The Truth

'My head was pounding. I began to imagine myself falling into a deep abyss. And maybe I didn't imagine it at all.

When I had my eyes opened, I wasn't in my car anymore. I found myself in a strange place. There was a terrible faint smell of blood.'

Yvann gasped, his eyes instantly opening.

Seeing the scene in front of him, he took a step back.

A body lay lifeless, with a tint of blood oozing from her neck. There was a trickle of it scattered on the ground.

The eyes of the girl were staring towards the sky.

A piercing scream reverberated from nearby, catching Yvann's attention.

Logic was telling him to run. But his conscience was urging him to do otherwise. The weight of making the choice whether to save a life or save himself had him sweating cold.

The dead body bothered him, but that scream bothered him even more.

With a click of his tongue, Yvann got on his feet and broke into a run, heading in the direction of where the voice came from.

His footsteps crunched against the rocky path, his breathing getting ragged.

Coming at a dead end, Yvann frantically searched his surroundings. If it wasn't unwise, he would have screamed out to find whoever had screamed.

But he knew that if he did that, he was only going to expose himself.

Sirens.

Police sirens sounded from the distance.

Knowing he wasn't supposed to be there, Yvann walked back. Beneath his shoes, he stepped onto something and had him take a look.

He picked up the object and narrowed his eyes.

The sirens seemed to be coming close.

Not knowing how he knew, Yvann broke into a run and went in a direction his mind was pointing at where his car was.

He ran.

His instinct was telling him to run.

Run as fast as he could, and don't look back.

--

  "You two," Granola began, her eyes looking at Szeina and briefly fleeting towards Neyandro who stood a few distances away from Szeina's bed.

"When the two of you were little, there was a time when the Rebels breached the Academia North, East, and West. It was total chaos. Xeruz feared for your lives. This place wasn't safe then. Hence, I did what I thought was best." Granola paused and took Queedor's hand in hers. He smiled warmly at her.

"With Queedor, I brought you to the land of the mortals. I promised Xeruz to make sure you're both safe. In the back of my mind, I thought about teaching you our ways. How to fight. Letting you know who both of you really are. But, watching the two of you grow, oblivious to the nature of your bloodlines, I held back. I thought it was better that both of you grow up having a sense of humanity. I'm sorry if it you found out like this. Neither of us meant for it to happen."

Szeina exchanged glances with Neyandro. He seems to have the same question running through his mind. With a nod of his head, Szeina mentally sighed. Shifting her gaze towards Granola, she cleared her throat.

"Partly. I've always known I wasn't normal. But the ability to compel someone, I thought of it as something psychological. Not… this. I'm still trying to grasp the reality of everything you and Xeruz told me. But, out of all that, I only have one question, which I believe, Neyan could share the same sentiments with me."

"If we have the answers, rest assured that we will give it to you, Szeina. I give you my word." Queedor spoke.

Szeina took a deep breath.

"You mentioned you withheld the truth of our identities. Well, now we've come to this. Do you know who our actual parents are? Where are they? Are they here? Why haven't they come to us when we needed them?" Szeina paused and dropped her voice to a lower tone as she blurted out the last question she had in mind regarding her parentage.

"Are they still alive?"

Granola and Queedor exchanged glances. Their eyes stared at each deeply and longer than usual. It was as if they were having a conversation using telepathy.

After a few minutes, Queedor gave Granola's hand, that was intertwined with his, a gentle squeeze before letting her go.

Granola approached Szeina and sat on the side of her bed. She took her hands and held them.

"I wish I could tell you, Szeina." Briefly shifting her gaze towards Neyandro, Granola took a deep breath before placing her attention back towards Szeina.

"I'm sorry. But, right now, both of you are not ready for that truth."

"Why? At least tell us why we are being denied of knowing this one bit."

"In time, both of you will learn who they are. Why you're here and why we chose to save you both. I hope you can understand this for now. Queedor and I love both of you like our own."

"And there's nothing more we want but for the two of you to have a better life. A life away from this if possible." Queedor admitted.

"Apparently, there's no way that we'd be able to escape this." Szeina inferred.

"Sadly, you're right."

"I think we should let Szeina rest. She had quite an adventure." Neyandro spoke, his eyes resting on Szeina.

Szeina found this a little surprising. She counted on him asking some questions regarding his parentage. Or at least be outrageous about not knowing anything from the two adults.

However, he kept quiet and only spoke just now.

"You both go ahead. I will stay a bit longer." Granola replied, her eyes never leaving Szeina's.

Though she wanted to be mad about not having the answers she was asking, her missing Granola weighed more heavily compared to her withholding information.

With Neyandro and Queedor walking through the door, shutting it close behind them right after, Granola sat beside Szeina, holding her close. She kissed the top of her head and sighed.

"I should have gone back as soon as I could."

Szeina shook her head.

"It's fine. Besides," she gently took the necklace off her neck and presented it to Granola. "If I didn't get left behind, I would have never retrieved this."

Granola examined the pendant carefully.

"How did you find this?"

"I… found it. Or maybe it found me. I haven't figured out which is which just yet."

Granola gingerly handed it back to Szeina.

"Whichever it may be, don't start blaming yourself all over again." Granola reminded her. Szeina nodded her head, putting the necklace back on.

"I won't. Aren't you going to ask where I got this?" she asked.

"I'm waiting for you to tell." Szeina blew out a sigh, a small smile forming on her lips.

"Remember the guy you all mentioned? The one who drove me home on my birthday?"

"Uhuh, yes. I do. What about him?"

"He took care of me while I was hospitalized."

"Well, that's nice of him."

"I guess he was. He is."

"But…?" Granola prompted.

"I stayed with him and his family. His little brother found it in his room." Szeina paused and took a deep breath. "When I tried confronting him about it, I never got my answer. He sort of… acted strange."

Granola gently stroked her hair.

"Did he hurt you?"

Szeina shook her head.

"No."

"Do you think he was the one who killed Hope?" Szeina shook her head once more.

"Hmm… if you were to have another chance to ask him something, what would you ask him then?"

Szeina felt for the pendant hanging on her chest. She clutched it in her hands and stared far away.

"What were you doing there, Yvann?"