Aida O' Mara

CHAPTER III

Aida O’ Mara

Pax was lonelier than he ever was, ever since Alexa left. He barely talked to anyone at the orphanage. As few days passed, he didn’t notice any kid he knew around. He was left there all alone, just waiting to be adopted. All the kids from his batch were already wanted as each person’s child. Nobody wanted him. He was saying to himself, “Nobody wants you, Pax. You’re just a messy, nerd. You’re useless for sure. Why would somebody adopt you?” His thinking was intervened by the creak of a door. 

     “I suggest you adopt this kid instead, his name’s Pax, Pax Lysander. He’s just at the age of 11. He’s not much of a mess, really. He’s smart too!” Mrs. Hems requested, as the door slowly opened. “I’m really sorry your child was already adopted, but if you are looking for a kid, Pax is the only one left from the batch.” There was a woman beside Mrs. Hems, with dark short brunette hair. Her face was full of make-up though. But it seemed okay for Pax. She was tall and was wearing a fancy red coat.

     “Hhmm… Sure…” she murmured, looking at Pax as if she was disgusted by him, yet she didn’t have a choice.

     “Pax! Pack your things, you’re being adopted!” Mrs. Hems barked excitedly. 

     Pax have never been this joyful before, he got up from his bed and went under it to get his trunk as quickly as he can. He had never been so thrilled in his life. He grabbed everything he needed, he even packed his nutcracker and the wooden box without feeling any emotion because of his excitement.

     “Pax, this is Aida O’ Mara, but from now on, you’re going to call her your mom. I hope you will live happily with your new family!” Mrs. Hems muttered to Pax, sooner, she was already waving her hand goodbye as the car was leaving the orphanage.

     Pax got out of the car, he went to it’s trunk to get his things. “I’ll take care of that” Aida said, she carried Pax’s things to their house. “You ready?” she said sweetly. Pax nodded nervously. Aida opened the door of the house, revealing it’s huge and shimmering interior. Pax was very much surprised, he didn’t mutter a single word, he stood there gazing at his brand new house with his mouth wide open. 

    “I can say that you’re really surprised that you’re going to live here with me. Well, let’s go inside shall we?” she said waving her hand towards the entrance. She carried Pax’s trunk inside and dropped it at the beginning of the staircases. 

    “Your house is so huge Ms Ai—I mean mom.” Pax was quite embarrassed, yet Aida just let out a sweet chuckle. 

     “From now on, you should call this house your home, and MY huge house you’re saying is now OURS” Aida said showing a gentle smile on her face, she hugged Pax sweetly, but from the inside, she was very disgusted, she even rolled her eyes while sweet, young Pax is hugging her.

     She returned to her pleasant smile and gestured up the stairs, “I’ll show you your room.” They went upstairs and in the middle was another huge object hanging at the wall, it was a portrait of what it looks like to be Aida, and a young girl, probably at the age of 3, in Aida’s arms.

     “Who’s that you are with mother?” Pax asked curiously, Aida looked at the portrait and soon stared at it, “Erm—No need to worry about that, I’m pretty sure you’re tired from the trip, you should get some rest…” she replied, leading Pax to his bedroom. 

As time has passed, it was Pax’s first day of school. He walked down the hallway of the school with joy, his left hand carrying his backpack and the other one was fixing the position of his glasses. As the school bell rang, he sat at a chair at the back of the classroom. He was still smiling brightly, but it faded when he noticed that no one seemed to talk to him. 

The next days of the school was still as normal to the other ones. He was the smartest one in the class, yet he still doesn’t have friends. He often heard some group of kids whispering and glaring at him. But he didn’t mind that, all he wanted, even from the very start, was a family, and now he had that.

***

Time went by, Pax was a teenager, he was already at the age of 16. But… Now, as he walked down the school hallway, he had two strong-looking boys at his age by his both sides. Pax wore a checkered jacket, a black shirt, and ripped jeans. In short, he looked like a school gangster, and so were the two boys beside him, except that they wore black leather jackets. And his ginger hair wasn’t entirely ginger now. He dyed a thin strip of hair at his right, white. Yet, he still wore his old-school glasses. 

