Chapter 12: Strike of Midnight

Time slows down as Sodelle runs still. In the heat of the moment, she hears voices in her head, "Stop running... Fight back... Make them suffer... Kill them", all the murderous words buried deep into her ears, but she then thought "No! Not like this, I don't want to hurt anyone, I'm not gonna hurt anyone, I don't want any trouble... I'm not the monster I think I am... I make my choice". She runs faster as time went back to normal, as usually, Ezra is still on her tail and noticed the two behind him.

Ezra was too fast he surprisingly reached for Sodelle's hand and noticed pulls her, he hugs her tightly making sure she won't escape again from his arms. "My goodness! You're unbelievably strong and brave enough to pull off a move like that on me. And may I say you are on Fire!" Sodelle felt annoyed when hearing those words, "I never thought I'd encounter such an exciting and extraordinary lady like yourself" he said, Cian and Mikhail on the other hand try to catch their breath, Mikhail shakes his head and says "You scared her off that's what it is" he exclaimed, Cian sighs and cuts in and rolled his eyes "A wildling like her would definitely run away from you or beat you up... Eventually" he breathes heavily.

Sodelle tries to struggle but Ezra suddenly carries her like a sack of potatoes and went on their way. While on the way, she tries t struggle with a little of her energy, feeling tired and exhausted and angry at the same time, she grunts and growls but Ezra didn't seem bothered at all, they passed by an antique clock, she took a glimpse of the time, it's quarter to twelve and they're on their way back to the dining room.

Reese on the other hand looks at the watch while she paces the room, "what do I do? what do I do? what if she won't make it in time? what if something happened to her?" she said but she shakes off whatever she said and tries to muster up some hope and courage, "No! she said I have to stick to the plan no matter what happens, please... be safe" as soon as she said those words she hears footsteps and a little noise outside of the electric room, Reese opens the door slightly and peeks, she was shocked when she sees Ezra carrying Sodelle by his shoulder, "Oh my goodness this is bad" she carefully whispered. It's twenty minutes before midnight Reese checked, but then she hears a thud on the ground, she looked again, now Sodelle is on the floor crawling towards the door, the door that leads in and out, she felt worried.

Ezra sighs and kneels, he said: "there's nowhere to go sweet puppy, stop running away, don't you feel exhausted? Come here, have fun with me instead... Won't you?" he asked slyly and offers his hands to her, Sodelle giggles and sighs as she leans her head by the door, "you know, I haven't done this kind of thing in a very long time, I and my brothers used to play a game back then, it was so fun, hide and seek was my favorite, I was so good that they couldn't find me... Until a few years later, we weren't like that anymore, they were up to something else. Would like to hear?" she asked Ezra, Mikhail seemed to think that it was suspicious of her to come up with a story, to the point that he thinks that she is up to something, Cian looks at Ezra, he seemed interested he doesn't say a word, Sodelle continues her backstory.

"Well, back then after we weren't playing together much, my brothers were up to something that I don't know, I tried to initiate for them to play with me again, but they seemed too tired every morning, so I suspected they were doing something at night, I tried and tried to get their attention, but I had enough... So I decided to follow them at night when I got the chance, secrecy was not on my dictionary, so I followed them" Cian and Mikhail seemed to be interested as well, Reese checks the time, ten minutes before midnight.

"Then they noticed that I was tailing them, I was found out. But the funny part is that they tried to make up stories about what they're doing, making up words out from a fairytale story, but they knew I wouldn't believe in their words so easily, so they let me tag along... the best thing that has ever happened to me, it was like letting me in their hunt, best days of my life" she said, putting her head down and sighs, Reese looks for something to destroy the electric source circuit, she sees a crowbar on the side and reaches for it, one minute before midnight.

Ezra then asked, "wait a minute, you didn't tell what they were doing back then... in the middle of the night. What were they doing?" thirty seconds till midnight, Reese lifts the crowbar as she gets ready to smash the whole thing, Sodelle then lifts her head with a grin on her face "what will happen at this very instant" she said, ten seconds "seeing dirty little rich people fail their schemes and suffer the consequences... and poor you not getting the chance to bone this puppy's ass". The clock strikes at exactly midnight, Reese smashes everything, all the power circuit suddenly sparked after being smashed several times, the lights went out and the boys couldn't see a thing, they shouted at each other, asking and wondering what happened.

Sodelle closes her eyes and uses her ears as her vision, as if she could see in the dark like a predator, she called Reese and looks for her, "I'm here! I'm here!" Reese yelled, Sodelle finally reached for her hand and runs towards the door, but then Reese felt someone grab her ankle and screamed, but she still breaks free. So Sodelle banged the door open and run for their lives.

It seemed like they were in the middle of the forest, Sodelle looks back to see where they came from, they see an old abandoned manor for a short moment and went back to running. They were running so far away from the manor they noticed they weren't being chased by the three men or any of their goons, until a black G-Class Mercedes-Benz came up to them, the girls stopped in their tracks, worried that it might be someone who guards the manor. The car window rools down, Sodelle looked glad as she recognizes it's one of her brothers, Happy and her friend Jayson, "Need a lift?" He didn't have to asked, the girls hopped in right away, the car started and Happy steps on it. Reese abruptly asked "Uh Sodelle... Who are they?" Sodelle pats her in the back, "Reese, meet my brother Happy and my friend Jayson... Boys, meet Reese, let's take her home to us" the boys nodded and went on their way, feeling relieved that they got her safe and sound with a new aquaintance.

Two weeks have passed. At the Tarocco shop, Rosario was cleaning the tables, preparing the silverware and arranging the flowers, she hears the door open with the bells ringing, she turns to welcome her guest, to her surprise she sees Sodelle alone walking in to her shop, she teared up a bit and holds it together "Table for one my dear?" she asked, Sodelle smiles at her and nods, and assists her to her table. A few minutes later, Rosario served her the same tea she served the first time and places a side macaroons, she sits down with her and said "I assume that your not just here for tea and sweets aren't you? It seems you want to know about your mother, am I correct?" she asked, Sodelle took a sip of her tea and puts down her cup and says "I want to know everything about her, where she's from, how you met her... Everything"

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present."

― Bill Keane