After hearing all her boss had to say about the situation at hand, Bree slipped her phone into her trouser pocket and turned to the cab driver. “Please head to the Boston mansion instead”
“Yes ma'am.”“Mommy, why are we going there? Won't you spend time with me again?”“I'm sorry, Baby. Something came up at work. I'll drop you off and go attend to it. I'll be back before you know it, okay? You won't miss me.”“Hmm. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself.”“You're really not going to miss me?”The child rolled her eyes.“No. Only kids miss people when they leave for the meantime.”“What? But you are a kid.”“No, I'm not. I'm four already.” She sounded offended.“So what? You're four. You're still a baby.” A frown creased her brows. “You should whine sometimes and stop acting like you're an adult. You're only four. Kids your age whine all the time but you, you don't even do that. If you want something, you order me.”This topic, they have treated it times and times again and it seems the little girl does not have any intention to change her habit anytime soon. Bree had to roll her eyes whenever her daughter spoke because, unlike other kids who whine and cry when they want something, Ariel simply just orders and if she disagrees, there comes the silent treatment. And no she is not like other kids who give silent treatment for a while and return to normal. In the case of Ariel, she won't speak until she grants her request.Silent treatments were so painful to Bree and to her detriment, Ariel was a pro at it.“I'm not a baby,” Ariel uttered as they pulled up to their destination. “We're here already, Mommy.”“Right! Please wait here for me, sir. I'll be back in a jiffy.”She informed the driver and proceeded to get out of the car and helped Ariel who grumbled that she was capable of getting out of the car herself.“You're here. How are you, dear,” Mrs. Boston greeted Bree with a hug as she got into the Boston mansion. The middle-aged lady bent down to scoop up Ariel in her arms. The child was not having it, she wiggled her feet to get out of the woman’s hold, eager to be free.“Oh, little Ariel. I missed you. You're all grown up now and even more feisty. Didn't you miss me?”The child huffed, crossing her arms as she rolled her eyes.“Grandma put me down. I'm no longer a child.”Mrs Boston gasped.“You're not?”“Yes. Grandpa, ask your wife to put me down,” she protested.Mr Boston walked to them and carried her from the woman’s arms into his own arms. “Little Ariel should act like a child. We all love carrying you.”Ariel relaxed in the man’s strong arms, realizing that she wouldn't be able to beat the three real adults before her, her looks made it evident that she wasn't pleased at all. She prefers standing on her own two feet after all.“Aunt, Uncle, I'll leave her in your care for a while. I have an emergency. Please take care of her. I'm rushing out now.”She got out of the mansion and towards the waiting cab, not giving the Bostons a chance to say anything. The Boston family. She could still remember vividly the first day she met them. She had almost been hit by their car while she ran out of the psychiatric hospital years ago. After she fainted on the road, they took her to their home, called the doctor, and made sure she and the child in her womb were doing fine.They had adopted her. Taking her in as their daughter and only child even though they had no children of their own. They ignored the danger on Bree’s mother’s part and even went as far as sending her abroad to keep her away from Nary who was hell-bent on finding her. She was grateful to them. To her, they were her only family aside from Ariel.*****“What on earth? No one said it is this serious,” Bree exclaimed, jumping out of the cab when they arrived at their destination. The Madison mansion was ablaze. According to her boss, there was a fire outbreak in Madison’s mansion that he suspected was started by someone.Pushing her way through the crowd of party-dressed people, she approached a lady.“I'm Bree Boston. I'm an FBI agent. What's the situation, please?”“There was a birthday party in progress when the fire started,” the lady replied, her face grim. “Please do something. There are a lot of people in the building. This child’s parents are there too.”“I already called the fire company. They'll be here in a jiffy.”“Please do something, ma'am,” they cried.Bree took a deep breath and without a second thought sprinted toward the burning building, taking out her gun from its strap on her waist.Covering her nose with her hand due to the thick and choking smoke, she tried to help as many people as she could out of the mansion.“Ahhh.”Her head whipped backward as she heard a scream followed by footsteps. A lady climbed down the stairs screaming her ears out.