Evermoon (Completed!)

Doubt

----Doubt----

***Lanie's POV***

I saw that sad excuse of flesh leave the restaurant as I breathed a sigh of relief.  Thank goodness he was gone.  What he whispered before he left shook me.  I've always been so careful… Why him?  

I saw Sophia walk out of the kitchen as her emotion on her face was indescribable.  

"WHAT he is…?"  I heard her say as I bit my lip.  s**t, she heard me.  My heart started to pound rapidly.

"Yes!  A no good, two timing scumbag!"  I quickly said to try to cover my tracks.  I shifted my eyes to the side.

Doubt washed over Sophia's features as she studied me.  She didn't believe me, I could tell.

"Then why did he look so shocked?"  I heard her ask.

"Well, I don't know.  He probably has some sort of reputation to uphold being one of the more powerful people in this town."  I lied.

I saw Sophia wrestle with my explanation but decided to drop it.  She's always been the one who trusts people way too easily.  My heart stung a bit at lying to her but seeing her walk off to help some customers who walked in was a blessing.  Mother and I were only trying to protect her even though I know I was overbearing towards her.

Our breakfast rush happened and we couldn't talk to each other.  Sophia looked like her normal self as I stayed in the kitchen to cook.

My mind wandered and I lost focus.  Some bacon burned as I thought about the conversation between Kieran and myself.

"Crap!!" I grabbed the bacon off and set some new bacon on, sighing.

“Get it together, Lanie.”  I muttered, smacking my cheeks a little to regain my focus.  It was absolutely no use though.  His last words played in my head like a broken record player.  I tried to forget but it kept coming back to haunt me.

"Will you tell Sophia what she doesn't know then, or shall I?  We will see who my angel trusts more afterwards." 

Sophia seemed to have completely dropped it by the end of our morning rush, but her eyes held doubts.  I wondered what went through her mind and felt terrible for keeping this whole other world from her.

We had made a promise a long time ago to protect Sophia and also to prevent her from being her true self.  Mother was always adamant about keeping to the promise but I always was unsure.  

I knew I would have to tell Mother about what happened and about how Sophia is beginning to question what she's always known.  Biting my bottom lip, I hated that fact.

I was too young to know why my mother promised something like this, but my mother always said that they gave us a new life, away from oppression and finally gave us the choice of having free will.

I know we used to live somewhere else before our current homes and that my father died before we left that first place.

Much like Sophia, I felt like I, too, was kept in the dark about the past.  Mother would always avert her eyes and tell me she didn't want to discuss the topic yet.  The hurt in her eyes definitely made it seem that she missed Dad and the other people deeply.

Sophia came up during a quiet moment as she whispered:  "Lanie, you're not hiding anything from me, right?"

"No!  Kieran is just completely bad news."  I shrugged.

Her golden eyes clouded over with doubt and I could sense a slight twinge of sadness before she nodded.

"I trust you."

Those words killed me.  I wanted to tell her all about this other world, about us, about them.  Again, she didn't have the courage to challenge me on it.  Instead, she just walked away to clean tables.

Arsen Evermoon and now Kieran Lugosi… soon, she would find out little by little.  The spirit chains would soon weaken and break, link by link.

With an added resolve but also regret, I steeled my resolve to tell Mother about this.

***Sophia's POV***

Work had finally ended as I stretched out with a quiet yawn.  Lanie was inside cleaning the kitchen as I called out.

"I'll see you tomorrow, sis!  I love you!"

"See you!  Be careful!"  Lanie yelled out.

The chime of the bell sounded as I exited the restaurant.  I decided to take a longer way home through the town so I could be around more people.  A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of yesterday and I didn't want to ever be in that situation again.

"Did you hear?  The florist's daughter disappeared recently.  She was last dating that Kieran fellow.  He must be stricken with grief.  He has the worst luck with women.  The only one that has been by his side the longest is his right hand girl."  One woman whispered to another but I had overheard.

"Disappeared?  But he seemed so nice earlier.  It must just be a weird coincidence."  I thought to myself but remembered how Lanie was so completely against me getting to know him.

"She lied to you."  A voice said which caused me to stop what I was doing.

The voice sounded familiar, like I've known it my whole life.

I shook my head for a moment.  I took a glance around and saw no one in the streets now.  Who said that if there's no one here?  I was completely alone.

"Who are you?"  I whispered, hoping to find the source of the voice.

The voice didn't answer me as I felt a stab of disappointment.  I was in the dark again.  I needed answers.

"Please tell me!"  I pleaded, almost feeling like I was going insane for talking to myself.

My mind was lost in thought; my body aimlessly wandering as I tried to place the voice I heard earlier.

The next thing I knew, I heard a blaring car horn.  Looking up, a car came barreling towards me as I couldn't help but stare like a deer in headlights.