CHAPTER 21
1308 Words
PHOEBE'S POV
"Phoebe! Come on, wake up!" a voice was ringing in my ears
"5 more minutes mom" I answered
It's the holidays. I deserve some sleep. As I was thinking this to myself, a soft object came hard on my face. I woke up shouting, but a hand was placed on my mouth to stop that. And guess who it was. Elizabeth Smith. And Leo? What are they doing here?
"Why are you waking me up so early?" I whined.
It was 6 am.
"Wow, Phoebe. You're so sleepy that you forgot about every single thing that had happened." I heard Phoebe mumble.
"What happened?" I asked still confused.
"PHOEBE JONES. IT IS 6 AM ON 1ST JANUARY 2016!" she said
Finally, realisation dawned upon me.
"OH NO! CAROLINE'S BIRTHDAY!"
I jumped out of my bed, took my bath, grabbed my bag and ran with Elly and Leo to Caroline's house. New year was a big thing for everyone on 1st January; but for us; the biggest thing is Caroline's birthday. The plan was to wake her up with a cake but right now the plan is to get to her house before she wakes up. I swear to God Caroline if you miraculously wake up this early today, this will be your death day...
After about 5 minutes of running we reached Caroline's house with her mom and Ivy already awake waiting for us.
"Finally you guys decided to show up" Ivy sighed.
"Sorry" we said together and went up.
We opened the door slowly trying not to wake her up. The decorations was done by her mom and Ivy after she slept last night. Caroline is usually a light sleeper unless she is really tired. And surprisingly she didn't wake up yesterday. But, she also gets tired very fast. Got some haemoglobin issues. Anyway, we brought the cake up and lit the candles. As if on cue she started stirring up from her sleep.
"Happy Birthday!" the five of us said quite slowly.
I mean we don't want her to have a heart attack on the morning of her birthday. Actually, there were six of us. Damian was there too. I kept reminding myself that this is about Caroline, not me so that I wouldn't punch his face.
"Aww, thank you" she said still sounding a little groggy.
"YOU'RE OFFICIALLY 15!" I squealed
"Yes I am! Now let me go bathe. Don't stuff that cake all over my face yet!" she said as she woke up.
After about 10 minutes Caroline came down with a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt. Her mom bought it for her a few days earlier.
"Okay. PRESENTS TIME!" Elly did bringing her present in front.
"Oh you really didn't have to" Caroline said.
"Of course I had to. It's your birthday!"
She opened it and started to squeal
"IT'S A FUJI FILM CAMERA! OH MY GOD IT'S A FUJI FIM CAMERA! AAAAHHHHH" Caroline started screaming
"I knew you wanted it. Even though I don't know why you wouldn't ask your mom" Elly said to her as Caroline looked sheepishly at her mom.
"Why didn't you ask me?" her mom asked her.
"I just didn't want to. I wanted to save my own money and buy it. But Elly bought it for me. I'm not complaining though" she answered.
"Okay, okay. Next present!" I intruded.
I gave her a wrapped box. She opened it and a gasp left her mouth.
"It's a violin?" she asked more like whispered.
"Well, it's not exactly from me. Let's just say, its from the Jones family"
"THANK YOU!" she screamed pouncing over me.
"Your we-welcome" I answered, suffocating
Caroline realized that and loosened her grip on me.
"Who's next?" I asked
"I guess its me" Leo said coming in front
"I didn't know what to get you since I didn't know you for that long. But I know enough to know that you like chocolate" he said as he brought out a box.
"I made brownies for you"
"You made them yourself?" she asked looking up at him
"Yeah! Actually I made it with my dad!" he said
"THANK YOU SO MUCH!" she said as she stuffed her mouth with a piece.
"I'M NEXT!" Ivy barged in.
"What did you get me?"
"Here you go!"
She opened the wrapper and it was a book. Wow. That's...very unlikely of Ivy. Why would she give a book?
"A book? 'HOW TO IMPRESS A GUY'?" Caroline looked at Ivy in disbelief.
Now that makes much more sense. Wow, Ivy. Just when I thought she had any hope. How did this human being enter law college and GRADUATED?
"Are you serious, Ivy?" Aunt Eliza asked
"What? She's a teenager Liza. Let her live" Ivy answered sarcastically,
"You'll thank me later." she said to Caroline as she laughed.
"Um. Where is Damian?" Caroline asked
"Probably in his room" I answered
"Why is he in the room. Wait. Let me go check" she said as she went up.
CAROLINE'S POV
I walked up to Damian's room to check on him. He was sitting on his bed fiddling with a box in his hands.
"Hey, Damian. What are you doing here? Everyone's downstairs."
"Um. Nothing. Just a little head ache."
I frowned at this. Why would he suddenly get a head ache.
"What's that" I asked his pointing towards the box in his hands.
"Um. It's nothing. Just a tiny gift" he said, sounding rather nervous.
"Then why didn't you give it to me?"
I said as I opened it. It was a necklace. A beautiful one though. It had the yin and yang symbol.
"Well, everyone seemed to be giving you some expensive stuff. While...I just had a cheap chain." he said
"You do not get to call a necklace cheap. It's beautiful. I love it so much. And the value of a presents is not about the cost; it's about the meaning. So tell me. What does this mean" I asked as he smiled at me.
" You know the meaning of Yin and Yang right? Good in bad and bad in good." he explained as I nodded
"Well, it can also be used for other meanings. For you it's strength" he said making me confused.
"Do you know the meaning of your name, Caroline? It means strong. So here I'm telling you..." he explained as he put the necklace around my neck, "there can be weakness in your strength, but there can also be strength in your weakness" he finished as he locked the chain.
I smiled at him and at my reflection with the necklace.
"Thank you" I said
"You're welcome" he replied smiling
"Okay, come on let's go down" I said pulling him
We went downstairs and I showed my chain to mom and Ivy. It was really beautiful. We chatted around for a while and Damian was actually fitting in. Talking and having fun! Mom made chicken and waffles for breakfast and lasagna with mash potatoes and gravy for lunch. Right now I'm stuffed like a potato and Phoebe, Elly and Leo headed back home. I went back upstairs to clean up my room a little bit. Ivy made a mess. As I was cleaning up a colourful thing caught my attention. THE GIFT. UNCLE ELIJAH'S GIFT. So much happened that I forgot about it. I opened it up to find a...triskele? A triskele is what he gave me? What was that supposed to mean? All I know is that a triskele symbolizes cycles of 3. Like past-present-future, or, father-mother-child. Why did he give me this...
That's when I remembered. The name of the g**g. TRISKELION. The triskele was most probably their symbol or something like that. Is he trying to give me a warning?...
Or maybe he was trying to give me a clue.
- Writer
