The cacophony of bobcats yowling in the forest filled the night, stopping for just a brief moment before picking back up again. Low, guttural screams and moans entered Ana’s bedroom, sounding like a woman in deep pain. She had lived long enough in the forest to know that it was just animals, most likely a mother cat protecting her cubs from a predator. Despite that ingrained knowledge, Ana still couldn’t help but think there was a woman in distress somewhere out there, screaming for help and receiving none. Sometimes she felt like that woman, alone in the abyssal forest with nothing but her own voice to keep her company. Had she sounded the same as the bobcats when Marchosias pushed her to exhaustion during training? Maybe that’s why he left. She shows any semblance of pain or distress, and he looks the other way. Like the screaming bobcats, she is heard but ignored.

She took her hand out of the blanket and looked at her wrist. She had healed it after Marchosias had left, but she still felt a dull ache in all of her veins. She had used to much Mageia, and now payed the price. Aching wrists and exhaustion plagued her, but no matter what she did she could not fall asleep. She felt as if she was partly to blame for it with her insistence on pushing Marchosias’ buttons. She had pushed him far enough that he had found a way to punish her, but what for? Asking questions? Making a few jokes? Her snarky attitude toward him hadn’t changed over the years. Had he just been too overwhelmed by everything that she was the final nail in the coffin of his anger control?

It doesn’t matter now, she thought. At some point he’s going to find the Motloes, and maybe even find out that she talked with Beau. Beau. She had pushed their encounter to the back of her brain, hoping that Marchosias couldn’t secretly read her mind and find out about it. She hadn’t had time to ruminate on Beau’s request, as Marchosias had preoccupied her for the rest of the day. She would admit it was tempting, though. A chance to regain her memories and find out what exactly happened that night, now that she suspected Marchosias was lying. Did he really lie? She started to doubt herself. It’s not like I payed much attention to what anybody said in the years preceding the incident, and tried my best to remember what happened myself. That only ended up in fits of rage and horrible headaches, resulting in a cigarette addiction to cope. She hadn’t smoked in six months, something her mother was proud of.

Her mother. She turned in bed and looked at the nightstand, where her phone lay in the charger. She could call her and ask for her side of the story. She wasn’t there that night, but Marchosias must’ve told her what happened. She worked night shifts at the hospital, so it was likely she was up this late. It wouldn’t give Ana any new information, but it would put her mind at ease…or create new questions.

She rose from the bed and grabbed her phone. She called her mother as she left the room and went downstairs. It rang twice before her mother picked up.

“Ana? Are you alright, hon?”

Her mother, Margaret Devlin, still lived in the town where the incident took place. Livernville, a bustling town in northern Florida, had been her mother’s home since she and her dad graduated from university. She seemed quite content there, and refused to move even after the incident. Ana could never understand why she insisted living across the street from the now abandoned Motloe residence. It was one of the reasons why she didn’t visit her mother. Marchosias still visited, however, despite not being in a relationship. Ana didn’t know what they counted as. Friends? Acquaintances?

She grabbed a mug from the kitchen cupboard. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just couldn’t sleep. Animals in the forest are keeping me up.”

“Oh. Well, it’s good to hear your voice. I’m not too busy here at the hospital, so I have time to chat. Anything bothering you?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Ana filled the cup with water and put it in the microwave. She grabbed a box of tea as she tried not to drop the phone. “Yeah, I just had a question…about the incident.”

She was met with silence. Ana tried to wait for her mother to answer on her own, but the silence was making her anxious. “Mom?”

There was shuffling on the other end, as if she was adjusting the phone on her ear. “Sorry, I got distracted. What did you want to know?”

“I wanted to know what…father told you what happened. During that night.” She took the mug out of the microwave and dipped the teabags into the steaming water.

“What for?” More shuffling on her end, as if she was switching the phone from one ear to the other. “Have you been having…problems again?”

Problems. It was her mom’s way of saying ‘episodes’, alluding to her fits of anger that used to plague her. Ana sighed and leaned against the counter. “No, I just want to know what he told you.”

Her mother sighed now. “Ana-Girl, I don’t know what’s the point of dredging up the past if it’s just going to hurt you more. If you think your father told you something else, maybe it was just to protect you.”

Ana scratched her head and closed her eyes. “Just…tell me. Please. I just want to know.”

Her mother grumbled something unintelligible. “Fine. Your father told me he knew you were in trouble, went to the Motloe’s house, and…took care of them—”

“Took care of them how?” She moved to the kitchen window and looked out into the dark field.

“I don’t know, he just told me they were all dead, except for the mother. He took you to the hospital afterward and made sure that none of the doctors remembered you were there. That’s when he brought me to you.” Her mother said.

“He didn’t…tell you anything else? Nothing specific?” Ana pushed.

“No. You can’t push your father for details, you know that—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Why do you think I’m asking you?” Ana went back to her cup of tea and threw the tea bags into the trash. “He’s bit of an antisocial ass.”

“Analiese.”

Ana hand stopped halfway from grabbing the jar of sugar. “What?”

“Have you started smoking again? You sound stressed.”

“What?” She scoffed. “No. Why would you think that? I’m just making tea.”

Her accusation weren’t baseless. When she still had nightmares every night, she would stay up, smoke and talk to her mom on the phone. It was a horrible habit that took months to kick out of.

“When’s the last time you talked to father?” Ana changed the subject.

There was some more shuffling on the other end, and then a yawn. “A week or two ago. I don’t know. He came to me for something, and I told him to encourage you to get a job, or do something. Speaking of getting out, have you seen your therapist?”

Ana grumbled in annoyance, pinching the bridge of her nose. “No. I haven’t seen that old hag in three weeks. I don’t need her anymore.”

“That’s ridiculous.You can’t just not need your—”

“Mom, I have to go. I’m gonna try and get some rest. I love you.”

“Oh. I love you—”

She hung up and threw her phone onto the counter. It seems she couldn’t talk to her mother these days without nagging her about something or other. Smoking, therapy, a job… it all became repetitive at some point. She loved her, but sometimes Ana forgot that talking to her for more than a few seconds was tiring. Why couldn’t she just believe that she was doing fine instead of asking her?

She now had another problem on her hands. If her mother became concerned about her, she may tell Marchosias about her out-of-the-blue questions, something she didn’t need. Ana wasn’t clever enough to lie to Marchosias about asking suspicious questions. She wasn’t sure what the consequences were for talking to Beau and not telling him, but she assumed they were grave.

Besides that, asking her mom the question was no help, and she didn’t mention anything about cambions so she must not know about the Motloes running loose. Why hadn’t Marchosias told her mother that she was in danger? She was starting to believe he wasn’t doing all of these things out of concern for everybody’s stress levels. Why was he keeping secrets?

Ana groaned and held her head in her hands. Was she really going to have to go to Beau for answers? Was he the only one willing to tell her what happened? That is, if his deal is worth it. She still had no clue what he wanted from her, and meeting him at the motel sounded like a trap just waiting to happen.

But…answers. He has answers I need. So close to me, and yet so risky. She dumped a few spoonfuls of sugar into her tea and stirred. But if Judas is there…

The spoon stopped. Judas. Her fingers began to shake, and she quickly shook her head and dropped the spoon into the sink. No, I won’t think of him now. Not ever.

She gulped down her tea and set the mug in the sink. She was tired, but she felt as if she had a goal in life for once. Although, she wasn’t set on anything yet, she knew what she was at least going to do when morning comes.