I woke up to my mom dragging her fingers across my hair and gripping the points before she twirled them around her finger. “Oh scarlet”, She said in a soft whisper with her voice betraying her and cracking under the pressure of speaking. “Mom?” I looked at her worried. She barely cried in front of me and always appeared strong and put together. Her tears dropped on my shoulder. It had confirmed my suspicions. I sat up in my bed and saw it was still dark outside. I wrapped my arms around my mom and felt her cries jerking through her body. “I’m sorry Scarlet.” She cried out and pulled me into a hug so tight my eyes felt as if they would pop out of my head from the pressure. “For what?”. She pushed me away placing her hands on either side of my shoulders, squeezing and massaging them.

“Your father…. is waiting…..um… downstairs. We …have to ….talk” she said, struggling to say each word. I couldn’t pressure her into telling me more because I felt too bad and guilty for her being like that. So I just listened and went downstairs with my mom to the lounge. I caught sight of the massive clock hanging above the burning fireplace and saw it was 5 am. I looked back at my mom wanting to ask why it had to be so early, but then I saw the dark circles under her eyes which told me the story of her sleepless and troubled nights. I looked at my father, who didn’t look any better than my mother. He held out his hand gesturing for me to take a seat. I sat down slowly inspecting each of them and shifting my gaze between the two of them. “Scarlet”, my father spoke and cleared his throat before he sat down and held my mom’s hand tightly.

“We know you have been wondering about…. Your past”, my father said in a strong and unemotional tone. Then it hit me that Jade had spoken to my mother. “We never meant it in a way to hurt you. We wanted to protect you and nothing was more important to us.Even if we had to hide the truth from you” My father looked at my mom who was a crying mess at that point. “We understand if we have lost your trust or that you…hate us, but just know we did it all out of love. We love you as we love Saige, because you are still our daughter and nothing can change that.” My father said and his emotionless mask began to unravel, revealing his pain. I shook my head and got up from the couch. I sat down on my knees before them and grabbed their hands, squeezing them as hard as I could because I was fearful they would vanish had I not. “I could never hate you. I love you mom and dad. Never doubt that please. I love you as I could love my real parents. You two raised me to be the woman I am and protected me wherever you could. You supported me in my decisions and loved me when no one else would.” Every word I said was true. Yes, I am slightly lost in my own identity, but I couldn’t bring it over my heart to tell them that. I hated seeing them like that.

I pulled them both into a tight hug. My mom sobbed on my shoulder and I held her extra tight as an attempt to keep her together so she wouldn’t fall apart. “I love you guys” When we broke the hug my mom wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to pull herself together. “Hot chocolate?” She asked in the chirpiest voice she could possibly offer. Both me and my dad nodded and she left for the kitchen. I watched her silhouette disappear around the corner. “Scarlet be honest with me”. I whipped my head to my father and tried to read him. “But dad I have been,” He nodded his head before he laid back into the couch, relaxing his tensed muscles. “Thank you” I muttered under my breath. I played with my fingers as the shame and guilt waved over me.“For taking me in” “Scarlet, we should thank you. You have made us proud in every way imaginable. I won’t say you’re welcome because I am proud to be your father.” He said with his, milliondollar smile. I smiled at his words.

My mom came around the corner, revealing the tray filled with hot chocolate and cake. I smiled at her when I saw the marshmallows melting away. We spent time catching up on everything that had happened. They mentioned the rejection and I shrugged it off. I also didn’t mention Lucian to them as I was uncertain what our relationship was at the moment. My dad left us for a while before he came back. He stood still in the middle of the lounge, causing my mother and I to stop chatting about nonsense. “Saige wants to see you”, My dad said. I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why she would possibly want to see me. “She’s outside in the woods by the lake”, he said. I got a bit weary and wondered if she wanted to drown me in that dam. I got up and made my way to Saige. I saw her staring over the lake and walked up to her cautiously. I stood next to her and she didn’t even move her gaze to me. I joined her, looking over the lake.

The lake that held so many memories of our family having fun swimming and cooling down in the hot LA heat. “You know my life was so much better when I was younger” She said in a soft voice, one I wasn’t used to hearing her voice use. “Before you came along and ruined it all” She continued. It was no secret that she never liked me or cared about me. She never ceased to hurt me with her words. Even though I really loved her as a sister, she didn’t feel the same. “You always took what belonged to me” She continued and I looked at her in shock. “Funny coming from …” She slapped her hand on my mouth with a powerful force. She held my jaw shut. Her eyes were filled with pure evil as she watched me. I could feel the soft petals on my tongue and I saw the little purple petal on her hand. Then I realized what it was. My vision became fuzzy, and my body became limp. I saw two figures appear from the woods but couldnt make out who it was. “Now I’ll make sure you give it all back” Her voice echoed through my ears and everything went black.