CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN LIAM

"Go get him Prim....I'll dispose off the trash...", I granted Prim leave so that I could deal with Cass. I couldn't believe she was the one behind the whole catastrophic events that went as far as disrupting our quad squad. Didn't it mean so much to her to see us together like that? Didn't it? No clue or hint? No sense of guilt that what she did was wrong? Fine....if she wanted to get back at Prim, was it necessary to ruin the lives of all those people? Fortunate enough they didn't die. I managed to get their on time and after I noticed something fishy going on, I alerted the health personnel who helped take them all to safety and treated them rightly. I was scared and afraid for them I feared for them. I feared for their families and what they'd think of me. I only wanted what was right for them and when they saw all that I don't think they'd be able to trust me again. When Cass admitted that she did it, my heart tore. All this time I thought she was different. It was her difference that drew me closer to her. Her desire to make the world fun taught me to see things differently. From a view that made me look at challenges and chew them up like a komodo rhino. She brought out the best in me. She always encouraged me and made me feel powerful. I did everything I could to unravel the good side of the world. It has a friendly side and a funny way of expressing it. Trial after trial as though in the end you will be given a sandwich.

"I'll miss you Liam....",Prim wept as she waved at me. Her beautiful face was darkened by the fact that she was going to die. She was too weak and timid. I understood the position she was in. I totally understood. It wasnt easy but I'd still give her a ray of hoping hoping it'd be enough.

"Don't say that....",I contested her words. I would adjure to combat if need be but just couldn't bring my self round to agreeing she was going to go. I just couldn't. I chose to make myself ignorant on this matter yet I was fully equipped and knew each volume of the information. Like fire bending harmony, I saw the brighter side of Prim. She was beautiful I side out and my brother was very lucky.....very lucky.....

"Jeez! Go get them Super Prim....I believe in you....you can do this...", Cass chanted. I couldn't believe her. This wasn't a game you can just join and quit at whatever moment you wanted. Even games had rules! You just can't quit out of the blue. Any who, this wasn't a game...

"I will go.....and I promise you...I will return",Prim replied to Cass's noise and turned around to leave. I cried when I saw her go. The inner voice in me whispered that this was the last time I'd see her. I definitely knew it and it couldn't help but tore my heart more. An uncountable pieces made where the bits that where running this huge body of mine. I saw her leave and I wished I'd go with her.

"You fancy her?",Cass asked getting the upper hand and freeing herself of my grip."Oh yes you do! Do not deny what is evident to my eye okay?!", she threatened me and pointed at me with her finger. At first I saw it and thought it was a knife not knowing it was just a finger. Fear can work wonders.

"....I guess you just don't know people the way you think you do...", I answered shoving my hands in my pockets. "It's been years and yet you still don't know me. You don't even know that I actually fancy YOU! Why where you with me then?"

"My whole life I've struggled to get what I want. My parent's acceptance, friends and even from myself. My miserable life was all I longed to get rid of. I met you and I knew I had found what I always needed. For once I had finally gotten accepted but I realised I lost myself getting there. I forgot who I was because of neglecting myself all the other times....", she started narrating the old fairytale again and I got really angry. She wanted to blackmail me again. Well this time I got a shot in taking her down and I wouldn't want to do it any other way.

"You can't keep using that as an excuse to get through to people. You had time to redeem yourself but you didn't...don't take advantage of us now because you think we are weak. This was already in you. Evil was already in your heart...all you needed was a trigger. You know what...the main reason of temptation is not to bring your downfall. The essence of temptation is to build a habit that enslaves you until you start to condemn yourself. We are tempted because their is a spirit in us that corresponds to that you are being tempted against....and your love for Omar was tempted...unfortunately... It brought out the worst in you...you let the temptation devour you....you are weak hearted Cass...I pity you",I replied with a heartfelt core of coldness.

"... Am glad you understand how I felt. It was same for me...even worst...I got to see them everyday and to make it worst together!! You have no idea how that feels because you never saw me with Omar....and...and...You know what sweetheart,I don't have time for this....It's not in my nature to give explanations as it is anyway...you know too much and unfortunately I can't let you go to the outside...it all ends here", she said pointing a gun at me. With no knowledge of where it came from, I got frightened at first but then I realised I'd use this to my own advantage. It was just Cass and I knew she might have been in love with Omar but deep down her heart, she knew she felt something for me too.

"Go ahead...save me the bother of regretting ever falling for you...",I replied. I gave her no satisfaction of seeing my fear. Just my confidence.

She walked toward me and as soon as she was about to pull the trigger. I thought it was all going to be over but then I saw her throw the gun away and putting her arms around me.