     Every single day at school, when someone was making fun of him, he’d punch them at the face, almost everyone was afraid of him. But no employee of the school knew, because he’d frighten the other students not to. The thing that makes it all worse is, Aida knew. In fact, Aida was the cause why Pax was dressed like this, why he acted like this, and why his mind was like this. She whispered things into Pax’s mind every time he seeks for comfort. “You must seek revenge”  “Let them pay for what they’ve done” She muttered. That was why Pax was still dependent on his adoptive mother, even though he grew up like this. 

***

Years passed, Pax was an adult, probably at the age of 24, it was quite shocking to say that, Pax was quite successful, he became a scientist, made mixtures and others at his laboratory, it’s just that… No one knew him.  His laboratory was secretly located at an alley in Chicago. Only he knew. He lived and earned money by stealing, with no one noticing. Want to know why? He stole by the help of his inventions, some of them made the people he stole from numb, and didn’t feel him stealing from their bags, the other one was an extendable hand and made all of it’s actions soundproof, and there were more of them. He made his own laboratory by the money he earned. But his laboratory was his only home. There was his bed, his kitchen, everything in a house. 

     He lay down his bed and pulled its blanket up, took his glasses off, and as he slept, his memories came swarming back to his mind.

~Pax was sitting at his bed, and he was still wearing his usual clothes, the checkered jacket with the black shirt, and his ripped jeans. Although, he wasn’t feeling strong and brave at the time, he was feeling a bit…saddened, at the same time, curious. He was thinking about the Portrait at the middle of the hallway at their house, the one with Aida holding a girl. It reminded him of Alexa. He gave a smirk while thinking of her. “I miss her” he even admitted to himself. “I think I—love her…” he thought. A book was sitting beside him. It was entitled “Romeo and Juliet”.

    His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a shout downstairs. Pax was too curious to stay at his room. And so he went out of his room and took a peek downstairs. He saw—his mom. His real mom, perhaps.~

“No. No—not this memory—please..” Pax hoped, still asleep. But his memory continued, it felt like he was watching a movie that can’t be stopped.

~Pax weeped silently, he was too shocked to say a word. He hid at the wall beside the stairs. And just listened.

     “PLEASE! Just give me a chance! I’m his real mother!” Fawn sobbed, she cried her heart out, “I just came from a war! Why won’t you just let me see him! He deserves to know!”

     “Know what? I raised him! You just left him out of the blue!” Aida argued, “You know. I didn’t deny to raise him myself, without a husband! Without a child! I came at the orphanage—expecting to see my daughter. Expecting to see my Alexa… But I saw him, and I didn’t mind! You don’t deserve to see him! And what are you supposed to let him know!?” 

     “That—That his father is dead!” Fawn whimpered. 

     Pax just sat there and sobbed, harder than before, after just knowing two painful things… Alexa was Aida’s daughter, and his father was dead. But he didn’t even made a sound. He ran silently back at his room and locked the door. He lied on his beg with his face facing the pillow, absorbing his tears.

     He just lay there, until suddenly, he heard his mother’s shriek. He can’t just lie there sobbing. He had to see what Aida did. He burst out of his room and what he saw was disturbing… He saw his mother, lying there, covered with blood. A knife at her chest. Aida saw him staring at it.

     “I—I can explain Pax” she said there was a short pause for a moment, she was about to say something, but Pax interrupted it.

     “You always do that you know…” Pax said, he shed a tear, “You…YOU ALWAYS LIE TO ME!” He rushed to his room, he grabbed his things. Clothes, Money, and others. He went downstairs and aimed to go to the door. 

     “I’m leaving this house! It seems like I don’t have any family-! At all!” he was about to leave by the door when suddenly, a knife was pointing at his back. He didn’t move an inch, he guessed that Aida pulled it from Fawn’s chest, since he felt blood dripping from it.

     “Don’t you dare. Get back to your room, and make sure you won’t tell anyone about this. Do you understand?” she threatened. Pax gave a little nod. And he can tell Aida wasn’t satisfied about it. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!” “Y-yes!” Pax exclaimed. The knife moved onto his side, forcing him to go back to the stairs, and so he did. He had no choice.

    As the night went by, he waited for the time to be midnight, he was planning to climb out of the house by the window. He used all the rags at his room and bonded it up to build something for him to climb out. He packed all his things properly, and snuck out by the bonded rags. He said to himself “It’s better to be anywhere than here.” He ran as far as he can to stay away from the house. His actual goal was to find any cop, or deputy nearby. He kept searching. Until—