Warning: This chapter contains content that may not be suitable for some readers
That night, Ivy walked up to her room feeling tired after Andrew and Sandra left. Although she was still anticipating for Ray to return home, it was getting drowsy for her to wait any longer. As she slowly made her way up the stairs, she heard the flipping of newspapers from the living room.
She stopped midway to watch Peter with a heavy heart. She recalled his sacrifices for the company and wondered what was it that he still hasn’t told everyone. The scene of her wailing to him when she first woke in the hospital made her wince back the sting of tears in her eyes. She realised she still wasn’t ready to speak to anyone, especially him.
She felt bad for him because of her, he had given up on his business which is in a dire situation. Because of her, he was losing himself. With her struggling to deal with the death of Jason, she was also guilty of causing chaos in her family. She blamed herself for the mess she had caused.
As she rested in bed with Daisy, she thought hard and long if she was prepared to walk into her own ticking time bomb which was her soft spot, Jason. After many nights of continuous nightmares, she still hasn’t seen her familiar paracosm. Aside from occasionally dreaming of serpents and also falling off the building with an unknown woman standing on top of the building releasing her hand, she was dreaming bits and pieces of the accident. She wondered if it was because she wasn’t ready and willing to open her heart up or think about Jason that she couldn’t reach out to her paracosm.
She closed her eyes and breath in deeply as she forced herself to bravely think of Jason just as Phyllis suggested. The first thing that came to her mind was the waltz lesson at the cliff. Her eyes reddened recalling the same version she had while in a coma where he fulfilled his promise to waltz on a bed of clouds.
She gently switch over to the aurora meeting where she recalled watching their younger self and smiled to herself as she reminded herself to check on this whether it was him who saved her by the frozen lake in reality.
Aside from these happy memories, Daisy who shifted closer to her as she felt her fur, made Ivy recall Lucky and wondered where was he and if he was doing well. She suddenly wondered how long was she in a coma as she opened her eyes to scroll through Melody’s post and checked since when the prayers posted as the last line on every post started. To her surprise, it was nearly two months.
She slowly closed her eyes again and allow herself to recall the accident this time with a deep breath. She braved herself to recall the last embrace she felt from the loving arms of Jason. The first streak of tears fell to her cheeks when she finally realised he was pulling her in for a kiss that never was meant to be.
The way he spun her around and shielded her with his body from the impact and remembered to shield her head with his bare hands brought Ivy to a sob as Daisy burrowed herself into Ivy’s arms.
The sight of his forced smile and reddened eyes in that last few moments made Ivy realise Jason knew it was his last moments but yet all he could worry about was her.
What hurts the most for her was to know that his last moments weren’t for himself but a sacrifice made for her to live on. The gratitude that she owed to him and the inability to repay him during that lifetime, just adds more to the agony.
As she cried herself to sleep that night, she successfully found her way back to her paracosm. However, it was now all a different dimension.
After Jason broke the curse and murdered the king and Avinha after Ivy murdered the queen, Jason, and Ivy both unleashed their evil side and join in the forces of the dark side.
It was a strange gloomy place she no longer recognise. All she could feel was anger and vengeance. She found herself holding on to a sword and occasionally when serpents appeared, she didn't hesitate to chop them off brutally. It seems instead of screaming and running away like a few nights ago and waking up to cry, she was finally courageous to come face to face with her fears and enemies.
As she explored the dimension, in search of being able to meet more of her enemies, she didn’t notice two other shadows lurking behind her. She ran upwards in what seemed to be an endless spiral of stairs only to find herself coming face to face with the unknown woman whom she had been pushed down by every time this scene played in her nightmares. This time round it wasn’t any different as Ivy couldn’t react fast enough that she was pushed off the stairs again.
However, it wasn’t enough to turn Ivy to be weak. She waited for her landing and stood right up with the help of her sword to alleviate the impact. It was a dark and stormy environment now as she could feel the lust of vengeance in her brewing. She could see the waves of humans in front of her and recognise them as the villagers who were stoning her and Jason to death in one of the doors they visited.
Her mind thinks she would run and hide from them in fear but her hands and willpower were doing the exact opposite as she fought with the waves of humans who had betrayed her to hang in the past mercilessly. No matter how many waves she cleared, they were endless. Yet, it was never satisfying her lust for vengeance. Ivy was beginning to get used to her new side.
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The evil Jason who was trailing by her side discreetly had been watching Ivy’s pointless act but yet still couldn’t tell the reason for her being unable to satisfy her lust. That was because none of them knew, Avinha who slipped into the realm was the one who had been fueling her lust for vengeance.
“You’re finally here to kill…” Jason said in a sharp teasing tone as he couldn't stand her pointless act. Ivy turned around with a piercing look at the dark evil Jason standing in front of her.
