she's the one who got trampled by me.

Meanwhile Asher views me as a savior and someone he will never forget to pay back for what I've done for him. But he didn't know, I showed my good nature to him to get what benefits me. That is, to recover Ariel from her trauma.

No one has ever seen nor knows who I really am. They can never understand me. I'm the only one who understands myself better.

Unless that was what I thought.

"I don't want to waste my time so I'll just straight to the point. My siblings that you loved so much..."

I could feel my shaky breath coming out from between gritted teeth.

"They are gone."

Her face changed for a while. Before a small laugh escaped from her mouth. It's not a happy one either but a sarcastic one. It's like her laugh was mocking me with its tone.

"In the end, you still failed as my daughter. Was what you said nine years ago just a big talk? I thought you had grown to be someone capable of protecting others but you failed to protect your only family. How disappointing."

She scoffed again.

"Now that the siblings have been taken away, what is left for you now? Is there something for you to keep living for? No. You're all alone now. All you've got is yourself, right?"

She smiled maliciously.

"Or you can wait for eleven years? Until then, you won't feel alone anymore because you still have your mother by your side, alive."

Those last two sentences were supposed to make me snap. However, there's another part inside me that held back my rage.

"You think I'm going to accept back my father's killer like nothing? What kind of an idiot do you take me for?"

And yes. She's the one who caused papa's death.

The day when she was about to get discharged after giving birth to Nash, she got angry when seeing I'm holding Ariel and Nash sleeping in my arms. She thought I was going to take them away from her so she tried to attack me with a knife in her hand.

Luckily, papa arrived on time since he's also working in the hospital and tried to stop her before she could hurt us. But, her knife got in his throat. I froze at my spot when I saw how blood splashed everywhere and dripped from papa's neck while he called for our name.

My other hand automatically covered Ariel's eyes to prevent her from watching what was happening. I didn't move even after papa fell on the floor and he died. The killer herself also lost consciousness and passed out on the ground beside papa.

The sight that I just witnessed, will be remembered for the rest of my life. It's forever engraved in my mind until today.

"I guess killing the person you loved most isn't enough to make up for your failures not just as a mother, but also as a wife. You've always been selfish."

With those words, I stood up while putting back my hoodie. I looked at her over my shoulder for the last time.

"Today is the last day I'm meeting you. I hope that your prison time will be as hellish as mine."

Without waiting for her to reply, I walked out of the room.

Mrs. Hannah was still seated on her chair, staring blankly at where her daughter was just standing. It took her a while before a tear fell on her cheek. She wiped it quickly and smiled again. This time, her smile looks bitter.

"You've grown up, my Safiyya."

~ ~ ~ ~

I stopped and lifted my chin, looking at the tall building in front of me. It has been so long since I stepped foot in this place, but everything is still familiar to me. The sun was slowly setting and shadows were already growing, tonight will be the end of second June.

I was about to turn around when someone called my name. I looked at the direction of the voice.

There, the one sitting right by the entrance of the building, is my bully. She was staring at me, her face filled with surprise while also having anger burning in the depths of her eyes. She had her hands in her pockets while standing up.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you already leaving this place?"

Ah right. I almost forgot. Both her and Emily also lived in this apartment. You can say that, we used to be neighbors, well sort of. But when I was still living here, I never met with Naura.

"Is this whole apartment your property? I can come and go anytime I want. I don't need permission."

I said coldly while walking to the entrance door. When I entered the lift, Naura also followed me inside.

"And, what are you doing here?"

I asked her in a sarcastic tone which seemed to irritate her more.

Naura took a few steps towards me. Her face showed nothing but pure hatred.

"If you think that you could just get away with saying those words after what you've done to my father and his crew, then you're wrong. I will make sure to ruin you. I am not afraid to make you disappear from this earth."

Her tone was dripping with venom and hatred as she stared at me.

This time I couldn't help but smirk and chuckle.

"If you say so."

My finger pushed the button on the seventh floor. The elevator made a loud sound and started moving upwards. I leaned against the wall of the elevator.

I didn't notice Naura's staring at my face with her brows knitted together.

"What happened- Never mind."

She turned her head to the other side.

A moment of silence before the door finally opened. I walked out while Naura followed behind me. She looked at her surroundings, didn't expect that we're standing on the rooftop of the apartment building.

She looked at me curiously before asking.

"What are we doing here?"

"You told me, you want to make me disappear from this earth. So I thought, why don't you do it here? It's easy. You can push me down and watch how I die. Nobody knows what happened to me except for you."

A sly smile formed on my face as I glanced at Naura who was still staring at me. I continued talking.

"It seems like you're thinking about doing it now."

"Shut up! If you really wanted to disappear from this earth, then just kill yourself! This doesn't solve anything!"

She shouted angrily before turning around and starting to walk away.

"I know you hate me. So much that you want to make me disappear from this world. So here I am, watching you try to find a way to do it."