"Liam am so sorry....I didn't mean to.... I'd never kill you. I love you....",she started and I rolled my eyes right behind her back. Her mind had cracked and she wasn't thinking straight. She was afraid. Yeah I'd understand that...

"I know you're being helpful but you really need to get a grip. You're unraveling",I whispered as soon as she showed me her weakness. And now I would use it to my own benefit. It was my turn to finally pull the strings.

"You won't take me to the police, will you?",she asked. Her innocent face was getting to me and I didn't want to lie. I didn't see myself doing it. I looked right at her and planted a peck on her nose. I was being the person she wanted but it wasn't me. I had to be myself. I shouldn't let my emotions get the best of me. She was wrong and deserved justice. I helped her get into the car and together we drove to the police. I talked of how great and fortunate I was to have her along the way. I wanted her to look at me and see goodness. I wanted her to understand that I was handing her in because it was the right thing to do and the best thing she would ever do was to support me.

"I love you Cass...",I said as I watched her go with her two pretty hands handcuffed after she confessed to her crimes herself. Who could ever imagine that we'd see handcuffs on such beautiful wrists which were gloried with the pride of expensive jewelry?

"I will come back for you...only you....you belong to me alone Liam....me alone.....No one else....", she laughed and jumped as they took her away. I waved as a way of fighting the pain I was feeling in my heart. It was painful for me to watch her go away. She was the one that built me up to what I am right now. It was difficulty for me to decipher her but I knew a day would come and I'd understand her.

*****

"You're still looking at that picture?", Lizzie asked after she noticed I was in the same position like she left me an hour ago. I was so obsessed with the people I saw in it and I just couldn't take my eyes off of them. They were a very iconic, pleasant and all nice words together. Such a quad you can't find anywhere else. Two of them where magnificent lovers of all times and I found them to be unique than Romeo and Juliet. After I heard the news that Prim had died the first thing that came to my mind was Omar. I walked away from the doctor and toward Omar. He was in the hospital lobby and had fallen asleep in the course of waiting and leaned on the wall. I told the doctor I would give the news to him and he permitted me although with much difficulty.

"Omar....", I took his attention and he quickly woke up. He stood strong and happily to see me.

"Did she wake up? Did she say she wanted to see me? Oh my God....I can't believe it.....God is so good", he rubbed his face. I couldn't tell what was going on through his mind. I wanted to bring it out of me in a way that wouldn't hurt him but he'd understand. I looked at him so seriously and after he noticed, he quited down and listened to me

"Omar...I want you to listen to me carefully....", I started. The jolly sailor bold attitude left his face and I could tell he was afraid of the waves and longed for the shore. His smile faded and pain got written across his face. Regret pierced his heart and I could see the tears gathering in his eyes again.

"She didn't wake up, did she?",he asked making things a bit less complicated for me.

"Omar am sorry.....she won't be waking up anytime soon...", I managed to say it out in one goal. He nodded and went silent for a while.

"That sounds like...forever.....and forever is such a long time.....", he made sense out of his own words. He passed by me and got in and I followed behind him. I saw him sat besides Prim. She was well bathed and dressed in pure white like a bride. The absence of blood from her body made her skin pale and gave it a shade of white. Her lips like some withering pink roses carefully placed on the hollow of her face. Her hair as white as snow was straighted and braided in a hairstyle she loved. She really looked beautiful. So sad we won't be seeing life in that body again. I sad besides Omar hoping to give him strength and hope. It happened so fast. They met so fast and died so fast too. Sometimes I just wished they never met.....because if they never met,they'd be alive by now living their perfect lives although incomplete. And I think it's better to be incomplete and far away from some people because being with them....is as much destructive as completion is.

🌺

"Yes....I always get myself lost in this picture....it has a lot of moments than memories", I replied turning around to look at her. She looked good in royal pink and sea blue. Her curly hair was now straightened and it proved to be longer than we assumed. She carefully placed a cup of coffee on my table and I got delighted as I looked at it. The thick fluid called to me and asked me to give it a try. I accepted and took a sip. Heavenly!! I raised my three last fingers and made the thumb and index meet into a circle. She blushed and I knew I got to her. She reminds me of Prim. Sometimes Cass...and sometimes she's just someone I don't know yet and am trying to find out.

After the fiasco with Cassandra's Palace, I decided to shut the place down. Besides, most people feared for the safety of their relatives but some still remained. I decided to make it a rehabilitation centre and not a place as it was before. Broken and devastated I followed my parents in Australia. Lizzie was acquitted later after I presented evidence in court that she was innocent. It was all in a flash drive that Prim had given me. She also asked me to convince Lizzie to go with their boss to NCFS....as she had quitted on him. He didn't want to at first but after a number of lectures, he finally gave her the piece of cake she wanted. She managed to secure a lot of money for him on that project and he was thankful to Prim in the end. Even though she died, she fixed a lot of people's lives before she left. Even in her last breath, she sought to help everyone in need of it. I really admired her for that. Really....and I borrowed a leaf which I longed to use...

