Chapter 15: Connections
1386 Words
“Mrs. Black. You do understand that I specifically said that nothing shall happen to my daughter during your petty quarrel with your sister, yes?” Joseph asked with a stern face as he sips more of his black coffee.
Yes,” Anna admitted with a sigh. There was simply no excusing this. She and her sister went too far, even by their standards.
“Then what is this?” He said, pointing at his daughter on his living room couch, unconscious and bruised.
“That wasn’t me.” Anna quickly stated. A pitiful attempt in excusing herself.
“Ah, but I would assume that it was your sister.” He replied in a calm tone. “Adriane Black was it?”
“She’s an untouchable maniac, even I can’t stop her.” She said as she bit her lip, anxious.
Joseph glanced at Olive, who was looking after his daughter as they were discussing things. Olive could only shrug with pity, not knowing what to do with her friend. He silently wonders how on earth does Olive managed to have the time and energy to come here and take care of someone else besides herself, considering her lack of any form of rest lately, which was very noticeable with all her constant flinching.
Olive slowly put her hand on Mei’s forehead, setting aside her dark hair for a moment to check for a fever. Olive felt the palm of her hand heat up on Mei’s forehead, signaling an expected fever.
Mei's face was beet red and her fair skin glistens in a way that has Olive worried. Her lips are puffed out and the skin on them shows the first signs of dehydration. Her whole body was sweating and shaking.
“Great! Just, f*****g great!” Olive exclaimed as she shot up, “Now, Mei’s sick and all of the diaries are missing!”
“Calm down Olive!” Anna pestered, “You don’t need to wake her up just yet.”
“The diaries are second priority. Right now, your sister is to be hunted down.” Joseph spoke, as he gestured Olive to get some medicine. Olive grunted but complied nonetheless.
“How?” Anna puzzled, curious. “And don’t even think about the police.” She quickly added.
“Of course not.” Joseph chuckled. “What we can do for now is either bargain with her or slow her down.”
“You seem familiar with this.” Anna cooed.
“Believe me, I am.” He replied. “So, you tell me Adriane’s doing this for money?”
“Yep. Mei told me something about a scholarship? And something about me having to warn the college Ivory was going to go to.” Anna explained briefly.
“About what?”
“That Ivory’s dead,” Anna stated simply, yet still finding discomfort in saying it.
“By the way,” Joseph spoke, “I know it’s not my business to ask you this, but…How were you going to afford for Ivory’s college in the first place.”
“I mean, she did get accepted to an Ivy league college,” He added. “And none of us ever knew of the scholarship until Mei read about it.”
“Well, I was just gonna wing it and see what happens.” Anna shrugged. “Wouldn’t hurt to try, right?”
Their conversation was briefly halted by Mei’s incoherent mumbling. A fever dream, it seems.
“Ivory...” The poor girl mumbled. Jospeh and Anna glanced at each other before glancing back at Mei.
Joseph and Anna watched as Mei continues to mumble things beyond their comprehension. Their expression laced with guilt as Mei soon began mumbling Ivory’s name among other words.
Olive soon arrived with a tray of medicine, a spoon, and a warm glass of water. She glanced at Joseph, who soon gave her a nod of permission. Olive nodded back, and settled the tray on the small living room table.
She gave Mei’s shirt a few tugs to wake her up, before pouring a spoonful of liquid medicine for her friend. Mei quickly drank the liquid and grabbed the glass of water. Mumbling a quick thanks to Olive before quickly chugging down the warm liquid. Wincing at the taste.
“How are you feeling, kid?” Anna asked, her voice soft and dear.
“M’fine.” Mei quickly mumbled as she set the now empty glass on the tray, her vision was still blurry. “Where are Ivory’s diaries?”
Olive winced at the word. Her mind couldn’t help but wonder why her friend’s mind would instantly make Ivory her first concern. If anything, this was all Ivory’s fault. But Olive decided not to pester on the subject.
“Stolen.” Joseph quickly stated.
“Presumably by Adriane.”Anna quickly added.
“Ah, I remember that part,” Mei commented she rubbed the back of her head. She reached her hand out to the coffee table, assuming her glasses were there. Olive quickly assisted her.
“Don’t worry, Mei. We’ll get those books back.” Olive quickly assured.
“Oh, no doubt about that alright.” Anna chimed in. Mei hadn’t noticed this before. But now that her hazy eyes are starting to adjust, she could see a certain flame of anger lacing Anna’s eyes. It reminded her of someone.
“Oh, and Mei?” Her father suddenly said, “Would you mind telling us what happened?”
Mei took a deep breath, then slowly said, “Okay.”
Camilla banged her fist on her desk as she clenched the papers in her hand. Caring not of the paper cuts she would have to mend after this.
“f**k! Damn it!” She grunted under her breath, “It’s worse than I thought.”
She glanced back at Violet, still complicity sitting on Camilla’s bed. Watching. Observing. It was a wonder Camilla had managed to make her stay for the night, again. And it’s an even more of a miracle that Violet had managed to convince Camilla to read the diary today, instead of last night.
Who knows what would happen if Camilla read this last night. Afterall, her parents usualy only stayed the house for the night before going back to work again. Much like Violet’s parents.
“What?” Camilla hissed.
“Nothing,” Violet calmly replied, “You’re just beginning to look more like someone I know.”
“Ah, so you’ve noticed?” Camilla said as she set the papers on her desk.
“You’ve died your hair black and you’re now wearing contact lenses.” Violet pointed out. “How could I not notice?”
Camilla’s wicked smile stretched wider. “Of course!”
A sudden succession of shrill rings cut through Camilla’s words. Violet flinched startled. Peering toward the phone, Camilla hastily picked it up.
“Hello?” Camilla said nonchalantly.
“Oh? No, we don’t really need it now.” Camilla answered. Violet couldn’t help but peer in, curious.
“Yeah, no. You’re still going to have to hold her down for me.” Camilla said to the phone, “She’s not my problem after all.”
“Is that all? Okay, bye.” Camilla disclosed as she glanced back at Violet.
“Who was that?” Violet puzzled.
“No one you should know, probably.” Camilla vaguely explained.
“That usually means that I need to know.” Violet pointed with a chuckle, she hated that it was sincere.
“Look, you did your part, now it’s time for me to do mine,” Camilla said dismissively.
“Alright,” Violet said as she gestured Camilla to climb on to the bed, “Talk.”
“Oh, so forceful.” Camilla teased, yet she complied nevertheless.
- Writer