Though his look was stone cold, his eyes gave him away as he stared lovingly at the face which once was innocent and gentle but now was one which is full of stories to tell. She studied him and realise he was entirely a different person from the golden robe he used to wear back in their kingdom.
He was now dressed in a black and gold ancient suit with a sword in his hand. Ivy couldn’t feel any warm feelings for him and neither did she remember who he was. All she could feel was just hatred for him to hinder her from killing any further. With that, it was enough for her to want to draw her sword to kill him.
“Hold it right there! The only way to stop your lust is to stop killing. Haven’t you realised this?” Jason lied but Ivy seemed to buy it as she stood staring back at him, contemplating her decision to kill or not.
It was Jason’s way to get a bit of her memory and her feelings returning to her each time she stopped killing. Before he stepped into the dimension, he came face to face with his grandma briefly and who had told him the only way to rescue Ivy was to keep her under control and the rest was up to them both to decide. It was the same as the guardian of the tower said.
After a while she stood contemplating, she finally decided not to believe as she continued to kill the waves of humans instead. A smirk appeared on Jason's face when he saw the pixels of her memories and feelings flowing back to her bit by bit.
Ivy began to feel a little sympathy but she also could feel her anguish self was fighting the sympathy as though the environment was controlling her. After a moment of self-conflicting war, it was too late for her to return to the original phase without any feelings or memories.
Her evil side was agitated by the sympathy she felt. She couldn’t think straight as her feelings were in a chaos that she wanted to charge at Jason with her sword only to be awakened from her dream.
Ray at that point had just headed home. Peter, at the sound of the service lift, lifted his newspaper again as a disguise for whoever came to ignore him. Ray knew of Peter’s habit but it didn’t stop him from seeing his father. Ray crouched by Peter’s side and noticed Peter’s tired and haggard look.
“Dad, I’m home…” Ray said as Peter hummed to acknowledge.
“It’s late. You should rest…” Ray said as Peter kept quiet. To come and think of it, Ray then noticed perhaps Ivy had picked up the silent treatment from Peter considering how she still refused to speak with anyone. It was pointless to push them to talk either as it would only make them rebel.
“I will go take a look at Ivy…” Ray said before he walked up the stairs.
Ray then stopped midway when he heard the sound of the newspaper being shifted in Peter’s hands knowing it was really just an act. Ray felt sad about the family’s situation.
As Ivy opened up her eyes, she realise she couldn’t move in bed. She was staring up at an evil Jason floating on top of her. The fear constricting her reminded her of how long it was ago when she last had a sleep paralysis that her body had nearly forgotten how traumatising it was. Tears flow like a river from her eyes as she squealed and cried with all her might to fight her sleep paralysis.
Ray could hear high-note noises from Ivy’s room as he quickly rush into Ivy’s room. Little did he expect his first visit to Ivy to send him to panic to see her struggling in bed with sleep paralysis.
“Ivy! Ivy you’re alright?! Ivy, breathe!” Ray sat her up in bed as he pinched her on her cheeks. She cry out in pain shortly only to realise it was Ray hugging her.
It was the person she longed to meet the whole afternoon as she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and sobbed on his chest. Peter rushed upstairs upon hearing the commotion only to see Ivy sobbing in Ray’s arms.
“It’s alright Ivy. It’s alright. I’m here. I’m home. It’s all safe now.” Ray comforted as Peter walked over and couldn’t help but gently patted Ivy’s head.
Ivy finally could feel secure as she poured out another round of agony in Ray’s arm. Peter then, slowly walked out of the room as though knowing he was helpless after feeling a little glad that his little princess was letting go a little. Ray wanted to stop Peter but he knew the situation between Ivy and Peter. He kept quiet instead but couldn’t help but felt bad for both of them.
When Ivy began to quieten down a little, she returned to her old quiet self again. “Sis, thank you for making it. I have missed you…” Ray said as Ivy tightened her arms around his waist in a reply.
“Are you still… blaming dad?” He asked with a little hesitation but didn’t get any response.
“You know… he isn’t to be blamed?” Ray asked again as Ivy let a tear escape. Ray wiped it off gently.
“Ivy…” He shifted her position to lay down in bed wanting to tell her more and ask her more only to see her tired face staring back up blankly at the ceiling. He knew it wasn’t the right time yet.
“Goodnight…” He said but Ivy quickly held his arm, afraid that he would leave as he smiled.
“I will be right here next to you. Sleep…” Ray assured as Ivy snuggled into his arms. It was comforting but she knew she needed to push herself more as Ray wouldn’t be able to stay around her every night. Besides, she should speed up in seeking the courage to finally speak with her father.
It’s been nearly a week since Ivy was awake and Jeremy had been withholding himself from visiting Ivy as he was waiting for the right time to strike. As he swirled his cup of whiskey in his hand, he was thinking through his detailed plans again to ensure there weren’t many weaknesses since it was nearly time to execute them into reality.
“Can’t wait till you’re mine,” Jeremy said to himself.