On the other hand, I lost my brother Omar. The death of his beloved was just too much for him to bear. He started behaving weirdly and in an unruly manner. He was insomnic and had this thing the doctor called somniloquy. He did so many drugs, he was still in a fog three months after going through detox. He would say he's going out to meet Prim. He would even say he saw her.....and sometimes he'd come back saying she didn't show up on their usual spot which I apparently didn't know. He would even ask if she would come see him after we put him on lock down when it started getting worst. I knew we were in deep trouble. I called a psychologist who advised to keep him under supervision all the time as he feared Omar had developed a serious mental shutdown that followed with complications in his memory. He developed a state of cultural amnesia that was gradually aggravating with his bipolar disorder. We were also advised to not talk to him about Prim so that he forgets and it heals his mind although it was hard. All he wanted to talk about was Prim. Nothing else..... He couldn't go to work anymore and I just told his boss to find another engineer. Seriously, that's if he wanted to get the money he was getting while with Omar. Of course he was worried but what else would he do?

With the help of Lizzie though, Omar seemed to have been recovering because he would think she was Prim. I couldn't understand how his mind was brainstorming that, but if it helped, we cool! One day though, he just disappeared and all he left was a note.

Liam, Lizzie

I stepped out for a while.

I really wanted a new breath and a break from this life for a bit.

Circumstances and issues of life are beyond my understanding and

I just can't anymore....I can't go on like this

I miss her so much....and

since she won't come see me,

I'll go look for her,find her, and bring her home.

Before she left though,

She told me of the story

about the rose that lost three petals and got uprooted before it sprouted again

leaving it with one last petal...

I was really confused as the story scattered my thoughts.

It brought a million questions in my mind and I hoped to find these questions the answers they need.

First question being, how can a petal survive when the stalk is uprooted?

I'll see you when I get the answer...and of course when I bring my Prim home!

Wait for me!

Love Omar

I read that letter everyday before I went to bed and early in the morning when I wake up. Three years ago a friend of mine sent that. He said he'll come back....and I wait for him each day...because he was a man of his word yet lo and behold he never came back.

"Rise and shine..", she smiled while opening the curtains in my room inviting the beautiful sunshine in. I woke up and remembered to look at my side table to see if she had brought the magical everyday morning treat. Of course!! She never forgets to do it. She even puts the right number of sugar spoons, milk and even espresso or coffee. She's so good. As good as Primrose...

When I was moving to Australia right after losing Omar, she decided to come with me. She said she wanted a fresh start and far away from that horrible city and land we were living in. I couldn't deprive her the chance to a new beginning if she wanted one and most especially when I was in a position to provide such for such a lady friend. I accepted her request and took her in. Together we helped each other get rid of the past keeping only beautiful moments and a fresh mentality all together. Life can be sad yeah but it doesn't mean you should let it get the best of you. Someone once said, if the world gives you lemons,make lemonade and today I totally agree with that person. He couldn't have said it better!!

"So what are we doing today?",she asked as she sat on my bed and hugged her tray. She watched as I took a sip. I wanted to show her I was enjoying myself but in a.....lovely way?! I changed the expression on my face and she wore a concerned look.

"You don't like it...?", she asked.

"Well....I can't be so sure...", I replied trying to bring a hint of lack of clarity. "I really can't be so sure...". I saw her get worried and she was about to take off when I quickly grabbed her hand.

"These hands are magical...they work wonders without a wand...anything made by them is desirable to every heart even hearts of stone..", I told her to ease her temper. She smiled and I really loved that smile. I looked at her. I looked at her with great concern ....and of course...with love!

"You know sometimes I wished Prim and Omar never met...", I said swallowing my beverage and moving toward her. She totally understood what I was driving at here.

"I know....I've wished for that too. I was just nervous when Luen came in the picture. She totally misinterpreted her stars....totally....",She agreed. "... and in the end we can all blame the stars or tell ourselves that it wasn't meant to be, that it wasn't destined to happen. But deep down we know that the stars weren't at fault and it wasn't meant to be. The fault was in ourselves"

"Not everyone thinks like that...", I agreed. She really had a good point. We always find someone or something to blame for our downfalls. We don't want to take responsibility but always push it to others. Pity on this human race. Pity on us all.

"Well....But now we both know it was for the good that they had to meet right? ",she asked....smiling.

"Of course.", I replied.