“Hello. I'm an FBI agent. Please come this way, I'll get you out of here.”The lady’s eyes were wide with terror, and she was trembling all over. “Oh my, there is a ghost upstairs,” she whispered, her voice quivering. “Where the fire started. There is a ghost,” she cried, tears streaming down her cheek. “I'm traumatized, please get me out of here.”“What ghost? That doesn't make any sense.”“A ghost. A ghost. Oh my.”Those were the only words the lady could exclaim. Even after getting her out of danger to a safer side, she continued screaming about the ghost she came in contact with and the speedy movement of the fire which was already on the second floor.‘What ghost?’ Bree thought.Her legs took her back into the building. She made her way up the stairs, her gun pointing in each direction she made a turn. The smoke was thick and it stung her eyes as she made her way deeper through the quiet smoke-filled hallway. The silence was eerie.Then from ahead of her, she heard slow deliberate footsteps coming from the other side.As the footsteps drew closer, her heartbeat increased and her grip on the gun tightened. The loud footsteps screamed danger. The fact that the owner of the footstep walked so confidently without any fear of the fire, unlike the others, confirmed her doubt. Someone had started the fire.She stood frozen for a moment as the faint shadow walked closer, the smoke blurring her vision a bit. The figure was dressed in all black. From the hat on his head to his shoe. If she wasn't as confident as she was now as an FBI agent, she would have run away without a second thought at the sight of the Grim Reaper walking slowly in her direction with a gun in his hand.The seemingly familiar figure stepped into the sight. As he got into the light, she saw who it was. Him! And guess what, before she could blink, he had his gun right on her head.Bree looked up at the man pressing the barrel of the gun against her forehead, with no trace of humanity in those familiar eyes. Her heart sank and her heartbeat thundered as she recognized him. Her very own Spencer. There was no way on earth she wouldn't recognize him. Those familiar eyes and scent had tortured her day and night for the past five years. No way she could forget them. Their gaze locked for a long while. Did he recognize her? Was he happy to see her? Those questions raced through Bree’s mind as their gaze intensified. She couldn't tell what he was thinking as the man in front of her was Spencer but not her Spencer. He was not the Spencer that she used to know. The man standing in front of her was like a god of death with cold and empty eyes, ready to wipe any obstacle in his way. The cold metal on her head proved her right. He was no longer the Spencer that she loved. The man who would never hold a gun talked more of placing it on her forehead. He was familiar yet di
“I warned you, Bree. I’ll have to show you what being a monster means. I'll break you, I'll make you pay for your sins, and trust me, there is no running away this time.“At the sound of her name on his lips, Bree’s hands curled into a fist, her nails digging into her palms. Her name sounded so well coming from him just like it always did. It sounded so right. “This isn't you, Spencer. You are way better than this.”“Do not act like you know me. We see nothing more than enemies, trust me. We are enemies and you are going to find out just how I treat my enemies.”“H…how?” Bree stuttered. “Wouldn't be fun if I mentioned, right? You'll just have to find out on your own, won't you?” His smile widened. “I thought as much.”Just then a loud sound reverberated in the lonely hallway that they were in. They had forgotten that they weren't in a safe place. They were so occupied with each other that they forgot that they had to leave the dangerous building. “I…I think this side of the buildin
“Officer. I…I think you shouldn't go that way.“What?”“I…I mean you should go the other way. I already checked this side and there's no one there. You should check that way Instead.”The officer looked at her as if suspecting something but he still nodded and ran hurried in the opposite direction. Bree released a breath she had not realized she had been holding. Her eyes fell on the floor where she was standing previously. If it wasn't for her missing gun which she knew Spencer had taken along with him, she would have doubted her mental health. She would have called him a fragment of her imagination because he disappeared like he wasn't there in the first place. Picking up her ID card she made her way out of the building. “Boss.” She saw her assistant rush to her immediately as she emerged from the building. “Giana.”“Boss, where have you been? I was worried that something happened to you.”“Nothing happens. I was alright.”“You look grim. Are you sure you're alright? Are you hurt?