She stopped and turned back to me again.

"What do you really want?"

"For once, I feel like I want to talk with you normally. Without getting each other's throats."

She remained quiet and stayed staring at me until I broke the silence.

"I've seen many things you've done to me. Some of them I'll never forget. But you know what's funny? I don't hate it."

Naura starts to step backwards.

"Are you a masochist?!"

I almost laughed out loud when I saw her reaction.

"I never thought you'd know that word."

"Shut up! I just happened to read it in books."

She said between gritted teeth while trying to regain her composure.

"You know. There are five people I've met that stay true to themselves whenever I'm with them. First two people were my siblings. The third and fourth people were Asher and his mother. And the last one..."

I glanced at her.

"...Is you."

She was staring back at me with wide eyes. I knew that she was surprised. I guess this is new to her too.

"Surprisingly, talking with a bully who's obviously hating me is better than talking with a close friend who's just fake and acting nice."

Suddenly, Naura approached me and grabbed onto my collar and pushed me against the railing. Her expression was determined and full of rage.

Without anyone noticing, the railing starts to get unstable.

"You listen here, Saphie. I don't know what kind of food poisoned your mind and made you change into a whole different person after almost a month you didn't come to school. But the fact that I hate you more than anything, will never change no matter what you say. So don't ever think that I'll change. Ever. Because I won't."

"You don't need to change. I prefer this way."

Both of us went silent as we started imagining a scenario of me and Naura being goofy friends.

Not gonna lie, I almost want to puke although my stomach is empty right now. She also had the same disgusted face.

'At least both of us have one thing in common.'

I took out something from my pocket, unfolded the paper before showing it to her face.

"The one your father saw that day was just a copy. This is the real contract so all of you are still gonna get your payment."

She looked at me with confusion in her face.

"What... What are you trying to imply here? Why would you do this if you hate us so much?"

I chuckled lightly.

"I never said I hate you guys. I just wanted you to get a bit of a taste of karma. That's just it. And this sixty-nine million, I have no use for it anymore. So all of you can keep it and do whatever the hell you want. In a sense, we are even."

Naura went silent again before she suddenly ripped the paper into pieces. To be honest, I was taken aback for a minute because I didn't expect she'll do that.

She threw away the scraps then glared at me.

"I don't care and I don't need that money."

I scoffed.

"Oh really? Then what do you want? You want to get rid of me that badly?"

She stared at me for a moment.

"No, I changed my mind. Instead, I want to tell you something. It's about Emily."

I furrow my eyebrows slightly in question.

Naura looks contemplating for a second before speaking.

"The novel she's working on, is actually plagiarized from someone's novel. She wrote it back and changed some parts of the story."

The words sink into me. The only thing that is left is shock and confusion.

"Then, whose novel she plagiarized?"

"Actually-"

CRACK!

'Huh?'

I looked at Naura as her eyes widened in shock.

I glanced over my shoulder when I felt gravity pulling my body downwards.

"Safiyya!"

Naura screamed in terror as she watched me falling down from the building. She tried to reach for me but she was too late.

I stared up at the sky. For the first time in my life, I saw two stars shining brightly in the dark blue sky. My hand reached out to the stars, tracing my fingers as if I could touch them.

'I did think of letting go of everything but never have I ever once thought to let go of my life. I guess this is it. Tragically, my time ended here.'

My hair fluttered in the wind while I closed my eyes as my body slowly descended down to the ground.

~ ~ ~ ~

"Thank you uncle for treating me today."

Said the girl who was currently standing next to Director Braydon while giving him a hug which he returned while patting her head.

"If it wasn't because of that brats, I could have treated you and your mother in an extravagant restaurant instead."

She shook her head.

"That would be boring and I would rather go to my uncle's place. Uncle always makes delicious sweets for dessert!"

The old man laughed out loud before giving her a warm hug which she gladly accepted. He already treated her as his second daughter.

"Alright. I see that you are very fond of your uncle."

"Of course, you're the best uncle I've ever had!"

She said enthusiastically.

Director Braydon smiled tenderly.

They spent some time laughing together before they got disturbed by the crowds, the sound of police sirens and ambulance yelling coming from everywhere in front of their apartment.

"What was that all about?"

Asked the director confusedly.

"I don't know. Maybe we should try to check out the situation."

He nodded.

Both of them walk towards the crowd. They could see several ambulances carrying a body on a stretcher. Director Braydon squinted his eyes before he realized it. He stopped walking and stared at the young girl who was lying on the stretcher, covered with blood.

"Na....Naura?"

"There's also another body found on top of the truck!"

One of the paramedics pointed out.

Emily turned around only to widen her eyes seeing someone she knows lying on the other stretcher. She gasped loudly when she recognized the person.

'What?! Naura and... Safiyya? Wh..What...? How?'

Both of them stay frozen on their spot while watching the ambulance move past them.

'What's actually happening?'