“Don’t you dare move,” the little girl ordered the dogs, her voice stern and commanding. She turned to her mother. The look on the child’s face made her mother flinch. To think that she was scared of the little girl now. “Mommy, what?”“What? Aren't you afraid of these dogs? They're dangerous,” Bree said, her voice trembling as she stared at her daughter in disbelief. The child was not only unafraid of dogs but was actually commanding them. How was this possible? And why were the dogs listening to her? They were notoriously disobedient and hard to control. “What are you doing with them?” Just then, her eyes fell on the child’s hand only to see a long stick. Was she really trying to caution these dogs? Last time she checked, these dogs listened to no one else but Mr Boston and even he always had a hard time putting them in their place. But her little Ariel glared at the dogs right in their eyes and dared them to make a move. Oh goodness. She was going to faint from a heart attack i
Coming out of a grocery shop was Bree. She held the shopping bags in both her hands as she walked out of the shop, her eyes scanning the area for a cab. After standing lonely at the side of the road for a while with no sign of a cab approaching, she dropped the heavy bags on the floor. There was no way she could continue carrying them. They were as heavy as Ariel. Imagine carrying two Ariels for a long while. “The naughty little girl must be waiting for me now,” Bree spoke to herself. She had left Ariel all alone at home. She didn't know that she would spend so much time in the grocery shop and besides, the child was asleep when she left. She didn't want her to wake up and not see anything to eat as they had run out of foodstuffs already. She had spent over an hour in the shop and Ariel would have awoken by now. She must be so worried. “Where did all the cab go? It's not that late.”It was just past twilight and the cabs already disappeared. For one, it was unusual as cab drivers t
Bree’s heartbeat increased as she stared at the door. Her legs shook in fear imagining something happening to her daughter or someone hurting her. Her legs carried her forward and she burst into the house, panting in fear and anticipation. “Come on little girl, take this cute Barbie doll. You know, your Mommy used to like Barbie dolls when she was a child. Take this or else..”Bree felt her soul almost disappear from her body at the sight that welcomed her as she got into the living room. Her grocery bags slipped off her hands and hit the floor with a thud. There in the middle of the room was Nary Marsden. It was no other person than her. She was back for her. She came back to get her. She could feel her whole body tremble at the sight of her mother after so many years. The sight of Nary forcing the crying Ariel to take the barbie doll she bought for her made her eyes watered. “I don't want them,” Ariel cried. “You have to take them. What? Your mother didn't teach you not to disre
That was the last straw that it took for Bree to snap out of the trance she’d been in. With a burst of strength, she pushed Nary away from her and stepped back, putting some distance between them. “No, Nary. We are nothing alike. Do not say those words again. I am not like you. I am my own person, get it?” She spat. “So stop those words. We are nothing alike.”“Bree, you don’t know that. I do.”“Leave.”“My child, you can’t chase me away. You are yet to see how much I love you, how much I want us to be close to each other and tell stories together.”“I told you, Nary. I can never be like you.” Bree said, her voice firm and resolute. She shook her head, folding her hands under her chest. “I can never be manipulating, evil, and controlling like you. I’ll never put my daughter through the trauma that you put me through. I love her to death but you, you are a selfish manipulative bitch who only cares about yourself.”*pa*A sound slap resounded in the room and Bree’s head snapped to the
Just as Bree’s thumb was about to press the call button, Nary spoke, her voice a low, ominous whisper. “Go on, call them,” she said. “When they come, I’ll tell them about your involvement in his death.”Bree froze, her eyes wide with horror. Slowly, she lowered the phone, her hand shaking. “Wh…what?”“Oh dear. Seems like you forgot already. Like I said, I always come prepared. I’m always prepared for anything I’m doing. If you call the cops and they come here like good servants of the government, I’ll tell them you killed him.”“You are not going to do that,” Bree said, her voice quivering. She trembled in fear, memories of years ago came flooding back to her in a torrent of images and emotions. She had tried so hard to forget, to bury it all in a grave. She could swear that she had forgotten about that incident and had only remembered it because Nary mentioned. This mother of hers would stop at nothing to make her miserable over and over again. Nary smiled, a cruel twisted smile